State House District 56 Representative Dick Lowe gave Rotary a summary of the previous legislative session and a preview of the upcoming session.
The August 25, 2022 meeting of the Rotary Club of Chickasha was called to order by President Lewis Knisley. Rot. Mitch Williams led the club in singing "Rotary Places"—a parody of Garth Brooks' "Low Places".
Pres. Knisley gave updates on various happenings at Rotary:
- The next Rotary Trivia Night will be on Friday, September 9, at Jungle Ice Fun Zone. You can find the team registration form here.
- Flyers and information for the Rotary Roll Call program have been distributed to the schools.
- The joint service project planned for September 17th has had to be scrapped. Rotary and other civil service organizations are working to line up a new one soon.
Rotarian of the Day Hal Brock introduced his speaker, State Rep. Dick Lowe. Rep. Lowe is from Amber and serves District 56, which includes most of Chickasha.
Rep. Lowe expressed relief that the primary elections at least are over and done with. While Lowe was uncontested, he described this cycle as the "dirtiest election" he had ever seen, citing the negative campaigns and "dark money" entering the state. He was also concerned about the recreational marijuana ballot initiative. However, he believes that the initiative will be held back from the November ballot as it is being reviewed by the state Supreme Court.
With the Dobbs case and the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade, Rep. Lowe said that he found it important that the state bolster its foster care and adoption resources to accomodate more children being born. Briefly describing how many children will spend years bouncing from foster home to foster home, Lowe said that "we want to give them stability". Lowe, along with two other representatives from the area, are leading an interim study on the state of foster care and adoption in Oklahoma. The public presentation of this study will be on September 20.
Rep. Lowe acknowledged that most of the concerns that members might have were federal issues, not within the state's control. He touched on student loan forgiveness, inflation, and border security. He also spoke on the status of the state's American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. The legislature had to be called into a special session to allocate the funds. While the state received slightly over $1 billion in funding, it received upwards of $17 billion in requests. The allocation has to go through the full appropriations process before money can be distributed.
Lowe stated that he was concerned about the upcoming regular session and the issues likely to be discussed in it. He was specifically concerned about school vouchers. He was not in favor of taking public money and giving it to private schools, especially when rural areas like Chickasha, with few to no private schools, would not stand to benefit. He was also wary of private schools being able to pick and choose which students they accept, even with a voucher program.
Finally, Lowe encouraged members to reach out to him with any concerns. He said that it is his job to help constituents with government processes and that he enjoys being able to do it. Rep. Lowe's office number is (405) 557-7401, and he can be reached by email through the state legislature website.
Lowe answered some questions from members. Asked about vouchers, Lowe said that voucher legislation would likely not be heard in the next session. Another members asked about the specific legislation Lowe authored last session. Passed bills included grocery tax and ad valorem tax bills. He authored an agriculture bill with overwhelming support, which was vetoed, but the legislature overrode the veto. Another bill he authored attempted to have financial literacy taught in 10th-11th grades, rather than 7th. This bill did not pass. Lowe urged members to read the actual text of bills, not just the titles, as the titles may not reflect the actual contents of the bill.
A lunch of pasta and cobbler was provided by Alexander Eats.