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New Senate leader Lonnie Paxton shares his priorities for Oklahoma lawmakers in 2025

President Pro Tem Elect Lonnie Paxton answers questions from reporters following the Senate's swearing-in of new members, Nov. 13, 2024, in the broadcast press room at the Oklahoma State Capitol Buidling. Paxton won the Senate's top position by one vote.
Lionel Ramos
/
KOSU
President Pro Tem Elect Lonnie Paxton answers questions from reporters following the Senate's swearing-in of new members, Nov. 13, 2024, in the broadcast press room at the Oklahoma State Capitol Buidling. Paxton won the Senate's top position by one vote.

Senate Pro Tem Designee Lonnie Paxton says his priorities are now those of his entire caucus, and during his first press conference with reporters as the chamber’s new leader, he talked about how he plans to move forward with a new crop of senators.

Paxton said the need for newer and wider roads across Oklahoma will always be there, as will the need for well-funded, top-tier public schools. Improvement in those areas remains among his top priorities.

But, he said, as the next pro tem, he’s obliged also to consider the priorities of his entire caucus. While Paxton was adamant his Senate Republican Caucus is “unified,” his single-vote victory for the top spot in the chamber over Sen. David Bullard suggests otherwise.

“The caucus is unified,” Paxton said when questioned about agenda divisions within the Senate GOP caucus. “It is a very good caucus that has a lot of diverse ideas. But overall, we have the same goal. We want to make Oklahoma a better place to live.”

He said the 20-19 internal vote granting him the pro tem win over Bullard is only proof of two good candidates running for the position.

Paxton said his caucus has many common goals and will discuss how to address them in the coming days. There are new regulatory needs and a new presidential administration on the horizon, which he’s had his mind on.

“For example, artificial intelligence is a new thing that we're dealing with,” Paxton said, explaining what senate committees he may create and do away with.

“We possibly could, you know, split some committees up and add some new topics and committees to start addressing some of the things that we're dealing with in real-time,” he said.

Last session, House members like House Speaker-elect Rep. Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, and Rep. Arturo Alonso-Sandoval, D-Oklahoma City, introduced bills establishing versions of the “Oklahoma Artificial Intelligence Act,” which aimed to set up a statutory framework to work with as the technology develops.

Other lawmakers, including some in the Senate, focused on regulating its use in ads, politics, porn and education.

All 14 proposed measures regulating AI in the last session died, according to the legislative tracking service LegisOK.

How policy decisions in Washington could impact Oklahoma

Paxton said he’s intrigued and excited about what a Trump administration could mean for Oklahoma, specifically around saving money and increasing government efficiency.

“I’m very interested in where Elon Musk is fitting in with this government efficiency thing,” he said. “I love the concept of that government efficiency department and the idea of who's running it.”

Trump tapped Musk and his former primary opponent Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a new government agency called the Department of Government Efficiency.

“I'm actually watching that to see not, you know, not how that's going to influence our legislation, but if that's something we could mimic here in Oklahoma,” Paxton said.

Paxton also suggested some tweaks will be made to the public budgeting process championed by his predecessor, former Senator Greg Treat, though it’s not clear what changes will take place.

“I think the transparency issue will continue to evolve,” Paxton said. “Last year, I’m very happy with what we did as far as getting things out there, but that was kind of the first step.”

Now it’s time to revisit and rehash the state budgeting process and improve it, he said.

“Anybody that wants to have access to it should see how the process unfolds,” Paxton said. “It shouldn't just be a few people looking at these things.”


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Lionel Ramos covers state government at KOSU. He joined the station in January 2024.
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