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Happy New Year! As an initial matter, I would like to extend a huge “thank you” to Miles Pringle, who served as co-chair of this committee last year and is now the OBA president. His rather large shoes are being filled by Teena Gunter, who is a longtime committee member and serves as general counsel at the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry. Welcome aboard, Teena! By the time you read this, we will have just completed our Feb. 2 Legislative Kickoff program. Details of that program will be provided after its conclusion for those who were unable to attend. Thanks so much to all the attorneys who spent their valuable time and effort bringing our membership helpful information about this year’s legislative agenda!

The deadline for filing bills and joint resolutions in both chambers was Jan. 18, and the first day of session is Feb. 5. Your committee is working hard, as always, to compile a list of bills that might be of interest to the OBA membership, and portions of that list will be included in next month’s journal once it is finalized. There are literally thousands of bills and joint resolutions that need to be sifted through, reviewed and categorized, so if any of you are currently aware of bills that may be of particular interest to the membership at large or any particular practice group, please do not hesitate to send them to the committee through the OBA Communities page. While you’re at it, make sure to sign up for the Legislative Monitoring Committee Communities page so that you receive all our updates. You can find all these links on your MyOKBar page on the OBA website.

For anyone interested in searching introduced bills and/or tracking specific legislation, there are a number of very useful tools to assist with this process that are free to the public for personal use. We are fortunate to have a Legislature that prioritizes informing the public through its website, www.oklegislature.gov. This website allows you to read the various versions of bills, track specific bills by number and register for email alerts when there are updates or changes. There is also a private service available with some free services at www.legiscan.com. If you are interested in a deeper dive or more detailed monitoring functionality, LegisScan has reasonably priced annual subscriptions starting at $25.

Our committee is looking forward to a productive and informative year, and we always welcome input from OBA members as to issues of broad importance that merit watching. If you are interested in becoming an active member of the committee, which plans our presentations, our next meeting will be held later this month at the Oklahoma Bar Center – keep your eyes peeled for the date and time. We look forward to serving you!

Author’s Note: Any views or opinions expressed herein are those of the author individually and are not intended to reflect those of Christina D. Stone & Associates or of any State Farm Insurance company.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shanda McKenney is a co-chair of the Legislative Monitoring Committee. She is a practicing attorney with Christina D. Stone & Associates, employees of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.