It’s been mostly quiet at the Oklahoma State Capital as several lawmakers campaign to keep their seats in the Aug. 27 runoff election. 

That will soon change. In late July, House and Senate leadership approved more than 125 interim studies on topics ranging from mental health treatment in jails to corporal punishment in schools. 

The informal hearings are set to run from now through mid-November. Most studies don’t have a set meeting date yet, but you can check the Legislature’s website periodically for updates or contact the requesting legislator’s office for more information. 

It’s difficult to pinpoint what, if any, impact an interim study will have ahead of time. The requesting legislator is in charge of inviting speakers and setting the tone for the meeting, which in some cases has caused controversy. Public comment is generally not allowed, but the meetings can be a good place to network with stakeholders interested in a topic.

It’s not unusual for the meetings to spur bill filings and legislative action. Last September, I reported on an interim study where several speakers were critical of ranked-choice voting. Lawmakers moved quickly in the following session to ban the voting method in state and municipal elections. 

Here’s a sampling of the studies I’ll be monitoring in the coming months: 

What interim studies are you most interested in? Let me know at Kross@Oklahomawatch.org.

— Keaton Ross

Recommended Reading

  • Petition to raise Oklahoma minimum wage received $1.84 million in first half of 2024: Over the course of six months, Lynn Schusterman, who has ties to the Tulsa Community Foundation, made four separate donations, totaling $375,000. Yes on 832 also received some dark money support from nonprofits with political ties. [KOSU]
  • Oklahoma’s oil industry touts a voluntary fund to clean up oil wells. Major drillers want their contributions refunded: More than 18,000 wells have already been labeled as orphans by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. That number is likely to swell, as the state has more than a quarter-million unplugged wells. [The Frontier/ProPublica]
  • Interior Department: Many Indigenous children suffered abuse at Indian boarding schools: Many Indigenous children suffered abuse at Indian boarding Schools: The Interior Department’s three-year investigation found 417 Indian boarding schools across the nation, with Oklahoma having 87, more than any other state. [NonDoc]

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