CHAMBER FOCUSES ON GROWTH AND REFORM IN SUCCESSFUL 2025 LEGISLATIVE SESSION
As a front-line economic developer, the Chamber works tirelessly every day to recruit businesses to the market. During this session, the Chamber collaborated with appropriators on legislation benefiting major economic development investments in the metro area. Each session has its highs and lows. This year brought its share of challenges, and the Chamber stayed focused on achieving its priorities. The Chamber will continue strategic conversations on county government reforms aimed at increasing efficiency and accountability. Education policy remains a challenging focus and a top priority to improve Oklahoma’s low national rankings and ensure students are prepared for college and careers.
While opposition slowed efforts to streamline data sharing on student outcomes, the Chamber will continue to push for critical improvements to ensure Oklahoma has the best possible future workforce. Overall, this was a productive and successful legislative session for the Chamber’s priorities. The government relations team navigated a challenging political environment to maintain policies with proven economic development benefits and helped catalyze substantial job creation and investment in the market. To view the full legislative agenda, visit okcchamber. com/legislative.
KYLE HILBERT Speaker of the House
LONNIE PAXTON Senate Pres. Pro Tempore
The Chamber pursued an aggressive legislative strategy this session, successfully passing a significant number of bills into law. These efforts included extending three key incentive programs—Aerospace Industry Engineer Workforce Tax Credit, Oklahoma Quality Events Incentive Act and Oklahoma Tourism Development Act—that were set to expire in 2026 and needed to be extended to continue providing a positive return on investment to the state. The Aerospace Industry Engineer Workforce Tax Credit supports growth in the state’s second-largest industry, aerospace, which has a $44 billion annual economic impact. The Chamber helped create the Oklahoma Quality Events Incentive Act program, which recruits and retains high-impact events, such as attracting the Cattlemen’s Congress from Denver, Colorado, to OKC. The Oklahoma Tourism Development Act supports the state’s third-largest industry. Visit OKC plays a leading role by enabling the financing of landmark projects like OAK and the National.
At the beginning of each year, the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber’s board of directors adopts a set of comprehensive Legislative Priorities that address key issues impacting economic development. From February through May, the Chamber’s Government Relations team was intensively engaged at the State Capitol fighting for policies that strengthen Oklahoma’s business climate. The Chamber recently concluded a successful 2025 legislative session, navigating a complex political landscape to protect and advance policies critical to Oklahoma’s economic growth. “This year’s legislative session was very successful for the business community,” said Mike Jackson, senior vice president of government and community relations for the Chamber. “The team worked long and hard to achieve many of our legislative priorities. We still have a lot of work to do, but overall, the 2025 legislative session was a great success.” This year featured two new legislative leaders, Speaker of the House Kyle Hilbert (R-Depew) and Senate President Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton (R-Tuttle), as well as a new group of legislators. The margins for success on pro-business legislation, while always tight, grew smaller due to the political climate both in Oklahoma and nationwide.
The Chamber’s government relations team worked diligently during the 2025 Legislative Session to advance key economic development priorities and protect incentive programs vital to the region’s growth.
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