INSIGHTS INTO OKLAHOMA'S POLITICAL ARENA

Oklahomans who fail to select a party affiliation would not become registered voters under a bill heading to the Senate despite concerns that it will disenfranchise thousands of voters without their knowledge.  House Bill 3722 , authored by Rep. Denise Crosswhite Hader, R-Piedmont, would make selecting a party affiliation or independent designation a requirement to complete voter registration. Currently, voters who do not select one of those are automatically registered as in

Three Oklahoma lawmakers are asking the state’s highest court to tear up roughly $1.5 billion in 2023 fuel and purchased‑power charges for Oklahoma Natural Gas, OG&E and PSO, arguing that the costs were pushed straight onto customers and have already been collected on monthly bills. Their move lands in the middle of a years‑long legal slugfest over audits, prudence reviews and whether Corporation Commissioner Todd Hiett should have stayed out of the cases, as per the Oklahoma

OKLAHOMA CITY — Gov. Stitt appointed his senior adviser Thursday to University of Oklahoma’s governing board.  He appointed Dustin Hilliary, who has also served as vice chair of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, to serve on the oversight board for the state’s largest university along with Cameron and Rogers State universities. A spokesperson for the Governor’s Office said Hilliary will remain in his role as an adviser and if confirmed, he will resign from the S

Since it was approved by voters in 2000, the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust has sought to improve “the health and quality of life” of Oklahomans. Now, after a high-profile dispute over a request to fund a hospital last legislative session, a leading House member wants a “TSET reset” that would move the mission of the $2 billion fund toward expanding access to higher education. “We’re the only state that still has our corpus (from the 1998 tobacco company Master Settlement

The Oklahoma Senate on Tuesday gave unanimous approval to a bill that would let qualified experts testify in human trafficking cases to explain how exploitation can shape a victim’s beliefs, perceptions and behavior. The proposal also orders the state Attorney General’s Victims Services Unit to grow its offerings for trafficking survivors and creates new certification and confidentiality standards for shelters and programs. With the Senate’s signoff, the bill now heads to the

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Senate on Tuesday passed a bill that would require those holding a special event license to carry liability insurance, despite concerns over fairness. Senate Bill 2178 would require the licensee to carry general liability insurance, including liquor liability coverage, of $1 million per occurrence and $2 million total. A special event license allows the holder to sell and distribute alcohol for on-premises consumption at up to four events in a year. The m

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would make fireworks more available. Senate Bill 1948 would remove the time sale restrictions on fireworks to the public. Currently, fireworks may be sold from June 15 until July 6 or the first Sunday after July 4, whichever is later. They also can be sold from Dec. 15 until Jan. 2. “Senate Bill 1948 updates Oklahoma’s fireworks laws to better reflect current use and sales practices,” said Sen. Bryan Logan, R-Pad

OKLAHOMA CITY — Everywhere House Speaker Kyle Hilbert goes, the topic of childhood literacy follows. Hilbert, R-Bristow, said improving Oklahoma’s elementary reading scores is “top of the agenda for me,” and he’s been telling everyone who will listen.   “Every single event that I’m asked to go to or every single question that I’m asked where it’s economic development, tourist-related, you name it, I talk about reading because it applies to everything,” he told news reporters

With his counterpart across the rotunda repeatedly advocating for increased school days in Oklahoma, House Speaker Kyle Hilbert revealed and sent the Senate a live-round proposal last week that would add seven days of classroom instruction for districts operating on the state’s hours-based calendar, starting in the 2027-2028 school year. In Oklahoma, public school districts and public charter schools must meet one of two requirements for an academic year: 181 days of instruct

OKLAHOMA CITY — House lawmakers proposed extending Oklahoma’s minimum school year by seven days and pledged $175 million to make it happen. House Bill 3151 passed off the House floor 62-28 Wednesday evening and heads to the Senate, where leadership has endorsed the measure. The bill is the first firm proposal from the House this session for increasing public school funding, though leaders have discussed adding funds for other education initiatives, as well. Senate leaders un

OKLAHOMA CITY — Attorney General Gentner Drummond again took a state board to court over its vote on a religious charter school. The Statewide Charter School Board on Monday rejected an application to open Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School because its curriculum would include religious teaching. Drummond alleged the vote was deliberately rigged to benefit the school’s chances in court. He said there were multiple reasons to deny the application, but the board engineered its vot

OKLAHOMA CITY – House lawmakers on Thursday defeated a measure that would give employers more leeway to fire individuals for using medical marijuana. Rep. Kevin West, R-Moore, the author, said House Bill 3127 would not force employers to do anything, but would give them discretion to classify additional jobs as “safety-sensitive” beyond what is in law. State law allows businesses to prohibit employees from using marijuana who work in “safety-sensitive” jobs based on drug tes