Monday, May 17, 2021

With last week's announcement of a state budget deal, Oklahoma's 2021 regular session is moving toward conclusion. Today, the House and Senate Joint Committees on Appropriations and Budget will hold "lengthy" afternoon meetings to hear most of the associated budget bills ... which have not yet been publicly revealed.

As lawmakers send the budget bills to the governor — likely before the end of the week — they will also be working through remaining policy priorities, some of which have been negotiated in conjunction with the budget.

As always, check the House and Senate floor agendas for daily updates on what bills might run when.

30 seconds:
Ken Nance Memorial Ice Cream Day!

Pack a spoon and some elastic pants on Wednesday, as Ken Nance Memorial Ice Cream Day is set to make a triumphant return to the Oklahoma State Capitol!

A former House staffer and assistant attorney general who then served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1968 to 1978, Nance developed a successful lobbying career and was respected among lawmakers and his peers.

Ken Nance died in 2013, but one of his three sons, Brian Nance, still works as a lobbyist at the State Capitol. The COVID-19 pandemic cancelled Ken Nance Memorial Ice Cream Day last year, but Wednesday afternoon members of the public, lawmakers, staff members, lobbyists and media are expected to line up for free scoops of ice cream in honor of the late Nance.

1 minute:
Special meeting of State Board of Education

The Oklahoma State Board of Education has called a special meeting for 5:30 p.m. today with only one item — and not even a designation for new business — on the agenda. (The meeting will be streamed on Facebook.)

Board members will consider whether to sign a $45,000 contract with the law firm of Hall, Still, Hardwick, Gable, Golden & Nelson to assist with defending three lawsuits:

• Oklahoma Public Charter School Association v. Oklahoma State Board of Education, CV-2017-1330 (Oklahoma County District Court)
• Elk City School District (and 186 other districts) v. Oklahoma State Board of Education, Case No. 119553 (Oklahoma State Supreme Court)
• Tulsa Public Schools v. Oklahoma State Board of Education, CV-21-617 (Tulsa County District Court)

If those lawsuits look familiar, that's because the second and third stem from a controversial 4-3 vote of the State Board of Education in March to attempt to force settlement of the first. At stake is millions of dollars of local tax revenue — past, present and future — and the situation has gone from complex to nearly indecipherable for the average teacher, parent or student.

One fun bizarre development in the 2017 Charter School Association lawsuit is that Tulsa gadfly Paul Tay — best known for interrupting a televised mayoral debate and hassling school buses full of children while wearing a dildo on his head — filed an April notice of appearance on behalf of the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma. While it appears Tay does not have connections to the Kickapoo Tribe, he filed a motion to void the 2017 charter school lawsuit (and all other Oklahoma County District Court cases dating back to statehood) because he says the Kickapoo Tribe has been denied its rights to set education policy within its boundaries. 

Refresh yourself on the background of these lawsuits

3 minutes:
Wherefore art thou budget bills?

Legislative leaders and Gov. Kevin Stitt announced a budget deal Thursday, and you can read the general (and somewhat in-the-weeds) details here. Don't forget to check out the PDF near the end for specific agency appropriations.

Around 2 p.m. today, however, the House and Senate Joint Committees on Appropriations and Budget (JCAB) are expected to hear several bills that contain budgetary specifics and other key policy changes agreed to as part of the broader deal.

When paying attention to a legislative process — both federally and at the state level — it's important to read the language of the actual bills.

Unfortunately, as of the distribution of this email at 7:15 a.m., neither the House nor Senate JCAB agenda has been released. That means the average person — and even most lawmakers — have no idea what bills will be voted on in about five hours.

"We will have a lengthy JCAB meeting on Monday," House Appropriations and Budget Chairman Kevin Wallace (R-Wellston) told his fellow JCAB members Friday. Wallace said after the meeting that his goal was for bill language and Monday's meeting agenda to be available at least 24 hours in advance.

But, keeping in mind that legislative staff work hard and were likely delayed by this year's contentious House and Senate budget negotiations, that goal came and went Sunday afternoon. The situation adds further legitimacy to the annual frustrations of House and Senate Democrats who argue they — and the general public — are routinely given little opportunity to read and review the year's biggest pieces of legislation.

Where is the commitment to transparency? Perhaps it is being drafted along with the budget bills.

7 minutes:
Education policy proposals still alive?

Beyond the state budget deal where Oklahoma's common education system will receive more than $171 million in additional appropriations next fiscal year, legislators are still negotiating whether to approve a pair of reform bills that could have sweeping impacts.

First, House Appropriations and Budget Committee Vice Chairman Kyle Hilbert (R-Depew) remains hopeful that the Senate will agree to hear SB 229 if amended language emerges from a conference committee. The bill aims to address the local funding equalization question raised by the Charter School Association lawsuit mentioned above, and it would also use marijuana tax dollars to provide more money for poorer school districts with lower property tax revenues.

Meanwhile, Rep. Sheila Dills (R-Tulsa) is working to finalize a bill that would add new requirements for charter schools, their authorizers and any third-party educational management organizations they hire. The measure largely stems from concerns over Epic Charter Schools' use of a management company owned by the schools' co-founders, who argue that the state money placed into accounts owned by the private company should not be available for public review. But some charter school advocates are worried Dills' bill paints with too broad a brush.

Read more about negotiations over charter school reform.

BONUS:
Bring Onion Burger Day back to the Capitol

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt likes meat. People who work at the Oklahoma State Capitol like free meat, and the demise of Onion Burger Day during the legislative session a couple of years ago gives the first-term governor a chance to right a wrong and troll his political opponents while he does it.

Of course, the return of Onion Burger Day might necessitate the lonv-overdue two-ply toilet paper mandate for state buildings. For all the talk of a "people's agenda" this session, the bathroom tissue provided at the State Capitol is not Top 10.

10 more seconds?

Online legislative resources