TRANSCRIPT
Dick Pryor: This is Capitol Insider - taking you inside politics, policy and government in Oklahoma. I'm Dick Pryor with Quorum call publisher Shawn Ashley. On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in an Oklahoma criminal case involving death row inmate Richard Glossip. Now, another Oklahoma case may be in line to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. Shawn, it involves the appeal of an Oklahoma Supreme Court decision that the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board cannot enter into a contract with the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual Charter School. A group representing the school filed a petition for a writ of certiorari. What is the basis for that petition?
Shawn Ashley: The attorneys for the Statewide Charter School Board argue there are two questions for the court to consider. First, whether the academic and teaching choices of a privately owned and run school constitute state action simply because the school contracts with the state to offer a free educational option for interested students. Second, whether a state violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment by excluding privately run religious schools from the state's charter school program solely because the schools are religious, or whether, in the alternative, a state can justify such an exclusion by invoking antiestablishment interests that go further than the First Amendment's establishment clause requires.
Dick Pryor: Another legal matter involves the Oklahoma Contingency Review Board’s rejection of a consent decree in a lawsuit against the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. First, what is the Contingency Review Board and its role in this case?
Shawn Ashley: Well, the Contingency Review Board is made up of the governor, the House speaker and Senate president pro tem, along with the Office of Management and Enterprise Services executive director as a non-voting advising member. Now, there are more than a dozen instances in state statute where the Contingency Review Board is required to approve or disapprove certain actions, but only when the legislature is not in regular session. That means the (Senate) pro tem and the House speaker essentially act as the legislature and the governor can act as veto authority. This is one of those instances - an agreed legal judgment of more than $25,000.
Dick Pryor: So now to the substance of the conflict. What is the issue in this disagreement?
Shawn Ashley: A federal lawsuit was filed in March 2023 that alleges the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services violated the due process rights of some pretrial defendants by failing to provide timely court ordered competency restoration services. Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced in mid-June he had brokered a settlement with the plaintiff’s attorneys in the case. But the department's director, Commissioner Allie Friesen, believes the proposed agreement is bad for the state. She made that case to Governor Stitt and House Speaker Charles McCall in August. Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat missed that meeting, but was present Wednesday when Friesen again urged the board to reject the agreement. Treat said he wanted more time to study the issue, but Stitt and McCall moved forward and approved a motion to reject the agreement. A hearing before a federal judge on the agreement's final approval is scheduled in January.
Dick Pryor: Interim studies on various issues are continuing at the Capitol. Two have focused on automated license plate readers. One study has considered expanding their use; the other study has looked at regulating those readers.
Shawn Ashley: Automatic license plate readers - those cameras that take pictures of our cars’ and trucks’ license plates - were first authorized in 2016 to help decrease the number of uninsured motorists. That program is administered by the District Attorney's Council. They also are authorized for use by the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority for its Plate Pay program. But police departments throughout Oklahoma have been installing and using them as investigative tools. The Senate Public Safety Committee was encouraged in an August interim study hearing to consider legislation during the 2025 session that would permit the placement of license plate readers along state highways, which currently is not authorized. Representative Tom Gann told the House State Powers Committee on Tuesday that the legislature needs to enact new laws regulating the use of existing license plate readers and to prevent their widespread use. I suspect we will see both pieces of legislation - one expanding their use and another limiting and regulating their use - in the 2025 session.
Dick Pryor: All right. Thank you, Shawn.
Shawn Ashley: You're very welcome.
Dick Pryor: For more information, go to quorumcall.online. You can find audio and transcripts at kgou.org. And look for Capitol Insider where you get podcasts. Until next time, Shawn Ashley, I'm Dick Pryor.
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