Although only in his first term, Senator Holt is the Senate Majority Whip, which means he takes the legislators behind closed doors and tells them, "This is what we need," explained Mike Means, OSHBA executive director at Saturday night's state banquet
Holt was the keynote for the annual event. Just over 100 of the industry leaders attended this year's festivities, held at the COHBA headquarters.
Sen. Holt represents portions of Northwest Oklahoma City, Bethany, The Village and Warr Acres. He's Vice Chair of a committee with a really long title, but the bottom line is his group determines the validity of non-appropriated dollars, i.e. fees.
Previously, he made his mark as assistant to Oklahoma City Mayor Cornett, and was highly involved in moving the Oklahoma City Thunder here. His book "Big League City" covers the evolution of landing the NBA team.
Both up and coming new leaders, Sen. Holt and new state president Jeff Click are Putnam City North graduates, as were several in the banquet hall Saturday night, including current OSHBA Vice President/Treasurer Todd Booze and gubernatorial appointee Curtis McCarty, state Uniform Building Code Commission.
Sen. Holt highlighted several business issues before a growing OKC metro population, pointing out the number of people added to the OKC population since the 70s equals the current Tulsa population. This drew some humorous jabs from immediate past President Brandon Perkins of Tulsa.
Sen. Holt spoke of quality-of-life issues Oklahoma City has tackled during the last 20 years - passing bond issues for non-mandatory projects. Those included a sports arena, an Oklahoma River with water in it, a new library and a renovated civic center, among others.
State Senator David Holt
"Policy makers make places we want to live," Sen. Holt said.
The legislative session begins the first Monday is February and Sen. Holt said he sees progress on several fronts, including workers comp reform. Why? This is only the third year of GOP control in all branches of government.
We thank Sen. Holt for his service this coming legislative session, and thank him and his wife for taking the time to attend our awards banquet Saturday night.
