State of the...Stitt?
Governor Kevin Stitt delivered his third State of the State address this past Monday, a tradition that also kicks off the beginning of the annual state legislative session. Normally we’d be discussing the pros and cons of the various policy priorities outlined in the speech, but this year the Governor opted to lean away from tangible policy and instead embrace abstract political rhetoric. Despite COVID-19’s effect on nearly every aspect of life and government operations during the past year, the pandemic received only cursory mentions by the Governor, with acknowledgements of the virus’ negative personal impact often being paired with positive economic messages. One important policy area did get a mention - the hotly-debated Medicaid Managed Care - and the Governor’s comments were conspicuously met not with applause but with with absolute silence in the chamber.
At the bottom of this post you’ll find the full text of the Governor’s speech and I encourage you to read it for yourself. Even if you listened to it live, reading it back is surely to illuminate it differently. For additional context, check out this article by Oklahoma Watch which contains the speech text along with annotations and fact checking from their reporters. And for even more context, listen to the latest episode of our podcast, in which we discuss the speech. You can find Let’s Pod This in virtually all podcast apps or simply listen to the episode below:
2021 State of the State (full-text)
Mr. Speaker, Mr. President Pro Tem, Lt. Governor Matt Pinnell, Chief Operating Officer John Budd and members of my cabinet, Mr. Chief Justice, members of the 58th Legislature, my best friend – First Lady Sarah Stitt, my six children, my parents, and most importantly, my fellow Oklahomans.
It is a great honor to stand before you, and to partner with you to lead our state through unprecedented times.
I respect the constitutional authority of both of these legislative bodies.
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Pro Tem, members of the House and Senate, I stand here in your chamber today and pledge to work with you, and to have the best and most productive session in state history!
I’d also like to recognize each of the 15 new representatives and the eight new senators who are just starting their service.
I look forward to partnering with you as we continue to lead Oklahoma to becoming a Top Ten state.
Two years ago, I took the oath of office in front of my family, my fellow Oklahomans and most importantly my Heavenly Father.
I promised to support and defend the constitution and perform the duties of my office to the best of my ability. I take that promise as seriously today as the day I made it.
My colleagues in the Legislature made the same promise to their constituents.
Today I’d like to talk about the promises we’ve kept – and the promise of tomorrow.
Oklahoma, the state of our state is strong because we are resilient and well-positioned for a bright future.
Before we look forward, let’s look back.
2020 was a year unlike anything we’ve experienced in our lifetimes.
If we think back to a year ago, who could have ever imagined the toll COVID would take? This pandemic is unprecedented in modern times.
We’ve felt the impact of COVID-19 on every level -- on our families, our jobs and our day-to-day lives.
We’ve lost more than 3,000 Oklahomans to this virus. Each one of those has a name, a story, and a family who is mourning their loss. Like Paul teaches us in Romans 12, we mourn with those who mourn.
Throughout this past year Oklahomans rose to the challenge: as individuals, as families and as neighbors. We made sacrifices; we took care of our most vulnerable; we shifted; we innovated, but we were not defeated.
For the last 11 months, my promise has been to protect the health and lives of Oklahomans, to keep our businesses open safely and to get our kids safely back in school.
I’m so proud of Oklahoma, our team at the Health Department, and the Governor’s Solution Task Force.
We successfully opened our economy on June 1st and safely restarted most schools in August.
It appears now other states are waking up to the stark reality of double-digit unemployment, huge budget deficits and the fact that our kids are safer at school than anywhere else.
They’re realizing we took the smart approach in Oklahoma.
Even Governor Cuomo in New York has seen the light. Just a few weeks ago he said, “We simply cannot stay closed until the vaccine hits critical mass. The cost is too high. We will have nothing left to open.”
Oklahoma faced the same decisions as every other state.
I’ve kept my promise to follow the data and make the right decisions for Oklahoma at the right time. And now we are months and months ahead of other states.
Across Oklahoma, doctors, nurses and health care workers have delivered on their promise to care for Oklahomans. They risked their lives to care for their fellow citizens and help them fight an unknown virus.
I’ve met with Chief Medical Officers and other frontline health care workers, both in my office and in their hospitals. I’ve witnessed their professionalism, their endurance and their compassion on full display.
Amy Petitt, the ICU Nurse Leader at Saint Anthony hospital, was one of the heroes we met. She told me about nurses and doctors working so hard to offer human touch to those who can’t see their families. No matter how tough the conditions are, they’re treating their patients with dignity. They’re caring for them like they’d want their own family members cared for.
We will forever owe them a debt of gratitude because they have been magnificent.
When testing was a challenge around the world, we leveraged the resources we had here in Oklahoma. We quickly converted a diagnostic lab in Stillwater, which dramatically raised our testing capacity in the early stages. Our State Health Department partnered with County Health Departments to stand up 80 test sites across the state.
We’ve made sure any Oklahoman who needed a test could get one for free, and we’ve completed more than 3 million tests so far.
We quickly overcame a global PPE shortage and refilled our stockpile. We continue to distribute millions of masks, gloves and other protective items across the state. We’re delivering to nursing homes, to first responders and to school districts in every part of our state.
I ask all Oklahomans to join me in thanking Secretaries Jerome Loughridge, Dr. Kayse Shrum, Kevin Corbett and Elizabeth Pollard; Commissioner of Health Dr. Lance Frye, Gino DeMarco, Director Mark Gower and his team at the Department of Emergency Management, the men and women of the Oklahoma National Guard, our teams on the front lines at the Department of Corrections and the Department of Veterans Affairs and our many other state and local partners.
I want to specifically thank my Chief Operating Officer, John Budd.
He’s in the gallery, representing the Governor’s Solution Task Force and everyone who played key roles in protecting Oklahomans.
John, we cannot thank you enough.
Oklahomans across the state played a key role in our response as well.
Together, the three W’s became part of our daily life. We’ve washed our hands frequently; we’ve watched our distance from others, and we’ve worn masks in public places.
We took the personal responsibility to protect our families, our neighbors and our most vulnerable.
Our 7-day average of new cases is down 45% from its peak. Our hospitalizations are down 35% as well.
We can see the finish line in our fight against this virus. Rather than coast our way in, let’s continue together with a final sprint.
To the Oklahomans who have made so many sacrifices to slow the spread, I thank you, and I ask everyone to join us as we put this virus behind us.
I promised Oklahomans we would bring efficiency to state government. We are doing just that with our vaccine rollout.
Thanks to the hard work of Deputy Commissioner Keith Reed and his team at the State Health Department, local public health workers and our state’s medical community, we are seventh in the nation – Top Ten -- in vaccines administered per capita!
I’ll never forget watching Hannah White, a nurse at INTEGRIS Health in Oklahoma City, be the first Oklahoman to get the vaccine.
Once it was over, she hugged the nurse who gave it to her. She said, “Hopefully this is the start of something better.” As I speak to you today, more than 356,000 Oklahomans now have that same hope.
We’re accelerating our efforts --- more supplies of vaccines are on the way. I assure you we will be relentless.
My vision is to get our summer back, and we can do it by continuing to lead the nation in vaccinations.
Because I am committed to getting all kids back in their classrooms, I made sure we prioritized teachers to get this vaccine. Many teachers over 65 have been vaccinated already, and many more teachers will be eligible this month.
In almost every district in Oklahoma, parents and students have an option to choose to go back to the classroom. To the school districts that have innovated and followed the data to offer safe, in-person instruction -- on behalf of your parents, and the future of our state, I can’t thank you enough.
You’re providing an important safety net to our children, and you’re the glue that holds many of our communities together.
I’ve heard stories of teachers doing everything they can, but they’re worried about their students not being in the classroom.
Kathryn Szallar teaches kindergarten in Deer Creek. She’s a phenomenal teacher who goes above and beyond for her students.
Her school is on an A/B schedule, and she told me how hard it is to teach young kids through distance learning. She feels it’s essential for young people to have the option to be in the classroom with their teachers.
A child’s education is a building block, and it starts in their youngest years.
Ms. Szallar, and many other teachers, are worried that keeping students from their classrooms could set them back for years.
Can you imagine being a first grader and trying to learn to read on Zoom?
Distance learning is perfectly fine for some students, but when we force it on everyone, it widens achievement gaps and jeopardizes our future as a Top Ten state.
Our kids deserve the option to be in their classrooms. I promise to keep fighting for our students every day!
We’ve kept our promise to thousands of business owners by allowing them to stay open safely.
As you know, some states shut down completely for months at a time.
But we found the right balance between protecting public health and protecting Oklahomans’ right to provide for their families!
We went to Phase 1 of the Open Up and Recover Safely plan April 24th. We went to Phase 3 – fully reopen – on June 1st.
Back then, I said by reopening safely and responsibly, we’d be months ahead of other states. Our June unemployment rate was fifth lowest in the country – 40% lower than the national average – and almost 60% lower than New York.
Because of that, almost 100,000 more Oklahomans were back to work compared to the national average.
Everywhere I go across the state, small business owners and workers tell me how grateful they are for being able to keep their businesses open, to provide income for their employees and their families and to provide the services their communities rely on.
The other day I stopped in at Eddie’s Restaurant in Edmond.
I got to meet Eddie, who drove across town to see me before I left. He shook my hand, sat down, and looked me in the eye. He said, “Thank you. Keep doing what you’re doing. It’s made a huge impact on our life.”
Like so many small business owners across the state, Eddie and his wife started with nothing but hope. They took out their life savings to buy a restaurant on the corner of Coltrane and Second.
After years of sacrifice and hard work, they expanded. They now own three restaurants, a catering company and a food truck.
Eddie told me that when the pandemic hit, like many business owners, they were worried.
He said, “My daughter’s college tuition needs to be paid. I don’t have a private investor, a bank. I have to continue on.”
Eddie said because of the decisions we’ve made; he and his 100 employees can continue on.
They can feed their families. They can pay for their children’s education. They can continue to live.
I’m proud to tell you Eddie plans to open a new location next month, and I can’t wait to be there to support him.
Through the Oklahoma Business Relief Program, we invested $143 million in 8,661 small businesses just like Eddie’s.
This program touched 344 different communities throughout all 77 counties.
25 percent of the businesses were minority owned, including the Black Wall Street Liquid Lounge, a coffee shop in Tulsa’s Greenwood District; TS&H Shirt Company in Seminole and Azteca Mexican Restaurant in Oklahoma City.
Azteca’s owner, Alejandria Camarena, opened her restaurant three years ago. She had always dreamed of owning a business.
COVID-19 threatened that dream, but thanks to our Business Relief grants, she kept all 12 employees on her payroll. And she continues as a successful Hispanic female business owner in Oklahoma.
Small businesses like these are the lifeblood of our communities. Their continued success is key to making Oklahoma a Top Ten state.
The pandemic isn’t over --- but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
As Will Rogers once said, “Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.”
The people of Oklahoma have sent us here to make their lives better. They expect us to work together, and they expect us to do things for the right reasons – never for personal gain or political purposes.
For the past few months, we’ve been working on a legislative agenda to deliver on the promises we’ve made to our constituents.
Secretary Bingman and I have been meeting with Speaker Charles McCall and President Pro Tem Greg Treat. We’ve worked together to craft not the governor’s agenda, not the House’s agenda, not the Senate’s agenda, but the people’s agenda!
The people of Oklahoma made their voices heard loudly in November.
They gave House Republicans five more seats, and the strongest supermajority in state history!
More than 80% of the House and the Senate are now led by conservative Oklahomans.
We will keep burdens low on our taxpayers.
We’ll support our oil and gas industry and protect it from radical liberals in Washington.
We’ll fight for our farmers and ranchers and the Oklahoma way of life.
We’ll enact business friendly policies.
We’ll protect the rights of unborn children and stand up for the personal and religious freedoms of Oklahomans!
“The People’s Agenda” for this legislative session has three main pillars:
Number one, Make Oklahoma a Top Ten state for business, number two, deliver taxpayers more for their money and number three, invest in our fellow Oklahomans.
I know so many of you in the chamber -- and those watching -- believe we can be and should be a Top Ten State for Business. What we need is more taxpayers, not more taxes.
I’m proud to say Oklahoma is open for business, and we’re seeing results.
More companies are looking to relocate to our state than ever before.
We’ve been aggressive. We’re reaching out to companies in states that are keeping businesses locked down and dictating their citizens’ personal freedoms.
In the past two years, we’ve had many meetings with companies in California.
They all say the same thing: “We want out.”
Over the last year, I’ve worked together with the Department of Commerce and the Oklahoma Business Roundtable to get those companies free from California’s anti-business policies.
PAS MRO, an aerospace company based in California, announced last summer it would be moving its operations to Bristow, Oklahoma.
Company President Jim Agee said the decision was easy. He said it was because of Oklahoma’s business-friendly policies, availability of highly trained workers and the lower costs of doing business in our state.
One of our key tools we have in Oklahoma to close deals like these is the Governor’s Quick Action Closing Fund. It lets us recruit new industries and growing companies.
We also need to invest in innovation by using accelerators for entrepreneurs and supporting startups statewide.
A few weeks ago, I was at the Cattlemen’s Congress at the fairgrounds in Oklahoma City.
The folks in Denver turned their back on the Ag industry. They wouldn’t let them have their major national cattle show because they insisted on keeping their state locked down.
That put the stability of the U.S. beef industry in danger.
So we started a new tradition here in Oklahoma City, and the Cattlemen’s Congress brought $50 million to our economy!
We can’t have a strong economy without a skilled workforce and a strong education system.
Right now, we have the opportunity of a lifetime. We have a chance to rethink and reimagine the future of education in Oklahoma.
One of the ways we can do this is by looking at how schools get their funding. The current formula lets schools pick their highest number of students over the last three years.
Here’s what that means.
Say you lived in Tulsa and moved to a new district to make sure your kids could go to school in person. Your kids could be counted by both districts.
They’re called “ghost students.”
We’re sending money to districts to educate kids who don’t go there, and that’s simply not fair.
There are more than 55,000 “ghost students” in our funding formula right now. That means we’re allocating close to 200 million of your tax dollars to students who don’t exist.
This is unacceptable.
It’s time for schools to be funded based on how many students they have now -- not how many they had in the past.
COVID-19 has also shown us that every child has unique needs. Being in a physical classroom is so important for most students to succeed.
By not giving our parents and children an option for in-person learning, schools have tied their hands.
It’s now been 325 days since Tulsa students in 4th through 12th grades have been allowed to be in their classrooms. 325 days!
Meanwhile, just a few blocks away, the rest of the Tulsa metro has been safely in session most of the year.
Union, Jenks, Broken Arrow, Bixby, Owasso, Sapulpa, Sand Springs, Sperry, Skiatook, Collinsville. The list goes on. They’ve all found ways to put their students first and give them the choice to come back to the classroom.
The only difference between schools that stay closed and those that have safely reopened is the mindset to find a way to make it happen.
My heart breaks when I hear stories like Abby Cavness’s.
She said, “I’m a Tulsa Public Schools lifer and never in a million years thought I’d be uttering these words.”
“My kids are miserable. They beg every day through tears to not do distance learning anymore. My 4th grader is begging to switch to any school that is actually open.”
“It is devastating to watch our beloved school lose family after family.”
Abby finished by saying, “I’m scared for what Tulsa and the school system is going to become after this.”
Stories like Abby’s are why students and parents need the choice to transfer to public schools that best fit their needs.
If a school district has space available and is a better fit for a child, the government should make that happen – not stand in the way.
We have to put our students first. Period.
Another way to make Oklahoma a Top Ten state is to have an infrastructure that grows and attracts businesses.
Last year, we hit a major milestone as we reached Top Ten in bridge conditions -- an incredible achievement considering we were near the bottom just a few years ago.
Tim Gatz, Secretary of Transportation, is doing a great job working with the teams at ODOT and the Turnpike Authority to modernize their agencies. That lets us focus on projects that link our cities and towns and provide access to new areas for economic development.
A strong infrastructure is the backbone of any strong economy.
Another key to a strong economy is letting businesses grow without fear of government overreach.
In his first week in office, President Biden issued 22 Executive Orders. Many of them will kill jobs and put burdensome regulations on our businesses.
It’s a different story here in Oklahoma. We must continue our focus on cutting red tape.
By working together to get rid of excessive regulation, we’ll unlock Oklahoma’s full economic potential for workers, business owners, farmers, and families.
Instead of letting Washington strangle Oklahoma’s businesses, we need to unleash them!
The government’s job is not to slow things down. It’s to get out of the way!
Thanks to the support of our legislators, we built our savings account to $1 billion in 2019.
Some folks criticized us for wanting to save this money, but that’s proven to be a lifesaver during the tough financial season we had last year.
I also want to credit my colleagues in the House and Senate for their wisdom and careful thinking during last year’s session. Our state was reeling from a massive drop in oil prices and 13% unemployment, but you recognized the uncertainty and wisely held the budget to 78% of the spending authority while still providing core services.
Your fiscal prudence is one of the reasons why we have the opportunity we do today, and I thank you for the challenging decisions you made.
It’s because of these tough decisions – reopening our economy, how we spent our COVID Relief Funds across the state, and the Legislature’s careful budget – that the Fiscal Year 2022 predictions are much better than many states.
We’ll be able to invest in strategic places while avoiding cuts.
We can also significantly replenish our savings account, so we stay prepared for whatever comes our way.
Now our challenge is to make sure Oklahomans get more for their money.
A perfect example of this is our Department of Human Services. Secretary Justin Brown and his team did a great job innovating this year.
DHS is prioritizing service over brick and mortar office space. Its closing 25 offices but embedding those staff members in more than 100 community spaces.
The result is Oklahomans get better access and more services instead of paying for real estate.
I thank the hardworking men and women at DHS and all our state agencies for innovating to get more for our money.
Another way to deliver taxpayers more for their money is to make sure hard work gets rewarded.
Like many of you in this room, my background is in the private sector. When I was building and running my business, I recruited and hired talented people.
I could pay and promote them based on their experience, capability and work ethic. But that can’t happen in state government.
Agency leaders have their hands tied in who they can hire and promote because of outdated restrictions. State agencies should be able to hire the best people and promote good employees.
2020 showed us how dramatically our world can change overnight. Our state agencies need to be able to adapt and change in real-time.
Thousands of our state employees are stuck in a system where qualified, dedicated and hungry employees are often waiting years to be promoted, all because they’re stuck behind someone in line.
I want to tell you about one of our hardworking state employees named Cody.
Cody has worked at OESC for 22 years. He’s down in the Idabel office.
Cody was doing way more work than his title and job description indicated, but factors out of his control made a promotion nearly impossible.
One of those factors was location. An agency policy required directors to live in Oklahoma City.
Generations of Cody’s family had lived in Idabel and a promotion wasn’t worth leaving his family.
It took a pandemic -- and my Executive Order to have state employees working from home -- to change the policy so he could become a director.
There are men and women like Cody across state government -- talented, dedicated to serving our state, and stuck in an outdated system that keeps them from being rewarded like they deserve.
To be a Top Ten state, we need a system that rewards our state employees and gives us the flexibility we need to serve our citizens more effectively.
Finally, my team will continue to find ways to partner with the members in this room to invest in our fellow Oklahomans.
America’s Health Rankings puts Oklahoma 46th in the country in health outcomes.
We’re one of the worst in the country in obesity and diabetes rates. We have the third most deaths from heart disease.
That’s unacceptable to me, and I know it’s unacceptable to all 4 million Oklahomans.
Oklahomans hired me to bring a fresh set of eyes to all areas of our state government.
As governor, I can’t stand by and continue with business as usual when the system isn’t working.
We have an obligation as leaders to do better for our citizens. I think its implicit in the promises we made when we all assumed office.
With Medicaid Expansion now in our Constitution, this is the perfect opportunity to reimagine health care delivery in Oklahoma. It’s time to focus on outcomes and not just paying invoices.
40 states have found managed care is the best way forward: Texas, kansas, Iowa, Tennessee, Florida. Even California and Illinois.
It’s not a red state or blue state thing. It’s the smart thing to do.
In fact, almost every other state with Medicaid expansion also uses managed care.
Oklahoma, this is the right path forward.
Now, we need to talk about the most pressing issue for our state’s future.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma questions the sovereignty of the state as we’ve known it since 1907.
The Court overturned the conviction of a child rapist on the grounds that the Creek Nation’s reservation was never disestablished for criminal jurisdiction. State courts no longer have the authority to prosecute crimes committed by or against Oklahomans who are also tribal members.
Hundreds of criminal cases are being dismissed.
This ruling also raises many other unanswered questions. Do tribal members living in eastern Oklahoma pay income tax and sales tax? If not, the Oklahoma Tax Commission estimates a potential loss of $200 million every year.
Another potential issue is who regulates agriculture? Water? The energy industry? Zoning?
Who has the right to tax businesses?
What is the state of Oklahoma’s ability to enforce the laws? In Muskogee County, a convicted serial rapist named Leroy Smith was recently released. The Muskogee County District Attorney said he can’t be retried because of the federal statute of limitations.
We need to resolve the many unanswered questions from this ruling.
I’ve invited the leaders of Oklahoma’s sovereign tribes to join together and work with the State of Oklahoma. Together, we must create the certainty, fairness and the unity we’ve enjoyed since 1907.
Where we go from here will define the state’s future.
We have a shared responsibility to live as one Oklahoma regardless of your race or where you live. We drive on the same roads; our kids go to the same schools and we benefit from the same programs.
It is critical -- while embracing the tribal heritage of many Oklahomans -- that we don’t lose sight of the fact that we are all Oklahomans.
As one Oklahoma, we will become a Top Ten state. If we are divided, we will not.
We must come together.
This year has tested the resiliency of our state and all 4 million Oklahomans. We’ve all faced challenges and made difficult sacrifices, but at the root of it all, we’ve endured.
Oklahomans are no stranger to hardship. We’ve lived through dust bowls, tornados, floods, a bombing, and now a pandemic. But we’re going to make it through, just like we have time and time again.
It’s been two years since I stood on the steps of the Capitol and was sworn in as governor.
On that day, I shared something my dad told me.
He’d tell us, “Don’t ever give up. Don’t ever quit. The future doesn’t just happen. You make it happen, so dream big.”
With big dreams and bold decisions, we’ll capitalize on the promise of tomorrow.
We must always focus on the next generation and not the next election. If we allow selfish ambition to drive decisions, the moral fabric of our system starts to break down.
I’m calling on every elected official to continue serving with self-sacrifice, always putting the needs of 4 million Oklahomans ahead of the few and the powerful.
I encourage us all today to renew our promise to the people of our great state. Our decisions have consequences, and as we go, society follows.
Let’s lead Oklahoma to becoming a Top Ten state, and let’s deliver on the people’s agenda. Together.
The turnaround Oklahomans demanded is well underway.
God bless you, and God bless the great state of Oklahoma!
How to Track Legislation
Today is a big day for the 58th Oklahoma legislature - it’s the annual Bill Filing Deadline, which means that all bills must be pre-filed by 4:30pm to be considered this year. Just over 1,700 bills and joint resolutions have been filed thus far, and it’s reasonable to expect another 500 to 1,000 more will be filed today. Now, just because a bill is filed doesn’t mean we know what it will actually do, much less whether or not the bill will even get heard in committee. Let’s break down the legislative process, clarify few key terms, and show you how to keep track of legislation as it moves through the Capitol.
THE PROCESS
Once filed, nearly all bills follow the same path to becoming a law: pass out of committee, pass the floor in the chamber of origin, pass committee in the opposite chamber, pass the floor of the opposite chamber, and be signed into law by the Governor. (There are a lot of caveats in that process; we’ll have a longer post outlining the full process soon - stay tuned!)
BILLS vs JOINT RESOLUTIONS
Typically the term “bills” refers to pieces of legislation that are statutory changes - that is, they pertain to the the Oklahoma Statutory Code (i.e. the “regular” state laws). These differ from “joint resolutions,” which are pieces of legislation that will amend the Oklahoma Constitution and therefore are placed on an upcoming ballot for a vote of the people. Bills and joint resolutions are numbered sequentially and identified by the chamber in which they originated (e.g. HB = House Bill, HJR = House Joint Resolution, etc.)
SHELL BILLS
Legislation that has been filed with a title but without any substantial language in the body are called “shell bills.” And there are a lot of them; according to eCapitol’s Shawn Ashley, more than a third of the bills filed thus far fall into this category. Only members of the House are allowed to file shell bills, and most are filed by members of the House leadership. Some shell bills are filed because the member is still working out the final language with the intent of inserting the language later (usually before it is heard in committee). Other shell bills are filed to serve as placeholders for what will become appropriations and budget bills later in the process. That’s why many shell bills have a generic title, like this one, the “Transportation Modernization Act.”
JOINT COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS AND BUDGET (JCAB)
As the name suggests, the Joint Committee on Appropriations and Budget (JCAB) is a large committee comprised of members of both the House and Senate who deal with - you guessed it - appropriations and budget bills. However, in practice JCAB ends up being the conduit for all kinds of bills near the end of session. It is the exception to all the rules. Bills that were thought to be dead earlier in session will suddenly show up on the JCAB agenda, full of new life and new language (thereby earning the macabre moniker “zombie bills”). JCAB meets with increasing frequency as the legislature nears sine die, often staying late into the evening hours. Typically this culminates in the final days of session with the budget itself, which is often presented just hours (or even minutes) before a vote is held, often with very little time questions or debate. It is the epitome of “how the sausage gets made” and arguably as gross as that phrase suggests.
TRACKING LEGISLATION
There are a number of methods for tracking legislation, both free (e.g. LENS, LegiScan) and paid (e.g. eCapitol). Many people use a combination of sources to keep tabs on bills. We made this brief video to walk you through how to (1) lookup bills on the Legislature’s website, (2) how to track bills using LENS, and (3) how to search for and track bills using LegiScan.
STAYING UP-TO-DATE
Tracking legislation on your own can be fun, helpful, and rewarding, but sometimes things don’t quite go according to plan. This is especially true near the various legislative deadlines and generally anytime there is an important or contentious bill being considered. In these situations, it’s helpful to be connected with an advocacy organization that focuses on a particular issue area. Many of those organizations have lobbyists or other “Capitol insiders” that may know the most current status of bills, which can be key.
keeping an eye on the legislature
I’ll end with an important reminder during these Covid times: it sounds like the Capitol will be operating with a reduced capacity during session this year, including the House & Senate galleries, which may make in-person advocacy more difficult. However, you can watch all committee meetings and floor proceedings on the House and Senate websites and you can always contact your elected officials by phone and email.
Remember: Decisions are made by those who show up. If you don’t show up (virtually or in person), someone else well…and you may not agree with them! Don’t let them be the only voice in your legislator’s ear. Take a few minutes to send an email and start to build a relationship with your elected officials. They’re more accessible than you think!
What the 2020 Election Means for Oklahoma
If you woke up this morning expecting to learn the definitive outcome of the presidential election, you’re going to need to hang on a little while longer. All the votes have been cast but the counting will continue for several more hours (and quite likely, days). It appears there was a polling error in a number of states, and undoubtedly the reason for it will be debated ad nauseam for weeks and months to come. One thing is abundantly clear: more voters made their voice heard in this election than in any presidential election since 1900.
“More voters made their voice heard in this election than in any presidential election since 1900. ”
Here in Oklahoma, all of our votes have been tallied and the Republican party was the big winner, netting an additional seat in Congress as well as an even-more-super supermajority in the state House. Having an 75% seat majority in both chambers of the state legislature, combined with control of the Governor’s office, means Republicans have the numbers to pass any legislation they want. However, as anyone who has ever coached their kids’ soccer team can attest - the bigger your team, the harder it can be to manage. Republican leadership must balance their priorities against the priorities of their caucus, some of whom may be further to the right than the last couple of years. You may recall the impact of the conservative “Platform Caucus” in 2016 2017; some of them ran for the legislature again this year
As we discussed with Senator Greg McCortney on our live podcast last night, in the coming session the Oklahoma state legislature will have to contend with a dire budget situation, a raging viral pandemic, and the politics of redrawing the state legislative and Congressional district maps, not to mention the ~2,000 other bills that will be filed over the next two months.
Since his election two years ago, Governor Stitt has benefitted from a warm relationship with the Trump administration, but that, too, may change before next session if Joe Biden is elected President. As we’ve discussed on Let’s Pod This, while the Governor enjoyed a relatively smooth and successful first year in office, this year he got crossways with a whole bunch of folks - the legislature, the Five Tribes, the medical community, the State Superintendent, and the Attorney General - just to name a few. Consequently, the Governor’s approval rating has dropped 16 points, from 57% in March to 41% in October, according to polls conducted and published by Amber Integrated. That’s a tough spot from which to start, and Governor Stitt must then chart a path to achieve his policy goals while also facing the same challenges as the legislature and with the added pressure of being the state’s chief executive and all the fame and blame that comes with the position.
The 58th legislature will be sworn in later this month or early December and then things get rolling pretty quickly. Here’s the legislative calendar for the next few months:
Dec 11: Bill Request Deadline
Jan 5: Organizational Day
Jan 21: Bill Introduction Deadline
Feb 1: First Day of Session / State of the State Address
Mar 11: Deadline for bills to pass out of chamber of origin
Apr 22: Deadline for bills to pass out of opposite chamber
May 28: Deadline for legislature to adjourn sine die
With little change to the state legislature or other statewide elected offices, I’m somewhat inclined to say that the election doesn’t “mean” much for Oklahoma, at least as far as state government is concerned and how things will play out in the spring. However, if 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that anything is possible.
2020 Election Night Live Blog
We’ll start the conversation whenever we wake up, but the meat & potatoes will be served beginning at 6pm CT and will go until…well, it’s hard to say, really.
This could be a weird night. Hold on to your butts.
Timeline of Shenanigans in Oklahoma County Government
The past year has brought numerous challenges for government at all levels, and that includes the county level. Oklahoma County, in particular, has repeatedly made headlines for decisions regarding the county jail, what they're doing (or not doing) with federal CARES funds, and their relationship with the Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
Because it’s such an important and complicated issue, we decided to do an entire podcast episode about it. County Commissioner Carrie Blumert joined us to walk through who all the players are a basic timeline of events. You can listen her and follow along with the timeline below.
Board of County Commissioners Members
Commissioner Carrie Blumert
Commissioner Brian Maughn
Commissioner Kevin Calvey
Tricia Everest (chair)
Sue Ann Arnall, attorney & philanthropist
Francie Ekwerekwu, assistant public defender & law professor
Ben Brown, former state senator
Commissioner Kevin Calvey
Sheriff P.D. Taylor
Todd Lamb, former Lt. Governor
Jim Couch, former OKC City Manager
M.T. Berry, former OKC Police Chief
Budget Board Members
Commissioner Kevin Calvey (chair)
Commissioner Carrie Blumert
Commissioner Brian Maughn
County Treasure Butch Freeman
County Clerk David Hooten
County Court Clerk Rick Warren
County Assessor Larry Stein
Sheriff PD Taylor
ISSUES AT HAND
ICE holds - the jail notifies ICE before inmates are released and will continue to hold individuals for up to 48 hours if ICE wants to take them into custody. The Jail also provides office space for ICE agents inside the jail. (Or they used to; we’ll talk about that)
CARES funds - federal funding designed for various covid-19 relief programs
TIMELINE OF EVENTS
5/2019 Jail Trust created to oversee the management and financial activity of the jail. Prior to the Trust, the County Sheriff was responsible for managing the county jail.
8/31/19 Sheriff submitted his resignation from Jail Trust & CJAC (Criminal Justice Advisory Council). However, the Sheriff can’t actually resign from the Trust, so the effect of this was more along the lines of “I disagree with this whole deal so I’m not going to attend meetings any longer, and in my place our general counsel will be attending as my proxy.”
11/??/19 Trust hired jail administrator hired
1/29/20 BOCC votes to contract with Jail Trust for management of the jail
7/1/20 Date that the Trust officially assumed mgmt of jail
8/13/20 Budget Board voted 5-3 to move $36M of CARES dollars to the Jail Trust. County Treasure Butch Freeman questioned if this was a legal use of CARES funds.
8/19/20 BOCC voted to move $34M in CARES dollars to Jail Trust. The issues was listed as item #22 on the agenda but it was moved up and the vote was called for before Commissioner Blumert was even seated.
8/31/20 Jail Trust voted to accept $37M in federal CARES dollars - $3M for airflow at the jail and another $34M for yet-undetermined expenditures. Members of the public were there, gave comment, and were not happy with the vote.
9/21/20 Jail Trust voted 4-2 to not honor ICE detainers, however, the Jail Trust’s bylaws require 5 affirmative votes, so the vote was not actually valid and thus the decision was vacated. There was consternation about how this all went down. There were a number of very vocal protestors at the meeting, so tensions were running high. Trust chairwoman Tricia Everest was participating virtually and just before the vote was called, she disconnected from the meeting. It is unclear why. In her absence, Co-Chair Jim Couch called for the vote. Calvey & Lamb voted ‘no,’ Couch, Berry, Brown, & Ekwerekwu voted ‘yes,’ Everest was now absent, and because of that, Danny Honeycut, counsel for the Sheriff’s office who was sitting in for Sheriff Taylor, abstained from voting because he wasn’t sure it was a valid vote. So that made the vote 4-2-1. The counsel for the Trust, John Williams, was present in the meeting but did not say anything about it not being a valid vote until hours later
Also at this meeting (Sept 21), the Trust passed a resolution to accept $34 million of federal CARES money from the BOCC, however, the Trust did not have a plan for how it was going to spend it. They had a long list of needs at the jail, but weren’t sure which ones to do. So, the Trust authorized the CEO to hire a Program Assistant to help winnow the list, which they would present at the next meeting.
9/30/20 In an emergency meeting, the Trust authorizes $3 million in CARES money to be used for a no-bid repair contract with an out-of-state contractor. They also canceled the Trust meeting scheduled for Oct 5th and carried those agenda items over to Oct 19th. This was interesting because the Oct 5th meeting was supposed to be when the Trust would re-vote on the involvement of ICE at the jail.
10/5/20 BOCC approved full cooperation with ICE in a 2-1 vote. Before the vote, Commissioner Blumert raised the question why this matter had not gone through the board’s Policy & Governance Committee. Calvey claimed it didn’t need to. (Then what’s the committee for?) Commissioner Blumert also raised doubt that the BOCC could set policy for the Jail Trust since they are a separate entity independent of the BOCC by design. Calvey said the lease agreement with the Trust for operation of the jail states that they shall follow County policy, which is why he wanted to set that policy at this time.
10/6/20 The next day, Commissioner Calvey filed petition asking the court to order that the Trust must do what the BOCC tells them to do. The petition was filed on behalf of three parties: the Oklahoma 2nd Amendment Association, Tom Vineyard (an individual), and Commissioner Calvey himself, in his official capacity as County Commissioner. The rather obvious issue here is that Commissioner Calvey was arguably suing himself, since he sits on both the BOCC and the Trust. Furthermore, he filed the suit as the attorney of record for the petitioners. This might not have been a problem if he was party to this as an individual citizen (like Mr. Vineyard), but Commissioner Calvey was listed as party in his official capacity as County Commissioner. In effect, Commissioner Calvey hired a private attorney to represent the County, and that private attorney was himself. This was an unprecedented move, as the county already has legal counsel - the District Attorney.
10/16/20 District Attorney David Prater responded to Calvey’s suit. His motion to intervene basically said that the DA’s office is the official representative of the county in virtually all legal matters. Prater’s motion also said that the BOCC does not have authority over the Trust. He pointed to the lease agreement as saying that while the county owns the jail, the Trust is responsible for management of it.
10/19/20 Jail Trust votes 4-2-2 to remove ICE from jail, but by-laws require 5 votes to pass, so no change
Virtual Civic Saturday: Perseverence
Below are the full text of the “civic scriptures” and “civic sermon” read during the event.
Civic Scripture
From the late Senator Margaret Chase Smith’s “declaration of conscience”:
Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism in making character assassinations are all too frequently those who by our own words and acts, ignore some of the basic principles of Americansim -
The right to criticize.
The right to hold unpopular beliefs.
The right to protest.
The right of independent thought.
The exercise of these rights should not cost one single American citizen his reputation or his right to a livelihood nor should be in danger of losing his reputation or livelihood merely because he happens to know someone who holds unpopular beliefs. Who of us does not? Otherwise none of us could call our souls our won. Otherwise thought control would have set in.
The American people are sick and tired of being afraid to speak their minds lest they be politically smeared as Communists or Fascists by their opponents. Freedom of speech is not what it used to be in America. It has been so abused by some that it is not exercised by others.
From Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham City Jail”:
We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of good people. We must come to see that human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and persistent work of men willing to be coworkers with God, and without this hard work time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation.
From the American author and artist, Mary Anne Radmacher:
Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying 'I will try again tomorrow.'
From the farewell address of President Dwight D. Eisenhower:
As we peer into society’s future, we - you and I, and our government - must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.
Down the long lane of history yet to be written, America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.
Civic Sermon
I started to write this civic sermon at least a dozen times over the past few weeks. Sometimes with pen and paper, sometimes on the computer, other times just speaking my thoughts aloud to myself in the car while I drove around. But every time I had the same experience - I hit a wall. I found it hard to focus on writing when there were so many other things in our world that I felt I needed to worry about.
There’s Covid, obviously, where earlier this week our state surpassed 100,000 cases and saw record-breaking numbers of people hospitalized and in the ICU due to the disease. When we crossed the 100,000 cases mark on Monday, I did some quick arithmetic and posted the result to Twitter, stating simply: 1 in 37 Oklahomans has been diagnosed with COVID-19. As of today, that tweet has been shared nearly 300 times and liked by more than 600 people. However, it did nothing to stop the six deaths that were reported that same morning, nor the other 50 deaths that have been reported in our state since then. By the time this is over, the odds are we’ll all have lost someone we know to the disease. Wondering who - and how many - can be downright crippling.
Then there’s the impending election, which is arguably of larger consequence for the future of our great nation than any other presidential election in two generations. It sure feels that way, at least. You can’t escape it. Billion-dollar campaigns are now the new normal, with ad buys designed to permeate every form of media we consume. In the face of unprecedented attacks on voting rights and our electoral process itself, we find ourselves looking for help from the companies we love to hate - Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have all reminded me to register to vote nearly every day for at least the past six weeks. Even Yelp got in on the action, interrupting me with an election reminder while I was trying to look up what time Roxy’s Ice Cream store closed one night. I wanted ice cream, and I got politics. Maybe that’s smart marketing, though - catching people in their moment of vulnerability.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the impending election are stress-inducing events for lots of reasons, and it's important to acknowledge that not only have they added stress to our lives, they have amplified other, baseline, "normal" stressors that we all experience every day. Something as simple as going to work or buying groceries now requires additional research, planning, and strategy. Getting food from a restaurant, buying toilet paper, going for a run, voting - it's all different now. We find ourselves cut off from our friends and family, restricted to open-air hangouts at the end of the driveway, nervously wondering if our children are asymptomatic carriers and fearing they'll infect their grandparents. Hugs, once relished in my family like chocolate icing on a big slice of yellow cake, have been sidelined completely.
How do we carry on when everything feels so bizarre, so distant, so uncertain?
While the circumstances have changed, the associated feelings are not new to most Oklahomans. Amongst our American brethren, we are uniquely accustomed to the sudden and complete interruption of life. Many of us know someone - or several someones - who have had their trees and lives uprooted by a tornado. I vividly remember my friend Jon tweeting that he had just watched his house in Moore get blown away on the news...on a television in the hospital, where he sat with his newborn child in the NICU. Or my friend Amy, who sat across the desk from her boss at 9:01 am on April 19, 1995; and a moment later the wall and the floor and her boss were all gone.
This year was supposed to be the 20th annual Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon, but, like everything else, the event was forced to become "virtual." Registrants received boxes in the mail with their shirts and blankets and medals, along with instructions to run their selected race sometime in the two weeks between October 4th and tomorrow, October 18th. I don't know if you know this, but there are a lot - I mean, a LOT of marathons out there - but the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon is different from all the rest. It was the first half marathon I attempted when I started running in 2014, and this year will be my sixth time. Once I actually run it, I mean. Because, as I mentioned at the beginning of my talk, I don't know about about you, but lately I'm having a hard time finding the motivation to keep going. I don't know what I'm waiting for, exactly...but I do think it seems appropriate for us to talk about perseverance today.
Regardless of how you feel about running, we can all admit that it provides a wonderful analogy for just about everything in life. And while sports drinks and fancy, stretchy clothing have renewed our interest in running for exercise and sport, running has been a part of human existence since…forever, really. Scientists believe that one of things helped humans rise to the top of the evolutionary food chain is our ability to run long distances and simply wear out our prey and other predators. People, it seems, were built to keep going.
And, perhaps that’s why running has been used as an analogue for getting through life for thousands of years. You can even find running analogies in the Bible. The Apostle Paul wrote letters to the church at Corinth and to his friend Timothy that include phrases like "running to win" and "finishing the race,” which is somewhat ironic because history records Paul as being not just blind and bald but also bowlegged, an affliction that would have made running unduly difficult for him. Perhaps that’s the reason why running analogies resonated with him so strongly. He knew, quite intimately, how hard it was to simply keep going.
I took up running when I was in my early 30s, after the birth of my first child. I was pretty clearly running from existential dread; it was my attempt to avoid or postpone or at least slow down the inevitable aging and weakening of the human body that befalls all of us. When I started running, I learned a lot about myself, about other people, and about how we all interact and flow together as one community. When you run through the streets of your town you see and feel all the cracks, all the bumps, all the glistening lawns and empty lots, the formidable mansions and the homeless shelters, the exhaust of our cars and the exhaustion of our resources, the children at the park and the dirty needles in the gutter.
Obviously, I’m not here to talk about running. I’m here to talk about stuff that’s way harder than running. Community-level change. Making a difference in the lives of our neighbors. And why it is so danged important that, even when it gets hard, you keep going.
To do that, I’m going to share with you the three most important lessons I have learned from running: It’s easy starting out, Just make it to the next block, and Never waste a downhill.
Lesson 1: It’s Easy Starting Out
This one seems obvious. All you have to do find a place to run, lean forward a little bit, put one foot in front of the other, and let gravity do the rest. It feels…natural, right? After just a few steps you begin to build up some momentum and feel the breeze in your face and, Wow! Look at you! You’re doing it! You are running!
I love the beginning of a race, especially big ones, like marathons. Thousands of people joined together with a common purpose. It’s dark, the music is thumping, the air is absolutely electric. There is a collective sense of We’re going to do this. We’re going to run and we’re going to finish, and it’s going to feel great. Look at how awesome we are.
And as you stand in that corral, you may begin to look around at the other runners, sizing them up, trying to decide which ones "look like real runners,” which ones you think you can beat, trying to make yourself feel better and justify your presence there by devaluing others. “Look at them. Psh. What do they know about running? Look at those shoes. Look at that old guy. Is that a fanny pack? Ugh." Don't give in to those thoughts. Viewing your neighbors as competitors rather than teammates is a surefire way to suck the joy out of the experience.
Because once you start running, you'll soon realize that what you thought was a solo exercise is really a group project. The more you try to look out for yourself, the more likely you will collide with someone else, particularly if they are only looking out for themselves.
Like so much of life, running a marathon is a community effort. The road is long and if we’re going to get there, we must realize that we’re all in this together and therefore we need to lookout for one another, encourage one another, and try not to get in each other’s way.
Lesson 2: Just Make It To The Next Block
Before long, you notice the crowd around you is thinning. Some people are still cruising along, but others are breaking to walk or stand and stretch and catch their breath. You begin to question yourself and what you’re doing. Doubt creeps in. "Should I walk? Why did I start down this road in the first place? Ugh, what if I can’t finish? Do I even want to finish any more? Is there a way for me to quit so that no one will notice?”
In any race, there are a million points along the way where you may feel like giving up. I get it. It’s hard, it’s uncomfortable, it feels lonely, it makes you hurt. Caring about something and sticking with it to the end requires incredible stamina and grit. While things were easy starting out when everyone was there together, now you look around and may not recognize the people around you. The rallying music has faded and the finish line feels impossibly far away. So you pull over to the side, step out of the flow, and disconnect a bit from the community around you.
It's okay to take a break if you need it; there is absolutely no shame in that. But, I have found that if you tell yourself "just make it to the next block" before you stop, often you'll end up going two or three more as well. Sometimes, just giving yourself permission to stop provides enough relief that you don't need to actually stop at all. You're doing the best you can, and you can make it to the next block.
Lesson 3: Never Waste a Downhill
Every race has hills. Some are well known and highly anticipated, like Gorilla Hill in the Oklahoma City marathon, where the local residents of a big yellow house along the route rent a 30-foot inflatable gorilla and volunteers dress up and hand out bananas to runners. Other hills are smaller, less flashy. Some are low and long, like the rolling highways of western Oklahoma. Regardless of the size of the hill, I am always thankful to reach the top. It feels like an accomplishment, something to be celebrated, and, too often, a permission slip to stop trying. After all, what goes up must come down, and what better time to walk than when gravity is pulling you along?
One of my former running buddies has a habit of shouting “Never waste a downhill” whenever we reached a peak. She recognized that our natural inclination is to put in less effort when the road gets easier. Which is silly, of course - that kind of complacency is exactly how the hare lost to the tortoise in Aesop's classic fable. When we see that things may be easier ahead, we should press on even harder. If the wind is at our back, we can accomplish more than we might otherwise. We should call to the others around us, rally them to the cause, and not let that downhill go to waste. We. must. keep. going.
One more thing
Before I bring Chris back up to take us out with a song, if you'll permit me, I'd like to add one more lesson that I learned from running. I wasn't really planning to share this, but as we've gone along today, I think it's fitting for where we're at as a country and as a community.
On April 30, 2017, I was running the Memorial Half-Marathon, per usual, and I just was not into it. I had not really trained for it, it was cold and rainy, and I was grumpy about the whole deal. I was running by myself and felt disconnected from the event and the people around me. As I came west down 23rd Street, under the highway and started up the hill toward McDonald's, I ran into my friend Adi. Adi is a gifted yoga instructor and a talented writer and, I recently learned, when she was younger, Adi was an aspiring advocate who wanted to “free the dolphins.” As luck would have it, Adi is also a runner. Not a “runner” like me - she is a legit ultramarathoner. 50 milers, 100 milers, this girl can get after it.
Anyway, there I was, wallowing in my own self-loathing about my poor performance in the race when I see Adi stopped in the middle of the road, on a hill, trying to hold still the wheelchair she was pushing while she stretched a rain fly over the little girl who sat in the chair. I helped her get situated and then we continued on along the course, laughing and talking as we jogged.
After a couple of miles, Adi paused and graciously said “Andy, you don’t have to stay with us. We’ll just slow you down.” Little did she know - they were the only things keeping me going.
I had never run with a rider before. I saw people in chairs during races, but I knew nothing about them aside from that very passive awareness. I assumed whoever was pushing them was a friend or relative, but in this case, I learned that Adi had simply volunteered, and by sheer luck of the draw she was paired up with Mariela.
From the moment I started running next to Mariela, I...disappeared from public view. There were still runners streaming past us on all sides, and literally everyone offered words of genuine encouragement - “Good job!” “You’re doing great!” “Keep it up!” - all of it directly squarely at Mariela. Who, I must admit, soaked it up with a smile from ear to ear. “Thank you!” she’d call back after each one.
We didn’t run the whole way, and when we did run, we were slow. It’s hard enough to push your own body down the street for 13 miles; an additional 70 lbs of chair and rider makes it that much more difficult. My time ended up being a full 30 minutes slower than the year prior, but I didn’t care.
When we were about a mile from the end, Adi leaned over to tell me that Mariela’s family would be waiting near the finish line with her walker, and we were going to get her out of the chair so she could walk across the finish line herself. And so, we did. This photo explains how it felt.
My entire perspective on running changed that day. I had been focused on just getting to the finish line and doing it for me. And if that’s where you’re at because that’s where you need to be, that’s perfectly fine. You gotta be present for yourself, I get that and I affirm that. You do you. But, hear me out - what if you also show up for the folks around you?
America has this weird thing about rugged individualism and bootstraps and blazing your own trail and all this. We’re like a teenager who thinks they can make it in the world on their own without any help from anyone because they have a car and a job making sandwiches at Subway. Too often we - collective we, societal we - fail to appreciate or even acknowledge the relationships and reciprocity we have with other nations, with other states, with other cities, with the people who live in the neighborhood across the highway or the house right next door.
What if we acted like we’re all running side by side? What if it wasn’t a “race,” but rather, just run with friends? What if your neighbor needed you to push them? What if you needed them to push you?
2020 Election Resources Compendium
Tens of thousands of Oklahomans have already voted safely and securely by mail, which is truly great and exciting news! If you haven’t yet voted and are still looking for information about some of the nonpartisan names and issues that appear on the ballot, we’ve got you covered. Take a look below for information about the judges up for retention, state questions 805 and 814, and, for those of you in Oklahoma City, the proposed changes to the city’s charter.
Oklahoma is one of a handful of states that places state Supreme Court, Appellate Court, and other judicial officials on the ballot. This year, the only judicial elections are retention elections, which means that the justices in question were appointed to their positions and voters are simply deciding if they should be retained or if the Governor should appoint someone else to the position. If you aren’t an attorney who has practiced in front of these justices, it can be difficult to find information about them to help inform your decision. Thankfully, the Oklahoma Bar Association has created this resource concerning the retention ballot and the candidates thereon.
There are two state questions on the ballot this fall, both of which are somewhat nuanced in what they do. We’ve covered both questions on Let’s Pod This; links to the video & audio versions of those episodes are below.
State Question 805: Video | Audio Only
State Question 814: Video | Audio Only
Our 2020 State Questions Guide is embedded below as image files; you can also download it as a PDF here.
Read:
The League of Women Voters of Oklahoma County, in conjunction with the OKC Municipal Counselor’s office, has created a “plain language” summary of the proposed changes.
Watch:
Listen:
2020 OKC Charter Amendments
The following information was created and shared by the League of Women Voters of Oklahoma County. We are cross-posting it here with their permission.
The Oklahoma City Council called a special election on Nov. 3 for proposed City Charter amendments that are primarily intended to modernize wording, address inconsistencies and resolve discrepancies with state law.
The proposed changes were introduced August 4 and the approved for the ballot at the final hearing during the City Council meeting on August 18. The election will be the same day as the November 3 nationwide general election, but on a separate ballot available to all Oklahoma City voters at their usual polling place or via mail if voting absentee.
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The OKC Municipal Counselors office and Former LWVOK President, Jean McLaughlin, has assisted the LWV of Oklahoma County with the following summary to prepare voters with this information before voting.The City Charter is like the City constitution and can only be changed by Voters. The purpose of these propositions (amendments) is to delete obsolete wording, improve clarification, achieve consistency with state law and make minor changes for improved government functioning. There are no tax issues. Oklahoma City Voters will receive a separate ballot with the 9 propositions at the polls or if they vote by mail.
LWVOKC Explanations of the 9 proposed City Charter Amendments:
Proposition 1 relates to Mayor and City council elections. The name of the February “primary” election would become the “general” election and the April “general” election will become the “run-off” election. It lengthens the time when elected officers take office from one week to four weeks after the April run-off election. The Mayor and Councilmembers will continue to have overlapping 4-year terms.
Proposition 2 relates to the qualifications for the offices of Mayor and Council members and reformats the section for easier reading. To file as a candidate a person:
A. Must be a citizen of the United States and Oklahoma
B. Must be at least 21 years of age
C. Must have been a resident of Oklahoma City for at least one year before filing for office. The wording in the current Charter requires 3 years of residency that may be found unconstitutional if challenged.
D. The Mayor must have been a registered voter in Oklahoma City for at least one year.
E. A City Council candidate representing a ward must have been a registered voter at an address within the ward for at least one year. Previously, a 6-month residency was required.
Proposition 3 provides for filling a vacancy in the office of Mayor. If the vacancy were to occur within the first three years of the Mayor’s term, Council would have 30 days instead of 15 days to call a special election. If the vacancy occurs within the final year of the Mayor's term of office, it shall be filled by a majority vote of the Council within 30 days instead of the prior 15 days.
Proposition 4 relates to when regular meetings of the City Council will be held. The current language states that meetings will be held every Tuesday. This is changed to read: meetings will be held at such times as the Council may designate by ordinance to reflect current practice.
Proposition 5 relates to the City Manager having exclusive control of city employees. A new section is added to state that the Mayor and any Councilmember may provide information to the City Manager regarding the positive or negative performance of any officer or employee under the City Manager. This information must be based on direct personal knowledge or on a signed written statement provided by a resident.
Proposition 6 relates to the two divisions of the city government and specifies more clearly their responsibilities. The Division of Public Affairs under the Mayor and the City Council shall include the City Manager, Municipal Counselor, City Auditor, Municipal Judges, and all City boards, commissions and committees created by the Mayor or City Council. The Division of Public Management shall comprise all city departments, functions, agencies, commissions and boards not placed under the Division of Public Affairs.
Proposition 7 would be a new section in the City Charter that changes the terms of Councilman and Councilmen to consistently refer to such officers as Councilmember, Councilmembers, Councilor, or Councilors as grammatically appropriate.
Proposition 8 would amend the charter to add the word “welfare” to the list of reasons for enacting and enforcing ordinances. The new wording is: ordinances may be enacted to protect health, safety, welfare, life, or property.
Proposition 9 prohibits City officers and employees from accepting anything of value from certain privately owned businesses within the city that is not granted to the general public. This prohibition applies to any transportation business or utility company that has a franchise or contract with the city. The wording of this section is changed to more clearly state its intent.
2020 State Questions Guide
There are two state questions on the ballot this fall, both of which are somewhat nuanced in what they do. We’ve covered both questions on Let’s Pod This; links to the video & audio versions of those episodes are below.
State Question 805: Video | Audio Only
State Question 814: Video | Audio Only
Our 2020 State Questions Guide is embedded below as image files; you can also download it as a PDF here.
What are we voting on? (June 2020 Edition)
“Wait, there’s an election next week? What are we voting on?”
I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve heard that phrase, though I suppose it’s understandable - due to how we schedule elections in our state, there’s inevitably one somewhere in Oklahoma nearly every month of the year. Back in March we had our presidential primary election, and next Tuesday, June 30th, we’ll have our state primary election. For most Oklahomans, there will be four or five races on the ballot in addition to one state question, which we describe more below.
A word about primary elections
Before we get started, it bears mentioning that the purpose of primary elections is to allow political parties to choose their best candidates that they will then submit to the general election, which is held in November. Oklahoma has a “modified, closed-primary” system, which means that members of each political party are only allowed to vote for their party’s candidates. Our system is called “modified” because the Democratic Party allows voters who are unaffiliated (aka “independent”) to vote in the Democratic primary. Make sense? Allow me to summarize:
Voters registered as Republican can only vote for Republican candidates.
Voters registered as Democrat can only vote for Democratic candidates.
Voters registered as Libertarian can only vote for Libertarian candidates.
Voters registered as Unaffiliated/Independent can only vote for Democratic candidates.
If you feel like that is unfair, you’re not alone. Closed primaries are a contentious issue. Political parties are basically private clubs - it’s free to join, but by affiliating with one party you basically give up your ability to have any say in how the other party conducts their business, including which candidates they run. Furthermore, the parties use taxpayer dollars to run their private candidate selection process. Having a closed system, it means that voters may not get any say at all in who represents them.
For example, let’s say you live in Enid and are registered as an Independent. There are two candidates for Oklahoma House District 40, but both are Republicans. Because we have closed primaries, only registered Republicans can vote in the primary election to choose their state representative. Everyone in HD40 who is registered as Democrat, Independent, or Libertarian does not get to vote in that race. (According to the State Election Board, HD40 contains 9,396 Republicans, 4,176 Democrats, 2,951 Independents, and 114 Libertarians. So, only 56% of voters in that district are allowed to vote in the election that will decide who represents the entire district.)
What you can expect to see on the ballot
US Senate. Like all states, Oklahoma has two seats in the US Senate, which are elected to staggered, six-year terms. Only one of the seats is up for election this year - the seat of long-time incumbent Senator Jim Inhofe. He has both Republican and Democratic challengers, so regardless of your party affiliation, you’ll get to vote in a primary for this seat.
US House of Representatives. Oklahoma has five Congressional seats and they all are up for election this year. However, whether or not you have a primary election to decide depends on where you live and your party affiliation. The most contested Congressional seat is CD5, which is currently held by Kendra Horn. She is facing perennial candidate Tom Guild in the Democratic primary, and there are nine Republican candidates vying for the nomination from their party.
Oklahoma Senate. Oklahoma has 48 state Senate districts, which are elected to staggered, four-year terms, with half of the seats going up for election every-other year. So, again, whether or not you have a primary election to decide depends on where you live and your party affiliation.
Oklahoma House of Representatives. Oklahoma has 101 state House districts, which serve two-year terms, which means they’re all up for election this year. Like the items above, whether or not you get to vote in a state House race depends on where you live and your party affiliation.
In addition to the legislative positions listed above, there are also “down ballot” races for various County, City, and School Board positions on next week’s ballot as well. You guessed it - whether or not you are able to vote in one of those races depends on where you live and your party affiliation. If you’re curious, the state Election Board has a long list of all the races sorted by county:
And last but certainly not least, we have State Question 802. This is a statewide issue, so all voters get to vote. In fact, you will receive a separate ballot containing just this question all by itself. SQ802 deals with expanding Medicaid, and the “ballot title” (the summary paragraph that you will see on the ballot) reads as follows:
This measure adds a new Article to the Oklahoma Constitution. The new Article would expand Oklahoma's Medicaid program to include certain low-income adults between the ages of 18 and 65 whose income does not exceed 133% of the federal poverty level, as permitted under the federal Medicaid laws.
Supporters say: Oklahoma has one of the highest rates of uninsured people in the country, most of whom can’t afford it and don’t work at jobs that provide it. This measure would fix that. Furthermore, Oklahoma has been paying for Medicaid expansion through our federal income tax for more than 10 years, but all that money goes to other states because we didn’t expand Medicaid in our state. It may cost some money, but it’s worth it to ensure that all Oklahomans have health insurance, and if there’s ever a time our state needed a stronger safety net, it’s right now.
Opponents say: Oklahoma can’t afford to expand Medicaid, especially right now. Our economy is already fragile and cuts are expected next year as it is; having to come up with another $100 million per year is too much. Giving people free health insurance doesn’t incentivize them to work, so they end up costing the state more.
When you can go vote
If you haven’t already voted absentee (aka voted by mail), you can still vote early or vote on election day. Here’s all the days & times:
Early Voting - at your County Election Board
Thursday 6/25 from 8a - 6p
Friday 6/26 from 8a - 6p
Saturday 6/27 from 9a - 2p
Election Day - at your assigned precinct (find your precinct here)
Tuesday 6/30 from 7a - 7p
What to do if you’re not registered to vote
Unfortunately, if you’re not already registered to vote, you can’t vote next week. HOWEVER, you should still go ahead and register so that you’ll be all set for future elections. Oklahoma’s online voter registration system won’t be fully operational until 2022, but you can register by paper form. To get a voter registration form, you can print one of the state election board or stop by and fill one out at any tag agency (they’ll mail it for you, too).