Friday, May 22, 2020

Oh look, the Oklahoma Legislature is back! At 10 a.m. this morning, both the House and Senate are set to reconvene the 2020 regular session and take up a series of veto override motions. Including ceremonial activities in the House, the day's actions are expected to conclude the Legislature's 2020 work.

While we hinted that Monday's edition of this newsletter might be our last for a bit, we felt our subscribers deserved another update at the start of what should be an eventful day at the State Capitol.

To set this stacked stage, Gov. Kevin Stitt spent much of the past week signing and blocking bills. He has authorized more than 150 measures while axing 18 and part of another. Several of those vetoes — outlined below — will be up for override today.

Last week, the Legislature already pushed four budget bills into law over Stitt's objections. Override motions require 68 House votes and 32 Senate votes to be successful.

As always, you can watch the day's legislative action yourself on the House website and the Senate website, respectively. If you use Twitter, follow our editor in chief, Tres Savage, for regular updates from the Capitol.

And don't forget to pop the popcorn!

1 minute:
Simultaneous OESC consolidation

While most eyes may be on the Legislature today, this morning is set to feature two other major developments in state government. At 9 a.m., Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt is set to name an interim commissioner of health to succeed Gary Cox, his original pick for the state's top health post who never received a confirmation hearing from the State Senate. Stitt's press conference is expected to be streamed live on his Facebook page.

Then, as the Legislature gavels in at 10 a.m., so will the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission, another beleaguered state agency under public scrutiny. Swamped with COVID-19-related demand increases and lingering technological antiquations, the five-member OESC is set to consider consolidating its information technology division and business practices under the Office of Management and Enterprise Services. The meeting is scheduled to be held by Zoom videoconference, and the commission's agenda specifies an early executive session.

Read more about the Senate's decision not to confirm Gary Cox.

2 minutes:
House floor agenda lists 7 vetoed bills

Thursday evening, the Oklahoma House of Representatives posted a list of seven vetoed bills as part of its floor agenda for today. Those measures appear to be set up for potential veto override motions, but lawmakers could ultimately take a variety actions on their respective floors today. Hence, it pays to watch the circus when counting the clowns.

Today's House agenda features the following measures that have been vetoed by the governor:

• HB 2749 and HB 2750, which would work 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;

• HB 3819 to make 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;

• HB 3824 to exempt 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;

• HB 4018 to create a Rural Broadband Expansion Council to study and map rural broadband access in the state of Oklahoma. The council was set to operate under a series of requirements laid out in the bill, which passed the House 94-2 and the Senate 45-0. SB 1002 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. It passed the House 86-0 and the Senate 45-0;

• HB 4049 to change the dedication of fees related to online motor vehicle registrations conducted by tag agencies. It passed the House 89-0 and the Senate 45-0, but Stitt wrote in his veto message that the bill impeded his administration’s efforts to digitally transform all areas of state government.
  
  Read Stitt's veto messages on bills from earlier in the week.
  
  As of midnight, the Oklahoma State Senate's website listed "no bills scheduled" on its floor agenda. One of the bills Stitt vetoed was SB 1595, which Senate leadership members claimed they did not understand before passing 44-0 last Friday evening.

3 minutes:
Special session sine die

In addition to regular session, the Oklahoma Legislature is scheduled to reconvene its 2020 special session today and prepare for a sine die adjournment. The House's daily floor agenda for special session lists SCR 2X, which would declare Gov. Kevin Stitt's Catastrophic Health Emergency Powers Act authority concluded on May 30.

Read SCR 2X in its entirety.

4 minutes:
What vetoes will stand?

Legislative leaders rarely bring up bills unless they have the votes ... unless they know they don't have the votes but still need to press play on the requisite political theater.

Today, lawmakers could attempt to override a handful of other significant measures vetoed by the governor. But at the time of this email's crafting, the following vetoed bills did not appear on either chamber's digital agenda:

• SB 1703 to re-establish a sales tax exemption for the University Hospitals Trust. OU Medicine had separately pledged the roughly $11.1 million per year savings to fund additional residency slots at the teaching hospital;

• SB 1046, which 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. Read more about this bill here;

• HB 3228, which had been pitched to legislators as featuring changes largely requested by the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority. It adjusted provisions for the state’s medical marijuana industry and program that ranged from deliveries to temporary licenses. Read more about this bill here;

• HB 2760, which would drop the annual cap on the Affordable Housing Tax Credit from $4 million to $2 million per year. The bill was opposed by a bevy of lobbyists, who argued it was changing the rules of a tax credit program in the middle of a game. HB 2760 passed the House 59-41 and the Senate 25-20;

• HB 3663, which would change the terms of tag agents’ operations with the state from “at will” to “for cause” and established a series of rules by which a tag agent could be removed from its appointment by the state. It passed the House 93-1 and the Senate 44-0;

• SB 1805, which would increase fees and change rules for the Oklahoma Board of Private Vocational Schools. The House passed the bill 93-5, and the Senate passed it 40-7.

BONUS:
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