The Oklahoma City Chamber held its Legislative Kickoff at the Cowboy Western Heritage Museum with a panel consisting of Senate President Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton, Speaker of the House Kyle Hilbert, Julia Kirt, Oklahoma Senate Minority Leader, and Cyndi Munson, House Minority Leader.
After he announced the committees for the 60th legislature at the Oklahoma Legislative Kickoff, Oklahoma’s newly elected Speaker of the House Kyle Hilbert made time to speak with Farm Director KC Sheperd.
Speaker Hilbert had just returned from attending the Presidential Inauguration in Washington, D.C., and was proud that all 77 counties in the state had majority votes for Donald Trump for the third election in a row.
“There is a lot of excitement with the Trump administration leaning into Oklahoma as we do what we can to build on these successful conservative wins that we have at our backs, so we are working diligently with our federal delegation to see what we can do to set Oklahoma up for success,” Speaker Hilbert said.
Last October, the OSU College of Vet Medicine found itself back on probationary accreditation for the second time since 2017. At that time, the American Veterinary Medical Association placed the CVM on probationary accreditation after a site visit. OSU was successful then in fixing the problems cited by the AVMA and regained full accreditation.
However, after a review, the OSU-CVM returned to the same position it found itself in 2017.
One of the rural priorities that Hilbert will be focusing on in the coming months is helping the OSU School of Veterinary Medicine improve its facilities and stay off probation.
“This is the second time for the vet school in the state of Oklahoma, so one of the things we are talking about in the legislature is what we need to do to address that,” Hilbert stated. “In previous sessions, we have set aside eighty million dollars to go towards that problem, but we want to make sure that the funding, as well as the policy, is in the right place to have the vet school set up for success.”
He emphasized that the problem is an issue for every county in the state because of the importance of the program to the state. “Many rural veterinarians are ready to retire, and they can’t for two big reasons: One, they want to take care of their neighbors, friends, and family members and their livestock, but two, there is no one to sell their practices to because we are not turning out enough Oklahoma veterinarians,” the speaker explained. “That is a high priority for the legislature. We are going to see what we can do to get that issue resolved.”
In order to build on the momentum begun by President Trump for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Oklahoma House of Representatives set up a Budget Transparency Portal for their budget so that Oklahomans can view every submission from every executive branch agency in the state.
“There is a lot of talk about the budget, and the Executive Branch submitted well over a billion dollars’ requests increase for funding from the legislature so you can see those listed on the website,” he noted.
He added that the transparency portal also hosts the DOGE Portal for any Oklahoman to submit a recommendation for anything that they see as a waste or duplicitous government service in areas where spending can be reduced.
“We want to make sure we are making good, effective, efficient use of taxpayer dollars,” Speaker Hilbert avouched.
With the Oklahoma Youth Expo (OYE) fast approaching, Speaker Hilbert expressed his intent to attend as he has each year that he has served the Oklahoma Legislature.
“I have absolutely loved my time at the Oklahoma Youth Expo, but the only time I ever made it into the big ring and out of the sift pen with my hogs was the time my hog was about twenty – or thirty pounds over-weight!” he said with a laugh.
“I remember going across the weight scale and Rose Bonjour just looked at me,” he recalled. “I was like, ‘I know, I know, I’m over-weight, but I just had to make the big ring once!’ It was good, though. I always enjoy my time with the Oklahoma Youth Expo. They do an absolutely phenomenal job for our youth and there is nothing better to teach responsibility and long-term success than raising livestock. I also loved my time in FFA, and I am definitely going to be there supporting our 4-H and FFA students.
