Opinion/Column
The Legislature took measured steps this year to ensure Oklahoma has the most free and fair elections in the country.
After working with state and local election officials throughout interim, House Republicans focused on two areas to improve elections: Voting and initiative petitions.
We advanced 10 measures ensuring only legally registered voters can vote in our elections. These bills enhanced our election integrity and transparency.
Out-of-state activists have targeted Oklahoma's constitution through the initiative petition process over the last several years, cutting rural Oklahomans out of the petition process. I voted for multiple measures aimed at limiting out-of-state interference and ensuring more Oklahomans' voices are heard in the initiative process.
The bottom line is Oklahomans want elections to be as secure as possible. If citizens don't have confidence in our election system, our democracy loses.
House Republicans will continue to improve integrity and security without harming anyone's right to vote.
We also fought this week to deliver much-needed tax relief to our constituents. Legislators returned to the Capitol on Monday to meet in our third special session, which was called by the Governor to deliver tax relief by eliminating the state grocery sales tax and lowering the personal income tax.
The Governor's special session call identified personal income tax and the state grocery sales tax as the two areas of tax relief we could work on. The House approved both of these tax relief policies during our regular session earlier this year, both of which I was proud to vote for, but unfortunately, the bills didn't have the necessary support in the Senate to make it to the Governor's desk.
By the end of our third special session, House Republicans had approved several bills as possible ways to reduce personal income tax and lower or eliminate the state grocery sales tax. These bills each moved to the Senate for their consideration.
We chose to pass several approaches to the same policy so the Senate and Governor could choose which policies to ultimately pursue. The House is committed to delivering tax relief to our constituents and we would be happy to see any of these policies take effect. What matters is delivering real results for our constituents, not playing political games.
As always, please reach out with any questions or thoughts you would like to share. You may reach me at (405) 557- 7365 or cynthia.roe@okhouse. gov. Thank you for the honor of serving House District 42!
