State Government News
Oklahoma attorney general seeks audit of OHCA amid provider complaints over Medicaid managed care: Attorney General Gentner Drummond is requesting an independent audit of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, which oversees SoonerCare, the state’s Medicaid program. Drummond’s office stated it has substantial cause to believe the agency is failing to oversee its contracted managed care organizations. [StateImpact Oklahoma via KGOU]
- Oklahoma AG wants audit of for-profit SoonerCare management [The Oklahoman]
- Drummond asks for audit of 'failing' state Medicaid agency [Tulsa World]
Oklahoma advances bill to make delivering abortion pills a felony: Providers of abortion-inducing drugs could soon face felony charges in Oklahoma after the state Senate revived a measure that seeks to tighten up the state's already strict abortion laws. [The Oklahoman]
- Ban on abortion-inducing drugs heads to Oklahoma governor [Oklahoma Voice]
- Senate sends abortion drug 'trafficking' ban to governor [Tulsa World]
- Watch Oklahoma senator blast Senate for surprise anti-abortion bill (video) [The Oklahoman]
Suit seeks information about state's Way2Go program contract: A civil suit filed Wednesday alleges that Oklahoma Treasurer Todd Russ has failed to provide information sought by the Oklahomans for Transparency in Government organization that it says it needs to shed light on a potentially lucrative state contract that could involve a bank connected to Gov. Kevin Stitt. [Tulsa World]
Voters should hold absent state representative accountable: Oklahoma House leader: The leader of the Oklahoma House said Thursday that voters should be the ones to hold a state representative who hasn’t voted in two weeks accountable. House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, said it’s up to the voters of House District 77 to hold Rep. John Waldron, D-Tulsa, accountable at the ballot box for not coming to the Capitol and missing votes on over 100 pieces of legislation. [Oklahoma Voice]
Oklahoma Senate abandons effort to put state questions on Aug. ballot: Hindered by failed votes and ballot printing deadlines, Oklahoma Senate leadership has given up on getting three state questions on the Aug. 25 primary runoff ballot, Senate President Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, said on Thursday. [The Journal Record]
Legislative Roundup
- Data Center Consumer Ratepayer Protection Act passes state Senate [Tulsa World]
- House moves state closer to investment in insulin manufacturing [Tulsa World]
- House sends governor legislation to lure retired teachers back to the classroom [Tulsa World]
- Bill revisits birth certificate restrictions on sex assignment [Tulsa World]
- Session Watch: Week 13 [Oklahoma Watch]
Opinion: Bill offers efficient solution for county jail funding: The Oklahoma State Senate should advance and pass House Bill 1638 without delay. This legislation offers a practical step to address persistent funding shortfalls at the Oklahoma County Detention Center. Lawmakers and residents alike should act now by supporting this measure and contacting their senators to ensure it moves forward. [Melissa Walton / The Journal Record]
Opinion, This Week in Oklahoma Politics: Property tax ballot measure, CD1 GOP endorsement, State Farm lawsuit and more (podcast): The panelists talk about a property tax ballot measure, questions over investments by Gov. Kevin Stitt and comments from an outgoing Republican lawmaker on the State House Floor. They also discuss an endorsement from the State Republican Party chairperson in the crowded Congressional District 1 GOP primary and Attorney General Gentner Drummond's attempt to involve himself in a lawsuit against State Farm Insurance. [KOSU]
Opinion: Strange bedfellows stall statehouse priorities: The adage politics makes strange bedfellows is on full display in this year’s legislative session. Two groups that rarely see eye-to-eye on substantive public policy – Senate Democrats and the hard-right Republican Freedom Caucus – have joined forces several times to stall or foil GOP leadership priorities. [Arnold Hamilton / The Journal Record]
Opinion, Sen. Carri Hicks: Oklahoma women face significant barriers. We must do better: We recently celebrated Women’s History Month at the Capitol, honoring Oklahoma women who broke barriers and expanded opportunities for those who followed. Their stories are powerful. But for too many women in our state today, opportunity is not expanding, it is shrinking. The data tells a sobering story. [Sen. Carri Hicks / The Oklahoman]
Editorial: Oklahoma's Senate leader reinforced our nation's promise: If a woman in Oklahoma without the proper legal standing wants to apply for food stamps on behalf of her U.S.-born children, should she be reported to federal immigration authorities? That's what the Trump administration has been demanding. Two Oklahoma legislative leaders, both Republican, have responded differently. [The Oklahoman Editorial Board]
Federal Government News
Voting rights decision draws fire from OKC activists and protest plans: A longtime Oklahoma City civil rights activist said a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a key component of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 made her weep — but only for a moment. [The Oklahoman]
House relents, finally ends record-breaking Homeland Security shutdown: Congress finally ended the historic Department of Homeland Security shutdown, resolving the longest crisis of its kind in American history. [USA Today via The Oklahoman]
US House passes ‘skinny’ farm bill that keeps big GOP cuts to food assistance: The U.S. House approved, 224-200, a five-year farm bill Thursday as members of Congress attempt to update major agriculture and nutrition policy after three years of extensions. [Oklahoma Voice]
US House votes to launch process to provide billions for Trump mass deportations: U.S. House Republicans adopted their budget resolution Wednesday night, clearing the way for the party to pass a bill in the coming weeks that will provide tens of billions in additional funding for immigration enforcement. [Oklahoma Voice]
Tribal Nations News
Opinion: Oklahoma can reduce its soaring suicide rates by looking to tribal programs: For Native Americans in Oklahoma, suicide rates had long been concerning. As recently as 2021, Indigenous Americans suicide rates were more than twice the national average. [Eric Kyle / Oklahoma Voice]
Voting and Election News
SD 38 candidate Barry Christian found dead after disappearance: One day after being reported missing, Oklahoma Senate District 38 candidate Barry Christian was found dead in his pickup truck Thursday. [NonDoc]
- Body of missing state senate candidate found in rural Oklahoma [The Oklahoman]
Education News
On 135th anniversary, Douglass High can celebrate its past and present: This year marks the high school’s 135th anniversary. Founded as The Colored School on May 9, 1891, to educate Oklahoma City’s Black children during a time of segregation, it is the oldest known school in the state. Douglass opened almost two decades before statehood, and over the decades, it has educated many who became known far and wide. [The Oklahoman]
Tulsa Public Schools board to consider second round of cuts Friday: Tulsa Public Schools’ board of education will consider a second round of employment moves Friday in an effort to stave off a projected multimillion-dollar budget shortfall. [Tulsa World]
Health News
As Oklahoma’s rural hospitals face crumbling revenue, lenders must decide: While Oklahoma’s urban health systems like Integris and Mercy dominate the local economy, a quiet financial strangulation is happening in the red dirt. A hospital advocate and a healthcare finance analyst both suggest that a stack of federal policies and aging infrastructure has created a chilling effect that could push the wrecking ball downhill from hospitals onto the economies that surround them. However, they emphasize hope via legislative change and changing hospital strategies. [The Journal Record]
Justice System News
Epic founders Harris, Chaney bound for criminal trial as 2-year preliminary hearing ends: A judge bound Epic Charter Schools co-founder Ben Harris and David Chaney over for trial Thursday, saying prosecutors had established probable cause that the way they steered $22 million of public funding to their private company constituted embezzlement and racketeering. [NonDoc]
- Judge Moves Epic Charter Schools Embezzlement Case Forward [Oklahoma Watch]
- Epic Charter Schools co-founders ordered to trial in racketeering case [The Oklahoman]
- Epic co-founders bound for trial in embezzlement, racketeering case [Oklahoma Voice]
- Epic Charter Schools co-founders ordered to stand trial [Tulsa World]
Scobey aims to settle contention over pay hikes with a jail trust vote: Controversy and a court case challenging the decision to give pay raises at the financially strapped Oklahoma County jail could be settled at the next trust meeting if there's a vote on it, and one trustee said there will be. [The Oklahoman]
- Local activist shares why he has concerns about OK County jail operations (video) [The Oklahoman]
Economy & Business News
Google, OG&E reach agreement to power planned data centers in Stillwater, Muskogee: Electric utility OG&E has penned an agreement to power three Google data centers in Muskogee and Stillwater. [KOSU]
- OG&E to power three new Google data centers in Oklahoma [The Journal Record]
- OG&E and Google strike deal to power three Oklahoma data centers [The Oklahoman]
- OG&E announces contract with Google related to Stillwater, Muskogee data centers [Tulsa World]
- Data center site developer eyes Broken Arrow, officials announce [Tulsa World]
Community News
In Tulsa, not all news is bad news for immigrant population: Here’s a novelty for these times — an uplifting story about immigration. It starts with Robin Sherman, director of legal services at the YWCA, and her staff, who, with help from volunteers and some generous donors, spent three weeks in March focused almost exclusively on helping refugees caught in a legal quagmire get their green card applications submitted. [Tulsa World]
What is May Day? What to know about national protests, labor history: While the United States celebrates Labor Day in September, May 1 is International Workers' Day and a holiday in many countries. Most Americans work or go to school on May 1, and government offices stay open, but some labor unions and activist organizations still plan to hold rallies or marches on the day. [The Oklahoman]
Opinion: Today is Law Day. Let's all strive to uphold it: May 1 is Law Day in America, and this idea to celebrate our government of laws, later adopted by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and ratified by Congress, was the original idea of a country lawyer from Wewoka, Oklahoma, named Hicks Epton. But when I think about Law Day, the first story that comes to my mind is the most meaningful professional encounter of my mostly legal life. [Robert Henry / The Oklahoman]
