Oklahoma
State Senate
Communications Division
State Capitol
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105
For Immediate Release: January 23, 2009
Sen. Steve Russell
Soldiers, Widows & Adoptive Families
Top Senator’s Agenda
Senator Steve
Russell has filed a trio of bills to help ease the burden
of some of Oklahoma’s most deserving citizens including
soldiers, widows and adoptive families.
“My bills deal with issues that promote good government
rather than complicate the lives of Oklahomans,” said Russell.
“As both a 21 year veteran of the U.S. Army and an adoptive
father, I’m all too aware of the hardships faced by our
military families, those trying to adopt children, and those trying
to survive after loss.”
Two of the Oklahoma City Republican’s bills deal with tax
relief. SB 881 would exempt military personnel from paying state
income taxes on their military pay.
“It’s not a question of how the state will survive
the impact of this very small loss in revenue, but rather how
military families survive their multiple moves, deployments and
hardships while defending our freedom.
We often say that nothing is too good for our troops in Oklahoma,
but nothing is often what they get.”
Oklahoma has the second highest military recruitment in the nation
per capita, but Russell points out that a great many service men
and women change their citizenship at the first opportunity because
of the state’s tax rates.
“Surely we can do better than states like Nevada, Illinois
and New York,” challenged Russell.
There are currently 16 states that exempt their military from
paying income taxes.
“I know I’m going to face opposition given that it’s
going to be a tight budget year, but from what I’ve seen
so far, we waste far more than the impact of this relief for our
troops. We can cut the waste and offer hope to our troops so that
they can remain Oklahomans rather than switch their citizenship
to other states, which they often do.”
Russell’s SB 540 would provide an income tax exemption for
Oklahoma widows or widowers whose incomes are at or below 200%
of the federal poverty level.
“If we cannot ease the burden of the widow and the orphan,
then it seems to me we’ve lost our way as lawmakers.”
Russell also wants to help Oklahoma’s adoptive parents by
updating the state’s adoption laws to make adoption an easier
and more efficient process. SB 1029 calls for a uniform standard
for adoptions within the state.
“Currently, adoption isn’t uniformly regulated in
the state. Parents have three options when adopting and that’s
through the state, a private organization or through an attorney.
The problem is that each of these uses different rules and standards,
which causes confusion and problems for many families,”
said Russell. “Adoption is a wonderful gift for both the
adoptive family and the child. Unfortunately, some have abused
the system while capitalizing on the plight of families involved
in the adoption process. I want to stop that.”
The freshman lawmaker is hopeful he can carry these bills through
to the Governor’s desk.
“I’ve faced some pretty tough challenges in my life
and I’m hopeful I can fight these bills through with people’s
help,” offered the combat veteran, perhaps best known as
the commander of a unit involved with the hunt and capture of
Saddam Hussein.
