The Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women.

Sen. Constance Johnson

Senator Connie Johnson won a special election in 2005, and was re-elected in 2006, after 24 years as a Senate analyst/drafter on subjects ranging from birth to death.

Her focus on children and families is a reflection of the needs of her district as a significant number of the children in her district are being reared by their grandparents, mostly due to their parents’ incarceration for nonviolent, addiction or mental health related offenses. Oklahoma’s status as #1 in women’s and 4^th in overall incarceration has inspired her work on restorative justice issues ranging from clarifying the governor’s role in the parole process to sentencing reform and support for the children of incarcerated parents with an emphasis on child support arrearages. She successfully repealed occupational licensure restrictions for addiction or mental illness convictions.

Sen. Johnson serves on the General Government/Public Safety Appropriations Subcommittee, and the Health and Human Resources, General Government, Transportation, and Veterans standing committees. She is the National Black Caucus of State Legislatures executive board recording secretary, and former National Conference of State Legislatures executive board member. This legislative session, she is in her 30^th Legislature.

Born to educators in Holdenville, Oklahoma, she is the mother of three and has one grandchild. An honors graduate of Frederick A. Douglass Sr. High in Oklahoma City, she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and will be a May, 2010 Langston University Master’s graduate in Rehabilitation Counseling.