Several major bills likely to get Gov. Kevin Stitt’s signature
The bills range from abortion to school bathroom policies, as well as how the state will spend its money for the next year.
The bills range from abortion to school bathroom policies, as well as how the state will spend its money for the next year.
The bills range from abortion to school bathroom policies, as well as how the state will spend its money for the next year.
At the Capitol, several major bills are likely to get the signature of Gov. Kevin Stitt.
The bills range from abortion to school bathroom policies, as well as how the state will spend its money for the next year.
One bill that will immediately make an impact if signed is House Bill 4327 which was passed last week by state lawmakers, banning abortions at conception.
"Science tells us that the moment of fertilization is when the DNA is created so the child's DNA is set at that moment," said Rep. Wendi Stearman, (R) Collinsville.
The ban, enforced through civil lawsuits, has been deemed one of the strictest bans in the country. The expectation is that just the threat of a lawsuit will bring an end to abortion in Oklahoma.
"Ideally that would be the solution, that's what we have seen in Texas," Stearman said.
Another bill waiting to be signed is Senate Bill 615 which would require students to use the school bathroom that matches their biological sex assigned at birth. If signed, it would go into effect at the start of the coming school year and schools would be penalized for any violation.
"They would lose five percent of their state funding which of course depends on how much money they bring in as a district and what their population is, and then we also gave empowered parents to file a civil litigation against the school for not following state law," said Sen. David Bullard, (R) Durant.
The bill that is passed every year, the state’s budget, also needs the governor’s signature. Unlike the other bills, he can choose to approve parts of it and veto others.
"I think it's a great budget this year and as I made a comment during the meeting, we worked from the ground up, a lot of people making the budget from the dollars down, we want to talk to our communities and find out what they need, so we did," said Sen. Roger Thompson, (R) Okemah.
All these bills would have to be signed or vetoed by the end of the week or the governor could choose to take no action. In that case, the bills still would become law.