FFA Day Held at Capitol

I got a chance this week to address FFA chapters from across the state during FFA Day at the State Capitol. I met separately with several chapters from my district as well. I’m an FFA alumni, holding tightly to my hard-earned blue jacket.

This is such a great organization. My family has been farming and ranching in Logan County for years. It’s something I hope to pass on to my children. FFA and the agriculture education they provide has been a big part of my love of the land and all it produces. But this organization is so much more. It teaches young people the values of hard work and dedication, seeing a job through to its finish no matter what difficulties arise. It teaches leadership skills and truly helps prepare our youth for whatever their future careers might be. It was fun to get to celebrate all of this at the Capitol last week.

We also had plenty of legislative work on our proverbial plate during week three of session.

I had several bills pass in various committees. Now they are available to be considered by the full House.

My House Bill 3343 deals with the portion of the documentary stamp tax revenue that goes to Oklahoma State University for their Center for Local Government Technology. This bill would allow counties to opt out of having their money to go this center if they so desire.

House Bill 2302 would create a revolving fund within the state Department of Agriculture to help 4H and FFA livestock judging teams to compete in international competition should they advance to that level. We have several really great junior livestock judging teams here in our state. When they win their national contests, they have the opportunity to go and judge at the international contest in Scotland, which is a huge and great opportunity for them. The problem is, it’s very expensive for the whole team to travel this far and stay for the entire competition. This bill would allow the state to match dollars, with a cap of $100,000 on the overall fund. The local chapter would still have to raise funds to have some skin in the game, but the hurdle would not be quite so high.

House Bill 3542 takes the s the Oklahoma Information Fusion Center, which serves as the Oklahoma Counterterrorism Information Agency, and establishes the agency as a distinct state agency, putting it in state statute and under the governance of a 13-member board. The center was started after 9/11 but has never been in statute. Committee work continues through this week. As bills pass committee, they become eligible to be heard on the House floor. We’ll have until March 14 to pass House bills to the Senate. Then we’ll be considering that chamber’s legislation.

As always, if you have concerns about bills, or problems I can assist you in solving, please reach out to me at [email protected] or call my office at 405-557-7332.

John Pfeiffer serves District 38 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. His district includes Grant County and parts of Garfield, Kay, Logan and Noble counties.