Attorney General Intercedes In Lawsuit Over Tribal Gaming Compacts
Attorney General Gentner Drummond is stepping in to represent the state in an ongoing lawsuit over gaming compacts with tribal nations.
Drummond informed Gov. Kevin Stitt of his intervention Tuesday.
Drummond says Stitt’s litigation with the tribes has cost Oklahoma taxpayers millions of dollars and has damaged state and tribal relations.
In the last month, Legislative leaders have asked Drummond to take over for Stitt in compact negotiations. In a formal letter sent to the governor he obliges.
Stitt has said Drummond doesn’t have the authority to take over the lawsuits or negotiations for compacts between the state and tribal governments.
The compacts determine the rules and payments tribal nations make to the state to operate gambling operations in Oklahoma.
The lawsuits stem from Stitt entering into four gaming compacts with tribal nations in 2020 outside of what other tribes use.
He was sued by four other tribes over the legality of the move. And that is what Drummond says he will be formally taking over.
Teamsters Reach Tentative Agreement With UPS
Teamsters have come to a tentative agreement with UPS, averting a strike just a week before it was set to begin.
Teamsters in Oklahoma were holding practice pickets on Tuesday morning, and later the same day, a tentative agreement with UPS for a new five-year contract that includes wage increases for full and part-time employees as well as air conditioning in delivery vehicles was announced.
Local Teamsters 886 shop steward Zakk Flash says the Teamsters’ national negotiating team’s success will lift up communities across the country, including here in Oklahoma.
“This is really a working-class victory. All workers, all Oklahomans, we should be able to do our jobs safely and with dignity,” Flash said.
About 97% of the UPS Teamsters’ 340,000 members voted to authorize a strike last month.
Member voting to approve or reject the new contract begins on August 3rd and ends on the 22nd.
Virtual Charter School Board Hires Alliance Defending Freedom
Oklahoma’s statewide virtual charter school board plans to hire legal representation from an organization the Southern Poverty Law Center labels as a hate group.
Monday’s vote was made in anticipation of potential lawsuits the board could face over its decision to approve the nation’s first publicly funded Catholic charter school, St. Isidore of Seville.
The board voted against its chair, 3 to 1, to hire the Alliance Defending Freedom.
ADF’s designation as a hate group stems from, among other things, its defense of state-sanctioned sterilization of transgender people and support of recriminalizing sexual acts between consenting LGBTQ+ adults.
The board sought representation after most of its members defied the legal advice of Oklahoma’s attorney general not to approve the charter school’s application.
But Board Chairman Robert Franklin says the decision was unnecessarily rushed and also points out the previous vote to approve St. Isidore’s application - which he also voted against - may not have been legitimate anyway.
As he cautioned before that vote, brand new board appointee Brian Bobek wasn’t even eligible to vote yet, according to the Attorney General’s Office. Whether the school’s path forward is ultimately thwarted by that technicality remains to be seen.
Oil & Gas Tax Collections Down In June
State Treasurer Todd Russ says there was a significant decrease in oil tax collections in June.
Oil and natural gas production taxes decreased by over $73 million dollars last month compared to June 2022, a more than 42% decline.
Russ says this is the result of a downward trend in energy prices.
Other tax collections increased compared to June 2022, including sales and use tax, which rose by over $27 million dollars, or just under 5%.
Russ says the inflation rate continued going down, landing at 4% in May. However, food prices are still rising more quickly.
Unemployment rates in Oklahoma are also still lower than the national average.
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