Following CattleCon 2025, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays caught up with the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association’s Executive Vice President, Michael Kelsey to discuss the association’s legislative priorities
Coverage of CattleCon 2025 is powered by Farm Data Services of Stillwater, Oklahoma.
The Oklahoma State House of Representatives has restructured its committees, now having a policy committee and an oversight committee, meaning that proposed bills must make it through both committees before making it to the House floor.
“From a logistical standpoint, it is very important to watch and be aware of that process,” Kelsey commented. “Most of the time, bills that make the news before the session and at the beginning of the session, struggle to move. They are so unique or controversial that they just generally don’t.”
Coming into the second or third week of the legislative session, Kelsey expects the committees to begin work on reducing the income tax; however, he believes that the complete elimination of the tax is next to impossible due to the hole it would create in the budget.
“I think it is more feasible to see a quarter or half percent notch down,” he said. “Hopefully, what we are going to be pressing for is to have some sort of mechanism to ratchet it back up automatically should the state’s revenue struggle in the future, which we know will happen.”
Additionally, Kelsey expects to see water issues, other tax issues, and private property rights issues coming up in the legislature in the near future.
Kelsey was happy to report that OCA and other Oklahoma agricultural groups are united against anti-animal agriculture groups. “We really don’t see a lot of bills from their stance, right now,” Kelsey noted. “That tells me that they are gearing up for a bigger movement, and I still think we are headed towards a state question, maybe in ’26, where they are going to do something regarding animal management – cage size – probably for pork and poultry. We’ll have to be cognizant.”
With so many new faces in the legislature, educating them about agriculture is of utmost importance. Kelsey pointed out that even many new rural representatives lack agricultural backgrounds and knowledge.
