Monday, March 8, 2021

In football or basketball, coaches will tell you the last two minutes before halftime can make or break an entire game. Since sports analogies are more popular than politicians, let's stretch one here. By the time lawmakers leave the Capitol on Thursday, the 2021 legislative session will have reached its functional intermission with a light "Spring Break" week to follow. That means there will be plenty of decisions left for the coaches to make.

As always, please forward this newsletter sign-up link to any of your friends who want to keep up with the Oklahoma State Capitol. Thank you for starting your week with NonDoc!

(Editor's note: Owing to a technological error, this email was sent hours after it was supposed to go out. Our apologies!)

30 seconds:
Sigh ... it's a deadline week

Do you like late nights? Hours and hours of gibbering? What luck you have! The Oklahoma Legislature's second major deadline of the year looms Thursday, which means most policy bills will need to have advanced off of their floor of origin. It also means that no committee meetings are scheduled for the week (as of Sunday evening).

A couple reminders: Budget bills and legislation filed by the House Speaker Charles McCall and Senate PPT Greg Treat do not adhere to many deadlines. Also, remind yourself of an old axiom: No bill or idea is truly dead until sine die adjournment. That said, another batch of bills will take a shot to the heart this week if they don't receive floor hearings.

Be sure to track the House and Senate floor agendas this week, as dozens of bills will be flying — or crawling — off the floors ahead of Thursday's deadline.

1 minute:
McCall talks managed care, governor rumors

When Oklahoma House Speaker Charles McCall (R-Atoka) sat down Feb. 25 with NonDoc's Tres Savage to discuss his proposals to lower tax burdens in Oklahoma, he answered a couple of other questions as well. The answers to those questions appear here for the first time, so it's a good thing you are subscribed to this newsletter.

Asked about the rumor that he is considering a gubernatorial challenge to Gov. Kevin Stitt during the 2022 election cycle, McCall poured cold water on political speculators.

"No," McCall said. "I have three years more I can serve in the House of Representatives, and that is my focus."

McCall was slightly more verbose when asked his position on Stitt's controversial third-party managed Medicaid effort. The governor says private insurance companies hired to manage Medicaid populations will improve health outcomes and save money in the longterm. Provider groups and other entities argue neither of those things has happened in many other states, and they worry that reimbursement rates will ultimately be cut.

"The bottom line is SQ 802 will require us to fund an expansion program this year. It's in our state's constitution. The framework of the delivery system of that, the Legislature can set the state's policy on that. It's within their purview. The governor does have a say in that process, either by signing a bill into law or vetoing the bill, which the Legislature has the ability to override if they feel strongly enough about it," McCall said. "I can only speak for the House of Representatives and primarily for the majority caucus, although I have had conversations with the minority leader on it as well. But the House traditionally and I still believe prefers for all health programs to be administered directly in the state of Oklahoma. They believe the money should be run through the (Oklahoma) Health Care Authority — a state agency. The premise is to keep the money in Oklahoma and employ people in Oklahoma. That's really the House's [position]. They want to see good health care as well. But notwithstanding a certain level of support in both legislative chambers of the Capitol, the policy of the state is on a trajectory to be managed care."

3 minutes:
GRDA, OMPA, OCC to meet this week

Three public bodies involved with electricity in Oklahoma are set to meet this week. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission oversees major utilities like OG&E and PSO, which have submitted filings before the commission to recoup expenses incurred owing to skyrocketing gas prices during the February snow storm. A cursory review of this week's OCC agendas shows no planned action on those filings scheduled for this week.

Meanwhile, the Grand River Dam Authority, also a state agency, is set to meet at 10 a.m. Wednesday, March 10, in Tulsa. The public power utility's six-page agenda includes a link for online viewing and lists a litany of action items, including an amendment to a December power cost reduction, proposed power cost adjustments for March and April, and authorization of "use of board designated funds to fund February 2021 energy emergency." The agenda also notes an executive session to discuss coal or gas fuel supply contracts, with potential action on such contracts listed. Several municipalities, electric cooperatives and industrial operations purchase power from GRDA.

Lastly, the Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority is set to meet at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, March 11, in Edmond. As of Sunday evening, the meeting agenda had not been posted online, though it should be viewable here later in the week. The OMPA had an emergency meeting Feb. 19 and reportedly discussed a plan to absorb the February fuel costs by refinancing existing bonds.

55 minutes:
New podcast features former governor

Pop quiz: Who is the most famous person from Canute, Oklahoma? If you answered former Oklahoma Gov. David Walters, pat yourself on the back!

Oklahoma's 24th governor joined our Live From the News Dungeon team for this week's podcast episode, which was recorded back in our News Dungeon ... which is actually Walters' dungeon, because he owns the building.

Interviewing your landlord always presents an interesting opportunity, and the timing was particularly right for this episode owing to Walters' profession after politics: CEO of Walters Power International, a global player in the independent power plant sector. We asked him to educate us on the broader electricity landscapes of Oklahoma and Texas, and he was nice enough to dive into the weeds a bit. He also stuck around to critique the Oklahoma Legislature and answer a deep question from a 6-year-old.

So listen to our latest episode of Live from the News Dungeon today and remember to tell your friends that they can subscribe on PodBean, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Pandora or Apple Podcasts, as well as its connected platforms.

BONUS:
Check out our new Tribal Resources Page

When trying to keep up with tribal developments in Oklahoma, it can be hard to know where to start, as each nation has not only its own culture, history and present-day challenges but also its own governmental structures, enrollment rules, business enterprises and social services.

For each tribe, you will find a tab containing basic information on how its government is set up, the names of top leaders, contact information and the date of the next tribal election.

View and bookmark our Tribal Resources Page today.

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Online legislative resources