Process For Initiative Petitions Could Be Changing
Proposed legislation that would make it harder for voter-led initiatives to get on the ballot is headed to the governor for consideration.
Republican Senator Lonnie Paxton’s Senate Bill 518 passed the House floor with a vote of 72-25 on Wednesday.
The bill would introduce new requirements for the initiative petition process.
Currently, the law requires signatures to come with at least three out of five data points that can be matched to the signer’s voter registration card for the signature to count.
Data points include legal first name, legal last name, zip code, house number, and numerical month and day of birth.
Paxton’s bill would bump the requirement up to four data points.
Additionally, the bill allows for the Secretary of State to charge a filing fee of up to $750.
The law does not currently have a specific fee associated with filing an initiative petition.
The bill previously passed the Senate floor with a vote of 38-8. It now goes to Gov. Kevin Stitt’s desk for signature.
Oklahoma House Passes Bill Targeting Immigrants Without Legal Status
Oklahoma is a step closer to criminalizing people in the state without legal immigration status.
House Bill 4156 was introduced by the Republican majority floor leader Jon Echols.
He says the bill is common sense policy for Oklahoma in light of the federal government’s failures to secure the southern border.
He rejects the claim the bill allows for racial profiling, which he “abhors in all of its forms.”
"Nothing inside this bill will allow racial profiling. It should never be okay. And it is not okay. And I do trust our law enforcement to not do that," Echols said.
Democrats Arturo Alonso-Sandoval and Annie Menz each tried to amend the measure to increase accountability of officers who make wrongful arrests and to protect people who can prove they’ve lived and paid taxes in Oklahoma for a long time.
Republicans swiftly denied those efforts. Alonso-Sandoval accused them of election year theatrics.
"One thing to me is clear: This is not policy focused. It's not solution focused. It's campaign messaging," Alonso-Sandoval said.
The measure passed along a 77-20 party-line vote. It now moves to the Senate for consideration.
Update On Stalled State Board Nominations
An Oklahoma City democratic senator is refusing to approve two potential state board members nominated by Governor Kevin Stitt.
But, that still may not torpedo the nominees.
Senator Carri Hicks is refusing to carry forward nominees Alex Gray for the Board of Education and Audrey Katigan for the Department of Libraries board.
Gray is a former Trump aide and sits on the board of the Oklahoma Conservative PAC Foundation and Katigan is a financial advisor.
The Senate must confirm executive nominees, but Hicks says the decision to move them forward begins with the senator who resides in their district.
But, when a similar situation happened in 2019, Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat carried the nominees instead.
Hicks, a former teacher, says she found the nominees unqualified and called on the governor to “put politics aside.”
A spokesperson for the governor’s office says Hicks’ move isn’t surprising - Democrats don’t carry conservative nominees, and the governor wants conservatives in those positions.
She says the governor doesn’t have any plans to appoint alternatives.
Oklahoma City And Thunder Prepare For NBA Playoffs
The NBA Playoffs start Sunday for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
It’s the team’s first playoff game in OKC in five years.
At an average age of about 24, the Thunder are the youngest team in NBA history to enter the playoffs as a number one seed.
TV personalities and sports reporters have pointed to that youth as a possible vulnerability in the playoffs. But Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is not concerned.
“Yeah, I heard that all year. It’s not going to change—we’re still young. We’ll probably be young for another four or five years. We don’t worry about it. We focus on what goes on in these four-walls,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.
The Thunder will face the winner of tonight’s Play-In game between the New Orleans Pelicans and Sacramento Kings.
It will be a quick turnaround for that team, as their first game against the Thunder takes place Sunday night at the Paycom Center.
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