TULSA, Okla. — State legislators who represent different parts of Tulsa and surrounding areas met with Tulsa City Councilors to talk about some of the biggest issues across the metro on Monday.
The meeting happens once a year, where city and state lawmakers discuss how those issues can be tackled at the State Capitol.
Nearly two dozen members of the State House and Senate met at Tulsa City Hall with Tulsa City Councilors, each of them representing different districts of Tulsa and the surrounding areas.
“I thought today’s meeting was most beneficial, one of the best we’ve ever had,” said State Sen. Dave Rader (R), Tulsa.
“It’s absolutely vital that the voices of our constituents are being heard,” said State Sen. Regina Goodwin (D), Tulsa.
The goal for both sides was to take these key issues and integrate them into legislative interim studies, which build legislation to address those topics.
“To me, if I’m a constituent because I would like to know that my state representatives are talking to my city representatives and vice versa,” Rader said. “And that we are trying to find a commonality on issues to see if we can attack issues and resolve issues. And that is to me the main outcome of a meeting like this.”
City councilors and department heads presented data in areas such as wastewater and sewage, housing, building codes, and graffiti on highways.
However, this meeting was not all sunshine and rainbows as there were disagreements on a number of issues.
Councilors also presented a study on housing showing the disparity between what types of homes Tulsans want, what’s available, and the cost.
“I think we’re all kinda missing the elephant in the room and that’s evictions,” said Tulsa City Councilor Jackie Dutton. “Evictions for Tulsa County last year were over 45,000 which is an entire city district. So, I’m wondering upstream, what sort of legislation are we going to start addressing when it comes to evictions?”
There was no immediate response to that question from legislators, but FOX23 did follow up with State Sen. Goodwin on this.
“Absolutely, it’s absolutely important,” Goodwin said. “I had a constituent just this week last week in particular dealing with an eviction, the owner of the home has passed away. The amount that they’re being charged for the home that they had been renting has doubled. And yet she is on fixed income, so it does matter - those that are being evicted for whatever reason, how do we deal with that and how do we make sure that people can have a roof over their head.”
If legislation were to be made in these areas, such as wastewater, sewage, and housing, it’s not just a Tulsa bill.
Even if only policies were changed, it would spill into the surrounding cities outside of Tulsa.
To see the slide show presentations the City gave legislators, click here.
