Wishing You The Very Best 2014!

As we close out yet another year and usher in 2014, may we be ever mindful of the blessings we have been given. Looking back on a year that was full of challenges, struggles, and new opportunities for those in Pottawatomie and Cleveland counties I believe we stand stronger now than we did at the beginning. It is never easy to watch your community struggle through a challenge like the natural disasters this spring, but the joy of seeing individuals of every faith, political persuasion, age, and lifestyle come together for their neighbors and friends far outweighs those challenges. I have never been so proud to be a part of a community that selflessly laid aside their own needs for the good of a complete stranger. I have never been more honored to play a leadership role than in helping begin the recovery and relief efforts for those affected.

The amazing thing about New Year’s is it stands for a new beginning; a clean slate. No matter what your 2013 held, your 2014 stands ready to welcome you. No matter where you are in your life. No matter what the political challenges are at the current time. No matter what situation you find yourself in today; you are blessed. We are all blessed beyond measure. Blessed to live in a state with a strong economy that holds common sense family values dear. Blessed to live in the most free and prosperous nation on earth. Blessed to simply draw another breath.

So as 2013 ends, pause and take account of your blessings. Set your focus on the year ahead and charge towards it with a new passion. We never know what the future holds, but I for one am glad I know who holds my future.

I am extremely honored to continue serving as your state representative. Your prayers, thoughts, concerns, and insight are always appreciated. With God’s help I will continue to serve to the best of my ability. Please feel free to always contact me at my office or stop me and chat if you see me out in district. That is why I am here.

Looking forward to 2014,

Representative Josh Cockroft

House Calls for Citizen Input on Speak Up Oklahoma

OKLAHOMA CITY – In ongoing efforts to increase public participation in state policy discussions, the Oklahoma House of Representatives is seeking input from citizens for the 2014 legislative session through a new portal called Speak Up Oklahoma.

Oklahomans can register to weigh in on policy discussions and polls at www.speakupoklahoma.com, said Joel Kintsel, House parliamentarian and administrator. To participate, Oklahomans must simply fill out a short registry form before voting on policy ideas and polls, or simply submitting an idea of their own.

“The Oklahoma House has worked to become increasingly transparent,” Kintsel said. “In past years, we have introduced live video of session online, made votes available online and basically taken advantage of emerging technologies and software to create additional ways to connect state lawmakers with their constituents.”

Matt Hall, community manager at Granicus, Inc., the software provider for the website said the Oklahoma House of Representatives is joining a number of government entities that are making use of an open discussion forum.

“The Oklahoma House is a part of a wave of innovative state and local governments that are bringing citizens and government together online,” Hall said.

Leading up to the 2014 legislative session, House staff has posed questions for citizens to respond to and will continue to prompt Oklahomans to join the conversation, Kintsel said.

The new service is powered through a platform called CivicIdeas™, created by Granicus, Inc. a San Francisco-based company. The platform is specifically designed to help government agencies gather meaningful and measurable feedback from the public. Currently, Granicus provides transparency and community collaboration solutions to more than 1,000 local, state, and federal government agencies across the U.S. and Canada.

Rep. Cockroft - CNG Infrastructure Plan A Priority for Next Session

With Oklahoma’s legislative session rapidly approaching it’s time for legislators to compile all the issues we worked on over the summer and begin crafting legislation. We must have all our legislative ideas submitted to the House Clerk by December 13^th, so these next couple weeks will be full of narrowing down issues each member wishes to look at. Every member is allowed to introduce an unlimited amount of bills, but is only guaranteed to have eight placed in a committee where they could be heard. The rest are placed in the Rules committee and can only be brought out on the Speaker’s request. With the busyness of this year there are many different issues I am looking at. Over the next couple of months I will be keeping you up to date on what I am working on and will be pushing this next legislative session.

    One issue that I will push deals with our State’s CNG capabilities and infrastructure. Anyone who has looked into converting or purchasing a CNG vehicle knows there are currently tremendous cost and infrastructure hurdles that face them. A simple conversion can cost around $9,000 and purchasing a new CNG vehicle can be around $35,000. Not cheap. Additionally, after the purchase is the challenge of where to fuel your vehicle. It’s not easy to find a CNG filling station in our state yet; one of the reasons why the technology is still so expensive.

    This bill was crafted with the help of Cleveland County Commissioner Rod Cleveland’s office and will have two major areas of focus. First, providing a better infrastructure for CNG filling stations across Oklahoma, and secondly, funding for updating the State and County vehicle fleets for CNG use saving millions of dollars in the process. To provide better access for the public, counties, and state alike each county would enter into a public-private partnership with a top competitive bidder CNG company to place a filling station on county property to be used by the public and county/state CNG fleets. That’s a potential of 231 additional CNG filling stations across the state when placing a filling station in each county district; many of which are in rural areas. This would be a win-win for everyone. The counties and the state could fill their vehicles where there currently is no ability to do so, and the public could do the same; providing tremendous profit for the CNG provider.

Currently there are a little over 2,400 county vehicles being used across the state; 5,000 if you count law enforcement. This is where the taxpayer savings come in. ODOT (Oklahoma Department of Transportation) conducted a study in 2012, converting 150 ODOT vehicles and tracking money spent over a 5 month period. At the end of that period, just based on fuel costs they saved $163,000 by using CNG. The average price of unleaded fuel is $2.22 more than that of CNG. Imagine the savings if we converted those 5,000 vehicles, plus all of ODOT’s vehicles to run on CNG! My bill will place a percentage of the gross production tax (an oil and gas tax) out of the general revenue and evenly back to all counties to update their light vehicle fleets over a ten year period or until the fleet is updated. This is not a new tax, but merely taking a consumption tax that is taken from oil and gas and placing it back where it belongs.

I am a firm believer in CNG and believe the more we can do to promote and build it up, the better it will be for our state. This idea has gained huge support from state and local leadership, both Democrats and Republicans, rural and urban areas, as well as large corporations such as Clean Energy, Halliburton, Loves, and On-Cue. I look forward to working on this issue over the next year.

 What are your thoughts? What would you like me to focus on in the coming session? I’m always a phone call or email away. Call my office at: 405-557-7349. Email my office at: Josh.Cockroft@okhouse.gov. Follow me on FaceBook: Representative Josh Cockroft, and on Twitter: @VoteCockroft27. It is an honor to serve you!

Cockroft Column: Local Control Still The Answer

In the months following the tragic tornadoes this past spring there have been many issues that have been brought to the forefront of Oklahoma politics, but no issue has gained attention like that of availability of storm shelters across the state. Living in Oklahoma provides the distinct possibility individuals at home or work, as well as school students at their schools will have to take shelter from severe weather at some point in their lives. There has been one possible solution that has gained the attention of the media that I wanted to address.

    One of my colleagues in the House of Representatives, Rep. Joe Dorman (D-Rush Springs) has started an effort towards an initiative petition to place on the ballot next November a $500 Million statewide bond issue to help local school districts pay for safe-room shelters in their schools. This petition would require 155,000 signatures from registered voters in the State of Oklahoma. State law gives supporters of a petition 90 days after it is filed to gather the signatures necessary, or 90 days after the Supreme Court determines the petition is sufficient.

    First off, I applaud Rep. Dorman and his efforts to look for a solution to this problem. As someone who represents an area hit hard by the storms it is very pleasing to see other lawmakers outside of this area look for ways to help and have a willingness to address the issues. I am very appreciative of that!

    However, I cannot agree that this is the right approach to addressing the problem of safe-room shelters in schools. I firmly believe that each school should have some sort of safe-room or location that can be used as an adequate shelter. My opposition is not to whether or not schools should have shelters; it is in the approach that has been taken. I don’t believe this is a state issue. I believe that each individual school district should continue to have the power to set bonds and make this a priority if they see fit.

     I have always been a huge supporter of local control in our education system so that each district has control over their needs and desires. It is somewhat surprising to me seeing Rep. Dorman who is also a proponent of local control pushing a non-local solution. If our schools see this as a priority, they have the ability to take control of this issue already without placing further bonded indebtedness upon our state.

    As with any issue, there has been mixed reactions within my district and the education community on this issue. There is much hesitation from a state standpoint as well. In my conversations with the Oklahoma Emergency Management Office as well as the Governor’s Office, they agree that this should be and is a local issue. However they have assured me that should this petition be placed on the ballot and passed next November, they will be ready with a plan to effectively and responsibly allocate this large amount of funds. They are already working on plans and guidelines on how this money will be spent and distributed to school districts across the state.

    Now that you know how I feel, let me know your thoughts. Please don’t hesitate to contact my office and share your opinion on this, or any other topic. My office can be reached at: 405-557-7349, or Josh.Cockroft@okhouse.gov. You can also follow me on Facebook: Representative Josh Cockroft, or Twitter: @VoteCockroft27. It is an honor to represent you at the State Capitol!

Weekly Column: Oklahoma Republicans Fighting Federal Intrusion

Did you know that there is approximately $60 trillion in currency currently circulating throughout the world? That is all the money that currently exists. Did you know that, when accounting for unfunded liabilities in Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, the United States currently has a debt of nearly $130 trillion? You read that correctly: the United States currently owes more than twice as much debt than could possibly be paid with all the money in the entire world.

It is not hyperbole to suggest that our nation is facing a fiscal crisis. In fact, two of the primary responsibilities of elected officials are to warn citizens of our financial situation and to take actions to correct it.

Oklahoma House Speaker T.W. Shannon (R-Lawton) has been doing that from the moment the Republican caucus elected him to lead the Oklahoma House of Representatives. Speaker Shannon has actively resisted implementing the federal “common core” educational standards and created the first standing legislative committee focused on protecting our state from federal intrusion. The House States’ Rights Committee was an active and integral part of the 2013 legislative session, hearing dozens of bills and resolutions that sought a balance between federal and state law.

One of Speaker Shannon’s first actions was to hold a legislative study last November to determine how state agency budgets would look if no federal funds were available to supplement their programs. Why? The reason is obvious. Our federal government is broke, yet federal funds make up more than 40 percent of our annual state budget. It seems reasonable to ask our state agencies to plan and prioritize spending on core mission efforts in the event the federal gravy train is closed.

Unfortunately, after winning broad legislative approval from both the House and Senate, Gov. Mary Fallin vetoed Shannon’s bill that would have required the agencies to comply and develop a contingency plan and budget for a 25-percent cut in federal funding. Fallin called the measure “duplicative” and “burdensome,” a decision that seems rather shortsighted given the current government shutdown our nation is embroiled in.

Even still, most of the Republican caucus supports those efforts to reduce dependency on the federal government because we know that Oklahomans can take care of Oklahoma. We don’t need the federal government to subsidize marginally useful and shockingly inefficient programs. The truth is, if Oklahomans believe those federally funded programs are so important, then they would be willing to pay more in state taxes to fund them, but, overwhelmingly, Oklahomans want lower taxes. In fact, a March 2013 survey conducted by SoonerPoll found that that 65 percent of likely Oklahoma voters would prefer to phase out the income tax without raising other taxes.

To me, that is clear evidence that Oklahomans want less dependency on the federal government and want their legislators to develop Oklahoma solutions to Oklahoma problems. I am proud of Speaker Shannon and my colleagues in the Republican caucus for standing up to the federal government and fighting to protect the individual liberty of every Oklahoman. And I am looking forward to taking up the battle again in 2014!

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to represent you at the Capitol. As always, I will keep you updated on the status of our great state. God bless you and God bless Oklahoma!

As always, feel free to contact me at (405) 557-7349 or at josh.cockroft@okhouse.gov.

Weekly Column: October 8, 2013

Next week, I am flying to Biloxi, Miss., for the Southern States Energy Board Conference after Speaker T.W. Shannon appointed me as the delegate from Oklahoma. The focus of the three-day conference will be to network and engage with lawmakers and energy industry professionals from across the energy states on policies and practices for a stronger industry. With today’s energy costs to both the providers and to the consumers at the pump steadily rising, efforts by policymakers nationwide should continue to look for ways to drive down those costs and find alternate energy sources.

Here in Oklahoma, we are extremely blessed to have multiple industries prevalent and thriving for our state’s economy and region’s benefit. We have one of the most profitable natural gas reservoirs in the country underneath us, one of the fastest-growing wind energy industries in the region in western Oklahoma, a strong coal industry in eastern Oklahoma, and plenty of Oklahoma sunshine for the solar industry. Oklahoma is in a great position to emerge as a national leader.

However, there are definitely roadblocks that stand in our way. While we do have enormous potential in our natural gas reservoirs, we simply don’t have the infrastructure in place yet to allow full potential. In some cases, we are waiting for technology to catch up to that potential. Those of you who have looked into natural gas technology for your vehicles understand the costliness of purchasing or converting those vehicles for natural gas. The reason for this is because the technology is fairly new and the infrastructure needed – gas stations – is fairly sparse across our state. As the industry grows, so will the infrastructure and the incredible cost benefits that have been promised.

However, one thing that I am personally wary of is not supporting special carve outs for the energy industry simply based on the incredible economic impact it has on our state. The policies that we pass as a state legislature should never favor one industry over another. True free market economics creates a level playing field for all businesses; large or small. As James Madison stated: “I own myself the friend to a very free system of commerce, and hold it as a truth, that commercial shackles are generally unjust, oppressive and impolitic–it is also a truth, that if industry and labor are left to take their own course, they will generally be directed to those objects which are the most productive, and this in a more certain and direct manner than the wisdom of the most enlightened legislature could point out.”

As I represent Oklahoma next week in Mississippi, I will be reminding everyone of the incredible potential Oklahoma presents to the entire region. We shine as a bright light, pointing to the fact that free market principles simply work, and that we are ready and open for business in all industries.

Let me know your thoughts of how we can make Oklahoma even better. It is an honor to serve you. I can be contacted atJosh.Cockroft@okhouse.gov or (405) 557-7349. I’m also on Facebook, just search Representative Josh Cockroft, and on Twitter, at VoteCockroft27. 

Cockroft Weekly Column: Common Core data collection a real thing; a real concern.

I have written and shared my concerns about the implementation of Common Core Standards in our education system many times before, but I wanted to touch on one more area that I researched this week. Concerns of less local control, less strict standards, and outlandish spending while Common Core Standards is being implemented in Oklahoma are all viable and real. On top of all that, issues of data collection by state and federal government on our students should be distressing for all of us.

In a recent publication in the Federal Register, the US Department of Education put out a notice for public review detailing this so called “data mining”:

“…The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011), sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education (ED), is a survey that focuses on children's early school experiences beginning with kindergarten and continuing through the fifth grade. It includes the collection of data from parents, teachers, school administrators, and non-parental care providers, as well as direct child assessments…. the ECLS-K:2011 is exceptionally broad in its scope and coverage of child development, early learning, and school progress, drawing together information from multiple sources to provide rich data about the population of children who were kindergartners in the 2010-11 school year….”

Proponents of Common Core Standards state there is no data collection dictated in the standards. They proclaim, “They’re only standards.” But the standards allow for common coded data sets to compare children. If there were not “common” standards and assessments, then the tracking of children via a common data set would not be possible. The standards do set up the procedure to track students.  Common Core provides the framework for common “direct child assessments.” It’s not much of a conspiracy theory when the government tells you what personal data it needs to track your children and publishes it in the Federal Register.

The NCES came out with more than 400 data points that Common Core proponents said would never be used to gain data, including points that don’t pertain to quality of education like bus stop location, immunization status and healthcare plan, religious beliefs, voting status and nickname. A complete list of data points can be viewed on my blog. However, based on this proposal by the federal government, it sure seems as if that data set could be put in place and data gathered from parents, teachers, school administrators and non-parental care providers.

Once again, I cannot see how implementation of these “standards” could be good for our local school districts all across Oklahoma. I encourage you to share your thoughts and concerns with me and your local school administrations. Whether you are for or against putting Common Core in place, your elected officials need to hear from you to move Oklahoma in the right direction. We can’t do it without you.

Please call my office anytime at: 405-557-7349. Email me at: Josh.Cockroft@okhouse.gov. Follow me on my blog: www.RepJoshCockroft.blogspot.com, Facebook: Representative Josh Cockroft, and Twitter: @VoteCockroft27.