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Legislature Closes The Books On 2021 Regular Session

Matt Trotter
/
KWGS

The final motions of the legislative session were made in the Oklahoma House and Senate before noon on Thursday.

Gavels fell one last time as the legislature adjourned sine die after a 67-day session.

"I love you all to varying degrees, and I look forward to continuing to work to move Oklahoma forward. Thank you for your dedication, thank you for your family members who sacrificed, your business partners who sacrificed while you're up here dedicated to public service," President Pro Tem Greg Treat told senators before they adjourned.

House Speaker Charles McCall praised his members for their accomplishments. They dealt with a record-breaking winter storm in February, but those delays were nothing compared to the upheaval the COVID-19 pandemic brought to last year's session.

"Many things that we took up this year were put off because of COVID last year. What a great rebound this year for our chamber, also for the state of Oklahoma. I know that we're all excited to have returned to a much better situation than anticipated when we left last year," McCall said.

Lawmakers tout their $9 billion budget, which included personal and corporate income tax cuts, and significant changes to education policies this session, but they also did things like pass a flurry of new abortion restrictions, change state law to name a stretch of panhandle highway after former President Donald Trump, make Oklahoma a Second Amendment sanctuary state and suspend rules to get bills heard after deadlines. 

The legislature adjourned one day ahead of its constitutionally required deadline. Lawmakers will return to the capitol this fall for a special session on state redistricting. 

Matt Trotter joined KWGS as a reporter in 2013. Before coming to Public Radio Tulsa, he was the investigative producer at KJRH. His freelance work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and on MSNBC and CNN.
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