It was a busy week at the state Capitol. Despite the hectic pace, I enjoyed having Jacob Ross and Damon Grayson from Grove and Teisha Carnes from Salina serve as pages. Jacob was selected by his peers as “Page of the Week!” They all did a great job and participated in their own Page Legislative Session to further learn about the legislative process.Cox’s Corner, Cox’s Page elected Page of the Week!
Representative Doug G Cox, M.D., of District 5, Delaware and Mayes Counties, poses with his three Pages at the State Capitol Building. Standing right of Representative Cox is Jacob Ross, a junior at Grove High School. Jacob was chosen by his peers as an Outstanding Page of the Week. To the right of Jacob is Teisa Carnes, from Salina, a senior at Pryor High School. Next to Teisa is Damon Grayson, who is a sophomore at Grove High School. The three students were Pages for Representative Cox for the week of April 20-23, 2015.
I voted for a bill to ban powdered alcohol in Oklahoma. This is a substance without any positive uses not already fulfilled by liquid alcohol. It is prone to be used in vaping (electronic cigarettes) and could easily be dissolved – knowingly or unknowingly – in someone’s drink. Most states will ban the substance.
While I certainly agree with a clergy’s right to refuse to marry people, I voted against a bill to put that in statute. I just do not see it as a being a big problem. If I am a gay couple, I am probably not going to ask the Southern Baptist preacher to marry me. My African-American legislative colleagues had some concerns that it could be applied to racially-mixed marriages. I just did not want to lengthen the law book with what I felt was primarily a solution in search of a problem.
A bill to increase the penalty for assaulting an off-duty law enforcement officer, as well as one to eliminate the current age limit of 45 for new volunteer firefighters, did receive my “yes” votes.
I personally authored and passed bills to prevent people from hiding financial assets in prepaid burial funds while getting the taxpayer to pay their medical expenses, as well as a bill modernizing the state Dental Act, which was this act’s first major revision in 40 years. Not earth-shattering issues, but an example of the day-to-day work we do at the Legislature.
We have completed all of the House and Senate bills. We now will be working out details and re-voting on bills where the House versions differ from the Senate versions, as well as finalizing the state budget.
Thanks for allowing me to serve as your state representative. I can be reached at dougcox@okhouse.gov or 405-557-7415.
Cox’s Corner, Cox’s Page elected Page of the Week!
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