With This Pen, I Thee Veto

As the legislative session draws to a close, Governor Stitt had a busy week signing - and vetoing - a large number of bills. In doing so, the divide between the legislative and executive branches appears to be growing ever wider. What does that mean for the Governor's agenda...and for the state?

The Oklahoma legislature ended both their regular session and their special session today. In doing so they voted to end CHEPA, the Governor’s catastrophic health emergency powers act, on May 30th. 

• Does that mean we should expect the Governor to end the state of emergency declaration soon as well?

This morning Governor Stitt named Col. Lance Frye, MD, as the interim commissioner of health. As listeners may remember, current interim commissioner, Gary Cox, was not confirmed by the Senate because he lacks the academic credentials required by law for that position. On behalf of Let’s Pod This, we extend our appreciation to Gary Cox for his service and wish Col. Frye good luck as he takes the helm of the Dept of Health in the midst of a pandemic and with his agency facing an audit.

Also this morning, the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission, which handles Oklahoma’s unemployment claims system, voted to consolidate its IT & business practices with the Office of Management and Enterprise Services. This happened because OESC, like many state agencies, has an aging & outdated IT infrastructure that was woefully inadequate for the massive number of claims they’ve received over the last couple of months. There are three things that are ironic about this:

1. Yet another state agency falling apart due to lack of investing in infrastructure. It’s 2020 - you can’t run a state government on Windows XP.
2. OMES was created for just this purpose - to consolidate and house the IT and business operations of all the state agencies. That never really worked out as some agencies didn’t conform, so we have this very splintered system. 
3. If memory serves, didn’t Governor Stitt previously say he wants to dismantle OMES and return those operations back to individual agencies so they can run more efficiently?

Then, this afternoon news broke that the head of OESC, Robin Roberson, stepped down. She was just hired in January, before all this Covid mess started, and according to the Oklahoman, Roberson said she had five calls yesterday asking her to step down before the meeting.

The Governor also had a busy week signing - and vetoing - a large number of bills. We don’t have time to discuss all ~134 approvals, but do want to mention the COLA for retired state employees was signed into law. And then, let's talk about the vetoes are certainly interesting. Let’s quickly run through all the vetoes:

• HB 2749 and HB 2750, which worked in conjunction to authorize an additional $161 million bond package to fund the state’s matching obligation for endowed chair positions at Oklahoma higher education institutions. The measures also functionally capped the state’s funding of endowed chairs. Stitt wants to end state funding for endowed chairs entirely.  

2749 Veto override passed 94-3, 44-1

2750 Veto override passed 92-6, 44-1

• HB3819 - made any contract from a state agency open to inspection by any member of the Oklahoma Legislature, and it also banned any agency from prohibiting an employee, contractor or other person to communicate with the Legislature. It passed the House 94-1 and the Senate 44-0. Stitt said the measure was duplicative, detailed concern about confidential information not being protected under the bill, and observed that the Legislature did not make its own contracts or employees available for inspection. 

Veto override passed 94-3, 45-0

• HB4018 - reated a Rural Broadband Expansion Council to study and map rural broadband access in the state of Oklahoma. Passed nearly unanimously. Stitt said it was redundant w/ his “digital transformation” plan. 

Veto override passed 90-6, 43-1

• SB1002 - was the trailer bill to HB 4018 and increased from 12 to 14 the membership of the Rural Broadband Expansion Council, while specifying qualifications of additional members. Passed both chambers unanimously. 

Veto override passed 91-7, 44-1

• HB4049 - changed the dedication of fees related to online motor vehicle registrations conducted by tag agencies. Passed both chambers unanimously. Stitt said it hampers his ‘digital transformation’ plan where he believes all Oklahomans will someday access all state services thru a mobile app.

Veto override passed 89-7, 44-1

• SB 1703 created a sales tax exemption for the University Hospitals Trust. OU Medicine had separately pledged to use the roughly $11.1 million per year savings to fund additional residency slots at the teaching hospital. Stitt: “The state needs that money and there’s no requirement they spend it on what they say they’re going to spend it on.”
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• HB 2760 dropped the annual cap on the Affordable Housing Tax Credit from $4 million to $2 million per year. Passed the legislature by much thinner margins than most (House 59-41 and the Senate 25-20.)
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• SB1805 - increased fees and changed rules for the Oklahoma Board of Private Vocational Schools. The House passed the bill 93-5, and the Senate passed it 40-7. Stitt: “increases the base fees that private vocational schools must pay to the Oklahoma Board of Private Vocational Schools by 15 percent over the next three years.”
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• HB3663 - would change tag agencies’ employment relationship with the state (from “at will” to “just cause”). Stitt said they don’t need any additional protection.
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• HB3228 - made a number of changes to the state’s medical marijuana laws and included requests from the OMMA. Passed House 90-6 and the Senate 38-5.
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• HB3824 - exempted the Legislature and state judicial entities from fees and costs for services rendered by appropriated state agencies. The bill passed the House 89-0 and the Senate 41-3. Stitt: “this specific exemption is shifting responsibility from one state entity to another, while all other state entities are required to manage their own costs of services directly”
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• SB1046 - would increase a hospital fee to raise an estimated $134 million to help pay for whichever version of Medicaid expansion is ultimately implemented in the state. (So, his veto doesn’t fund his own Medicaid 2.0 plan.)

So...let’s talk about the vetoes (particularly those that were overridden by the legislature). 

• It’s no secret there’s beef between the legislature and Governor Stitt. (In fact, we talked about that last week, I think.)  Several of these were vetoed because the Governor felt they encroached on his digital transformation plans. Several times House members said his veto messages contained “factually incorrect statements,” which seems like a very direct shot.

Reminder: Civics Con is next Friday! Go to CivicsCon.com to register - it’s free!