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Podcast Ep. 69 | Why "Women's Issues" Matter (with Liz Charles and Bo Broadwater)

Episode Summary

The first month of the 57th legislature has been dominated by guns and abortion, and this week has been no exception. We're joined by the Liz Charles of the Oklahoma Women's Coalition and Bo Broadwater of The Journal Record to discuss permitless carry, "trigger laws," and what issues OWC is following most closely. Along the way we also discuss zoos, horoscopes, and a *very* awkward phrase that was used by a lawmaker this week.

Articles Discussed

Take-Aways From This Episode

  • This Thursday (2/28) is the deadline for when bills must be heard in committee in their chamber of origin. Basically, any bills that don’t pass out of committee this week are essentially dead this session.

    • I use the word “essentially” there because, of course, there are always “zombie bills” that pop back up later in session. We didn’t really talk about them during this episode, but it bears mentioning that as as the session progresses, leadership can insert language into some of those shell bills, and that language can pretty much be anything. We don’t anticipate much of those shenanigans this session, but you never know.

    • The next step in the lifecycle of a bill is to pass the floor in the committee of origin. The deadline for that is in two weeks - March 14th.

  • Governor Stitt officially signed his first bill into law this week. It was HB2597, aka ““Permitless Carry” or Constitutional Carry,” which will allow pretty much anyone age 21 and older to carry a firearm openly or concealed and to do so without a permit or any type of firearm training. (Some people are still excluded, namely people who have been convicted of a felony and people with documented, serious mental health issues.) The bill has been very controversial, and was opposed by many groups, including law enforcement, Moms Demand Action, and others.

    • It used to be that if you saw someone carrying a gun who wasn’t in a law enforcement uniform, you could probably safely assume they were up to something no good. This bill changes that in a big way. Now if pretty much anyone can carry a gun around in public.

  • Another big, controversial bill was passed out of a Senate committee this week. SB 195 is a “trigger bill,” meaning that if the US Supreme Court overturned Roe vs Wade, then SB 195 would be “triggered” into action and immediately roll back Oklahoma abortion laws to where they were before 1973 (which is when the Roe vs. Wade decision was made).

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Podcast Ep. 68 | Show Me the Money

Summary

The State of Oklahoma has some extra money this year...or does it? We discuss how much, where it's going, and status updates on bills about guns, HIV education, and Medicaid expansion.

Articles Discussed

Take Action

Do you like The West Wing Weekly? Would you like Josh & Hrishi to come to OKC? We’ve been in contact with their agent - they said they need to know how badly OKC wants them to come. So here’s what we need you to do: tweet at them (@westwingweekly), FB them, email them, whatever. Blow ‘em up. They are welcome to come to any of the watch party dates we already have scheduled or we would be happy to add a new date that works for them. We can make this happen, but not without your help!

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Podcast Ep. 67 | Guns, Weed, and #oklegvalentines

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

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.

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Podcast Ep. 66 | Kevin Calvey & The Blue Eyed Butcher

County commissioners who are also lobbyists, Stitt's first State of the State, and a surprisingly detailed recounting of a Lifetime movie. (with Krystal Yoseph & Grant Hermes)

News Round-Up

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Announcements

Main Discussion

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Podcast Ep. 65 | All About Agendas

This week it seemed like every party and organization released their legislative agenda - including Let's Fix this. So we decided to compare & contrast the big ones to parse out what policies we think will actually get passed this session.  

Summary

This week it seemed like every party and organization released their legislative agenda - including Let's Fix this. So we decided to compare & contrast the big ones to parse out what policies we think will actually get passed this session.  

Legislative Agendas

In lieu of news articles…

We thought we’d share those quotes we referenced during this episode.

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Podcast Ep. 64 | 2019 Predict-O-Rama

We discuss Governor Stitt's first Executive Orders and cast our predictions for the 2019 Oklahoma legislative session. 

Summary

We're joined by Krystal Yoseph to discuss Governor Stitt's first Executive Orders and cast our predictions for the 2019 Oklahoma legislative session. 

Announcements

News Articles

Take-aways

  • OK Policy Annual Budget Summit:

    • State will have more money to spend, but most of it is already allocated.

    • Lots of discussion about expanding Medicaid, even from Republicans

  • 2019 Legislative Predictions & what bills we’re watching

    • HB2328 - deals with use of excessive force by law enforcement

    • SB592 - requires protests/rallies at the Capitol to get a $50,000 bond

    • HB2094 - makes it a misdemeanor to disrupt the Legislature

    • HB2214 - Bans teacher walkouts

    • HB1413 - Holds lawmakers responsible if they author laws that are ruled unconstitutional

    • HB2456 - Bans conversion therapy with children

    • HB1269 - Makes SQ780 retroactive

    • SB102 - Raises minimum wage to $10.50/hour

    • HB2597 - allows anyone over the age of 18 to openly carry a firearm without a license

  • There will be more listed in our official Predict-O-Rama contest, will be released this week. Sign up for our Newsletter to get the announcement first!

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Podcast Episodes 60-62: All Things Election

We recorded two episodes the week prior to the election that didn’t get posted here, so I’m combining them with our post-election recap for a comprehensive election post!

In episode 60 we revealed that Scott and I have been working on an Oklahoma-only election forecast model, similar (though not nearly as advanced) as the good folks at FiveThirtyEight. We also talked about “voting plans,” what they are and why you need one.

Big news! We reveal our election projection data model and who may (or may not) win the Governor's race. We also talk you through how to make a voting plan, which is more helpful & imporant than you might think!

In episode 61 we briefly discussed the races we’d be keeping a close eye on (and why) during election night.

We give a quick run-down of the state races we're watching this Election Day and which counties our forecast model says might be the most competitive. 

And last but not least, in episode 62 we discussed what happened during the election, why Stitt beat Edmondson, and what this means for the upcoming 2019 legislative session.

Quick recap of the election, what we think happened, and where this leaves us to start the 2019 legislative session. 

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Podcasts Eps. 58 & 59 | Recap of a debate and follow-up with several candidates

This week is a banner week for #LetsPodThis - we posted not one but two episodes! (Okay, yes, we did that once last month as well. What can we say - it’s a busy time of year!)

This week starts with Episode 58, “On the Road Again,” in which we catch up with two candidates who have been travelling the state together during their campaigns - Democratic candidate for Labor Commissioner Fred Dorrell and Democratic candidate for Insurance Commissioner Kimberly Fobbs. 

We catch up with candidates who have been travelling the state together during their campaigns - Democratic candidate for Labor Commissioner Fred Dorrell and Democratic candidate for Insurance Commissioner Kimberly Fobbs. 

Next is Episode 59, “CD5 Debate and another Labor Commissioner candidate,” which contains a brief recap of the debate between candidates for US Congress, incumbent Steve Russell (R) and challenger Kendra Horn (D), followed by an interview with the Republican candidate for Labor Commissioner, Leslie Osborn. 

A very brief recap of the debate between candidates for US Congress, incumbent Steve Russell (R) and challenger Kendra Horn (D), followed by an interview with Republican candidate for Labor Commissioner, Leslie Osborn. 

The debate between Russell and Horn was hosted by NonDoc, and we highly recommend you read their full recap of the event. This is a race that is garnering national attention - which is unusual for Oklahoma congressional races for the last decade or so.

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Podcast Ep. 57 | 2018 State Questions Guide

We discuss the pros and cons of each of the five state questions that are on your ballots this year. 

Summary

We discuss the pros and cons of each of the five state questions that are on the ballot this year.

Announcements

Reminder that Nov 6th is Election Day - which means you need to vote. And then, in the evening following, you’re all invited to join us for The Election Night Show!

Links & Articles Discussed

Take-Aways

We discussed the five state questions that appear on the ballot this November. We’ll publish our own voter guide later this week, but until then, here are two excellent guides that we highly recommend:

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Podcast Ep. 56 | Everybody likes sandwiches

A brief update on Oklahoma's medical marijuana situation, a discussion of partisan symbolism, and a visit with Democratic candidate for Attorney General, Mark Myles.

Announcements

Articles & Links Discussed

Take-Aways

  • As the Oklahoma legislature grapples with how to implement medical marijuana, there are a number of concerns being voiced from nearly every profession.

  • This week, the #okleg Joint Working Group (yes really) heard from the banking community. Since marijuana is still illegal at the federal level, banks are hesitant to work with anyone in the marijuana industry. That means businesses must use cash and may be forced to hold on to large amounts of it. It also means the state must collect sales tax in cash…which poses big issues for how that happens as well.

  • However, other states seem to be handling it just fine, so maybe things will work out in Oklahoma.

  • Our guest for this episode, Mark Myles, is running for Attorney General. During the interview, Mr. Myles speaks broadly about his background as an attorney (as both a prosecutor and defense attorney) and his perspective on the role of the Oklahoma AG both now and in the future.

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