Election calendar modernization law takes effect, limits election dates

This was a good idea, and long needed. Far too often, local jurisdictions would schedule important votes at odd times in an effort to sneak through tax and bond increases. Standardizing election dates may help with raising voter turnout in these types of elections.

Election Calendar Modernization Law to Take Effect

OKLAHOMA CITY (Dec. 31st) – A new law modernizing Oklahoma’s election calendar will affect elections beginning Jan. 1, 2026, bringing greater clarity, consistency and efficiency to when elections are held across the state.

Senate Bill 652 consolidates Oklahoma’s election dates into five standard election days each year, held in February, April, June, August and November. Previously, Oklahoma law allowed for up to 12 possible election dates in odd-numbered years and up to seven in even-numbered years. Frequent, low-profile elections often draw a small fraction of registered voters while requiring significant time and resources from county election boards and poll workers.

Stitt signs bill ensuring firefighters can provide limited emergency medical transport

Legislation signed ensuring firefighters can provide emergency medical transport in limited situations

OKLAHOMA CITY (May 17th) – Legislation giving firefighters statutory authority to transport patients to the hospital in emergency situations has been signed into law.  Senate Bill 1515, by Sen. Darrell Weaver, R-Moore, and Rep. Mike Osburn, R-Edmond, was signed by Gov. Kevin Stitt on Monday.

Weaver filed the legislation in response to a situation where an Oklahoma City firefighter was disciplined for his decision to drive a 3-year-old burn victim to the hospital in his fire truck after waiting 20 minutes for an ambulance to arrive.

House committee passes bills protecting teacher and student contact info

Rep. Tammy West Passes Bills Addressing Breach  of Teachers’, Children’s Private Information

OKLAHOMA CITY – Rep. Tammy West (R-Oklahoma City) passed two bills in committee recently addressing the breach of private information of public employees, including public school teachers, and children.

House Bill 3040 and House Bill 3460 will protect private and personal contact information for current and former public employees and Oklahoma public school students.

“This will keep third parties from being able to mine this sensitive information and capitalize on it,” West said. “This strengthens the language in statute to remove all doubt about how this information is to be protected and kept private.” 

House Bill 3040 shields certain private information, such as home addresses and phone numbers, social security numbers and private email addresses or private mobile phone numbers of current and former public employees from public inspection or disclosure.

House Bill 3460 allows all educational institutions to designate specific student information, such as a student’s name, address, and phone number, as classified directory information. Any educational institution that is not the primary custodian of the directory information, but that can access the directory for educational purposes, is prohibited from releasing or selling the information without written consent of the local school board. The State Board of Education and the State Department of Education are not permitted to designate student information as classified directory information, as stated above, but shall keep personally identifiable student information confidential unless authorized otherwise by federal law.

West said in the last month there have been two concerning breaches of private information. While such actions already are illegal, this legislation helps clarify the law and establishes expectations.

West said the language of the bills was a combined effort of the Oklahoma Public Employee Association, the Oklahoma Press Association and the State Department of Education.

Rep. Mike Osburn (R-Edmond) was a co-principal author of the bills and is chair of the House Government Efficiency Committee where the bills passed.

“Strengthening our privacy laws to protect our citizens’ private information should be one of the highest priorities,” Osburn said. “I was proud to work with Rep. West on this important legislation.”

Both bills are now eligible to be considered by the entire House.

Osburn introduces civil service reform measure

Civil Service Reform to be Introduced by Rep. Osburn

OKLAHOMA CITY – Rep. Mike Osburn, R-Edmond, has introduced a major modernization of the state’s civil service system.

The civil service system, also known as merit protection, is essentially the state’s human resources model for the state workforce. It has not received any major update since the early 1980s and is widely viewed as outdated and ineffective.

“Every taxpayer should be interested in this issue because the state’s biggest expense is its workforce. We will do far better for Oklahoma’s taxpayers and state employees alike by modernizing this extremely outdated system,” Osburn said. “The effect of this bill in practice will be more profound than almost any other policy we pass. It empowers the state workforce like never before, which will be truly transformational across the entire government.”

Osburn, who held an interim study on the topic last year, has worked with several stakeholders to develop a plan to be introduced in House Bill 3094 that will:

• place all new hires into unclassified civil service, effective Jan. 1, 2021;
• allow existing classified employees a choice to transfer to unclassified civil service or remain in the existing classified service until they leave their job; and
• preserve due process for unclassified employee protests of disciplinary actions – including protections for whistleblowers and appeals of alleged politically-motivated actions – that would be heard before independent administrative law judges.

HB 3094 will be heard Wednesday in the House Government Modernization Committee, which Osburn chairs.

“This bill starts the process to make state government a more attractive employer, set employees up to succeed and keep the protections necessary for a strong civil service,” Osburn said. “It will remove mountains of red tape so managers can actually manage, good employees can be rewarded and prospective employees can pursue state service without byzantine application processes.”

Gov. Kevin Stitt identified civil service modernization as a priority in his State of the State speech.

The current civil service system was put in place in 1982 and has not received any significant updates since then. It is overseen by the Merit Protection Commission, a six-person state agency governed by a nine-member commission.

Osburn served on the Merit Protection Commission from 1996 to 1999.

“Even then, the system was a dinosaur that needed to be modernized. That’s even more true today,” Osburn said. “As a commissioner, it was easy for me to observe both the deficiencies and benefits of the system. The needle we are trying to thread is to throw out the deficiencies while keeping the benefits, and I believe this bill does that.”

Under the bill, the Merit Protection Commission would remain in place until no classified employees remained in state government. The bill assigns administration of the new, unclassified civil service system to the Human Capital Management Administration within the Office of Management and Enterprise Services.

If passed, the bill would allow each agency and managers within the agency to set hiring, promotion, pay and other human resources policies for unclassified employees in a manner that meets the needs and resources of each agency.

The state has more than 30,000 employees across more than 100 agencies. Today, about two thirds are classified employees.

“Two thirds of the state workforce can’t be managed with the current best practices in human resources because the archaic civil service system prevents it,” Osburn said. “It’s time to modernize the system and unleash innovation. Ultimately, this leads to better management, better performance, better pay and a stronger workforce that provides improved value to taxpayers.”

Speaker McCall Names Members to LOFT Oversight Committee

Speaker McCall Names Members to LOFT Oversight Committee

House Budget Chair Kevin Wallace Named Co-Chair 

OKLAHOMA CITY – House Speaker Charles McCall today appointed members to the oversight committee for the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT), a recently created legislative office to evaluate agency budgets and programs for lawmakers.

Speaker McCall named House Appropriations and Budget Chairman Kevin Wallace as co-chair of the LOFT Oversight Committee. In addition, he appointed the following members to the Committee:

• State Rep. Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, Co-Vice Chair
• State Rep. Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City
• State Rep. Mike Osburn, R-Edmond
• State Rep. Jeff Boatman, R-Tulsa
• State Rep. Cyndi Munson, D-Oklahoma City
• State Rep. Meloyde Blancett, D-Tulsa

LOFT was created, effective immediately, when Gov. Stitt signed Senate Bill 1 into law. Senate Bill 1, by House Speaker Charles McCall and Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat, creates LOFT within the existing Legislative Service Bureau (LSB). The LSB is a shared office between the House of Representatives and the Senate that currently has limited functions. LOFT will be similar to the federal Government Accountability Office within Congress.

LOFT will have an oversight committee made up of seven members of the House and seven members of the Senate. All members and the co-chairs of the committee are to be appointed by the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, with at least two members from each chamber being members of the minority party.

"Taxpayers expect lawmakers to ensure their dollars are being spent efficiently, without waste and as they were intended," said Speaker McCall, R-Atoka. "LOFT will give the Legislature an office that works for lawmakers, not the state agencies, and give us confidence that the information and analysis it provides our members will be unbiased, timely and accurate. The members I have chosen to serve Oklahomans on the LOFT Oversight Committee have shown the temperament and willingness to roll up their sleeves and do the hard work that digging through agency budgets and complex agency programs requires."

LOFT would employ financial examiners who would routinely audit agency budgets and spending and evaluate the effectiveness of agency programs and services. The office would then provide reports to the House and Senate.

"LOFT has been a priority for House Republicans for several years, and I am glad we finally got this legislation passed and are ready to utilize these new resources to benefit citizens," said Co-Chair Kevin Wallace, R-Wellston. "Having worked on the state appropriated budget for three years now, I can tell you it can be difficult at times to get accurate information from the agencies, and there have been times when some agencies have provided different information to the House and Senate. As lawmakers, we have to get useful information quickly in order to make good budgeting decisions on behalf of the Oklahomans that sent us here. LOFT will help us do that."

Senate Bill 1 requires agencies, boards and commissions to turn over to LOFT upon request all records, documents and budgets and make personnel available. LOFT will also have subpoena and investigation authority.

The Legislature appropriated $1.7 million to fund LOFT in the Fiscal Year 2020 budget that just passed.