Tulsa County Successful in Educating State Leaders

Unfortunately, County government is, to a large extent, dependent on the actions taken by our state government. Many of the important issues which impact our county operations and in turn county citizens requires approval by both the legislature and Governor. To be successful, advocating for positive changes takes a great deal of time educating state leaders on how county government serves its citizens.
During the most recent legislative session, which just concluded, we were very successful in garnering state leaders support of our legislative needs. This will keep Tulsa County’s status as a leader in county government reforms.
In the area of public safety, we saw legislation passed which will enable increased enforcement of trash and littering throughout the unincorporated areas of the county. The sheriff will now have the tools to manage the cost of using body cameras so he can expand usage and increase transparency. The latest DNA technology can now be used in jails to determine if a person already in custody is a person of interest in other unsolved crimes. And new security measures at the county election board will ensure that we have a safe, secure, and protected voting process.
These days technology drives policy, and in no other place is that more applicable than the storage of important county documents. Both the county clerk and court clerk are now allowed to set up Records Preservation Funds so they can use more secure and transparent processes for not only storing records but making them easily accessible to the general public.
With the recent enactment of modernized alcohol laws, a bill was passed that puts the serving of alcoholic beverages at our county golf courses more in line with what the golfing public wants. A bill was also passed that will gradually increase the pay for those citizens who step forward to serve as precinct officials on Election Day. And commercial property owners who long to install energy efficient means on the property will be given an opportunity to participate in the county’s new Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program, whereby the county will facilitate joining private property owners with private energy capital.
The county was also successful in passing legislation that will help stabilize and protect the county retirement fund to minimize any unfunded liabilities which we often see in public retirement systems. And, the legislature returned $30 million to the county road and bridge fund which had been previously taken to shore up issues at the State Health Department.
More than 25 bills which impact county government were passed by the legislature and signed by the governor. This puts Tulsa County on track to be the most progressive county in Oklahoma.