The Hinton Record

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2020

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Property of OPS News Tracker and members of the Oklahoma Press Association.
 The Prague Times-Herald

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Pictured from left is Rep. Zack Taylor, Senator Roger Thompson, and Rep. Kevin Wallace during the Lincoln County Legislative
fi
Breakfast held at Prague City Hall. (Photo by Sharon Maggard)
fil

Lincoln County Legislative Breakfast a.m

ac
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By: Sharon Maggard Kevin Wallace had two part of Logan County. bills were filed and whittled co
The Lincoln County guests with him, Senator Rep. Wallace comment- down to 410. Fi
Legislative Breakfast was Roger Thompson and Rep- ed it was a little smaller “I look at everything like to
held at Prague City Hall resentative Zack Taylor. crowd in attendance due to it’s not broken,” Taylor said. Th
Friday, March 13, at 7:00 Thompson resides in Oke- Spring Break and the coro- “The speeding bill fine was de
a.m. Hosted by the Prague mah and represents District navirus. Even so, there were lowered to $100 for 1-10 did
Chamber of Commerce, 8, which takes in Okmulgee, around 35 - 40 people at the miles over and it is a sunset Ap
Vallery Feltman, Chamber McIntosh, Okfuskee and event. Wallace said they just bill. I made a bill for it to be
President, welcomed every- Muskogee counties. Taylor finished their deadline date permanent. The fine doesn’t fic
one and thanked the local represents District 28 which on Thursday and 460 bills need to go back up to $240, of
Masonic Lodge for prepar- takes in Pottawatomie and passed out of committee and the bill was passed by in
ing the breakfast. Seminole counties. Kevin and 410 bills going to the the House and is now at da
Since Senator Jason Wallace represents District Chamber. the Senate. We also have wi
Smalley resigned from his 32 which takes in all of “Budget negotiations a new bill to do away with Co
position, Representative Lincoln County and a small are still going on,” Wallace surprise medical billing for
said. “A lot of consideration consumers.” low
is being given to the COLA Senator Thompson took be
bill 3350.” the floor and stated he per-
Paden hosting Drive-in Prayer Rep. Taylor announced sonally believes it is time to
he is running for Smalley’s give a COLA to our retirees. Cl
The Paden community has started a Drive-in Prayer on seat. “I’m glad we passed “I’m glad to see Medicaid
Main Street event every Monday and Thursday at 8:00 p.m. the COLA bill out of House expansion moving forward.
There will be a short message and singing plus live stream and hope it moves forward. Stitt has submitted a plan mi
on Facebook. The first meeting on March 23 had around Our national motto ‘In God for Oklahoma to expand
40 vehicles parked on Main Street to hear Terry Pittman of We Trust’ will be put on Medicaid and we will have inf
the First Baptist Church give the message and the closing all state government build- to pay for it. We have $300 El
was singing “God Bless The USA.” The event will rotate ings.” million cash coming in for 13
among the local ministers. Taylor said that 1,362 (Cont. on page 2A) ok

Property of OPS News Tracker and members of the Oklahoma Press Association.
 The Prague Times-Herald
Mar 2A March 26, 2020
26
Legislative Breakfast
2020
Page this year; $112 million goes
A002 back to schools and that’s
Clip good news. We have $1 bil-
resized lion in savings but that’s not
50% quite two months worth of
From savings to run the state. The
A001 budget is set at $51 in oil,
and currently oil is at $31.
Russia and China problems
are hitting our oil and it’s a
major hit. It will really af-
fect our budget. We will be
at -4.6% at the end of the
year if our revenue failure
stays the same as today.”
Wallace commented
$128 billion will be needed
for Medicaid expansion
with $1.1 billion coming
back to the state. This will
be something that is funded
by Oklahoma that is not
backed by the federal gov-
ernment.
Thompson reminded
the attendees to be sure and
fill out the census form this
month. “It looks like Tulsa
will be picking up one rep-
resentative and one senator.
Rural Oklahoma runs our
state. It’s important to be
counted in the census for the
money coming back in, and
we don’t need an urban leg-
islature,” Thompson said.
Wallace said there is talk
that Lincoln County has
decreased in population. “I
don’t believe that. We need
to know the numbers of our
Property of OPS News Tracker and members of the Oklahoma Press Association.
THE PRAGUE TIMES-HERALD
(Continued from Page 1)
population in each county as
this is how the district lines
will be drawn up for the leg-
islature,” Wallace said.
It was announced a new
bill has passed out of House
to raise the amount of sig-
natures for a bill to get in.
The signatures will also be
required to come from every
county, and not from a small
area of the state.
Lincoln County Com-
missioner Lee Doolen spoke
about his limited funds and
said the amount hasn’t gone
up in the past 15 years. “The
amount of funds is currently
capped,” Doolen said.
Thompson commented
that roads and bridges are
allocated $120 million and
that the state has created
it’s own asphalt company to
help in this situation.
Taylor added the legisla-
ture is working to increase
the income for county com-
missioners by taking more
from the car and tag tax.
Wallace added that the
assessments of proportions
are written up pretty well for
the 77 counties to get their
fair share of funds.
Danny Morgan asked
about what is currently tak-
ing place regarding Epic
Charter School, stating it
doesn’t look good to him.
Thompson answered that
what you are reading in the
Tulsa World is correct on
the situation. “There will be
changes coming for charter
schools and the OSBI inves-
tigation is still going on,”
Thompson said.
Wallace commented
about Epic that he doesn’t
know if there will be crim-
inal charges against the
two owners of the school,
but there will be policy
changes for charter school
funding. Taylor added that
new bills will be created
for better transparency of
charter schools regarding
attendance, where the funds
are spent, etc. for a better
playing field with the public
schools.
Discussion was held
regarding affects to TSET
from the Medicaid expan-
sion funding. It was stated
Oklahoma will have to pay
for the expansion some
way and it will be put on
the ballot for the people to
vote. Taking away some of
the TSET funding will not
dismantle TSET, but only
use part of their funds for
the expansion. It will be
addressed in SQ 802. TSET
has two boards and one is a
financial board. The legis-
lature has talked with this
board about the Medicaid
funding and the board has
agreed to put in $25 million
for the Medicaid expansion
funding.
Wallace commented that
the Oklahoma Use Tax is up
at this time and that is cur-
rently helping the state.
If State Question 802
passes it will supercede the
governor’s plan he is work-
ing on regarding funding.
Before the meeting
closed Mike Haines, min-
ister at Deer Creek Baptist
Church, introduced himself
as a candidate for Senator
Smalley’s seat. The County
Clerk also announced she
will run for re-election.
h
Scam alert for w
coronavirus o
P
at-home tests
u
Attorney General Mike
Hunter issued a consumer b
alert on Tuesday, March
24, after receiving reports
of individuals attempting
to sell at-home tests for the
Coronavirus.
Attorney General Hunter
said Oklahomans need to be U
on high alert for scam artists c
trying to sell or administer t
home-testing kits for CO- n
VID-19. d
“There are currently no
credible test kits on the v
market for the Coronavirus c
that someone can administer r
in their home,” Attorney p
General Hunter said. “Ad- o
ditionally, no health care c
provider, or other individual t
credentialed to administer t