Political Pulse

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - State Senate Democratic Leader Charlie
Laster says he’s ready to work with the new Republican majority and
is urging to GOP to shun payback politics.
The Shawnee Democrat outlined broad priorities of Democrats on
Friday. Laster says the Democratic minority will focus on policies
that energize the economy, protect the middle class and improve
access to affordable health care.
He says Democrats favor building on Oklahoma’s strength in the
energy sector, protecting education from budget cuts and making
college education more affordable.
Laster says the times dictate that Republicans and Democrats
work together and now is not the time for the GOP to “play payback
politics for the years they spent in the minority.”
Republicans have taken control of the Senate for the first time
in state history.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - House Republican leaders are proposing a
plan to increase the number of Oklahomans with private health
insurance.
The plan is based on the work of the House Health Care Reform
Task Force, whose members sought ways to reduce Oklahoma’s high
number of uninsured.
Part of the plan calls for strengthening and promoting the
state’s Insure Oklahoma program, a public-private partnership that
gives premium assistance to small business workers and employers.
The program has served as a model to other states and recently
received national attention for its creative approach in providing
affordable insurance.
The plan will also enable health insurance providers to offer
basic preventative plans with catastrophic coverage that relaxes
mandates so more low-cost choices can be offered to uninsured
Oklahomans.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - A state lawmaker is urging changes to state
law to make sure that disaster funding is readily available
following future ice storms and other disasters.
Legislation filed by Rep. Joe Dorman of Rush Springs would amend
the state Constitution to require that money from the
constitutional Rainy Day reserve fund be used to provide matching
funds for federal disaster relief appropriations.
In most cases, the federal government funds 75 percent of
disaster relief leaving the local entity with 12.5 percent and the
state with 12.5 percent. But the state has often been slow to
provide its 12.5 percent share, preventing the disbursement of
emergency funding.
Dorman says the state didn’t pay its share of disaster funding
for the 2000 ice storms until 2006.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Rep. Dan Boren was the only member of
Oklahoma’s Congressional delegation to vote for an $819 billion
bill designed to stimulate the U.S. economy today.
Boren – the delegation’s lone Democrat – and 243 other House
members favored the measure and 188 were against it in a vote that
fell primarily along party lines.
Boren says he didn’t like the bill’s size, but added that the
worst economic times since the Great Depression warranted big
action.
Reps. Tom Cole, Mary Fallin, Frank Lucas and John Sullivan, all
R-Okla., voted against the measure.
Cole and Fallin said the legislation contained reasonable
provisions such as tax cuts and spending on the infrastructure.
Lucas questioned whether any jobs at all would be created by the
package.
All the GOP members believed unnecessary spending had been added
to the measure and would add to an already bloated budget deficit.
The Senate is scheduled to consider the measure next.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Oklahoma’s grocery tax credit would be
expanded under a proposal to be considered by the state
legislature.
Under the existing credit, families earning less than $50,000 a
year can get a tax credit of $40 per household member to help
offset the expense of the state grocery tax. The proposal would
increase that credit to $60 and expand eligibility to $60,000.
Republican Rep. John Trebilcock of Broken Arrow and Democratic
Sen. Andrew Rice of Oklahoma City are backing the legislation.
Oklahoma is one of 16 states that levy a sales tax on groceries.
Trebilcock says this is a tough budget year for the state, so it
wouldn’t be practical to repeal the tax entirely, but expanding the
grocery tax credit would at least provide some relief to Oklahomans
who need it most.