The Oklahoma Legislature adjourned its regular session on May 27 without referring any measures to the 2022 ballot for voters to consider.

During the session, lawmakers considered referring constitutional amendments and state statutes to the ballot. Fifteen constitutional amendments and one state statute had passed in the chamber of origin but did not receive final approval in the opposite chamber before adjournment.

Proposed constitutional amendments must be referred to the ballot and receive voter approval to be enacted. To put a proposed constitutional amendment on a ballot, a simple majority vote of all members in both the Senate and House is required.

Legislators will return in June for a special veto session to address eliminating the state’s 4.5% grocery tax and reducing the personal income tax.

The Oklahoma Legislature called a concurrent legislative session to begin May 18 concerning $1.8 billion in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) fund spending.

The special session will also cover $698 million in Large-scale Economic Activity and Development Act (LEAD Act) allocations to pursue Project Ocean, which state officials described as an economic development project that is considering Oklahoma for a major manufacturing operation.

The concurrent session can keep going after the regular session adjourns, which must be done by 5 p.m. Friday, May 27.

This does not affect lobbyist reporting dates.

The Oklahoma Ethics Commission will hold a regular meeting with an opportunity for public comment regarding lobbying issues on Friday, November 12 at the State Capitol Building.

The Commission will accept comment from the public on the following issues: whether lobbyist principals should be removed from the notifications to lobbyists and liaisons registered for them when a reporting deadline is missed; when proposed and filed compliance orders are issued; whether lobbyist principals should be notified of lobbyists or liaisons who register to lobby on their behalf; and whether the Ethics Commission should be required to notify lobbyist principals, lobbyists, or liaisons of reporting deadlines seven days and one day prior to a reporting deadline and within 24 hours following a reporting deadline.

Oral comments may be made during the public comment portion of the meeting and written comments should be submitted to the Commission via email or in-person by 4:30 p.m. on November 10.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has called for a special session of the Oklahoma Legislature on November 15 to address redistricting issues caused by the delayed release of 2020 census data by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The special session has been called solely for the purposes of redistricting Oklahoma’s congressional and legislative districts, and amending statutory candidacy and redistricting deadlines, including amending candidacy and residency deadlines, as made necessary by the U.S. Census Bureau’s failure to meet the deadline for production of decennial census data.

It is not clear how long the specials session will last.

This does not affect lobbyist reporting dates.

The Oklahoma Legislature adjourned its 2021 regular legislative session sine die on May 27, one day before a constitutionally mandated deadline.

The House and Senate both adjourned before noon after each chamber passed a bill making some minor modifications to the state’s medical marijuana laws.

The House also gave final approval to a measure that allows the governor to fill a U.S. Senate vacancy should one occur. Both of those bills now head to the governor’s desk.

Ethics Rule Amendment 202101 related to candidate committee reporting is slated to take effect upon adjournment sine die. The amendment modifies ethics rules applicable to candidate committees formed for elections held prior to January 1, 2015, by providing a mandatory dissolution date, modifying uses of surplus funds and treatment of debt of those committees, and providing a repeal of ethics rules applicable to candidate committees formed for elections held prior to January 1, 2015.

The 2022 legislative session will convene on February 7.

The Oklahoma Ethics Commission will hold a regular meeting on Friday, April 9 at 10 a.m. to discuss the use of campaign funds for officeholders and lobbyist expenditures.

On the topic of campaign finance, the meeting will cover the campaign funds for officeholders to purchase gifts of small value for visitors, including students, to their offices at the capitol. The commission will also review campaign fund expenditure categories to provide more clarity for what expenses are campaign-related, officeholder-related, or surplus funds.

On the topic of lobbyist expenditures, the commission will review the expenditure lump-sum category of food and beverage provides for a caucus event to include events that do not pertain to caucus business. Implementation of a non-solicitation requirement for gifts from lobbyists and liaisons for state officers and employees will also be considered.

The meeting will be held in person and live-streamed for the public. The next regular meeting is scheduled for Friday, May 14.

The Oklahoma Ethics Commission voted to increase the individual contribution limit to $2,900 per election for candidate’s whose name appears on the 2022 ballot.

This limit increase applies only to candidates registered for the 2022 election. The individual contribution limits for the 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2020 candidate committees remain the same.

Other candidates remain under the contribution limits for their specific election. All other PAC or political party committee limits remain the same.

When candidate committees contribute to other candidate committees, contribution limits apply to both the giving and receiving committees.

When the giving and receiving candidate committees were formed for different election years, they are subject to different contribution limits. The lesser contribution limit of the two will be the contribution limit that applies.

The Oklahoma Ethics Commission voted to adopt the proposed changes to the Constitutional Ethics Rules related to lobbying and campaign finance.

Amendment 2021-01 impacts candidate committees formed for elections held prior to 2015. The changes include establishing a mandatory dissolution date of December 31, 2021; removing the limitation of expenditure of funds for only those purposes listed on the committee’s Statement of Organization; and providing a process for dissolving a candidate committee with debt without filing continuing reports with the Commission.

Amendment 3 to 2021-02 impacts lobbying laws by adding a new category of gifts for books and similar informational materials that do not count against the $500 overall aggregate limit of gifts and requiring this category of gift be reported in the same manner as other gifts are reported.

The commission directed the Executive Director to deliver the changes to the legislature and governor on February 1, 2021, in accordance with Article 29, section 3 of the Oklahoma Constitution.

The amendments will become effective upon adjournment sine die of the regular legislative session on May 28, 2021.

A special election will take place on April 6, 2021 in Oklahoma Senate District 22.

The special election became necessary after Stephanie Bice was elected to represent Oklahoma’s 5th Congressional District. Her resignation is effective December 31 of this year.

The primary is scheduled to take place on February 9, 2021.

Former state legislator Rob Johnson, Darrick Matthews, Jake Merrick, and Keri Shipley are running in the Republican primary. In addition, Dylan Billings and Molly Ooten are running in the Democratic primary.

The Oklahoma Ethics Commission will hold a regular meeting and public hearing on December 11 to consider lobbying and campaign finance rule changes.

Amendment 2021-01 would modify ethics rules applicable to candidate committees formed for elections held prior to January 1, 2015 by providing a mandatory dissolution date, modifying uses of surplus funds and treatment of debt of those committees, and providing a repeal of ethics rules applicable to candidate committees formed for elections held prior to January 1, 2015.

Amendment 2021-02 would include “informational materials” as gifts by lobbyists, legislative liaisons, and lobbyist principals. If approved, both the campaign finance and lobbying amendments would become effective May 28, 2021.

Voters in Oklahoma City approved a proposition relating to accepting things of value from private businesses.

Proposition 9 amends the city charter to reorganize and update provisions banning city employees from accepting things of value from private businesses on better terms than available to the general public.

Article IV, Section 12 of the Oklahoma City Charter prohibits city officers and employees from directly or indirectly accepting or receiving any salary, commission, compensation, free or discounted service, or other thing of value of any kind from certain specified privately-owned businesses within the city on terms more favorable than is granted to the public generally.

Proposition 9 provides an exception allowing the granting of a city franchise or other city contract conditioned upon free service to the city and to its officers and employees while they are engaged in the performance of their duties.

Proposition 9 took effect when passed 70% to 30% on November 3.

Voters in Oklahoma City approved a proposition relating to mayoral and city council elections.

Proposition 1 amends the city charter by changing the names of “primary” and “general” elections to “general” and “runoff” elections.

Additionally, the proposition sets the regular general election date for mayoral elections to the second Tuesday in February 2022 and every four years going forward instead of existing primary mayoral election dates set as the second Tuesday in March.

Proposition 1 also sets the regular general election date for city council elections as the second Tuesday in odd-numbered years instead of the existing primary city council election date set as the first Tuesday in March.

The regular runoff election date for both mayoral and city council elections would be set to the first Tuesday in April immediately following the general election.

Lastly, the proposition adds specific processes for if the city council creates more than eight city wards and provides elected officials take officer four weeks rather than one week after the runoff election.

Proposition 1 took effect when passed 73% to 27% on November 3.

Oklahoma legislators will head back to the Capitol on April 6 for a special legislative session to confirm Gov. Kevin Stitt’s declaration of a statewide health emergency due to COVID-19.

Lawmakers are in the middle of the legislative session, but they cleared out of the state Capitol as the COVID-19 outbreak ramped up.

The Legislature is constitutionally required to adjourn by 5 p.m. on May 29.

Legislators have not yet set a date to return to pass a state budget and any other legislative priorities.

Members of the Oklahoma Legislature will meet in a special closed-door meeting March 16 to discuss the impact of the coronavirus in the state.

Republicans and Democrats will meet with state health officials to discuss the following:

• • State services
  • What other states are doing to curtail the spread of the virus
  • The future of the legislative session

Additionally, if the legislative session is suspended, Gov. Kevin Stitt may call lawmakers back into session at a later date.