Multiple media are reporting that former-U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, one of Oklahoma’s most honored and influential to rise to national political prominence, died early this morning.

We will greatly miss his voice of wisdom on so many issues.

The last few weeks have been fast and furious as we worked through hundreds of bills in our committees.  Thursday is the deadline to report Senate bills out of the Senate.  We ended reporting out more than 400 bills out of committee and have around 200 more to hear on the floor.   

 I have 22 bills this working their way through the process.  Three of them (SB 824, 899 & 996) are awaiting House consideration. 

Last week, the House passed HB 3195 to help crack down on the number of illegal immigrants in the state.

This bill, that I coauthored, directs all sheriffs, jailers and deputies to comply with federal immigration agencies by alerting them to a person’s immigration status and holding a person for at least 48 hours until federal officials arrive.

Currently in conservative circles refugee influx to Oklahoma has added stress to existing illegal immigration / criminal invader concerns. In Tulsa, for example, a Law Clinic that once helped the poor with legal issues now exclusively helps immigrants because of a grant from Democrat power broker and former-Mayor Kathy Taylor’s family foundation.

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt (Republican) has been called out by no less than Fox News for welcoming refugees when Texas, for example, has blocked the Federal Refugee Resettlement Program.  Gov. Stitt last week answered critics of the program in a by-lined editorial, but apparently the daily paper only published his piece in a suburban edition (Skiatook).