With a little more than a week remaining in this legislative session, the Senate and House have reached a state budget agreement for fiscal year 2025, which begins July 1. Crafting a state budget and sending it to the governor’s desk is undoubtedly our most important task each year. This $12.5 billion budget is a fiscally responsible spending plan that prioritizes funding for education, public safety, infrastructure and other key areas. I look forward to giving you more details after the Senate votes on it in the coming days.Monday was the first meeting of the Joint Committee on State-Tribal Relations this year. I’m one of 10 members on the committee that includes Senate and House members. The committee met to review and discuss more than a dozen tobacco tax compacts the governor has finalized with various Native American tribes, including the Otoe-Missouria tribe. The committee also approved new motor vehicle registration and car tag compacts the governor negotiated with the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations. This was a very productive and interesting meeting. I learned that because of the differences among Oklahoma’s tribes, compacts are not a one-size-fits-all solution for the state to work with its tribal partners. While some compacts may work for certain tribes, the same terms or conditions may not be beneficial for all tribes.Gov. Kevin Stitt recently signed legislation I authored that will require food delivery services like DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub to reach agreements with local restaurants before delivering their food. The governor vetoed a similar bill last year, so I’m glad he signed this updated version that is modeled off a new law in Florida. This measure was requested by the Oklahoma Restaurant Association to prevent food delivery apps from offering delivery services from restaurants without their consent. Under House Bill 2995, restaurant owners can file a complaint with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission if these apps list their menu items without an agreement in place. HB 2995 doesn’t specify what kind of agreement the restaurant and the delivery apps must reach. It simply requires some sort of agreement to work together.I also passed a bill this week that deals with wholesale liquor prices that will make it easier for small, local liquor stores to compete with big box stores. Senate Bill 800 also clarifies state law to specify that retail liquor stores are allowed to offer discounts to veterans. It used to be a ...