Summary

We discuss the loosening of gun laws, find out who actually writes bills, and chat with Senator Greg McCortney about the details of "Unity Bill" that will tweak Oklahoma's new medical marijuana law. Plus a few tidbits about influenza among animals. 

Articles Discussed

• House passes constitutional carry (NewsOK)

• Edmond mayoral race involves dead man (NonDoc)

• Should Oklahomans know who writes bills? (News9)

Key Take-aways

• This week the Oklahoma House of Representatives passed HB2597, which would allow anyone over the age of 21 to carry a gun, openly or concealed, without a license or any training. (There are some exclusions, such as felons, persons with documented severe mental illness, etc.) The bill has broad support in the legislature and is thus expected to pass.

• The state legislature’s medical marijuana working group (aka the “Joint Committee”) passed some rules this week that help regulate the medical marijuana industry in Oklahoma. As working group co-chair Senator Greg McCortney explains in this episode, the rules do things such as set requirements for product labels, potency & THC content level requirements, fertilizer and soil requirements for grow operations, etc. The rules do not add any restrictions on who can purchase medical marijuana, they just clear up some of the gray areas of the law and create some consumer safety regulations for the industry.

• Grant Hermes discussed a story he did this week about how we, the public, don’t really know who actually writes many of the bills that get passed through the legislature. Many are written by individuals and organizations who are outside of Oklahoma entirely, and the bills may or may not actually be in the best interest of the public. However, current law does not require legislators to disclose who wrote or requested the bills they run. Hmph.

• And finally, we ended this episode with the annual reading some #oklegvalentines tweets. The link has lots of good ones, but we’ve embedded a few of our favorites below.