A4 THE JOURNAL, Thursday, March 14, 2019
sesame?
The House has spent hours in the chamber this week, debating
and discussing legislation that survived last week’s committee
deadline cutoff. All remaining bills are eligible to be heard by
the entire House until our next deadline, March 14. We have
several hundred bills to consider before then, so we’ll see some
late nights this week to ensure we hear as many as possible.
This week, the Capitol has focused heavily on government
accountability. On Tuesday, I attended a press conference
with our legislative leaders to unveil their agreed-upon agency
accountability reform plan. Speaker McCall, Sen. Treat and
Gov. Stitt all spoke on the importance of ensuring our govem-
ment is accountable to its citizens.
This series of bills provide greatertransparency in our govem—
ment and allows elected officials to deliver stronger oversight,
better services and accountable leadership across our state’s
five largest agencies. Allowing the executive branch to hire
and fire agency directors and appoint members to the agencies’
governing boards will help ensure every aspect of government
is held accountable to the people.
As part of this plan, the Legislature rolled out five bills to
address accountability in the five largest state agencies. The
House authored three of the five bills and the Senate passed
the remaining two bills. HB2480 involves the Department of
Corrections, HB2A79 deals with the Office of Juvenile Affairs
and HBZ483 involves the Oklahoma Department of Mental
Health and Substance Abuse Services. Each bill passed by
wide margins and move to the Senate for consideration. The
Senate passed the remaining two accountability bills, dealing
with the Oklahoma Health Care Authority and the Oklahoma
Department of Transportation, which we’ll hear on the House
floor soon.
These bills rebalance the appointment authority of state
agency boards to give the Legislature a much stronger check
on the agencies that spent taxpayer dollars. Our current system
doesn’tofferanyrealchecksandbalances.Theagencydirectors
aren’t accountable to either the governor or the Legislature;
instead, they’re accountable to unelected boards that aren’t
accountable to anyone either. Oklahomans expect us to deliver
more transparency and accountability in government, and these
bills will help us accomplish that objective.
Another bill that passed the House this week was HBI969,
which allows municipal or state law enforcement officers
employed in a county with 255,000 or more citizens to be
exempt from jury duty. In counties with less than 255,000
people, municipal or state law enforcement officers will be
eligible to serve on noncriminal actions only. I’m incredibly
thankful for our law enforcement officers in Logan and Payne
Counties. They play an important role in ensuring the safety
of our citizens.
We’ll continue to spend hours on the House floor next week
to ensure we hear as many bills as possible before the March
14 deadline.Bills thatpasstheHouse by thatday willmove on
to the Senate to undergo the same legislative process.
I encourage my constituents in District 33 to reach out to my
office with questions, comments or concerns on any legislation.
If you visitthe State Capitol, please stop by my office to say
hi! I was elected by you to represent your voices and opinions
at the Capiml,andlwill continueto do so as we move through
session. You can reach me (405) 557—7304 or john.tal1ey@
okhousegov. .
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( r y, Torn Dagger
, State Senator
We’ve just concluded the fifth week of the 2019 legislative
session and have been working through hundreds of bills ready
for consideration —-‘with the exception of a few categories of
bills, like those dealing with appropriations or filed by the Pro
Tempore of the Senate or the Speaker of the House, bills that
started in the Senate must be voted on by March 14 in order
to continue moving through the Legislature this session.
As I’ve mentioned,I chair the Appropriations Subcommittee
on Select Agencies. These are agencies and boards that don’t
receive appropriations from the Legislature, but instead are
funded through fees and services they provide. But because
they are actually state entities, it’s still important to have leg—
islative oversight of their operations.
Reviewing these entities in the Subcommittee on Select
Agencies is one of the ways we hold them accountable. For
example, by law, these boards and commissions are reviewed
every few years to ensure they are still fulfilling a necessary
function. If not, there would be a vote to end that panel, but
if they are still performing an important function, their “life”
would be extended. It’s a review process called sun setting.
On Thursday I brought Senate Bill 422 to the floor, dealing
with the Oklahoma Accountancy Board which oversees
accountants in the state. As a CPA, I have expertise in this
area. Having determined the board does indeed perform a
necessary function, the bill extends this entity by another four
years and addresses specific fees within the profession. The
measure was approved and now moves over to the House of
Representatives to be considered by committee, then by the
full membership.
As an accountant, I am in a profession that is all about
accountability. We make sure the numbers add up, and that
the financial decisions of our clients make good fiscal sense
and follow the law.
I’m pleased the Legislature is moving efficiently to approve
five bills aimed at making some of our top state agencies more
accountable to the public. These bills would enable the gov-
ernor to directly hire and fire the executive directors. Under
the cunent structure, these directors are hired by a board or
commission made up of members appointed by legislative
leaders and the governor— sometimes these members still
serving on the boards were appointed by the previous governor
and leaders.
The concept behind these bills is that whomever the governor
may be, they were chosen by the people to enact a specific
agenda and put public policy in place— but these directors may
not always be responsive to the current governor. The gover—
nor can be powerless to implement his or her agenda. Placing
these directors directly under the governor means the agencies
will be more responsive and it increases accountability. If the
people do not believe they are well served by these agencies
and directors, the public can go right to the top and hold our
chief executive responsibility at the polls.
I thank you for the privilege of being your voice at the State
Capitol. If you have any questions or concerns about legisla-
tion or other issues at the state level, please feel free to contact
my office by calling (405) 521-5572; or email dugger@
oksenategov.
It is Tuesday morning at 1:15 am. It is cloudy and 49
degrees. Monday was tough, as if the fires of Hell itself
licked out to consume me. Some times life is hard to
understand. I asked myself....why me, God? Isn’t there
enough on my small plate? Must I tackle, yet, another
corporate entity?
We, as Americans have the right to “good” service. We
should get what we pay for in goods and services. Our
income or where we live does not matter. Those at the
corporate level will listen, as long as, one of us speaks
up for justice and integrity. ‘ .
The truth is more will follow the pattern of “resistance”
to greed, rude representatives on the phone, sporadic
phone service and endless time on the phone.
I am tired of going to the same well and there is only
a small amount of water for me. I thirst for justice! I
speak out for my brothers and sisters who walk also in
this Inferno. . ’
I am taking a break from writing the story for this week
to pray with Jesus while sipping some lovely organic
Domes Over Cities?
Remember reading science fiction comics when you were a
kid and seeing pictures of big cities covered by huge transparent
bubble—like domes that kept them at a pleasant temperature and
protected them from rain, snow and storms? With all of the
storms that have hit the Northeast this year, I got to thinking about
what a blessing those domes would be today. Then, I remem—
beredbackinthe 1980’s and90’s some very prominent“experts”
predicted cities would soon have those domes over them.
For those of you who have traveled abroad and walked through
the great skylighted arcades like the one in Milan, Italy, you can
see how delightful it would be to have covered streets for outdoor
restaurants, exhibits, and activities. Maybe you can envision a
domed over city where windows could be open all year and
gardens could bloom in a dust free atmosphere. The domes
would appear as transparent films through which we could see
clouds, stars and the sky, and there would be many benefits for
those domes cities.
We were told that a dome over Manhattan and other large
cities would reduce heating and cooling energy losses by about
fifty-fold. In New York City, such a dome would reach from
the East River to the Hudson at 42nd Street on its east—west
axis, and would consist of a hemisphere two miles in diameter
and one mile high at its center. New York City and other large
cities around the world suffer water shortages year after year.
With domes over cities, melted snow and rain would run neatly
to a guttering clear of the pollution of the streets, down into a
canal around the dome’s lower rim and then to great collecting
reservoirs: ‘
The lower edge of the dome Would be at such a height as to
make it appear as an over—sized umbrella above the city, with
plenty of blue sky visible under its rim. The dome’s skins would
consist of reinforced wire, one-way vision, shatterproof glass
' and mist-plated aluminum. It would haVe an exterior appear—
ance of a mirrored dome, but from the inside, you could see out
without any conscious impairment. Now, how would you hold
that thing up?
With such large domes, the captive atmosphere would be
enough to support the structural shell by itself much like a large
pneumatic tire. The larger the dome, the lower the pressure
necessary to carry a given load..With such very large domes,
the air introduced with the air-conditioning would keep the
shell-sustaining pressure up. We were told that the cost of snow
removal in those great eastern and northern cities would pay for
the domes over those cities in ten years.
Sincelknow nothing about such things,l can’t help but wonder
why those things were never built. I
What would happen when a hurricane hit? How would those
gigantic donres handle winds of 80-90 miles per hour? And,
being a mile high, how would air traffic be affected on a cloudy
or foggy day? Maybe those “experts” never got around to
working those things out.
Well,I don’t expect to see any of those domed cities, but maybe
our grandchildren might benefit from them if they get it all figured
out and if We don’t all kill each other first. And then, the Lord
may come before that happens. Just a thought.
tea. Each of us have sacred areas that others need to
leave alone. Do not hurt my children. Do not lie to me
or about me. Most of all do not leave towers and/or
defective phone equipment needing work stop me from
singing Happy Birthday to my daughters....it has been
a tradition since they left home. 4
I live a simple and rather transparent life. Love my
family. Love my God. Plan to finish my book here at
the cottage. Live a life of service to God.
Take time to hug your kids, find out how their day was
and spend quality time with out cell phones. Teach them
to keep safe boundaries among their friends.
Praise those who are trying to get help for drug and
alcohol addiction. Let your wait staff and hair dresser
known how much you appreciate them. Write to you
city leaders. If you are able, attend public'meetingsvto
be aware of changes in the community.
Let our Sanitation workers know they do a good job
in all kinds of weather.
I look around me and see few Section 8 housing
choices, high utility bills, and unsafe, high rent older
homes. There is an urgent need for quality rest home
care. We lack adequate mental health care in our com-
munity.
Every night there is a terrible accident claiming lives;
usually from a drunk driver. The rapid rise of fires in
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