OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — FOX23 spoke with a state representative after he proposed some wide-scale rule changes for the State House of Representatives ahead of the next legislative session.

We are less than a month away from the next legislative session where state lawmakers will convene to discuss and vote on our next state laws.

Before that, they need to set some rules that will guide them through the process.

State Representative Tom Gann (R-Inola) sent out a press release with his proposed changes last week.

FOX23 spoke with Gann on Monday. He said these rules represent the needs and complaints expressed by voters in northeast Oklahoma and focus on transparency, efficiency and divvying up powers away from House leadership.

“This is all about the House rules that we will govern ourselves by for the next two years and what we are looking for is to have a broader disbursement of the power outside of the speakership back into the body of the members so that they can fully represent the districts that they’ve been elected to,” he said.

Gann said he wants to implement wide, sweeping rule changes for the State House of Representatives to create more efficiency, transparency and disbursement of power.

“There’s been a real shift take place in the last election cycle and people feel like the institution of the legislature as a whole is pretty much tone deaf,” he said.

Gann’s rule changes focus on four areas:

• Restoring legislative order by capping when House leaders could file new bills during session
• Creating a House transparency committee
• Creating a governance committee that would delegate and oversee the powers of the House speaker
• Giving more power back to members of the House, allowing motions to be filed without approval

“These rules would disperse that to each and every member and not have it funneled up into a silo of leadership that we’ve seen in the past and not only in the House and the Senate and I don’t think that has served the public well,” Gann said.

The proposition is not an insult to House leadership. Gann said these are the concerns he’s heard from voters. However, it would require support from those House leaders.

“We have a lot of discussion to be had when we get down there in Oklahoma City,” he said.

Gann is not the only one proposing new House rules. There are others, including Speaker-elect Kyle Hilbert.

FOX23 did reach out to Hilbert to see if he had filed any rule changes for himself. He said that there have already been efforts to improve transparency and efficiency in the House, but every representative will get their chance to suggest new rule changes.

However, Hilbert said it’s rare for rule changes that came with a press release like this one to get approval.

Discussion, changes and eventual approval of House rules will take place on Tuesday morning at the start of the House’s Organizational Day.