Monday, Nov. 15, 2021

Sure, it's Monday morning, the weather isn't great and the Oklahoma Legislature is gaveling in for a special session on redistricting. No one would blame you for being in the dumps.

Here's the silver lining: You love the Monday Minute newsletter, and this November 2021 special session means a November 2021 special edition! But before we get down to business, a quick note for followers: The Monday Minute recently received a first-place award from Oklahoma's Society of Professional Journalists for "Online Community Engagement." The judges called Monday Minute "a really well-done newsletter that treats the emails as content not promotion." (That's the goal!)

Since the Monday Minute will return on a weekly basis February through May for the 2022 regular session, make sure your coworkers and friends are signed up to receive their copy.

And if you feel like making a little end-of-year donation to support NonDoc, this newsletter and independent journalism in Oklahoma, you can do that here!

1 minute:
The reason for the season

The reason the Oklahoma Legislature is in special session, of course, is that delays with the 2020 U.S. census data prevented lawmakers from creating the decennially required redistricting of the state's congressional districts. While lawmakers used other data estimates to establish new legislative districts in the spring, they will also be adjusting those boundaries this week.

Because Republicans hold such an enormous advantage in both chambers of the Oklahoma Legislature, this week's redistricting bills are expected to be heard and passed relatively quickly, despite presumed objections and speeches from Democrats, who are particularly frustrated with how the new proposed congressional map will carve southwest Oklahoma City out of the 5th Congressional District. Republicans will defend the new map as featuring rounder districts (see: compactness) and ensuring agriculture-industry influence across the board, but they will do so knowing the map will likely make it more difficult for a Democrat to recapture CD 5. 

During a Nov. 2 press conference, House Majority Floor Leader Jon Echols (R-OKC) outlined the House's anticipated schedule of special session. Because the Oklahoma Constitution requires bills to be "read" three times, the fastest lawmakers can reach the finish line will be five days. The "people's business" is scheduled to begin in the morning by or before 10 a.m. each day:

• Monday: For the "first reading" of bills, the Senate will convene at 9:30 a.m., while the House will convene at 10 a.m. 
• Tuesday: The chambers' committees on redistricting will hear bills.
• Wednesday: Lawmakers will hear bills in their chamber of origin.
• Thursday: Bills will be heard in committees opposite their chamber of origin.
• Friday: Bills will be heard on the floor opposite their chamber of origin; adjournment.

House activities can be streamed here, and Senate activities can be streamed here.

Read more about the proposed new congressional district map.

2 minutes:
The redistricting bills, as filed

If you want to get into the nitty gritty of this year's special session,  then let's look at the specific bills lawmakers are expected to consider.

Lawmakers will be slightly adjusting Oklahoma House and Oklahoma Senate districts they had originally approved in May with census estimates. Received this fall, the actual data showed higher population gains for the state's suburban areas. Likely to be more contentious will be the establishment of new boundaries for Oklahoma's five congressional districts.

As filed, the bills expected to be heard this week are:

• HB 1001X features proposed modifications to Oklahoma House districts.
• SB 1X features proposed modifications to Oklahoma Senate districts.
• HB 1002X features the new proposed Oklahoma congressional district map
• SB 2X modifies the residency requirements for 2022 county commissioner candidates to require that voter registration and residency be established no later than Dec. 31, 2021.
• SB 4X requires county election boards to conduct county commissioner elections after April 5, 2022, based on reapportioned districts.
• SB 5X modifies the residency and voter registration requirements in races for legislative seats or county commissioner districts held after April 5, 2022, to be established no later than Dec. 31, 2021.
• SB 6X features an alternative congressional district map proposed by Democrats. The bill may receive a hearing in the Senate committee, although Republicans are expected to support their own plan instead.

3 minutes:
Potential jabs over jabs

When Gov. Kevin Stitt filed his official call for the 2021 special session, its scope was limited only to matters of redistricting. Over the next six weeks, however, some conservative lawmakers and activists called for the governor to add another item to the list: pushback against the federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates, which affect research universities, federal employees and large employers.

Because Stitt did not oblige, people who strongly oppose President Joe Biden's controversial mandates might visit the State Capitol this week to voice their displeasure with the Oklahoma Legislature for not calling themselves into special session to pass legislation on the topic.

“I have not received a letter from the members of the House of Representatives with 68 signatures calling for a special session on any issue, but that does not keep us from having conversations throughout the year on issues that are important to Oklahomans," House Speaker Charles McCall (R-Atoka) told media when asked why this week's session will be limited to redistricting.

Read more about the issue from The Oklahoman's Carmen Forman.

5 minutes:
Stitt must make decision on Julius Jones

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has one of the biggest decisions of his political career facing him this week. Julius Jones is scheduled to be executed Thursday unless the governor grants him clemency, which the Pardon and Parole Board recommended on Nov. 1 by a 3-1 vote.

Jones was convicted in the 1999 murder of Edmond father Paul Howell, who was fatally shot in front of family during a carjacking. Jones maintains that he is innocent, and his case has received national attention thanks to a docuseries and a well-financed campaign to have him removed from death row. The Howell family and prosecutors, however, maintain that Jones received his days in court and was denied appeals of his conviction for good reason. They say that a litany of claims related to Jones' purported innocence — including an alleged alibi and questions regarding a bandana found at his parents' house wrapped around the murder weapon — are spurious and are contradicted by investigatory and legal records. Jones and his supporters say law enforcement and prosecutors have exaggerated (or even fabricated) evidence against him. They point to an incarcerated man in Arkansas who said Christopher Jordan, who pleaded guilty as a co-conspirator in the case, had committed the murder.

Stitt has the ultimate say on whether Jones will become the second person put to death this month via lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. A person close to Stitt told NonDoc late last week that the governor had not made up his mind on the matter and that it was weighing on him heavily.

"He is in turmoil over it," the person said on the condition of anonymity.

A variety of factors will play into Stitt's ultimate decision: The Pardon and Parole Board's recommendation for clemency, frustration from the Howell family, voters' broad support for the death penalty in a 2016 statewide vote, and concern that changing Jones' sentence to life without the opportunity of parole could still lead to repeated sentence commutation requests for Jones under future gubernatorial administrations. Several other men are also scheduled for execution in the coming months, which adds questions about how the governor views his moral obligation on the topic.

Recently, five Republican members of the Oklahoma House announced that they are asking Stitt to grant Jones clemency: Rep. Garry Mize (R-Guthrie), Rep. Preston Stinson (R-Edmond), Rep. Logan Phillips (R-Mounds), Rep. John Talley (R-Stillwater) and Rep. Kevin McDugle (R-Broken Arrow), who has strongly advocated his belief that death-row inmate Richard Glossip is also innocent. (Prosecutors also insist Glossip is guilty.)

Jones supporters want Stitt and the public to review their website, www.JusticeForJuliusJones.com. Supporters of the Howell family want Stitt and the public to review their website, www.JusticeForPaulHowell.com. 

Read more about Pardon and Parole Board's recommendation for Julius Jones.

BONUS: Wear blue for World Diabetes Day

Diabetes is one of the most prevalent and problematic chronic human health conditions, and the impact in Oklahoma is significant. Today marks World Diabetes Day, where health professionals and other advocates attempt to bring attention to the disease process, its treatment and prevention, and other issues, such as the access-limiting cost of insulin.

The Oklahoma Legislature has a bipartisan Diabetes Caucus. Its chairwoman, Sen. Carri Hicks (D-OKC), announced that Tuesday, Nov. 16, will be Diabetes Action Day on the State Capitol's north lawn.

Last year, lawmakers passed HB 1019 into law, which established a pricing cap on insulin for state employees and those who purchase insurance from an online marketplace. Advocates argue that the measure is a good first step but that roughly 70 percent of Oklahomans with diabetes are not covered under the new law.

DOUBLE BONUS:
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