State Sen. John Michael Montgomery resigns to take lead role at Lawton Chamber of Commerce

State Sen. John Michael Montgomery is resigning to head up the Lawton Fort Sill Chamber of Commerce. He becomes the second legislator in the past six years to resign to lead a local Chamber (the last being State Rep. Scott Martin resigning to join the Norman Chamber).

Sen. Montgomery announces resignation, accepts new role with Lawton Chamber

OKLAHOMA CITY – Sen. John Michael Montgomery, R-Lawton, released the following statement Friday after announcing that he will be resigning from the Oklahoma Senate, effective Aug. 1, 2023, to accept the role of president and CEO of the Lawton Fort Sill Chamber of Commerce.

Mexican consulate opening in OKC in spring 2023

GOVERNOR STITT ANNOUNCES MEXICAN CONSULATE COMING TO OKLAHOMA CITY IN SPRING 2023

Edurne Pineda to serve as first Head Consul

OKLAHOMA CITY (Dec. 13, 2022) – Today Governor Kevin Stitt announced a Mexican consulate is scheduled to open in Oklahoma City next spring. The Consulate of Mexico will provide consular services and assistance to the growing Mexican community in the state while promoting economic, commercial, educational, cultural, tourism, and community affairs relations between Mexican entities and Oklahoma stakeholders. Gov. Stitt has been advocating for the opening of this consulate and visited Mexico last year to present this proposal to the Government of Mexico. Over the past two years the governor has worked to embrace and address the needs of the Latino community and today’s announcement serves as a testament to the longevity of that commitment.

“As Oklahoma’s Mexican community grows, I’m glad that these Oklahomans can get the services they need right here in our state, rather driving hours across state lines for simple paperwork,” said Governor Stitt. “I am thankful for the collaboration and shared vision between Oklahoma and Mexico that made this a reality.”

Consul Edurne Pineda has been appointed as Head Consul of the cónsul. Consul Pineda is a Mexican career diplomat with a specialization in consular affairs and a long trajectory in this field. She has been working on the opening of the Consulate with the expectation to inaugurate its operation with full services by the end of the spring of 2023.  

“It has been an honor to work with Governor Stitt to establish the Mexican Consulate in Oklahoma City,” said Consul Edurne Pineda. “I am certain that we will be great partners towards forging a better development for the Mexican community in the state and a deeper and stronger relationship between Mexico and Oklahoma.”

The Mexican Consulate was brought to Oklahoma due to the efforts of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s and Ministry of Foreign Affairs Marcelo Ebrard, along with the approval of the federal government. Mayor David Holt as well as Mexican community leaders have also consistently manifested the need to have this consular representation in Oklahoma. 

“This is a great announcement for the people of Oklahoma City,” said Mayor David Holt. “There is a large population of Mexican Americans in our state, with more than 100,000 in Oklahoma City alone. Access to these services is important, and I congratulate the leaders in our Mexican American community who have advocated for this facility for many years.”

Roy Williams, President and CEO of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber said the Consulate is also important for the business community adding, “Mexico is an important trade partner for our state and the presence of these offices here will support continued growth.”

While the Consulate of Mexico in Oklahoma City opens its operation, the Consulates of Mexico in Little Rock and Kansas will continue to provide consular services to the Mexican community of Oklahoma. 

1889 Institute op-ed: Why I am not Pro-Business

Why I Am Not Pro-Business

By Byron Schlomach

Most who consider themselves conservative, even many with libertarian leanings, are comfortable with describing themselves as pro-business.

Not me.

Just because I’m not pro-business doesn’t mean I’m anti-business, though. I’m pro-free enterprise.

Chambers of Commerce across the nation are pro-business, especially pro-BIG business. They are established to represent their business members, with large corporations usually the most influential amongst their numbers. Chambers of Commerce almost always favor business subsidies, special tax breaks for certain businesses that small businesses don’t get, or exempt only certain businesses from regulation. They specialize in persuading gullible politicians anxious to get their faces in the news at ribbon-cutting ceremonies to favor these policies.

GOP legislative leaders to Chamber: we absolutely will not hear campus-carry bill

GOP legislative leadership told their masters in the Chamber of Commerce on Thursday that the Second Amendment is as valid as the First Amendment on the college campus in Oklahoma.

Wait. Who am I kidding. That's not what they said.

"As long as I'm floor leader, we will not have the guns on campus bill hit the floor of the Oklahoma House of Representatives," said House Majority Floor Leader Jon Echols (R-OKC). Echols is responsible for controlling which measures receive floor votes in the lower chamber.

Senate President Greg Treat said "I was very supportive of (constitutional carry); I would not be supportive of going further on with college campuses."

Both apparently touted their pro-gun credentials in the process, with Echols boasting of his past A+ NRA and A++ OK2A ratings before proclaiming that he would oppose the Second Amendment in this case. Media noted that "Chamber members applauded his statement."

Congrats on their approval, guys.

You can read more about the Chamber meeting here from the Oklahoman.

Nothing softens a Republican legislative leaders spine like Chamber approval, as we've seen in the fight to end abortion.

House Judiciary Chair Kannady working with State Chamber on compromise tort reform legislation

House Judiciary Chair to Explore Non-Economic Damage Caps with Guidance from State Chamber

OKLAHOMA CITY – After the Oklahoma Supreme Court issued its ruling in Beason v. I.E. Miller Services, Inc., striking down non-economic damage caps, House Judiciary Chair Christopher L. Kannady (R-Oklahoma City) sought input from all stakeholders to work on compromise legislation to move Oklahoma forward.

Chairman Kannady reached out to the State Chamber of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State Medical Association, and Oklahoma Association for Justice, amongst others. 

 “The State Chamber of Oklahoma worked closely with Chairman Kannady last year on workers’ compensation and other legal reform measures,” said President and CEO of the State Chamber of Oklahoma Fred Morgan. “We look forward to continuing that work during the upcoming session in order to achieve long-term solutions for the business community.”

“It appears that certain stakeholders have no interest in working on a compromise,” Kannady said. “Thus, I will move forward exploring options with stakeholders who are interested in advancing Oklahoma.

WSJ: An Oklahoma Opioid Stickup

The Wall Street Journal opined yesterday on the recent news out of Cleveland County, where a district judge gave Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter a favorable ruling that ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $572M to the State over its role in the opioid crisis.

Here are some excerpts from the opinion piece:

An Oklahoma Opioid Stickup

The $572 million ruling greatly expands product liability tort law.

[Wall Street Journal Editorial Board] The ruling Monday by an Oklahoma judge that Johnson & Johnson must pay $572 million for selling opioids will be cheered by everyone who wants a scapegoat for the scourge of addiction. But the ruling could have far larger, and more dangerous, consequences by opening a vast new arena for product-liability suits.

[...] 

Mr. Hunter has since focused on his $17 billion claim that Johnson & Johnson “abate” the alleged public nuisance caused by opioid addiction. Public-nuisance torts usually involve damage to property, and the remedy is enjoin or correct nuisances. But state AGs and the trial bar have been stretching public-nuisance law beyond its intended purpose. New York City and Oakland, California, have tried to use public-nuisance law to sue oil companies for damages they claim they will incur in the future from climate change.

Oklahoma’s opioid shakedown is equally dubious. J&J’s opioids, which include a fentanyl patch and crush-resistant pill, constitute less than 1% of Oklahoma’s prescription opioid market. The Food and Drug Administration approved the drugs and their black-box warnings, and they’re still legal. Patients may only obtain the drugs with prescriptions through government-licensed pharmacies.

[...] 

Judge Balkman also stretches the traditional public-nuisance limitation with respect to property damage by claiming that J&J is liable because its sales reps were trained in their Oklahoma homes, used company cars and sent messages to homes of thousands of Oklahomans via computers. By this standard, cell manufacturers could be liable for damages caused by distracted drivers.

The state’s $572 million “abatement” claim is brimming with pork to fund government agencies, new opioid treatment centers and licensure boards such as the Board of Dentistry and Veterinary Board. Patients won’t receive much benefit, but the plaintiff attorneys who helped Mr. Hunter will be winners, having already raked in $60 million from the Purdue settlement. [...]

You can read the full editorial here, but it is behind a paywall.

Here are some other perspectives on the ruling. From the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform:

“An Oklahoma Opioid Stickup”: The Wall Street Journal editorial board took aim at yesterday’s ruling by an Oklahoma judge that Johnson & Johnson must pay $572 million for what Judge Balkman called “misleading marketing” of opioids in the state, even though the company’s sales make up less than one percent of Oklahoma’s prescription opioid market. Little of that money will go directly to plaintiffs, but their lawyers will take home $90 million.

As the editorial board points out, the ruling relied on a distorted application of public nuisance law, which does not require a direct causal link between a defendant’s action and harm to a plaintiff. With this bench verdict, Judge Balkman has added fuel to many of the over 2,000 cases in the federal opioid litigation in Ohio which rely on public nuisance. He has also effectively confirmed that public nuisance laws can be used to skirt the more stringent requirements of product liability law, validating recent efforts by the trial bar and state AGs to use this legal theory as a basis for suing energy companies over climate change. As ILR President Lisa Rickard said in response to the ruling, under public nuisance “almost any industry could be the target of large-scale litigation.”

From the Independent Women's Forum:

STATEMENT OF INDEPENDENT WOMEN’S FORUM IN RESPONSE TO JUDGE’S RULING IN OKLAHOMA OPIOID CASE 

Today’s verdict distorts public nuisance law beyond recognition and puts manufacturers of all lawful products at risk.

WASHINGTON, DC -- Today’s verdict by Judge Thad Balkman that Johnson & Johnson must pay $572 million to the Oklahoma state government as penance for the opioid crisis puts manufacturers of all lawful, but politically unpopular, products at risk.

The lawsuit brought by Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter sought billions in damages from the producers of federally regulated prescription opioids. Purdue Pharma and Teva Pharmaceuticals settled with the state without admitting wrongdoing prior to trial.

The epidemic of opioid abuse is a serious public health issue that requires complex and interdisciplinary public policy solutions. Unfortunately, Judge Balkman’s decision punishes the makers of valuable prescription medicines and does little to solve this complex public health problem.

Judges should not be allowed to regulate the distribution of federally-controlled medicines outside of the normal regulatory process or to redistribute wealth from the private sector to the public sector for the purpose of funding government spending. That is, quite simply, an abuse of the system of the American justice.

Jennifer C. Braceras, the director of Independent Women's Forum’s Center for Law & Liberty, issued the following statement in response to the verdict:

“Sadly, most people today know of someone who has grappled with opioid addiction. But lawsuits brought by publicity-seeking politicians won’t solve the problem. The verdict is a victory for taxation by litigation, but it is consumers who will pay the price in the form of higher prices and reduced access to pain medications for patients who need them.”

Read the IWF Legal Brief on public nuisance lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies HERE.

Richardson blasts tax hikes in "Step Up Oklahoma" plan

GARY RICHARDSON BLASTS TAX HIKES IN "STEP UP OKLAHOMA" PLAN

    Conservative GOP Candidate for Governor, Gary Richardson, is blasting the Chamber of Commerce scheme to fix Oklahoma's budget problems with its "Step Up Oklahoma" plan.

    “A much more appropriate title for this absurd plan would be 'Pay Up Oklahoma'," Gary Richardson says.  "I don't see how lawmakers can morally justify raising taxes when it is glaringly obvious they are mismanaging the money we already gave them.  I'm shocked to see people calling themselves Republicans while advocating for the largest tax increase in the history of Oklahoma.  True conservatives need to rally together, reject the tax hikes that fund corporate welfare, and elect a Republican Governor who is truly dedicated to the principles of the party."

    Richardson believes blindly throwing more tax money toward state agencies will do nothing to solve the systemic problems that led to Oklahoma's current budget crisis.

    "While everyone should be outraged by the corruption at the State Capitol, no one should be terribly surprised by it," says Richardson.  "State agencies are spending our tax money with virtually no oversight or accountability so today's crisis was just a matter of time.  We can't change the past but we can certainly change the future.  We must demand forensic audits of every state agency, expose the waste, and end the corruption. That is the only lasting solution that will allow us to fund the pay raises our teachers and public employees deserve.  Tax hikes will not solve our problems, they will only mask the problems until the next crisis arises."

    Richardson has also released an ad running on both social media and radio (link provided below) exposing the flaws of the Step Up plan.

    Gary Richardson is a native Oklahoman, a former US Attorney appointed by President Reagan and founder of a nationally-renowned law firm in Tulsa.

REID names Mark Williams as new president

RIED NAMES MARK WILLIAMS PRESIDENT

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK, August 15, 2017 – The Research Institute for Economic Development (RIED) has named Mark Williams as president succeeding Susan Winchester who resigned recently to become chief-of-staff to Lt. Governor Todd Lamb. Williams joins RIED after a 36-year career with AT&T Oklahoma, serving since 2010 as Director-Legislative Affairs where he led the AT&T Oklahoma external affairs team on legislative matters at the state Capitol. Williams joined Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, now AT&T, in 1981.

“I am excited to join RIED and to work with our outstanding officers and directors as we continue to produce Oklahoma’s pre-eminent analysis of legislative voting patterns on business, job creation and economic development issues,” Williams said.  “For the past 20 years, RIED has established a respected reputation at the state Capitol, with the annual ‘RIED Report’ commonly anticipated following the end of the legislative session.  RIED’s positive impact since its inception is illustrated by the fact that legislative advocacy for business, job creation and economic growth has improved from 32% in 1998 to over 60% in 2017.”

Greg Love, RIED board chairman said, “I want to express how pleased we are to have another accomplished individual fill the position of RIED president. Mark has been involved with the state legislature for many years, and we are very confident he will do great work in his new position. Lastly, the RIED board thanks Susan Winchester, and wishes her success in her new position with Lt. Governor Lamb.”

Williams presently serves as Chairman of the Board of the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits and Chair-Elect of the Oklahoma City All Sports Association.  He is the past board chairman of the American Red Cross of Central Oklahoma, the Northwest Chamber of Commerce and the Oklahoma Baptist University Alumni Association.  He has, or is currently serving on the boards of the First Tee, Leadership Oklahoma, Youth Leadership Exchange, Sooner State Games and the Urban League of Greater Oklahoma City, where he is also a Life Member.

Williams is a native Oklahoman, receiving a B.A. in Economics from Oklahoma Baptist University and a J.D. from Oklahoma City University. He is married to Carol Cathey Williams and they have two daughters and five grandchildren.

Research Institute for Economic Development was founded in 1997 and is a non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting economic growth through the evaluation of business, job and economic growth issues considered annually by the Oklahoma Legislature. RIED does not lobby issues or endorse candidates.

NRA disappointed in Fallin veto of pro-gun bill

Oklahoma: Governor Mary Fallin Vetoes Pro-Gun, Self-Defense Legislation

Despite public support and strong bipartisan votes in the Oklahoma House of Representatives and Senate, Governor Mary Fallin vetoed pro-gun Senate Bill 41 yesterday.  The Governor caved to pressure from the Oklahoma City Chamber, which disseminated misinformation based on a flawed legal analysis.  The NRA is extremely disappointed that this common sense legislation was put on the back burner in favor of drummed up fears by the Chamber.

SB 41 sought to clarify that public property (open spaces such as streets and parks) remains open to law-abiding Oklahomans with a carry permit even if that public land is currently being used for another purpose by a private entity renting the space for an event.  This legislation would have provided for a necessary fix to a loophole in Oklahoma’s state firearm preemption statute.  This loophole has been exploited by misguided municipalities, resulting in a ban on law-abiding citizens carrying a firearm on open areas of public land where they have a legal right to be.  Senate Bill 41 passed the House by an 88 to 4 vote and the Senate by a 39 to 7 vote.

Current abuses pose a significant problem for lawful carry permit holders by creating an ever-changing patchwork of laws throughout the state with regard to firearms prohibitions on public land within a particular locality.  This legislation focused on reaffirming the right of a peaceful law-abiding Oklahoman to exercise his or her basic right of self-defense where they are already legally allowed to be, no matter which private entity is leasing public land at the moment.  It did not seek to expand carry into public buildings or structures.

Please contact Senate and House leadership immediately and encourage an override of the Governor’s veto and their support for restoring the provisions in SB 41 this session.  Time is running out and session is drawing to a close, so your action is needed immediately!

Please also contact Governor Mary Fallin and voice your disappointment in her veto of a pro-gun, self-defense bill that would have made Oklahomans safer.  Contact information for Governor Mary Fallin is provided below:

Office of Governor Mary Fallin:
(405) 521-2342

Mayor Hammons Announces Goals at State of the City

Muskogee Mayor John Tyler Hammons announced his goals for Muskogee at his second State of the City address this morning, at a luncheon put on by the Greater Muskogee Area Chamber of Commerce attended by over 300 business and community leaders.

Hammons' main goal was an education plan based off of 'Tulsa Achieves' - providing free college education to students who graduate in Muskogee County, and meet several guidelines (good grades, reside within the county, community service, etc.). "This is the next step [for Muskogee] to be competitive," he said. "Education is the only way to improve your way of life."

"Jobs and titles come and go, but your education is forever," he emphasized. He admitted that no funding mechanism had come to the surface yet, but encouraged public input to find the best plan.

He mentioned several other goals as well. He wants the City to implement environmentally friendly policies, such as switching some city vehicles to compressed natural gas, and setting an objective that by 2014 at least half of the paper used by the city be environmentally friendly. He also wants to see recycling programs expanded.

He called on the city council to form a Street Oversight Committee to, utilizing public input, work alongside the Public Works Department in prioritizing streets to be repaired. In addition, while praising recent steps taken towards making city government more open and accountable, he announced hope to "take [openness and accountability] a step further," by posting all proposed ordinances and resolutions on the city website before the council votes. He plans to bring this up to the council soon.

Hammons also wants to see the City assist renters buy homes, through grants to help with down-payments.

He spent the rest of his address discussing various highlights from the past year.

• No murders in Muskogee since August 2007 (ironically, a Tulsa World article in 2006 called Muskogee "Oklahoma's killing field", after statistics showed that Muskogee had a high rate of murders per 100,000 people; the article came at a time when Tulsa's murder rate was skyrocketing)
• Crime rate cut by 50% since 1995
• Muskogee EMS first in state to provide flu shots to the elderly and homebound
• Growth in building permits issued
• Least (1st) expensive transportation costs in nation, when compared with cities of relative size
• 4th lowest housing costs in nation, when compared with cities of relative size
• 12th lowest cost of living in nation, when compared with cities of relative size
• 35% increase of events at Civic Center (2010 events to include the Harlem Globetrotters, and the ESPN Bass Elite Tournament)
  

Hammons intends to announce his intentions regarding intentions for a second term at a press conference in a month or so; signs indicate that he will seek reelection.