The Second Session of the 60th Legislature convened Feb. 2. The House first took care of some routine business, such as first reading the1,628House bills and joint resolutions that are eligible to be considered this session.
We then met in joint session with the Senate to hear the governor's annual State of the State address. The governor shared some things he considers successes from his last seven years in office, and he passed along some ideas he would like to see become law this year. The Legislature will weigh his priorities as we progress through the rest of our session.
The remainder of the week was spent with various House policy committees meeting to hear the first round of bills. Each non-budget bill must pass both a policy and an oversight committee. Budget bills go first through Appropriations and Budget subcommittees then to full A&B before they are eligible to be considered on the House floor.
Committee work will take us into March. Once bills pass in the House, they move to the Senate for consideration in committees and on the floor of that chamber. Senate bills undergo the same process. Only when bills pass in both legislative chambers are they sent to the governor for his consideration of signing them into law.
On Tuesday, I was visited by several homeschool families from my district who made the trip to the State Capitol for Homeschool Day. It's always great to see people from the district, particularly young people who are learning about the legislative process. Visitors got to attend the legislative session and then tour the Capitol. Those who were interested, sat in on committee meetings.
It will be a busy session. Because this is our Second Regular Session, bills that did not advance last year are still eligible to be heard this year. This includes 1,673 House measures and 920 from the Senate.
Just a reminder that all legislation can be viewed on our House website, okhouse.gov, and any committee meeting or legislative session can be viewed by looking under News & Media and then Live Proceedings. The calendar on the left can be used to find archived meetings. There's also a wealth of information about the state budget available under the Budget HQ tab on the front page of our website. The Budget Transparency Portal shows appropriations for the current Fiscal Year, 2026, as well as agency requests for the next Fiscal Year, 2027. There's plenty of historical data as well.
R e m e m b e r , i f I c a n h e l p y o u w i t h anything, please do not hesitate to reach out: (405) 557-7383 or Josh. Cantrell@OKHouse.gov.
Josh Cantrell serves District 49 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. His district includes Love County and parts of Carter and Marshall counties.