Leadership Oklahoma, DLT "Clue" and upcoming deadlines

With the elections behind us, work for the upcoming session will be ramping up. On Wednesday, half of the Senate will take their oaths of office, including eight new members. I’m so pleased that two of those new members are women – Ally Seifried of Claremore and Kristen Thompson of Edmond. As I mentioned last week, I’m extremely passionate about helping encourage women to run for leadership positions whether it’s in the Legislature, Congress or the local school board or city council. Women bring a unique set of skills, knowledge and experience that is greatly needed in all levels of government and public service. We’re thrilled to welcome these ladies to our nonpartisan Legislative Women’s Caucus.

New members mean new office assignments for a lot of the senators, but fortunately, I love my office on the 2nd floor and have chosen not to move. If you come to the Capitol in the next couple of weeks, please know that there will be a lot of shuffling and noise as members get settled into their new offices.

We’re also less than a month from the bill request deadline on Friday, Dec. 9. I already have some requests in but will be submitting more in the coming weeks. If there are any issues you feel need to be addressed this coming session, please contact me as soon as possible to discuss them. The request deadline provides a placeholder, so to speak, for bills we plan on filing by the Jan. 19 deadline.

Our Republican Caucus retreat was this week, and we decided which issues we want to focus on in the upcoming session and created our agenda. I’ll discuss that more in the coming weeks as we announce our plans.

Unfortunately, because I had Leadership Oklahoma on Friday, I didn’t get to attend any of the veterans’ events in our district, but I saw many of them online and they were beautiful. Thank you to all of our active military members and veterans. We’re eternally grateful for your service and sacrifice!

This weekend, our Leadership Oklahoma class visited the University of Tulsa to discuss and learn about economic development around the state. I enjoyed meeting some of their esteemed faculty as well as students and members of the cheer squad. On Friday night, the university held a special reception for us at their football stadium, which was a special treat to see our names on their jumbotron.

Weekend before last was a busy one as well. Stephen and I took the kids to vote. It’s important to teach our young people the value of being involved in the democratic process and letting their voices be heard.

Our family also saw the Duncan Little Theater’s production of “Clue.” The Legislature does a lot to fund these types of small theaters statewide through the Oklahoma Arts Council. The arts play a vital role in small communities, providing students and adults alike an avenue to express themselves while entertaining their families, friends, and neighbors, as well as promoting tourism.

Write to Senator Jessica Garvin, State Capitol, 2300 N. Lincoln Blvd. Room 237, Oklahoma City, OK, 73105, email: Jessica.Garvin@oksenate.gov or call (405) 521-5522.