Steve Lewis served as Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1989-1990. He currently practices law in Tulsa and represents clients at the Capitol.
By: Steve Lewis
March 15, 2021 // Updated: March 15, 2021
Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville, has spent considerable time working to make the collection of court fines and fees both more efficient and less destructive to the lives of people who are legitimately unable to pay. She held an interim study… Read more [More...]
By: Steve Lewis
March 1, 2021 // Updated: March 1, 2021
House Speaker Charles McCall announced last week his intention to work on legislation to reduce the personal income tax and to eliminate the corporate income tax over five years. Last Tuesday, McCall removed his House Bill 2041 from the Rules… Read more [More...]
By: Steve Lewis
February 22, 2021 // Updated: February 22, 2021
Sen. Dave Rader, R-Tulsa, introduced Senate Bill 704 that will eliminate piling on more prison time for sentences in most non-violent felony cases when the defendant has a previous conviction. The law already provides a range of punishment for criminal… Read more [More...]
By: Steve Lewis
February 15, 2021 // Updated: February 17, 2021
For the past several months, the Oklahoma Health Care Authority has been in a race against the calendar to get contracts signed with private insurance companies to manage the state’s $2 billion Medicaid program before the Legislature was to go into session on Feb. 1. [More...]
By: Steve Lewis
February 8, 2021 // Updated: February 8, 2021
From the beginning of statehood, Article 5, Section 1 of the Oklahoma Constitution has provided that,
“The Legislative authority of the State shall be vested in a Legislature, consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives; but the people… Read more [More...]
By: Steve Lewis
February 1, 2021 // Updated: February 8, 2021
Updated to reflect the OHCA board voted 6-3 to move forward with the managed care contracts.
—
We have grown accustomed to confrontational government at the federal level. But the degree to which confrontation between the executive and the legislative… Read more [More...]
By: Steve Lewis
January 25, 2021 // Updated: January 25, 2021
There was some committee work by the Appropriations Subcommittees last week as they began budget hearings with state agencies. But for me and for many, center stage this week was in Washington, D.C. Seventy-eight eventful days from the Nov. 3… Read more [More...]
By: Steve Lewis
January 19, 2021 // Updated: January 19, 2021
The Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT), a supercharged legislative audit agency created in 2019, presented its first “rapid response evaluation” to the Legislative Oversight Committee last week. The evaluation was of the State Board of Equalization (BOE) and assessed the accuracy and communication of the revenue certification processes. This is likely because of the uncertainty created last session as the pandemic turned the February certification upside down — and perhaps a feeling by legislators that they did not get accurate data from which certification decisions were being made. [More...]
By: Steve Lewis
January 12, 2021 // Updated: January 12, 2021
Recently Sen. Rob Standridge, R-Norman, issued a press release expressing his continued opposition to the Medicaid managed care proposal of Gov. Stitt. The Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) issued a Request for Proposal for insurance companies to bid on becoming… Read more [More...]
By: Steve Lewis
January 4, 2021 // Updated: January 4, 2021
Tomorrow (Jan. 5) will be the “organizational day” for the Legislature. Article V, Section 26 of the Oklahoma Constitution provides that the Legislature shall meet in regular session on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January of each… Read more [More...]