Weekly Legislative Update 2/15

The following bills are scheduled to be heard in committee meetings next week. Please complete the following action alerts.

Monday:

On Monday the Senate Retirement and Insurance Committee will hear SB 747. This bill is authored by Senator Standridge and prohibits insurers from discriminating against the insured based on vaccination status. You can read the full bill here.

The Senate Retirement and Insurance Committee meets on Monday 2/15/2021 at 10 AM! So make sure you complete this action alert as soon as possible!

Step 1: Copy and paste the following email addresses into the ‘cc’ portion of your email.

marty.quinn@oksenate.gov, john.montgomery@oksenate.gov, joe.newhouse@oksenate.gov, brenda.stanley@oksenate.gov, zack.taylor@oksenate.gov, warren.hamilton@oksenate.gov, shane.jett@oksenate.gov

IMPORTANT! *If one of these Senators is the Senator for your district, please email them separately, and use the subject line “FROM YOUR CONSTITUENT: Yes on SB 747″*

Step 2: Write in the subject line “Yes on SB 747”

Step 3: Write a few short reasons why you support this bill. If you have ever been turned away from a doctor due to declining vaccinations, please mention this in your email.

Step 4: End the email with your full name and address. Legislative assistants will verify that you live and vote in the state of Oklahoma.

Step 5: Call the members of the Senate Retirement and Education Committee and ask them to vote yes on SB 658.
Senator Quinn: 405-521-5555
Senator Montgomery: 405-521-5567
Senator Hamilton: 405-521-5604
Senator Jett: 405-521-5539
Senator Newhouse: 405-521-5675
Senator Stanley: 405-521-5584
Senator Taylor: 405-521-5547

Tuesday:

Two bills are scheduled to be heard in the House Health Services and Long Term Care Committee on Tuesday at 1:30 PM.

The first bill is HB 1677 which is authored by Representative Stark. This bill creates a ‘compassionate caregiver’ designation for a family member or friend of a resident inside a nursing home. This person must be allowed access to the resident, with reasonable health precautions. To read the full bill, click here.

The second bill is HB 2566 and it is authored by Representative Caldwell. It has a similar goal in mind. This bill says that every long-term care facility must provide immediate access to a resident by immediate family and other relatives of the resident. You can read the full bill here.

Step 1: Copy and paste the following email addresses into the ‘cc’ portion of your email.

chad.caldwell@okhouse.gov, marilyn.stark@okhouse.gov, dean.davis@okhouse.gov, jadine.nollan@okhouse.gov, trish.ranson@okhouse.gov, cynthia.roe@okhouse.gov

IMPORTANT! *If one of these Representatives is the Representative for your district, please email them separately, and use the subject line “FROM YOUR CONSTITUENT: Yes on HB 1677 & HB 2566″*

Step 2: Write in the subject line “Yes on HB 1677 & HB 2566”

Step 3: Write a few short reasons why you support this bill. If your loved one was impacted by the shut down of long term care facilities, please include this information.

Step 4: End the email with your full name and address. Legislative assistants will verify that you live and vote in the state of Oklahoma.

Step 5: Call the members of the Senate Retirement and Education Committee and ask them to vote yes on HB 1677 and HB 2566.

Representative Caldwell: 405-557-7317 (Representative Caldwell authored HB 2566, so you only need to ask that he support HB 1677 as well)
Representative Stark: 405-557-7403 (Representative Stark authored HB 1677, so you only need to ask that she support HB 2566 as well)
Representative Davis: 405-557-7362
Representative Nollan: 405-557-7390
Representative Ranson: 405-557-7411
Representative Roe: 405-557-7365

 

Wednesday:

If you have signed up for Wednesday’s (2/17) Mini Capitol Day, please watch out for an email from us confirming or canceling this mini Capitol Day. We are carefully watching the weather and road conditions. We will make a final decision by Tuesday.

Thursday:

SB 765 will be heard in the business, commerce, and tourism committee on Thursday morning. We need everyone to take a few minutes to contact the members of the committee and ask them to vote YES.

SB 765 is a bill authored by Senator Bullard that prohibits mandatory workplace vaccinations. Click here to read the full text of the bill.

Step 1: Copy and paste the following email addresses into the ‘cc’ portion of your email.

james.leewright@oksenate.govbill.coleman@oksenate.govmicheal.bergstrom@oksenate.gov,george.burns@oksenate.govnathan.dahm@oksenate.govjessica.garvin@oksenate.govjoe.newhouse@oksenate.govlonnie.paxton@oksenate.govadam.pugh@oksenate.govcody.rogers@oksenate.gov

*If one of these Senators is the Senator for your district, please email them separately, and use the subject line “FROM YOUR CONSTITUENT: yes on SB 765″*

Step 2: Write in the subject line “Yes on SB 765”

Step 3: Write a few short reasons why you support this bill. If you are currently mandated to take vaccinations for your job, please include this information.

Step 4: End the email with your full name and address.

Step 5: Call the members of the Business, Commerce, and Tourism Committee and ask them to vote yes on SB 765.
Senator Leewright- 405-521-5528
Senator Coleman- 405-521-5581
Senator Bergstrom- 405-521-5561
Senator Burns – 405-521-5614
Senator Dahm- 405-521-5551
Senator Garvin – 405-521-5522
Senator Newhouse-  405-521-5675
Senator Paxton – 405-521-5537
Senator Pugh- 405-521-5622
Senator Rogers – 405-521-5600