Oklahoma Watch (https://oklahomawatch.org/category/government/)
Gov. Kevin Stitt used his first State of the State address to call for an additional pay raise for teachers, a more modernized state government and greater control over state agency leaders’ employment.
What was absent, however, might be as important as what was included.
Three former legislators who left office in November are now lobbyists, embodying a practice that state ethics officials have unsuccessfully tried to ban in the face of opposition from the Legislature.
Time is running out for efforts to have a bipartisan, citizen-led commission redraw Oklahoma’s legislative and congressional boundaries – a move that would take the process out of the hands of the Legislature.
Opposition to proposed Ethics Commission rules to require disclosure of who’s behind grassroots lobbying efforts united groups on the right and left. The commission discussed but declined to take up the proposed rules, effectively killing the measure.
A commission appointed by state leaders to ferret out wasteful spending and ineffective practices by state agencies has gotten its first recommendations from private auditors it hired. But a summary of 61 draft proposals obtained by Oklahoma Watch suggests the auditors aren’t pushing for any sweeping changes.
After being sworn in as Oklahoma’s 28th governor Monday, Kevin Stitt laid out his vision and priorities for improving the state. Oklahoma Watch reporters offer analysis through annotations.
When Kevin Stitt becomes Oklahoma’s 28th governor Monday, he will have 180 days to release the names of the individuals, businesses and trade groups that helped pay for his inauguration. Critics of the disclosure rule say it takes too long for the public to find out who’s trying to curry favor with newly elected governors.
Incoming Gov. Kevin Stitt is asking the attorney general to review his plan to step away from his mortgage company as it becomes a bank and to approve a conflict-of-interest policy for his family investments. Meanwhile, the state Banking Board on Wednesday approved the new bank’s state-charter application contingent upon federal regulators’ approval.
The Oklahoma Ethics Commission is proposing to close a gap in state campaign finance laws that keeps certain funding and spending on efforts to influence legislation a secret. Some groups immediately objected.
Incoming Gov. Kevin Stitt and lawmakers have proposed a three-pronged look into state agencies’ spending and activities: accountability audits, a new financial transparency office and expansion of the governor’s power to appoint agency heads. How much transparency will it bring?
There will be plenty of new faces when Oklahoma’s 57th Legislature convenes in 2019. These maps will help you identify which legislators represent which areas of the state.
