Oklahoma Speaker of the House Kyle Hilbert had some advice Friday for the 31 new lawmakers who just began their first session in the state legislature.

“What I told my colleagues is two things,” Hilbert said at the Tulsa Regional Chamber’s first Legislative Briefing Breakfast at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Tulsa-Warren Place. “Take care of your family at home; that is so much more important than the things were doing at the Capitol.

“The Capitol is still going to be there when we’re gone. And two, when the issues come, listen to both sides…Try to work through that and come to a conclusion.”

Regarding his approach to law-making, Oklahoma Senate Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton shared an anecdote from a constituent.

“When I first got elected, there was a little old lady in my church who came up to me,” Paxton said. “She grabbed my arm and she goes, 'You just go up there and do what’s right, and everything will be great. I looked at her and I said, 'If it were just that easy.’

“There is such wide gray area. That’s what we’re sent there to do, and that’s to make tough decisions.”

Hilbert and Paxton were part of a panel discussion that included Oklahoma Senate Minority Leader Julia Kirt and Oklahoma House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson. The talk was moderated by Seth Paxton, manager of government affairs at Paycom, which presented the Legislative Briefing Breakfast attended by about 220 people.

How the legislature can promote the attraction and retention of business was among the panel’s questions.

“What we are looking at is what is the proper role of government in this, and what are the proper roles of government as it pertains to infrastructure,” Hilbert said. “We’re making sure that an industrial site has paved roads, water access, wastewater, high-speed internet, gas lines, utility lines.

“If you have that kind of setting and you also have workforce available, it’s not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’ the economic development is going to come…The time to diversify your economy and your revenue stream is not when you’re in a downturn but when you’re in a surplus. We’re in a situation where we do have a surplus.”

One of the roles of state government is hammering out a budget.

“We have to understand what our priorities are,” Kirt said. “What we have consistently said is we’re glad to look at tax cuts if they are very focused and targeted on those folks who need them the most and that we’re not shortchanging those important services of the state.”

Some of the panelists said the state needs to begin thinking about how to capitalize on some major tourism events coming to Oklahoma. The Route 66 Centennial is in 2026, and Oklahoma City is hosting two Summer Olympics events in 2028: women’s softball and canoe slalom.

The lack of affordable housing in the state, too, remains a focus at the Capitol, Munson said.

“In the legislature we have put together a housing stability program to help building and manufacturing in rural Oklahoma, which is great,” she said. “But we do need to look at what can do in urban areas, specifically around those who need access to single-family homes.”

The event concluded with updates from about 20 legislators in the audience.