Covering The Capitol: What To Expect During The 2024 Legislative Session

In just over a month, lawmakers will be back at the Capitol for the 2024 regular session. Hundreds of bills have already been filed, dealing with education, taxes, and more. We talked with state lawmakers who expect this session to be another busy one.

“I think it's gonna be a very interesting session as we get underway, as you've already articulated, there's a lot on the table,” said Sen. Roger Thompson, (R ) Okmulgee. 

Starting February 5th, lawmakers will gather back at the capitol to discuss hundreds of bills on education, taxes, healthcare, criminal justice, affordable housing, and more. “Certainly from year to year there are different legislative topics that may become more priority in this building,” said Sen. Adam Pugh, ( R) Edmond.

After another special session on tax cuts came and went with no action, many lawmakers think taxes will be the hot topic in 2024. “Taxes, tax reform has been a conversation piece really since I got here in 2011, it's not going away,” said Greg Treat, (R ) Senate Pro Tem.

House Speaker Charles McCall recently filed five different tax cut bills dealing with corporate and personal income taxes. He has been pushing to lower these for a few years now.

Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat is trying his luck again on eliminating the state portion of the grocery tax. “I filed this bill - I've filed it in years past and I hope it is successful this time,” said Treat.

“There are several people in our body, and in the house and the governor's office that want to cut our income, I'm not one of those people,” said Sen. Thompson.

Sen. Thompson says he wants to focus on topics that are being discussed in his district like healthcare and infrastructure, along with his bill to give an across-the-board pay raise to state employees. “I wanna make sure I'm talking about the things that make a difference for the people of Oklahoma,” said Sen. Thompson.

Education; the subject that took up the most time in 2023; is likely to be another big topic of conversation next session. “People have strong feelings about how their kids are going to be educated, and how they want their kids to be protected, so I don't think that's ever gonna change,” said Sen. Pugh.

Many democrats believe that the private and homeschool tax credits will have to be revisited this session, because of problems that came up during the application process this month.

Both sides of the rotunda will roll out their education packages in the next month, and all bills must be filed by January 18th. “As you've already articulated, there's a lot on the table,” said Sen. Thompson.

The 2024 regular session is set to start on February 5th.