/The Enid News and Eagle top story
By Kayla Branch | The Frontier Apr 24, 2021
The Enid News and Eagle /The Enid News and Eagle
The past week at the state Capitol was one of the busiest and most contentious this session, filled with political squabbles, impromptu protests and the last large legislative deadline.
Early in the week, Republican leaders in the House and Senate disagreed on a bill that would push back against what theyâve called federal overreach.
This later led to Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, facing calls for removal from the Oklahoma Second Amendment Association.
Dozens of association members came to the Capitol to protest Treatâs decision to change the federal-pushback bill that he said was unconstitutional. The group later apologized to Treat.
TRANSCRIPT:
Dick Pryor: This is Capit0l Insider, your weekly look inside Oklahoma politics, policy and government. I m Dick Pryor with eCapitol news director, Shawn Ashley. Our guest this week is State Representative Cyndi Munson, Democrat from District 85 in Oklahoma City. Representative Munson is House Minority Caucus chair. And thank you for joining us.
State Rep. Cyndi Munson: Thank you for having me.
Dick Pryor: There s just a little over a month left in the legislative session. How would you rate it so far?
State Rep. Cyndi Munson: (laughs) Good to know that there s only a month left. It feels like it s been a lot longer than that - this legislative session. I have mixed feelings about this session. We kind of talk about how every session feels like the most stressful and the worst that we ve ever experienced. And I ll say what this session I think what s been most unique is trying to govern and do our business while still living through a pandemic. And then the topics that
Hamilton: House makes good move to sidestep managed care By: Arnold Hamilton Guest Columnist April 22, 2021
Arnold Hamilton
The Oklahoma House’s overwhelming embrace this week of state-run Medicaid was very good news in an otherwise very bad legislative session.
In its current form, Senate Bill 131 would keep the Oklahoma Health Care Authority in charge of health care for the working poor and thwart Gov. Kevin Stitt’s efforts to outsource management to private contractors.
OHCA’s track record on this is solid – among the nation’s lowest administrative costs. Is it perfect? Of course not. Nothing is … in the public or private sectors. Still, why try to fix what’s not broken?
Oklahoman
The Oklahoma House passed legislation that seeks to halt Gov. Kevin Stitt’s plan to outsource Medicaid care management to four major insurance companies.
On a vote of 73-17, the House late Tuesday evening approved legislation for the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, which oversees the state’s Medicaid program, to better manage health care in-house.
“Let’s start with reforming the system we have before tearing it apart,” said Republican Rep. Marcus McEntire, the bill’s author.
The House’s veto-proof support for Senate Bill 131, sends the legislation to the state Senate where it faces an uncertain path in the chamber because one of Oklahoma s top senators has expressed support for Stitt’s plan, dubbed SoonerSelect.