Committees

OKLAHOMA CITY - Rep. Rick West, R-Heavener, on Wednesday held an interim study before the House Public Safety Committee examining active shooter response training for law enforcement professionals. "Active shooter situations in schools and the public are of huge concern to everyone," West said. "We Can't say we hope they never happens. Too many have already happened. This study is about making sure law enforcement knows what training is currently available in the state so they are prepared to respond and where gaps might exist that we need to address." West invited multiple presenters to discuss active shooter situations that have occurred across the country and various law enforcement responses. Colton Jones with the Black Banner Group helped organize the study and was the first speaker. He said every state is different in approaching active shooter incidences. He specifically examined various responses to mass shootings at schools, including Columbine High School in Colorado, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut and at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.    Jones noted the difference in response times in these incidences, with Sandy Hook being within 11 minutes and Uvalde being up to 77 minutes before law enforcement breached the school. Training and coordination made the difference, he said. "At Sandy Hook you saw officers show up and proceed to the threat," Jones said , "Where when you get to Uvalde, you had officers show up where it seemed like they were afraid to go to the threat, because of, a lot of them said, lack of training." Jones, an Army veteran said recurring training matters. "In the Army it was always train, train, train, train, train. That way, when you had to act upon that training, it was there and you knew it like the back of your hand." Jones said a lack of finances and manpower prevent many rural law enforcement departments from sending officers to training. Tanner Killiingsworth, a student resource officer from Latimer County, said continuing education and advanced training are essential. But differences in professional development, training methods, terminology and response procedures can actually hinder responses, creating significant communication and coordination challenges when officers from multiple agencies respond to the same incident. "In a situation where time is critical, inconsistent training and conflicting tactics can lead to confusion, delayed responses and unnecessary risk to officers and innocent civilians," Killingsworth said .  Establishing standardized training is essential, he said. Oklahoma Commissioner of Public Safety and Homeland Security Advisor Tim Tipton discussed his department's training availability and the ability of law enforcement departments to access training when needed. He said this is one of the top three safety concerns his department is dedicated to in the state. Tipton spoke on the Secure Oklahoma Schools, or SOS, initiative and the Oklahoma School Security Institute (OSSI), which focuses not just on responding to shooters but to prevention. "You know, school safety, active shooter threat response, although a ton of it is about the response when the bad guy's in the building, but school safety has to be multi-layered, and the first point of that is prevention," Tipton said . "We don't want the bad guy even getting to the building." The Legislature dedicated funding for schools to do risk and vulnerability assessments every five years. Tipton said all schools have now had those and now OSSI is in the process of updating those so the schools can qualify for this funding going forward. Mike Fike, director of OSSI, also spoke about the effectiveness of training for officers and why recurring training is essential. Other presenters included Bobby Floyd, director of training, Austin Slaten, academy coordinator, and Clay Anderson, an instructor, at the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training (CLEET). They outlined the types and duration of active shooter response training and the Center for Active Shooter Preparedness (CASP) at CLEET and its role in active shooter training across the state. Brett Macy, deputy director of the Transportation Division at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, shared about the coordination between rural and municipal departments during active shooter situations and access to recurring training.

OKLAHOMA CITY — Rep. Cynthia Roe, R-Lindsay, received the 2026 Honorary PA designation from the Oklahoma Academy of Physician Associates (OAPA) in recognition of her work supporting physician associates and quality healthcare for Oklahomans. The OAPA recognizes individuals who have promoted the physician associate profession and advanced the academy’s mission. Honorees are recognized for distinguished service to patients, their communities, the profession and the academy. "Healthcare is not only a huge part of my daily life, but it is my passion as a legislator, and I am deeply honored to receive this designation," Roe said. "Healthcare is the backbone of every state, and it reaches Oklahomans during some of the best and most difficult moments of their lives. I am thankful that through my medical career and my service in the Legislature, I have the opportunity to care for people and improve healthcare in our state." A colleague nominated Roe for the honor in recognition of her work over the years on behalf of physician associates and her efforts to improve access to quality healthcare services for Oklahomans. Roe is one of four current members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives who work or have worked in the medical field. She has more than 40 years of healthcare experience as a registered nurse and nurse practitioner. The OAPA presented Roe with the Honorary PA designation during its awards luncheon on Oct. 1 as part of the organization’s Fall Continuing Medical Education Conference at the Embassy Suites Oklahoma City Downtown Medical Center.

OKLAHOMA CITY – Rep. Mark Lepak, R-Claremore, hosted an interim study examining how Oklahoma taxes Software as a Service, digital memberships and whether Oklahoma's tax code should be updated to reflect the growing shift toward digital products and services, including software subscriptions, music, audiobooks and streaming services. Interim Study 26-068 , titled Software as a Service (SaaS) and Digital Memberships, considered the potential impact of taxing such products on state and local revenue, and also reviewed approaches taken by other states. "Many who'd like to eliminate the state income tax are cautious and ask a question. 'How do you replace the revenue those taxes fund?'," Lepak stated when he began the meeting. "It's fair question with layers of answers that we seem debated during the current election cycle. This study does not attempt to address that question, although one answer is to transition to more of a consumption-based tax system. This study is narrowly focused on taxing one set of services, software as a service and digital services. But I would add, this policy shift deserves consideration, even if decoupled from the idea of eliminating the income tax." Lepak said Oklahoma's economy has changed significantly while the state's tax structure has largely remained rooted in an economy built around the sale of tangible goods. "We have a 21st-century economy we're living in that has a tax structure from 100 years ago. Perhaps we should consider making some changes to better align the reality of an economy to the day we're living in," Lepak said. The Oklahoma Municipal League requested the study to examine how changing consumer spending habits could affect local revenue. Dave Andren, director of research for the league, discussed municipalities’ reliance on sales and use taxes as consumers increasingly spend money on digital and subscription-based services. "The economy has changed, but our policy has not," Andren stated. "Oklahoma's sales tax was built around those physical retail, tangible goods and as we have those local storefronts. They have shifted over into what's called the SaaS model, and that's Software as a Service. We are no longer going and we're no longer purchasing those tangible goods from the store. We're now paying for subscription-based services, online, and in the current statutes of Oklahoma, those subscriptions are no longer taxed and because of that we are losing revenue." Andren pointed to several examples of the shift, including consumers moving from purchasing CDs to using music streaming services, from DVDs to video streaming platforms and from boxed computer software to cloud-based programs. "Now everything is cloud based, digital services. This is where we are," Andren said. "We have gone from a tangible society into a digital society, and we need to move forward." Andren said sales and use taxes account for 68% of local government budgets in Oklahoma, making changes in consumer spending particularly significant for municipalities. "We are ranked number one in the reliance on sales tax in the nation," Andren said. "The next highest sales tax reliance is 50% and that's the state of Alabama. So, when you look at a pie chart and you see how municipalities are funded, sales tax is the largest chunk by far. Cities still have to fund public services like police, fire streets, water parks." The study also examined South Dakota’s approach, which applies sales tax to certain digital products and vendor-hosted software. Corey Jager, tax policy manager with the Oklahoma Tax Commission, discussed how Oklahoma could administer a tax on digital products if lawmakers chose to pursue legislation. Jager said lawmakers first would need to clearly define which products would be taxable. Potential categories discussed included digital audio and visual products, streaming and television services, digital books and audiobooks, video games, periodicals, information services and software. Lawmakers also would need to determine applicable exemptions and establish sourcing rules to determine where sales tax revenue is collected. Lawmakers would also need to establish sourcing rules, such as those outlined in the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement, of which Oklahoma is already a member. Under these rules, sales tax on a digital product would generally be based on where the purchaser receives the product. This means the tax revenue would be directed to the purchaser's location rather than the location of the business selling the product. Jager also emphasized that after legislation is passed, the need to give the Tax Commission sufficient time to develop administrative rules and educate businesses and taxpayers before any new tax requirements take effect. "I will say 30 days is not enough time to get emergency rules in place and so just a consideration for the legislature. If you're going to make this change, we would like a little bit more time," Jager stated. "We also try to provide vendors and taxpayers with guidance, so they know how to follow the law, and they know how to report and collect sales tax appropriately. There's also the other pieces, the taxpayer and the vendor piece." The Tax Commission estimated taxing digital products could generate approximately $40 million annually in additional state sales tax revenue. "The main things to consider are defining is exactly what you want to tax and putting that into statute, applying our streamline definitions and sourcing rules to maintain compliance, maintain a user-friendly atmosphere for the businesses that sell to Oklahoma," Jager said. "Allow lead time for rules registration and system changes and then potentially see a revenue generated to the state of about $40 million." After the presentations concluded, the discussion broadened to Oklahoma's overall tax structure and whether comprehensive tax reform would be more effective than making individual changes to the tax code. The study can be viewed on the House website, https://www.okhouse.gov/ , under live proceedings. Search by calendar day, Sept. 28, then for study IS 26-068 Software as a Service and Digital Memberships starting at 9 am.