Monday, Feb. 21, 2022

Last week was a long one. This week could feel just as long.

But don't worry, the rest of this email mostly ignores the always-lingering feeling that your work will never slow down enough for you to breathe. Instead, it's focused on key political questions in the state of Oklahoma and a few events to watch at the State Capitol this week, the third of the 2022 legislative session.

In the Senate, 10 bills grace today's floor agenda. In the House, 18 bills are eligible for floor consideration. Also this week, several House Appropriations & Budget subcommittees are set to meet. Let's jump into it!

1 minute: Dear Abby

If you missed it late last week, the future of Abby Broyles' 5th Congressional District campaign is unclear after the former TV journalist became intoxicated and berated tween girls at a Valentine's sleepover. Broyles initially denied the event to NonDoc on Thursday. But 24 hours later, she admitted to being there, blamed her behavior on mixing alcohol and a sleeping pill and claimed she was "misquoted" in the NonDoc article denying the event.

Of course, Broyles was not misquoted. In fact, her adamant denial of being at the party came with a threat: "If you print this, you are facing a lawsuit."

Informed that NonDoc has relationships with "multiple attorneys," Broyles expressed surprise.

"I didn't know you had the funds for that. Hmm," Broyles said.

If you want to help make sure NonDoc "has the funds" to continue pursuing delicate stories — even when we are threatened with a lawsuit or have to resort to a lawsuit of our own to obtain public records — consider donating today to support local journalism.

2 minutes: Candidates? Bueller?

Asked about the Broyles situation, Oklahoma Democratic Party Chairwoman Alicia Andrews said Friday that she is "in a tough place" and that the story is "a lesson" for people in politics.

"All I can say is this is a cautionary tale that we all need to take time for ourselves," Andrews told Reese Gorman of The Frontier. "We need to start taking time and recharge our batteries before it shows externally."

Andrews' remarks were widely panned by the progressive Twitter wing of the Democratic Party, which appears to believe a different candidate should seek to challenge U.S. Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK5). Even with redistricting changes that made the CD 5 map harder for Democrats, having a credible candidate in the race would help Democrats running for legislative and county races. Between Broyles' behavior toward the tween girls and her subsequent dishonesty about the situation, conversations this week could eventually lead to a new CD 5 Democratic candidate.

Speaking of important local elections in 2022, the state's official candidate filing period is only eight weeks away. Rumors are flying about other potential gubernatorial candidates, and questions linger about whether notable names will announce in the Democratic field for statewide offices such as state superintendent of public instruction, attorney general, corporation commissioner, lieutenant governor and labor commissioner.

In 2018, no Democrat filed for insurance commissioner, state auditor and inspector or state treasurer. Likewise, none has announced for those races this year. Additionally, no Democrat has announced for Oklahoma County district attorney, and no one from any party has announced a challenge to Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn, who recently drew ire for not charging Norman Councilman Kelly Lynn after Lynn allegedly battered a 66-year-old woman while drunk in a bar.

All of that is to say: Opportunities exist to run for public office.

3 minutes: Equalize it

Strap in for money fun Tuesday. The Oklahoma State Board of Equalization is set to meet at 10 a.m. in Gov. Kevin Stitt's large conference room to make the final certification of dollars that the Legislature will be able to appropriate this session. Tuesday's agenda features a variety of items, including discussion of apportionments from various tax sources to various funds, including the Oklahoma Teachers Retirement System.

In December, the board met the Monday after Christmas to approve a preliminary authorization of the Fiscal Year 2023 appropriation limit about $700 million higher than last year’s authorized amount, even as a pair of tax cuts are set to take effect Jan. 1. But the numbers are a little deceiving, with more than $1 billion in “carryover and special cash” from prior years inflating the Legislature’s authorized appropriation limit.

“They will say the appropriation authority is $10 billion. Keep in mind, a lot of that is one-time money in cash,” House Appropriations and Budget Chairman Kevin Wallace (R-Wellston) said after the December meeting. “You can quote me on this or I will go down fighting: We will not appropriate our full authority again this session. We did not appropriate our full authority for two sessions in a row, and I fully believe we will not do it this year.”.

It appears that the state's current economic outlook could trigger a deposit — perhaps more than $200 million — into the Revenue Stabilization Fund, as well as deposits to the Constitutional Reserve Fund (also known as the "Rainy Day Fund.') While changing economic conditions could slightly adjust some of the final numbers considered for approval Tuesday, you can get up to speed on the general scenario by reading our prior story from December's meeting.

4 minutes: Take the points

HB 3008 by Rep. Ken Luttrell (R-Ponca City) proposes the legalization of sports wagering in Oklahoma. The bill sits atop the House Appropriations & Budget Subcommittee on General Government agenda for 4:30 p.m. today.

"I have had conversations with our gaming tribes during the interim to gauge their interest on this topic," Luttrell said in a January press release about his proposal. "I feel the time is right for Oklahoma to partner with the tribes and ensure a level, competitive gaming playing field with the surrounding states."

Luttrell's bill — read the initial language here — specifies that the state would be paid a 10 percent exclusivity fee from the "monthly net win," meaning money retained by the casino after prizes are paid out. The bill states the tribe is authorized to keep an equal portion of the monthly net win.

The odds are extremely favorable for Luttrell's sports betting bill to advance from subcommittee Monday and likely the full House, but when it comes to whether the bill will succeed in the Senate also, you might try a parlay with other casino gambling topics.

"I've been very clear with the tribes: I want a better deal on the compacts on gaming, and if that's part of the overall negotiation to get a better deal, we'll do it," Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat (R-OKC) told media Feb. 10. "But I don't want to give away that leverage in the negotiation."

Asked what might constitute "a better deal" on the state's Model Tribal Gaming Compact in his mind, Treat declined to get specific on the topics of exclusivity fees, auditing or other potential tweaks.

"It's a blank slate in my mind. I just know that we can do better and we should do better," Treat said.

5 minutes: $2.27 billion
in utility debt to be securitized

There will be 2.27 billion reasons to pay attention to the 10 a.m. Wednesday meeting of the Oklahoma Development Finance Authority.

The obscure, non-appropriated state agency is expected to advance the process for securitizing the February 2020 winter storm utility debt for three companies Tuesday:

• $1.45 billion for Oklahoma Natural Gas
• $725 million for Public Service Company of Oklahoma
• $95 million for Summit Utilities Oklahoma

ODFA director Mike Davis discussed the situation and process at length during the agency's January meeting. Since then, the Corporation Commission released details on the companies that sold natural gas at the shockingly high market rates during the storm.

Expect citizens to continue their opposition to the securitization proposal, which will involve ODFA issuing bonds to purchase the debts and then manage the bond repayments with utility bill tariffs for decades. The process will result in lower interest rates — and lower costs to consumers — than if the utilities used their own market financing. But many people remain unhappy that the companies that made significant profits in this scenario appear unlikely to face scrutiny.

It remains possible that the Oklahoma Legislature could look at amending state law this year in an attempt to prevent such scenarios in the future by requiring utility companies to hedge their natural gas purchases. But such a requirement could result in higher costs during other times of the year, and it's unclear whether the Legislature as a whole has interest in pursuing a hedging discussion.

Bonus: Text alerts

Facebook was launched 18 years ago this month, and we can think of no better way to celebrate than by introducing our latest effort to get around that hell-scape platform’s annoying algorithms and deliver local news directly to you.

NonDoc has launched a text alert program that will send stories you care about straight to your phone. For example, do you want to stay up to date on our headlines regarding the Oklahoma Legislature? Text the keyword “okleg” to 877-822-1202, and we will send you links to our top legislative articles as they are published.

You can set up text alerts for a number of topics, from tribal affairs to education to specific cities. Simply click here to sign up and choose your keywords.

Online legislative resources