OKLAHOMA CITY – Sen. Nathan Dahm, R-Broken Arrow, has filed multiple pieces of legislation seeking to advance a wide range of conservative public policies.

The conservative stalwart’s first press release of the New Year takes aim at administrative “bloat” and increasing costs for Higher Education.

“As university students return to school this week, we must do everything we can to protect them from rising costs due to administrative bloat and ensure our state universities provide an education worthy of the cost,” Dahm said.

Senate Bill 114 would prohibit universities from raising their tuition, fees, or fines after the 2022-2023 school year, freezing the current rates.

“Over the past twenty years, the cost of a college education has skyrocketed,” Dahm said. “Stoked by increased government subsidies and the ready availability of student loans, tuition and fees increase every single year. My bill will put a stop to these yearly increases.”

Senate Concurrent Resolution 1 would require the Board of Regents to submit a report to the Legislature detailing information such as total faculty/teaching staff at each institution, courses and hours taught by said staff, the tenure policy of each institution, and the total number of tenured faculty at each institution.

“This is a basic transparency measure to ensure that we as the Legislature have the information we need to make policy and appropriations decisions,” Dahm said.

Senate Bill 111 prohibits institutions of higher education in the state of Oklahoma from accepting funds from individuals or entities affiliated or associated with the Chinese government.

“Despite the closure of the ‘Confucius Institute’ on the University of Oklahoma campus, the Chinese government still maintains ties to OU,” Dahm said. “This bill is an attempt to rid our universities of their influence.”

Protecting Oklahomans on roadways

Three more proposals from Dahm would, he said, protect Oklahoma drivers from unnecessary headaches on the road.

Senate Bill 82 would prohibit law enforcement entities from requiring officers, justices, or judges to fulfill traffic citation quotas.

“At the end of each month, and especially nearing the end of the year, many Oklahomans are concerned about receiving a traffic ticket due to an arbitrary ‘quota’ that traffic officers are forced to meet,” Dahm said. “This bill will ensure that law enforcement officers are free to protect and serve our communities instead of being pushed to bolster revenue.”

Senate Bill 84 would prohibit the use of red light cameras, which take photos of vehicles that pass through intersections during a red light.

“Research indicates that in some cases accidents increased after red light cameras were installed,” Dahm said. “In some instances, municipalities shortened the yellow light to increase the chance of catching someone on a red-light violation, thus increasing revenue. Such blatant disregard for public safety just to generate more revenue is unacceptable and should not be allowed in our state.”

Senate Bill 83 would ban the detention, interdiction, or other disparate treatment of an individual solely on the basis that the person drives or rides on a motorcycle or wears motorcycle-related clothing or paraphernalia.

“Disparate treatment based on clothing or vehicle type doesn’t make our roadways any safer,” Dahm said. “Law enforcement must have a reasonable and articulable suspicion to justify a detention or investigatory stop of a motorcyclist.”

Teachers’ First Amendment rights

Just before year’s end, Sen. Dahm filed legislation requiring school districts to inform teachers of their First Amendment rights and obtain reauthorization every year before deducting union dues from teachers’ paychecks.

“Four and a half years ago, in Janus v. AFSCME, the United States Supreme Court ruled that collecting public sector union dues from non-consenting public employees violates the First Amendment,” Dahm said.

“Our state has done a poor job informing teachers of their First Amendment right not to join or pay dues to teacher’s unions, and this bill aims to fix that.”

Senate Bill 75 requires school districts to provide a written statement to teachers, informing them that they have a First Amendment right to refrain from joining, paying dues, or making political contributions to any professional employee organization and that they will not be discriminated against for refusing to join or financially support such an organization.

“This bill ensures that teachers are aware of their rights and that the teacher’s unions actually have the informed consent of their members,” Dahm said.

“Teachers who don’t want to continue paying dues won’t have to proactively take steps to end dues deductions, they simply won’t sign the re-authorization form.”

Note: Pat McGuigan prepared this story for posting, working from three recent press releases sent from state Senate staff.