Oklahoma governor signs bills affecting campus free speech, National Guard tuition and more

As state lawmakers ready an enormous financial improvement proposal aimed toward luring an unnamed firm to Northeast Oklahoma, Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a half dozen measures affecting educators and college students.

The payments ranged in scope and influence, from a brand new free speech advisory board for faculties to a requirement that scholar ID playing cards embody suicide prevention telephone numbers.

The payments embody:

• SB 1190 by Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, permits the State Board of Profession and Expertise Schooling to approve programs on hydrogen vitality.

• HB 3543 by Rep. Chad Caldwell, R-Enid, establishes the Oklahoma Free Speech Committee, which is able to reply to the State Regents for Larger Schooling and overview and advise faculties on their free speech insurance policies. The committee will even obtain free speech violation complaints.

• SB 1307 by Sen. Invoice Coleman, R-Ponca Metropolis, requires faculty districts that problem scholar identification playing cards to college students grades 7-12 and faculties to incorporate the telephone quantity for the Nationwide Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

• SB 1659 by Sen. Joe Newhouse, R-Tulsa, will increase how typically organizations – principally non-public colleges – that take part within the Equal Alternative Scholarship program should submit an audit report. At the moment, it’s 4 years, however it’s going to now be each two years.

• SB 1416 and SB 1418 by Sen. Kim David, R-Porter, are companion payments that make all members of the Oklahoma Nationwide Guard eligible for in-state tuition and create a revolving fund to help payment prices for a member of the guard.

A whole bunch of schooling payments have been launched this yr, however the quantity remaining alive dwindles as lawmakers close to the house stretch of the legislative session.