Culver gives Capitol update ahead of legislative session

OKLAHOMA CITY – Rep. Bob Ed Culver, R-Tahlequah, said all bills for the session have been filed.

The legislative session starts Monday, Feb. 3 and Culver explained that the first thing they do is convene in joint session between the House and the Senate. They'll invite the Gov. Kevin Stitt to give his annual State of the State address. He'll tell them what's on his wish list for the session, and he'll outline his budget priorities.

"I'm interested to hear what the governor has to say, but, it's important to remember that the Legislature writes the laws and the state budget. These all have to go to the governor for his final approval or his veto. If he does veto a measure, it takes a vote of two-thirds of the members of each legislative chamber to overturn it. Sometimes we do this; sometimes we don't," Culver said.

After the Stitt gives his speech, they'll get down to the work of hearing legislation in committees. The House has a two-step process for policy bills this year. Culver said they'll take the first three weeks of session to hear policy bills in regular committee and then hear them again in oversight committees.

"We'll be doing the same thing with budget bills – the first stop is an Appropriations & Budget subcommittee and then the full A&B Committee. The House also has an Administrative Rules and a Rules Committee that will hold meetings during this time," Culver said.

Once bills pass committee, those are eligible to be heard on the House floor, but those still have to be assigned to the agenda by the floor leader team. By the time bills come to the House floor for a vote, Culver said they'll likely have cut the number of them significantly.

"We're starting with 1,928 House Bills, 29 House Joint Resolutions, three House Resolutions, and two House Concurrent Resolutions that were filed before our deadline. The speaker of the House can file bills at any time," Culver said.

He added that it will be a busy time of reading legislation and then attending committee meetings to hear from the bills' authors and to take votes.

"We have until March 27 to pass bills from the House to the Senate. Then we'll start the process of hearing Senate bills," Culver said.

Anyone needing assistance from Culver are asked to call his Capitol office at 405-557-7408 or email him at bob.culver@okhouse.gov.