I honestly feel that we need to turn our attention away from “hot button issues” and back to issues to create jobs and make life better for the citizens of Oklahoma.  This will not happen until Legislators quit filing bills that they think will get them re-elected and go after less glamorous issues that will create a better way of life for all of us.

             We also have to quit killing or trying to kill bills just because someone from the “other” party is the author.  There are two bills this session that I voted for, where I was the only member of my party to vote yes.  I absolutely don’t regret either one of these votes.  

In the past three months I have asked for your opinions on several issues, and after we adjourn I will continue to send out these same questions because, so far, they have been either defeated or not brought up yet, so please keep responding to these questions.

 So far this session, no legislation has been brought up for transfer or sale of any water in the State, particularly Sardis water.  The tribes (Choctaw and Chickasaw) have done a good job of letting the Governor and Legislature know that there will be legal action taken in regard to movement of water out of SE Oklahoma.   I, along with several other Legislators, will be watching for amendments or conference committee reports (bills) that may sneak language into our statutes to affect adversely our Oklahoma water law.  I will not only be watching Title 82, which is statute on water law, but I will also be keeping a watch for municipal bills.  If a bill comes up to give a municipality free reign to sell utilities without the Governor’s approval, that could be water from Oklahoma City heading south!  These are just some of the things about which we must be vigilant in these final May legislative days.

 Our new Federal Healthcare Law, which is a misnomer (it should be called the Insurance Reform Law) requires states to operate an ACA compliant exchange by a January 2014 deadline.  ACA stands for Affordable Care Act.  These insurance exchanges are information sites, whether they are a website or a state agency, for people to shop for insurance and compare premiums.  This also allows for the boards of these exchanges to deliberate on complaints brought by citizens against insurance policies or insurance companies.

 The Federal Government has allocated $54 million to each state to set up these exchanges.  In Oklahoma, our Governor and Legislative Leadership at first accepted this money, then rejected it to set up, at the Oklahoma taxpayers’ expense, this new exchange.  It came through SB 971, which is non-compliant with federal requirements in a number of ways.  First, it does not meet public accountability and transparency requirements.  SB 971 specifically designates governing board slots for insurance industry representatives and contains no prohibition on conflicts of interest.  Talk about the fox guarding the hen house! 

 Second, it denies the exchange the regulatory authority to determine qualified insurance plans. Third, it provides no mechanism to review rate and premium increases or to censure insurance companies that spend most consumer premium dollars directly on medical care, not overhead or administration.  If we are not compliant, then we will fall into federal intervention and receivership.

 It doesn’t make sense to pass a bill that sets the State of Oklahoma up for failure.  This bill has been sent to committee and, hopefully, it will not come out until these deficiencies are corrected.

 Visitors this week were Kent Towne from KTC and Raymond Wilson with Puterbaugh TSA students, Brett Weeks, Connor Mayes, Joey Schoggins, Nicholas Santine, Robby Stephens and Joseph Savula.  It was also good to have Carol Ervin and Pogo Thomson here representing the Main Street program from both McAlester and Wilburton.  Last week we failed to mention another of our firefighters who spent some time here at the Capitol – Heath Marco – a belated thanks for coming by.

 Hebrews 3:13

            Unfortunately, at the State Capitol our priorities are not always in the right place, and this is no more evident than in the fact that the Legislature continues to violate a state law that was passed five years ago.  We have a law that requires the Legislature to fund education by April 1.  We have not done so, yet the House leadership is taking Thursday off to go on a golf outing with lobbyists in Arizona.  We need to stay on task and do what you, the people, sent us to the Capitol to do, and that is to complete your business.

            Meanwhile, we continue to pass some very contentious legislation.  SB 398 by Steve Martin (R-Bartlesville) prohibits unsolicited telemarketing text messaging.  This is one of those bills that sounds good in theory, but there is no way for Oklahoma to enforce out of state texts from telemarketers.  However, Rep. Martin can go home and report what he did for his constituents with the bill.

            I do not report on a great many of the education bills that are passed; but, folks, we are passing a large number of education bills patterned after the State of Florida.  SB 2 by Ann Coody (R-Lawton) establishes a graduation rate indicator for an academic performance index.  This is not all bad, except that our new Superintendent of State Instruction has the authority to set goals, and this legislation requires a school to reach a goal of 100%.  This may be good in theory but is a farce in reality.  Those not reaching these goals must file a graduation improvement plan, and this will also affect that school’s overall A, B, C, D, F grade on which I reported earlier.  This will also affect our local districts’ funding. 

I asked Rep. Coody if SB 2 will take into consideration the socioeconomic differences of school districts.  The answer is “no.”  Folks, I have some schools with 92% overall free and reduced school lunches vs. some schools that have a 5% overall free and reduced school lunch rate.  For those of you not in the “school business,” families that qualify for “free and reduced” are living at the poverty level.  So a school district in House District 17 that has 92% of families living at the poverty level will be evaluated exactly as those school districts that have only a few families in the lower income level.  This is not a fair way to evaluate our local schools’ performance, which will ultimately hurt our children.

            On top of all this, we just received our National Education result for 2010. Guess what!  The overall graduation rate in the U.S. is 73% with Oklahoma at 78% and Florida at 64%, and we are patterning ourselves after the Florida plan.  It is going to be very interesting to see where we are sitting five years from now.

            Now for a really horrible education bill:  SB 260 by Lee Denney (R-Cushing) allows charter schools to issue bonds or participate in bonds issued on their behalf.  When questioning the author on who would be responsible for the bond if a charter school went under or bankrupt, she stated that it would be the responsibility of the school board that applied for these bonds.  I just wonder if the school board of the charter school will be advised of this personal liability.  Also, this legislation states that the “charter school sponsoring board shall meet at the call of the chair,” which is a clear indication that they are exempt from the Open Meeting Act.  This is bad public policy.  I say this because I am a big proponent of Oklahoma’s open meeting and record laws.

            I am House author of SB 637, which is the dog breeder bill.  The language in this bill came about as a compromise between dog breeders and the Pet Quality Assurance Board.  It creates a toll free hotline for reporting of abused animals.  It also keeps the Board from hiring Humane Society members as inspectors and allows dog breeders to use their veterinarians as inspectors.  Tuesday’s Floor debate was interesting in that the final bill was not language I came up with, but rather language compromised between the breeders and the board.  I had a very difficult time explaining this to the Legislature.  They were looking for a “woolybooger” in the bill.  I swear I think I could have explained it to a class of fifth graders in less time.  After an hour of questioning and some debate, the bill passed 90-5. 

If you will notice, I did not call this a “puppy mill” bill.  That term is a very derogatory term, and a lot of people associate that name with anyone who raises dogs. This is simply not true.  An overwhelming number of people who raise dogs love their dogs as much as you and I.  Because of that, I agreed to carry this legislation in the House.  Believe me, folks; carrying this legislation was not on my bucket list. 

The fear of the unknown is what drives opposition to a lot of legislation, and this was no more evident than when three weeks ago, a humane group out of Oklahoma City came to McAlester and bought an $800 ad saying that I was protecting people who are raising animals in filth.  Very simply, they didn’t have the decency to ask me what my intentions were with SB 637.  Just think how many animals could have been spayed or neutered for $800.  This is the one complaint that I have with national humane groups.  They collect money showing starved, neglected pets and then use the money for political purposes, rather than on animals.  I want you to know this is not the case in our local PAWS organizations, and for this reason, I would highly recommend that if any of you are currently donating to any national humane organizations, please direct those funds to your local PAWS group because they will spend all of it on the animals.

My door is always open to you.  I greatly appreciate the opportunity to work for you as your State Representative.  Please feel free to contact me anytime by regular mail, House of Representatives, 504 State Capitol, Oklahoma City, OK 73105; or by email brian.renegar@okhouse.gov; or on our toll free number 1-800-522-8502.

It was good to see Mike Coniglia and Rodney Leamy from the McAlester Fire Department here in the office this week.

Phillipians 1.

             We are finally spending long days on the House floor passing legislation, some good, some bad, and some that is only passed to help someone get re-elected.

             A bill by D. Roberts (R-Durant) was passed and signed by the Governor, which bans funeral protests within 1,000 feet of a funeral (previously it was 500 feet).

             SB 274 by Liebmann (R-Okla. City) is a bill to create a new turnpike.  Let’s see, we gave Tulsa a new turnpike two years ago -- I guess Oklahoma City wants one this year.  I voted NO; this bill was killed.

             SB 595 by Derby (R-Owasso) allows the Secretary of Transportation to spend $100,000 on a feasibility study for advertising on toll roads.  I would rather see this money go to rehabilitate some of our state’s flood control lakes.  I voted “no” on this bill, and it failed by a very narrow margin. 

            My intentions this week were to write about two or three bills that we either passed or killed each day that had a major impact on the people of Oklahoma.  The aforementioned bills came on the House floor on Monday.  Unfortunately, yesterday (Tuesday) after nine hours and hearing 30 something bills, there was not one that was newsworthy enough to report to you.  Better luck today!

             We passed HJR 1002 by Dank (R-Okla. City) which would send to a vote of the people a state question that reduces from 5% down to 3% the amount of ad valorem tax that a county tax assessor can raise our land taxes each year.  Our ad valorem (land) taxes go to schools and county government.  At the present time the State of Oklahoma ranks 47^th out of 50 states in the amount we are taxed; there are only three states that tax their population less than we are taxed.

             I have been somewhat disappointed with the content of legislation this year at the Capitol.  Over the last few years I have felt the way Oklahoma could pull itself out of this recession is to convert our vehicles to natural gas.  I was fully expecting at least legislation to convert state government vehicles and school buses to compressed natural gas.  I passed by a natural gas service station this morning and noticed it was at 1.39 equivalent to a gallon of gas, which is pushing $4.00/gallon.  We are having a big increase in compressed natural gas service stations statewide.  I was also told that our major car makers were going to be mass producing more natural gas burning vehicles in 2017.  I wish the people of Oklahoma would push our legislature to pursue natural gas conversions. 

             We pass a lot of legislation that are hot button items that are polled and politically correct, but yet we seem to fall short on issues that increase the quality of life for most Oklahomans.  We are in bad need of another Robert S. Kerr or Henry Bellmon to turn this state around.

 This week we honored Department of Transportation Poster winners from across the state.  On the House floor we recognized Erin Dunlap, the daughter of Shannon and Gina Dunlap who reside southeast of Krebs.  They were accompanied by Cynthia Douthitt who is Erin’s teacher at Will Rogers Elementary School.  It sure was nice to see some home folks here at the Capitol.

 We also honored 4-H members of Oklahoma.  Students from my district who came by were:  Makenna Rogers, Kiowa and Chris Maxcey from McAlester. 

God Bless all of you and I hope everyone is able to attend Easter services in your home church.  Remember the vast majority of Americans profess “In God We Trust.” 

Acts, chapter 1.

             One of the best bills filed this session that passed out of committee but was not heard on the floor is HB 1235 by Rep. Ben Sherrer (D-Pryor), which would make pseudoephedrine tablets a Schedule III drug.  This would severely restrict the amount of this drug a person would be allowed to have in his/her possession.  We all know that pseudoephedrine is used to produce methamphetamine.  From 1993 to 2004, importation and manufacture of pseudoephedrine has increased 12,000 per cent.  With the adoption of this type of legislation in Mississippi, meth labs decreased by 58% in the first eight months.  Pharmaceutical money kept it off the House floor here in Oklahoma this year.  This is not what is good for Oklahoma.

             I want to report back to you and let you know how impressed I was with the responses to my survey questions I proposed in both newspapers and letters sent by my office.  The results from you, the people, are:  abolish daylight savings time – 19-1 in favor; guns on campus – 12-1 against; open carry of Guns, 8-1 against; giving the Governor power to appoint elected positions of State Treasurer, Labor Commissioner, Superintendent of Public Education, and Corporation Commissioners, almost unanimous against (80-1).  I truly appreciate the responses.

             The last couple of weeks I haven’t reported on many bills passing off the House floor because we are back in the “committee cycle,” considering Senate bills in House committees.  When we have passed bills, they really haven’t been ones with much substance.  The next two weeks will be deadline weeks to clear all Senate bills off the House floor as well as House bills off the Senate floor.

             As you are aware, the Governor signed a bill taking away a teacher’s due process, and we passed a bill to grade schools on an A, B, C, D, F formula; there are a host of other education bills that are all a part of the “Florida Plan.”  Our state leaders think that we need to pattern Oklahoma’s education plan after Florida.  Ironically, over the last several years, Oklahoma students score higher on ACT tests than Florida.  Also, Florida spends $1,700 more per child in the classroom than Oklahoma, but there is no mention of additional funding for our schools – talk about hypocrisy!

             This week we celebrated the 45^th Infantry Appreciation Day in a Joint Session with the Senate.  Mostly ceremonial in past years, the tribute seemed more poignant this year since 3300 of our guardsmen have been activated for overseas duty.  There was a marked absence of Guardsmen in the gallery; however, there were quite a few family members present.  We all need to pray for their safe return.

             Some of the visitors here at the Capitol this week were:  Cathryn Tucker and Christine Sauro, celebrating Library Day; and Jennifer Clark, one of our Advocates for Kids.  Also coming by were Karen Fisher and Amy Cable from CASA of SE Oklahoma.  Thanks for stopping by the office. 

             Phillipians 3:17

            As most of you know, every ten years we take a census, and then the year after, the State changes each of our districts.  Prior to 2010, each Representative represented 34,165 people; after the 2010 census, we now represent 37,142 – an increase of almost 3,000 population.  Most of the increase in population occurred in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, but there was a pretty good increase in Durant also.  I have been told that my district will move into McAlester.  I also have been told that I will pick up northern Atoka County and northeast Coal County.  I may lose the three southern precincts in Haskell County, but keep all of Latimer County, western Leflore, and eastern and southern Pittsburg County.  I won’t know for sure for a couple of weeks, but the people who decide, who are above my pay grade, will let all of us know.  The Legislature must vote approval of the redistricting plan before the end of Session on May 27.

             There seems to be turmoil in the Tourism Department here in Oklahoma.  The new Tourism Director Debbie Snodgrass announced recently that she is closing seven state parks in the eastern part of the state, which is ironic because tourism is our third largest industry in the state, and these closings will decrease tourism dollars spent in those counties.  Today in the Economic Development Committee, a bill passed that would allow the State Tourism Department to sell $10 million in bonds for capital improvements in State Parks.  There is a feeling around the Capitol that we are sprucing up these State Parks for future sales.  Two years ago the Department sold Lake Texoma State Park to Chesapeake Corporation.  Debbie Snodgrass, our new director, is a former employee of Chesapeake Corporation.  Interesting, huh?

             There are no concrete budget terms out yet, but preliminary reports are that Public Education, Public Safety and Human Services will be cut 3%; Higher Ed 5%, Career Tech, 5 ¼%, and all other agencies 5 to 7%. 

            Congratulations are in order for the 2011 recipient of the Donna Nigh Award.  The award is named for the former First Lady and recognizes an individual whose volunteer work in government, business or media has dramatically improved the quality of life for fellow Oklahomans.  The state recipient this year is McAlester resident, Larry Ivey.  Congratulations and kudos to Larry!

             Last week I was busy in committee meetings, and as I was cleaning my desk off this week, I found a note that I missed Marilyn Turvey, Susie Hass and Paige Shoupe from Kiamichi Tech. 

             Visitors this week included Tim Wynn, Jerry Banker, Larry Ivey, Mike Ward and several residents from Oklahomans for Independent Living.  McAlester Day at the Capitol was Tuesday; it’s always a highlight when the McAlester Chamber showcases our hospitality to the Legislature and to the Capitol staff.

             Proverbs 1:7.

 The sermon was on David and the Israelites first worshipping God and obeying his word, and then, as they became comfortable and more confident, they started straying from God’s word and making decisions on their own.  I thought about elected officials, from their election through serving for “however” many years.

             Anytime I hear a really good sermon, I start forming analogies in my mind with me as the elected official.  So I started correlating God’s Word with the People’s Will.  As elected officials, we tend to start by doing the people’s will that we heard about while we were campaigning; then as we continue to serve, we sometimes quit asking our constituents for their opinions, I guess because, like the Israelites, we get comfortable or just busy.  I have always tried to keep up with the People’s Will.  That is why I am sending out surveys.  You can call it staying close to your “roots” or seeking your people’s will.  No matter what you call it, I just think it is the right thing to do. 

 With that in mind, I have another “major” survey question on which I would like your response.  There is a bill that allows the Governor to appoint the following statewide elected positions:  State Treasurer, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Commissioner of Labor, Commissioner of Insurance and the three Corporation Commissioners.  So what do you think?  Should we keep electing these officials, or should we give the Governor the power to appoint these positions? 

 Your responses to my previous opinion requests on Daylight Savings Time (DST) and the two gun issues were tremendous as they helped to shape my votes on these issues, though the DST bill did not advance to the House Floor for a vote.

 We are finally starting to see some legislation that is dealing with our prison overcrowding situation.  Rep. Pam Peterson (R-Tulsa) is the House author of SB 956, which passed the Senate by a vote of 46-0 and has now passed out of the Public Safety Committee in the House.  This bill allows first-time offenders who are primary caregivers of minor children to be placed on the electronic monitoring program, instead of incarceration.  This would save the State, not only incarceration costs but also DHS costs of foster care of the children.  A few weeks ago we also passed a bill that would allow sheriffs to take advantage of the electronic monitoring program on inmates waiting to be picked up by the DOC.

 On the water front, I was visited by Richard Wheatley, a lobbyist and a concerned water person, who has been studying my “basin of origin” water bill that I have filed the last three years.  He is proposing a plan that would do the same thing by creating “water trusts” in the thirteen different basins that would give control of the water in those basins to the people who live in those basins.  It would achieve the same goal that I was promoting, but in reverse order.  I was trying to pass legislation to create these different districts in statute.  His idea is to create these districts first, then create legislation that the state would accept them for beneficial use.  There is more than one way to skin a cat, huh?

             I am going to end this article with some comments by our Pastor of the week, Brent Kellogg of the Cornerstone Church, which is a Southern Baptist Church in Tulsa.  After this week, he realized that pastors and elected officials have a lot in common.  Both have huge responsibilities of which the public may not be aware.  Both need to be thick-skinned and tenderhearted.  Integrity is demanded.  He charged us “to stay the course, don’t give up, stay true to your convictions, and “Don’t Leave Without Jesus!”

 Visitors this week included Career Tech folks, Dr. Smith from Eastern, and County Officers from both Pittsburg and Latimer Counties.  Also I had three students from the Oklahoma School of Science and Math “shadow” me on Monday.  They were Carolina Vega Recalde from Red Oak, Justine Alexander from Kiowa, and Max Angst from Hartshorne. 

            This week we passed two important ad valorem tax bills, both of which will be presented for a vote of the people.  The first, HJR 2002, freezes property tax on seniors and eliminates a cap on income for seniors to qualify for the freeze.  The second, HJR 1002, would reduce the amount an assessor can raise our property taxes per year from 5% to 3%.

            On Monday the House spent 1½ hours reprimanding two members of the House, one for interrupting a Pastor while he was giving a devotional, the second for using foul language and making a threatening statement about another member in a member’s office, but not in his presence.  We spent $40,000 of taxpayers’ money, reprimanding these two legislators, which means nothing.

            During the last two weeks the Legislature has taken teachers’ due process away, attempted to freeze State employees’ retirement and removed cost of living raises from all retired employees, whether they may be a teacher, policeman, firefighter or other State employee; AND we have not passed anything to increase jobs in the State of Oklahoma.

            We did, by the way, roll back some fees that the Legislature passed so freely in the previous Legislative session.  Last year we increased fees on vending machines from $50 to $150.  HB 1674 rolled back that fee to $75.00.

            One of the biggest disappointments, HB 1235 by Sherrer (D-Pryor), would make pseudoephedrine a scheduled drug.  The pharmaceutical lobby has kept this bill from coming to the House floor, even though it passed out of Committee.  Mississippi passed similar legislation a year ago, and in just eight months, they have seen a 65% reduction in meth labs.  Because of this success, Mississippi drug agents are able to focus investigations on large drug distribution organizations, instead of “user” meth labs.  Since

the Federal government is no longer going to pay for lab cleanups, Mississippi will not be impacted like Oklahoma.  I guess House Leadership is more concerned about pharmaceutical profits than trying to control our meth problems.

            Every year that I have been in the Legislature we have been asked for supplemental funding for the Department of Corrections.  This year we were asked for

$9 million in supplemental funding to eliminate furloughs.  I wholeheartedly agree there is reason to furlough, but then to require officers to work double shifts is counter-productive to saving money.

            SO, the House Leadership runs SB 970 which allows the DOC to cannibalize itself.  Oklahoma Correctional Industries (OCI) is a division of DOC that I spoke of last week.  They build furniture, benches, etc., as well as run an agriculture service which allows Oklahoma prisons to raise food to feed the inmate population.  Because of Ag services, Oklahoma is second lowest in the nation in what it costs to feed the inmate population.  SB 970 takes $5 million out of OCI’s account to put back in DOC’s budget to reduce furlough from three down to one day a month.  What we should have done is give the full $9 million, without taking operational money out of OCI, and remove all furloughs!  Shame on us for not being responsible!  Shame on us for locking up a huge population of people, then not paying for the cost of incarceration!

Because this is deadline week, there is no way I can report on every bill.  In the next few weeks, I will play catch-up

             Visitors from home this week were:  Brenda Calahan, Cami Parks, Estella Bennett-Mask, Claudia K. Lester, Brian Weaver, Jerry and Barbara Donathan, Paula McGee, Melissa Hoover and Janice Bernardi-Weaver.  Come by anytime.  You are always welcome.

  God Bless.  John 3:16

There is a clamor at the Capitol to grab any money in any accounts to help balance the budget. This also occurred during the last oil and gas bust of the early 1980’s. At that time, the legislature robbed money from the Teachers’ Retirement System, which was never repaid, and that is one of the major reasons why the teachers’ pension fund is underfunded.

This is happening on a smaller scale now, but is affecting many more agencies in the process. We have bills consolidating many different agencies and boards, not to streamline or shrink state government, but to rob those agencies and boards of their carry-over money!

Let’s talk about “carry-over” money. Carry-over money is an indication that an agency, board, or entity is watching the way it spends allocated funding. The unspent money is “saved” for the next year – in case of revenue failure. This is good financial planning. I really fear the next “carry-over” we rob will be from schools.

We have a specific bill to rob OCI, which is the division of the DOC that uses inmate labor to build furniture, benches, and a variety of items. This actually helps inmates build skills and reduces recidivism of these inmates. The legislature wants to rob OCI of their bank account that they use to buy raw materials for construction of marketable items to state entities and non-profits. This is like killing the goose that laid the golden egg. What is really ironic is that all the Legislature really needs to do is cancel out a few of the non-job producing tax credits that the state gives to corporations.

On to other bills - SB 741 by Fields (R-Pawhuska) creates the “Oklahoma Water Center Act.” The gist of this act is that it names a further board to assist in the implementation of the Oklahoma Comprehensive Water Plan, which, by the way, has not been completed. We haven’t even had the public feedback sessions, which begin next month in 13 different towns in Oklahoma. Talk about putting the cart before the horse!! This act also instructs the center to plan for the sale of water out of state. That’s right; I never believed I would see that in print. Part of the planning would be to determine value of water/foot of water, which the Comprehensive Water Plan did not even study.

I intend to expend all my energies to kill this bill. Sometimes success at the Capitol isn’t judged by the bills you pass, but by the bills you help kill. This applies here.

We heard a couple of education bills. HB 1746 by Nelson (R-Oklahoma City) creates a mandate for our local schools that requires 65% of money expended by a school shall be spent in the classroom. Charter schools will not be required to do this, but public schools will. If a school district does not receive any state money from the formula, it still must meet the mandate. This bill died on the House Floor.

HB 1830 by Newell (R-Seminole) removed due process from school teachers if they are terminated. Trial de nova is a teacher’s last relief in District Court. This was taken out of state law today.

One of the last bills this week to pass was HB 1381 by Cox (R-Grove). This hospital provider fee levies a 2% hospital fee and that fee will allow our hospitals to receive a two to one match from the federal government. Presently, 46 other states are getting our federal tax dollars back on this same program. This legislation has the ability to save some of our rural hospitals and could bring back $326 million annually to reimburse our hospitals to help pay for the money they lose, due to uninsured patients.

Visitors from home this week included: Mike Ward, and Bobby Logsdon from Oklahomans for Independent Living; Shawna Cason; Deanna Cheek, Ms. Wheelchair of Oklahoma; Dr. Steven Smith, Dr. Jeff Duff, Jim Pratt, Heath Marco, Aaron Boatright, Jim Poder, Mark Parker, Doug Basinger. Rodney Leamy, Mike Caniglia, Rick Beames, Mark Showell and Jim Henley. It is always good to have visitors from home.

God Bless All of You!! Genesis 1:1