Oklahoma lawmakers advanced legislation Monday that would send a vote on two proposed ballot measures to the August primary runoff election, paving the way for changes to Medicaid expansion and judicial selection.
It’s another effort by Republican leadership – who said they want to avoid “ballot fatigue” – to prevent these measures from being considered during the November general election. Senate Democrats and Freedom Caucus members have banded together to block special election clauses on House Bill 4440 and House Joint Resolution 1024, which require a two-thirds vote.
HB 4440 by House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, and Senate President Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, would ask Oklahomans to decide whether to remove Medicaid expansion from the state constitution, where it can’t be amended or repealed, and add it into statute, where it can be adjusted, if federal financial participation drops below 90%. The current match is 90-10.
HJR 1024 by Rep. Anthony Moore, R-Clinton, and Sen. Todd Gollihare, R-Kellyville, would ask voters to consider reforms to the Judicial Nominating Commission. Both policies are waiting to be considered again in the House and, if approved, would currently appear on the November ballot.
House Bill 4063, by Rep. Trey Caldwell, R-Faxon, and Sen. Chuck Hall, R-Perry, would order an Aug. 25 special election for HB 4440 and HJR 1024. It passed out of the House and Senate’s joint appropriation and budget committees during separate meetings.
HB 4063 still must receive a two-thirds majority on the House and Senate floors.
Hilbert and Paxton were questioned by Democratic lawmakers in the House and Senate, respectively. Both were met with concerns that this legislation violates the single-subject rule, which is a provision of the state constitution precluding individual legislation or ballot initiatives from dealing with more than one main issue.
“You're now putting this chamber in a position where we have to make a decision jointly on one bill that we may have supported and the other one that we didn't,” Rep. Andy Fugate, D-Del City, said. “That to me sounds like a pretty clear violation of single subject, where you're lumping things together.”
Hilbert said this measure’s purpose is related to putting questions on the August ballot. He also argued that Oklahoma has precedent for such a maneuver, citing Oklahoma’s Right to Work law, which prohibits union membership from being required as a condition of employment.
In 2001, the Oklahoma Legislature moved to send State Question 695 to voters through Senate Joint Resolution 1. But the provision necessary to create a special election failed to receive the two-thirds majority. Lawmakers eventually approved a September special election through House Joint Resolution 1033.
Rep. Trish Ranson, D-Stillwater, questioned why the August election date, which generally has a lower turnout, would be better than November. Hilbert countered that school boards often place votes on school bonds on separate ballots and asked Ranson if she believes they should go on the November ballot, too. He said that could be a broader conversation.
“No, that is not my point,” Ranson said. “… When you said the Right to Work, that was when the Democrats were in majority, and [it was] put on a ballot that was not necessarily fair to the whole state of Oklahoma. So that's my question here. If we're going to make substantive change to the state of Oklahoma as far as access to health care, wouldn't the November ballot be a better ballot to get everyone's input?”
In the Senate, Sen. Michael Brooks, D-Oklahoma City, asked if lawmakers intend to keep pushing for a special election until it is passed.
“Is there not any significance necessarily in having it fail to get the two-thirds vote when it's attached to the bill?” Brooks asked. “And so basically, based on the rules, we're asserting that there are unlimited bites at this apple?”
“I don't think there's unlimited bites at the apple,” Paxton replied. “This is a separate piece of legislation that I've determined by seeking counsel to this that it is allowable.”
The measure was approved, with 16 in favor and six against in the Senate and 23 in favor and six against in the House. Sen. Kendal Sacchieri, R-Blanchard, was the only Republican who voted against the bill.
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