Representative Carl Newton

R

District 58

Hi, I'm Carl Newton and I represent the people of Oklahoma's 58th District.


representative

Leadership

Oversight Committee Chair

60th Legislature

News & Announcements

Sep 9, 2026
Recent Posts

Newton Studies Oklahoma's Water Resources

OKLAHOMA CITY – Rep. Carl Newton, R-Cherokee, on Tuesday held an interim study before the House Agriculture Committee examining Oklahoma’s existing water resources, current management practices and long-term sustainability efforts. "There's probably not anything else that's more crucial to our everyday life than water," Newton said . "You can live without food longer than you can live without water. And so, in Northwest Oklahoma or a lot of Western Oklahoma, we depend on underground waters. We don't have these nice, huge lakes that some of them have in Eastern Oklahoma. And so, without that underground water, we would cease to exist out there. And so with that, this is just to get an idea of where we're at on our underground water. Are there any solutions to this? Or is there anything we can do to help prevent further loss of that water?" Newton said water conservation and use has been on his heart for years, but the current drought is bringing additional urgency to the issue. "I know some of the other representatives in my area are getting hit up by people that their aquifers have dropped and their wells are dry," he said . "And so, with that a factor, people are very concerned about that." Newton invited Christoper R. Neel, Chief of the Water Rights Administration Division at the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, to discuss groundwater and well-permitting law. Neel displayed the severity of drought in Western Oklahoma and the Panhandle, which experience the worst drought classifications up to 30% of the time. The overlap of groundwater permits in the state shows the heaviest concentration in the same area. One issue is that groundwater wells were not required to be reported to the Water Resources Board until 1982, and the board has only about 50% compliance. In addition, most permit holders just estimate how much water they use each year. And the board is not an enforcement agency, so landowners are basically on the honor system, even though each is supposed to get an equal proportionate share of available water. "So, you combine the number of wells that are being drilled in Oklahoma with drought with the amount of permits that we have. You can kind of understand why we're sitting here and talking about groundwater just to give an update of what the state of Oklahoma is up to," he said . Duane Smith, executive director, and Josh McClintock, water policy specialist, with the Oka' Water Institute at East Central University, explained watershed sustainability. Smith explained that reduced water supply associated with drought and a warmer drier climate endangers public health, threatens habitat and jeopardizes local and state economies. He said funding statewide drinking water infrastructure needs by 2045 will total $117.6 billion. It's imperative that regions throughout the state begin planning to fund and meet these needs, he said, to mitigate depletion and to conserve this resource. Tom Kimball, a Board of Directors member with the Grand River Dam Authority, examined alternative help for declining aquifers, including the possibility of water transfer. "Water transfer is a big project," Kimball said . "If you come from western Oklahoma and say we're going to put a pipe in Grand Lake and start pumping water west, well, you're going to hear a lot of people probably start hollering. So, it's very difficult to go in and say we're going to take water from here and take it to there, even if you don't need it where it's at. But it's not difficult to take the water away from the people in New Orleans, Louisiana." Kimball explained that when the GRDA generates electricity at the Pensacola Dam at Grand Lake, the water goes into Lake Hudson, Lake Fort Gibson and then the Arkansas and Mississippi rivers, ending in the Gulf of Mexico. "It's not used for navigation. It's not used for irrigation," Kimball said . "It's not used as potable water. Once it goes through generation, it's going to New Orleans and used for absolutely nothing." The water could instead be captured and moved west, a difficult but not impossible task, he said. This could happen from other areas of the state as well, he said. He begged study participants to make sure water is not secured by private industry but instead remains available for future generations of Oklahomans. "With our water moving around the state where it's needed, we can produce jobs for our children and grandchildren that are just not even really thought of today," Kimball said . It's something to dream about, Newton said. The study can be watched on the House website under News & Media, live proceedings, then search by date for Sept. 8, IS26-006 Oklahoma Water Resources . 

Aug 24, 2026
Recent Posts

Newton Studies Advanced Primary and Value-Based Care

OKLAHOMA CITY – Rep. Carl Newton, R-Cherokee, on Monday held an interim study on the critical role of advanced primary care and value-based care in improving Oklahoman's healthcare outcomes and reducing costs. The study was held before the House Appropriations and Budget Health Subcommittee. "We're concerned about the cost of healthcare and are trying to make all aspects of it more affordable for individuals and taxpayers," Newton said. "When people can afford to access preventative healthcare, they have a better quality of life." Kari Webber, executive vice president of the Oklahoma Academy of Family Physicians and the executive director of the Oklahoma Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said both organizations are doing everything possible to promote primary care. "One of the things that we know," Webber said, "is that when patients are meeting with primary care physicians, costs of healthcare go down. And when we're doing that preventative care and care coordination models, we know we see impacts not only in the patient and their health outcomes but also the costs of overall care in general." Newton explained in his study request that advanced primary care is a physician-led, team-based model that expands upon traditional primary care by emphasizing prevention, care coordination, enhanced patient access, behavioral health integration and accountability for quality and outcomes. Traditional fee-for-service payment models, however, often do not provide the resources necessary for such care. Advanced primary care and value-based care are complementary strategies. Value-based care rewards providers for improving outcomes and reducing costs, while advanced primary care provides the infrastructure and care management capabilities necessary to achieve those goals. Both have shown to reduce overall healthcare costs by reducing unnecessary treatments and hospitalizations. For the study, Newton drew together healthcare providers representing rural, regional and tribal interests. These included Dr. John Zubialde, senior advisor for the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, Teresa Huggins, CEO of the Stigler Health & Wellness Center, Inc.; Dr. Marty M. Lofgren, and registered nurses Sandra Vaughn and Deana Aissaoui with Absentee Shawnee Tribal Health Systems; Dr. Jesse Campbell, regional physician executive, Sommer Skinner, vice president of Primary Care, and Rachel Allen, a registered nurse and director of operations for Mercy Oklahoma Community. Presenters discussed the successful implementation of advanced primary care, which requires investments in care teams, technology, data analytics, quality reporting and patient outreach. The study further examined whether current payment models adequately support these investments, particularly for independent and rural physician practices. Study presenter Dr. John Zubialde explained the overall need for advanced primary care versus other care models to address those with chronic and more complex healthcare needs. This generally represents the greatest costs to patients, insurers and the public. "When we look at Oklahoma's health statistics compared to national averages," Zubialde said, "we can see that chronic disease prevalence in Oklahoma is substantially above many national averages across the majority of the major measures." Mental health concerns, including depression, and substance abuse disorders, including methamphetamine and opioid use, along with preventable deaths, premature death rates and preventable hospitalizations also are substantially higher than national averages. At the same time, the use of preventive care services are well below the national average. "Oklahoma ranks about mid-tier in per capita health spending," Zubialde said. "That's a positive. However, when you recognize that in terms of per-capita income and resources for the average Oklahoma family, we're in the bottom area." This all translates into some statistics that must be considered, he said. "We're in the top ten states for the steepest health services cost increases. We're in the top ten states for individuals forgoing care because they cannot afford it. Even worse, we're in the top two states for highest medical debt, approximately double the national average, and we're in the top two states for highest rates of uninsured patients." That ranks Oklahoma at about 48th out of 51 states and Washington, D.C. "Broad-based primary care that incorporates advanced primary care has the best chance for helping to change this equation in our state," he said. The study can be watched on the House website under News & Media, live proceedings, search by date for Aug. 24, IS26-035 Advanced Primary Care and Value Based Care in Oklahoma .

Aug 6, 2026
Recent Posts

Lawmakers Mark Signing of Landmark Data Center Protections

OKLAHOMA CITY — House and Senate lawmakers joined Gov. Kevin Stitt on Thursday for the ceremonial signing of two laws protecting Oklahoma utility customers and groundwater resources as large-scale data centers expand across the state. Stitt ceremonially signed House Bill 2992 , the Data Center Customer Ratepayer Protection Act of 2026, authored by Rep. Brad Boles, R-Marlow, and Sen. Grant Green, R-Wellston, and Senate Bill 259 , known as the Groundwater Modernization Act, authored by Sen. Brent Howard, R-Altus, and Rep. Carl Newton, R-Cherokee. The measures create safeguards to protect Oklahoma families, small businesses and traditional utility customers from bearing utility and infrastructure costs created by large-scale energy users. They also enhance groundwater protections and water-use reporting requirements. "With these two bills now law, Oklahoma families and businesses will not be forced to subsidize the infrastructure needs of massive data centers and other large-scale energy users," Boles said. "I appreciate all of my colleagues in the House and the Senate who recognized the importance of protecting Oklahoma ratepayers and Governor Stitt for signing these measures into law. I am pleased we were able to deliver these ratepayer protections for Oklahomans." HB2992 took effect July 1 and protects existing utility customers from infrastructure costs created by large-scale energy users, including data centers, cryptocurrency mining operations and artificial intelligence facilities. It also requires developers to notify adjoining landowners, county commissioners and the Oklahoma Corporation Commission within 60 days of acquiring land for a qualifying project. "As our state continues to attract major energy-intensive industries, we’ve established a framework that ensures those developments pay their own way rather than shifting costs onto Oklahoma families, farmers, ranchers and small businesses," Green said. "Today’s ceremony highlighted our shared commitment to protecting Oklahoma land and ratepayers while supporting responsible and transparent economic growth." SB259 takes effect Nov. 1 and modernizes Oklahoma’s groundwater permitting, monitoring and reporting requirements. The law requires water permit holders to submit annual water-use reports to the Oklahoma Water Resources Board and directs the board to establish rules for reviewing reports, investigating complaints of waste and imposing penalties for overuse. "The Groundwater Modernization Act ensures Oklahoma’s most important natural resource is protected as our state attracts new commercial investments," Howard said. "The legislation recognized in today’s ceremony establishes a stronger standard for responsible and transparent groundwater management and conservation across Oklahoma. This law will help safeguard this vital resource for the needs of our communities today and for generations to come." The law prohibits data centers from using groundwater in open-air evaporative cooling systems or other systems that consume groundwater through evaporation without recirculation. To receive a groundwater permit, a data center must demonstrate that it will use low-consumptive cooling technology, such as a closed-loop or dielectric immersion system, which will help preserve groundwater for local communities and farmers. "For those communities that choose to allow data centers, this bill will ensure that water is conserved, and evaporation is limited," Newton said. "It's important to me and those I serve in northwestern Oklahoma, as well as residents throughout the state, that we protect our precious water resources and use the best conservation practices." Stitt says these new laws offer an approach to meeting Americans’ data needs while making sure Oklahomans are not left holding the bill. "This legislation ensures Oklahoma families come first as our economy grows," Stitt said. "In Oklahoma, we welcome the free market to drive prosperity, and we have also set clear guardrails for large load customers to solve for their own power needs. I appreciate legislative leaders for passing a modern solution that keeps Oklahoma a national energy leader while protecting four million Oklahomans from paying for someone else’s power use." The event was held at 9:30 a.m. in the Governor’s Blue Room. Stitt previously approved HB2992 May 11 and SB259 May 20.