The committee process has begun within the legislature and members are now at the capitol going through the bills that have been filed to this point. The deadline for filing legislation is Thursday, so all the ideas should be available to read soon on the House of Representatives website (http://www.okhouse.gov/) if you would like to review them.
On Tuesday, I served on the Appropriations and Budget review of Government Modernization. This committee hopes to review current government agency practices and hopefully implement standards that will cut costs, such as switching most work to paperless, or electronic, transmission. I think there is much potential that can come from this committee and I look forward to working with them.
On Wednesday, I will be watching the special "Crystal Darkness" with students from Elgin. This show was produced and aired on all local channels to try to combat the meth problem facing many families across our state. On Thursday, I will be attending the Apache Chamber of Commerce banquet. This annual banquet recognizes the "town treasures" by highlighting three residents who have contributed to the success of the community. This Friday, my Rotary club will be hosting the Warren Spahn event which honors the top left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball, who happens to be C.C. Sabathia this year. If you are interested in tickets for this, please call (580) 476-3745.
This past week had several events which I attended. I had the chance to be the keynote speaker to ABATE, the association of motorcyclists who lobby for laws regarding their passion of riding. I also was a presenter at Leadership Oklahoma on the legislative process and was able to attend the OSU vs. Texas A&M basketball game with Lieutenant Governor Jari Askins. I toured the prison at Lexington and visited with the warden and other officials about recidivism rates and the need for additional programs such as prison ministries to assist the inmates. I also had the chance to sit in on the Oklahoma Rural Fire Coordinators meeting and discuss potential new laws regarding fire protection.
On that final note, I want to extend an invitation to you to come to Fletcher on Friday, January 30th prior to the Fletcher/Apache game. I will be hosting a chili cook-off in their school cafeteria as a thank-you for re-electing me to serve you as your State Representative. This will be free of charge, but we are asking you to make donations which will go to a fund to purchase a generator for each community to use in case of disaster striking. I've been working on this project since last year when Cement lost power in the entire community due to the ice storms. The idea is to have a generator in each community to use to set up a shelter for citizens to go to in case something like this happens again. I'm working on grants and donations to make this effort possible. Cookers will be able to set up at 4:30 and it will run until 6:00 when senior night begins. The chili winners will be announced during the intermission of the games.
It is an honor to represent your views at the State Capitol. If you wish to contact me and discuss one of these or another issue, I can be reached at my office in Oklahoma City toll-free at 1-800-522-8502, or directly at 1-405-557-7305. My e-mail address is joedorman@okhouse.gov at work. My mailing address is PO Box 559, Rush Springs, OK 73082 and my website is http://www.joedorman.com/ on the Internet. Thank you for taking time to read this column and I look forward to seeing you soon.
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