Capitol Report Notebook: GOP taps Shannon
BY RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writer
Sunday, February 03, 2013
2/03/13 at 3:02 AM
Oklahoma Speaker of the House T.W. Shannon, R-Lawton, has been named to the Republican Legislative Campaign Committee's executive committee.
The RLCC is a national organization focused on electing Republicans to state legislatures and is part of the Republican State Leadership Committee, which encompasses all down-ballot state government officials.
Scott gets NCSL spot: State Rep. Seneca Scott, D-Tulsa, has been elected secretary for the National Caucus of Native American State Legislators, a working group of the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The caucus consists of 72 legislators from 17 states.
Scott is a member of the Choctaw Nation.
New group launched: Together OK, billing itself as a "nonpartisan coalition of businesses, organizations, and citizens," surfaced last week as a potential factor in the coming legislative session.
The organization does not list any of the businesses, organizations or citizens it purports to represent, but it is touted by the left-leaning Oklahoma Policy Institute and appears to have connections to the consulting firm headed by former Democratic legislator Laura Boyd of Norman.
TogetherOK says its emphasis is on education, communities, health care, jobs, protecting natural resources and poverty.
Compete With Canada Act: One might think something called the Compete With Canada Act had something to do with energy. Or maybe hockey.
In fact, it doubles the current tax incentive for film production in Oklahoma.
In the big scheme of things, that's not all that much. The program was scaled back to $5 million a year in 2012, now Sen. Clark Jolley is trying to push it back to $10 million.
Kim Montgomery of the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department said last week Jolley's Senate Bill 330 has a chance this year in part because of excitement surrounding the filming of "August: Osage County" in the state last year.
