Oklahoma voters will not get to vote on recreational cannabis this November. A state Supreme Court ruling means the ballot measure will have to wait.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court had the opportunity to intervene and put the measure on this year’s general election ballot, but justices declared Wednesday they wouldn’t be doing so.
State Question 820’s proponents had gathered enough signatures and even turned them in early. However, the Secretary of State’s office took weeks longer than expected to verify those, after hiring a contractor to conduct an electronic count for the first time. That delay set organizers back too far to make deadlines for the November ballot. They asked the Court to step in.
The majority published its opinion Wednesday. It agreed: the delay was the Secretary of State’s fault. But the law doesn’t guarantee a right to a specific election date, so the Court couldn’t allow this ballot measure to skip the remaining steps in the process and get on the ballot early.
A recent survey found Oklahoma has a record number of teaching vacancies across the state according to the Oklahoma State School Board Association annual teacher staffing survey.
Oklahoma schools reported 1,019 teaching vacancies heading into the new school year.
That’s an all time record found by OSSBA, which has run the survey for nine years. It represents a nearly 50 percent increase in vacancies from the previous fall.
The survey found special education positions are especially difficult to fill and the vast majority of districts are dealing with substitute shortages.
It’s a grim picture for a state that’s struggled for years with a teacher shortage and shows no signs of reversing.
A total of $2 million has been awarded to 58 police departments, sheriffs offices and other law enforcement agencies in the state through the Safe Oklahoma Grant Program.
The program is funded by an annual appropriation from the state legislature, and the grants help fund paying for overtime costs, technology upgrades and more. Recipients are chosen based on proposals submitted to the state attorney general's office outlining how funds will help reduce crime.
Two police departments - Oklahoma City and Tulsa - received 20% of the overall funding.
Several plans for how to use American Rescue Plan Act funding will be considered during an upcoming special legislative session.
The Joint Committee on Pandemic Relief Funding on Tuesday recommended over 60 projects from a pool of more than 1,400 submissions to be considered to receive more than $1 billion from Oklahoma’s share of American Rescue Plan Act funds.
The recommended projects include initiatives to improve the state’s water, broadband, and healthcare as well as increasing support to nonprofits and workforce and rural development.
Sen. Roger Thompson, Co-Chair of the Joint Committee, says these projects “will improve the lives of Oklahomans for decades to come.”
The House will reconvene for a special session to finalize the projects on Sept. 28.
President Joe Biden has approved a disaster declaration for Muscogee Nation due to severe weather that hit Oklahoma this past spring.
Oklahoma experienced severe storms, tornadoes and flooding in May that caused extensive damage throughout the Muscogee Nation reservation.
The tribal nation was named the recipient of the federal funds, and will operate in the same administrative capacity the state would. Communities within the tribal reservation that went through the preliminary damage assessment with FEMA, the state and the tribe will be able to apply for relief funds through Muscogee Nation.
Bobby Howard, the tribal nation's Emergency Management director, credits relationships they've built with local community emergency managers.
"This proves the sovereignty of the nation to manage the events within our jurisdictional boundaries," said Howard.
A 2019 analysis from the Center for Public Integrity shows tribal nations were on average more vulnerable to natural disasters but more likely to receive less assistance than non-Native communities.
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