Oklahoma House and Senate complete process for filing bills

CapitolBeatOK Staff Report

Published 21-Jan-2011

At the conclusion of the filing process on Thursday, January 20 – the last day for state representatives to file legislation – there were 1,168 bills and 41 joint resolutions filed in the Oklahoma House of Representatives for the 2011 legislative session.

Last year, the House Chief Clerk’s Office reported that 1,153 bills and 31 joint resolutions filed were filed in the Oklahoma House for the 2010 session.

In the state Senate, 969 bills and 44 joint resolutions were filed by yesterday’s 4 p.m. deadline Last year 1082 bills and 82 joint resolutions were filed, with 860 Senate Bills and 38 Senate Joint Resolutions carried over from the 2009 session.

The total for the 2011 bill filing in the upper chamber does not include appropriations shell bills. Under a change in Senate rules this year, appropriations and redistricting bills are not subject to the deadlines controlling the processing of substantive, or policy, bills. Senate leaders say this change was made in an effort to improve efficiency and increase transparency in the legislative process.

The public can read and download current legislation by going to the official State Senate website at www.oksenate.gov and following the link for legislation at the top of the homepage.

Free computer training will be offered to anyone interested in learning how to track legislation online. The training will be held on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at 9:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. in room 419-C. These one hour sessions will be repeated in 419-C on Thursday, January 27 at 9:30 a.m. and again at 1:00 p.m. There will also be streaming video available of the training sessions on the Senate website.

The 2011 legislative session will officially get underway on Monday, February 7.