(The Center Square) - Convicted murderer Phillip Hancock was executed by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester on Thursday, just weeks after the state pardon and parole board granted him clemency.

Gov. Kevin Stitt denied the clemency petition Thursday morning.

Hancock, 59, was convicted of murder for killing Robert Jett and James Lynch on April 25, 2001, in Oklahoma City. His lawyers said Hancock killed the two men in self-defense after being attacked.

Republican Reps. Kevin McDugle and Justin Humphrey testified in favor of clemency at Hancock's hearing on Nov. 8.

The group Oklahoma Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty said they were disappointed with Stitt's decision.

'Oklahoma's practice of capital punishment continues to be riddled with problems, including the inability of the state to prevent the execution of innocent people," the group said in a statement. "Phillip's case is one more reminder why we must insist state leaders reinstate a moratorium in order to correct these problems."

Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who attended the execution, said justice was served.

"I hope today brings a measure of peace to the families of the men whose lives were tragically cut short by Phillip Dean Hancock," Drummond said.

via Oklahoma's Center Square News

(The Center Square) - Oklahoma is the 23rd freest state in the nation and one of the most improved states since 2000, according to a report measuring personal and economic freedoms across the country.

The Freedom in the 50 States Index is released annually by the CATO Institute, a libertarian research organization. Oklahoma’s vast improvements for personal freedom have helped the state climb from the bottom ten states in the early 2000s to 23 this year, the report said. That’s higher than most of its neighbors, including Arkansas, New Mexico and Kansas, but lower than Texas.

The Sooner State is in the top ten for its tax burden as a percentage of income, which is 5.1%. The local tax burden comes to 3.2%. While both have risen over the past decade, they remain lower than average, the report said.

While the state’s government employment is higher than the national average, it has come down from over 16% of private employment in 2009 to 14.4%, the report shows.

Due to light regulation, Oklahoma also does well in land use and is a top-two state in this category. Meanwhile, it received an average score for its labor laws.

“Some backsliding took place in 2016 after a 2014 repeal of mandated workers’ compensation coverage. Moreover, the state has a stricter-than-federal anti-discrimination law and a long-standing ban on noncompete agreements,” the report said.

The report found that occupational licensing is a mixed bag in Oklahoma, with nurses losing autonomous practice in 2014 but physician assistants and dental hygienists remaining relatively free.

The report shows a worsening situation for mass incarcerations, with victimless crime arrests on the upswing since 2013, according to the report. And while Oklahoma enacted medical marijuana in 2018, small-scale cultivation of marijuana carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years.

Oklahoma shows improvement in its educational freedom with a limited voucher law passed in 2010 and a tax benefit for contributions to private scholarship funds in 2011. Public school choice was also enacted in 2021, and homeschools and private schools enjoy very light regulation, according to the report.

Gun rights are also high with the constitutional carry bill passed in 2019.

The report's worst states for personal and economic freedom were Oregon, New Jersey, California, Hawaii and New York. New Hampshire, Florida, South Dakota, Nevada and Arizona were the freest states.

via Oklahoma's Center Square News

(The Center Square) - Oklahoma's electricity rates are the fourth lowest in the country, according to a report released Wednesday by the American Legislative Exchange Council.

ALEC used 2022 U.S. Energy Information Administration statistics to measure the pennies per kilowatt hour. Oklahoma's cost was 8.52 cents per kilowatt hour.

Consumers pay a higher cost than commercial and industrial customers, according to the report, at 11 cents per kilowatt hour. Commercial customers pay 8.7 cents per hour, while industrial clients pay 5.5 cents.

The report comes out a day after the Oklahoma Corporation Commission agreed to cap an increase in residential electricity rate increase after a challenge by Attorney General Gentner Drummond. The Public Service Company of Oklahoma, which serves more than 577,000 customers across the state, requested an increase.

Drummond, the American Association for Retired Persons and the Corporation Commission's Public Utilities Division negotiated a 2.5% cap on the increase for residential customers. The OCC removed the cap and changed the agreement earlier this month.

The 2.5% cap was reinstated at the OCC's meeting on Tuesday, reducing the rate increases from $5.35 to $3.57 a month. The uptick in rates will not cause customers' bills to go up because of a decrease in fuel charges. Residential bills are slated to go down by more than $13.

"I commend each commissioner for standing with Oklahoma families in support of lower utility bills. I am grateful the commissioners thoughtfully considered our argument to protect PSO residential customers. Oklahoma families struggling with the effects of inflation deserve greater relief when it comes to utility costs, and today they received that relief."

via Oklahoma's Center Square News

(The Center Square) - Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration on Monday to get back $4.5 million in Title X funding the administration clawed back because of the state's abortion laws.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services diverted the money to the Missouri Family Health Council, which has plans to expand into Oklahoma.

But the funds cannot be used in "programs where abortion is a method of family planning,” according to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma.

“Rather, sans authority, HHS seeks to punish Oklahoma for the policies adopted by Oklahoma’s elected representatives to protect unborn life," the lawsuit states. "HHS is interfering with rights reserved to the people and their elected representatives despite a clear federal mandate that Title X funds should not be used in programs where abortion is offered as a method of family planning.”

The Oklahoma State Department of Health has received those funds since 1971, according to Oklahoma Health Commissioner Keith Reed. The money is used for various services besides family planning, including cancer and depression screening.

“In many instances, particularly in rural Oklahoma communities, the Health Department and county health departments may be one of the only access points for critical preventative services for tens or even hundreds of miles,” reads the lawsuit. “Some of these same rural communities may not have a grocery store, let alone the presence of a full-time health provider or women’s health provider," the lawsuit said. "Thus, many of the patients the Health Department sees already have difficulty accessing the health care they need because of location, work schedules, and/or transportation issues. These communities are disproportionality impacted by lack of easy access to crucial health services, and that impact will grow as a result of HHS’s arbitrary and punitive action.”

Drummond called the move a federal overreach.

“The Biden Administration is intent on punishing Oklahoma because we do not share its liberal philosophy,” Drummond said. “It is patently discriminatory to deny Oklahoma these critical funds, particularly when federal law makes it clear that Title X cannot be used for abortion."

via Oklahoma's Center Square News

(The Center Square) - A mobile app created by the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety that would have allowed users to store their identification on their smartphones violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, the U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday.

The investigation began when a blind person told the DOJ she could not complete the app, which requires a front and back picture of a person's identification, according to a letter sent to Oklahoma Service, the department that now oversees the app.

The DOJ tested the app and found "accessibility barriers for people with disabilities," the letter said.

"The Oklahoma Department of Public Safety told the Department that its third-party vendor, IDEMIA, would make the OK Mobile ID App accessible to individuals with visual disabilities in 2022," the letter said. "Despite these assurances, no significant changes have been made, and the OK Mobile ID App remains inaccessible to individuals with visual disabilities."

Iowa participated in a pilot program for mobile apps in 2015 but didn't introduce it until earlier this month as it worked through software security issues. The price tag for Iowa's app is $500,000 and the state also contracted with IDEMIA.

“Public entities, like Service Oklahoma, are increasingly using mobile apps to offer a wide range of critical government services, yet people with disabilities often face significant barriers accessing them,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

Service Oklahoma was created in May 2022 to oversee driver's licenses and other motor vehicle services, according to its webpage.

The agency inherited the app on Nov. 1, 2022, according to a statement sent to The Center Square.

"Service Oklahoma discontinued any promotion, integration or development efforts on the OK Mobile ID App and have been working with the vendor to address some of the issues outlined in the report," the agency said. "As the necessary corrections are extensive, we are also exploring the option of decommissioning the app altogether due to lack of use cases with the current product."

via Oklahoma's Center Square News

(The Center Square) - A report found the Oklahoma office tasked with providing central services paid vendors late 62% of the time but has tripled its appropriation in the past three years.

The Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency drew its conclusion about the late payments from a random sampling of 85 invoices paid by the Office of Management and Enterprise Services, which provides central services to state agencies that include payroll, and accounting.

Fifty-three invoices were paid past the statutorily required 45-day mark between 2020 and 2023, according to the report.

The numbers improved from a 2019 state audit that showed the OMES was late on 78% of invoices.

"One agency stated, 'We are constantly apologizing to and have lost business with vendors due to these issues,'" the LOFT report said. "Our agency and the State of Oklahoma's reputation is being tarnished due to their inefficiencies."

A separate finding shows that agency appropriations jumped from $61.5 million in 2019 to $164 million in 2024. The agency also has flawed and untimely business practices and billing practices that lack transparency, the report said.

"In examining OMES' budgeting practices, LOFT found the agency regularly overestimates its expenses, does not reflect historical revenue trends in its budget, is not timely in providing financial documents for use by state agencies, and is frequently late with paying vendors," the report said.

Senate Majority Leader Greg McCortney, R-Ada, said during a meeting of the Oversight Committee for LOFT it was a failure of the "most basic things the agency is supposed to be doing."

"To me, an inability to pay your bills on time and for that to be pointed out in 2019 and we are sitting here in 2023 and you've made a little bit of progress but still, 62% of the bills that are sent to the state of Oklahoma do not get paid on time," McCortney said. "I know I could not run my business that way."

Much of OMES' ability to pay its vendors is based on the agency's payments to OMES for the services they received, said Jerry Moore, deputy director and chief transformation officer.

"Just our normal legislative budget process causes services that are being consumed in July and August, the agencies don't start to pay OMES for those services until September and October and yes, naturally, there's some delay in that as we have cash flow restrictions," Moore said. "We have a choice of making payroll or paying a vendor."

Committee Chair Rep. Kevin Wallace, R-Wellston, questioned how the agency could have a cash flow issue when the agency is over-budgeted by $79 million and has cash flow reserves.

Moore said there were several restrictions on how some of their money could be used.

"I'm more confused than ever," McCortney said. "It seems like you've got the auditor and LOFT saying we are not paying our bills on time, but we cannot get agreement on that. As somebody that is elected to represent the taxpayers, I've got some serious issues now and I have no idea if I go back to the Rotary Club in Ada next week, how in the world can I defend, really the continuation of what we are doing at this point."

John Suter, OMES' chief executive officer, said the statement was a bit harsh.

"I would sit down with and you, and I've offered numerous senators to sit down and come talk to me about specific things that you have issues with," Suter said. "I have yet one person call me or ask me about specific things that we are being asked about."

via Oklahoma's Center Square News

(The Center Square) - The Oklahoma Supreme Court temporarily halted three abortion laws on Tuesday, saying they "would place unnecessary burdens on the lawful termination of a pregnancy."

The groups Oklahoma Call for Reproductive Justice, Planned Parenthood and the Tulsa Women's Reproductive Clinic challenged three of the state's abortion laws.

One bill only allows physicians to perform abortions. Another allows only physicians affiliated with a hospital in the country or adjoining county where the drug is provided to administer abortion-inducing medications. Senate Bill 778 requires a pregnant person to have an ultrasound 72 hours before the abortion.

The groups said the laws violated the state's constitution. The Supreme Court sided with the plaintiffs 5-4.

"One of the dissents states: 'Any analysis of an abortion statute that proceeds under the proposition that the life of the unborn is unworthy of consideration is defective,'" said Justice Yvonne Kauger in her concurring opinion. "Any analysis of an abortion statute that proceeds under the proposition that the life of the mother is unworthy of consideration is defective."

Chief Justice John Kane IV and Justice Dana Kuehn said the majority does not consider the rights and interests of the unborn.

"Any analysis of an abortion statute that proceeds under the proposition that the life of the unborn is unworthy of consideration is defective," they wrote in their dissenting opinion. "In a separate concurring writing, my colleague makes the identical point as to the life of the mother. I completely agree with my colleague on this. However, the interests of the mother were the only interests considered by the majority- the rights of the unborn remain unheard."

House Democratic Leader Cyndi Munson, D-Oklahoma City, said she was pleased by the court's decision.

"When these extreme anti-abortion policies were presented to us by the Republican supermajority, House Democrats repeatedly raised our concerns regarding constitutionality and the harmful impact they would have on women's health care," Munson said.

via Oklahoma's Center Square News

(The Center Square) – A U.S. Senate committee hearing sounded like a standoff from the Old West on Tuesday.

U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., didn't like a social media post from Teamsters President Sean O'Brien that called him a "clown and fraud" and then challenged Mullin.

"Quit the tough guy act in these senate hearings," O'Brien said in the post made in July. "You know where to find me. Anyplace, Anytime cowboy."

After reading the post during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing, Mullin challenged O'Brien.

"This is a time. This is a place," Mullin, a former mixed martial arts fighter, said. "You want to run your mouth, we can finish it here. Do you want to do it now?"

"I'd love to do it right now," O'Brien replied.

"Then stand your butt up," Mullin said.

"You stand your butt up," O'Brien said.

Mullin and O'Brien stood up but were stopped by Committee Chair Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, who told Mullin to sit down.

"You are a United States senator," Sanders said.

Mullin posted the exchange on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.

"In Oklahoma, if you run your mouth, you get called out. Period," Mullin said.

Messages to the offices of The International Brotherhood of Teamsters were not immediately returned.

via Oklahoma's Center Square News

(The Center Square) – A coalition of 26 state attorneys general is calling on the new U.S. Speaker of the House to pass a Florida-sponsored bill that would grant states the authority to enforce federal immigration law when the federal government refuses to do so.

The AGs, led by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, sent a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, on Monday. In it, they called on Congress to pass U.S. Rep. Bill Posey’s bill, the Immigration Enforcement Partnership Act. Posey, R-Florida, first filed the measure in 2022 and again in March 2023.

“On day one, [President Joe] Biden began intentionally dismantling our public safety immigration structure,” Moody said. The president and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “have outright ignored federal law, and we have uncovered numerous ‘secret plans’ to allow for the mass release of unvetted and inadmissible migrants,” she said, referring to Florida’s border-related lawsuits against the administration.

The administration’s parole and mass release policies are “not only in direct conflict with federal law, but it has also put Americans’ safety in jeopardy,” Moody said. Despite Florida’s repeated wins in court, Moody said, “more needs to be done. I like to believe we at least slowed the invasion to some degree. However, it is becoming clear that the judicial system is not an adequate battlefield to quickly address the urgent crisis Biden has created.”

Posey on Monday called for Mayorkas to be impeached. In posts on social media, he said, “The border crisis is at unmanageable levels of mass migration. Simply put, Sec. Mayorkas isn't doing his job. In the real world, if someone fails to do their job, they are fired. Sec Mayorkas has failed at the southern border. I support the initiative to impeach Mayorkas.”

Posey’s bill, HR 1337, would allow state officials to require the DHS secretary to enforce federal immigration law in certain circumstances. It gives DHS the option to enforce the law or deputize state officials to carry out federal immigration duties instead.

According to the bill, state attorneys general would identify how DHS isn’t fulfilling its non-discretionary duties under Title II of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which includes arresting, detaining and removing criminal and arriving illegal immigrants. It also requires the courts to expedite proceedings related to these actions to the greatest extent practicable, according to a summary of the bill.

If enacted, the measure “authorizes a state attorney general to request in writing that the Department of Homeland Security adequately fulfill certain duties related to immigration enforcement. Within 30 days of receiving such a request, DHS must ensure that such duties are adequately fulfilled by DHS officers and employees or authorize that state’s officials to fulfill such duties. The state attorney general may sue DHS for failure to meet this bill’s requirements,” according to the bill language.

“Maintaining operational control over our borders is critical to our security and our ability to stop drug smugglers, human traffickers, and those on terrorist watch lists, who are invading our country and mean to do harm to our communities,” Posey said when he introduced the bill earlier this year. “When the federal government abdicates its role in securing our nation’s borders and refuses to enforce immigration laws, states should have authority to protect their citizens."

The AG’s argue in their letter, “Had Congress acted sooner, the U.S. might not be setting yet another record for CBP encounters at the border. We will never know, but if we take action now to give states the authority to do the job Biden and Mayorkas refuse to do, we could prevent another record next year.”

They urged Johnson “to at the very least, expeditiously give” Posey’s bill a hearing.

Joining Moody in the coalition are the attorneys general representing the states of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.

The Texas Senate for the third time last month passed a bill that authorizes the state to enforce border security. It would create a new state crime for entering Texas illegally and authorize Texas law enforcement officers to arrest illegal border crossers who enter Texas between ports of entry. The measure has gone nowhere in the state House.

The coalition letter misstates border apprehension data, appearing to confuse southwest border apprehension data with national apprehension data, and underreports the number of known, suspected terrorists who’ve illegally entered the U.S. and been caught.

It states, “record-breaking numbers of inadmissible immigrants flooding in – more than 7 million illegal immigrants have walked freely into the country since Biden took office – including more than 280 individuals encountered on the terrorist watchlist since fiscal year 2021.”

According to official U.S. Customs and Border Protection data and preliminary gotaway data obtained by The Center Square, the numbers are significantly higher.

There were 736 known, suspected terrorists apprehended in fiscal 2023 alone, the highest in recorded history. The majority, 66%, were apprehended at the northern border, The Center Square first reported.

There were nearly 4 million illegal border crossers reported nationwide in fiscal 2023, and over 10 million illegal border crossers reported since January 2021, including gotaways, The Center Square first reported.

There have been roughly 1.7 million gotaways reported since January 2021, although this number is estimated to be closer to 2 million, The Center Square first reported.

via Oklahoma's Center Square News

(The Center Square) - In the week since Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt announced a plan to implement sports betting at the state's tribal casinos, new issues are showing just how chilly the governor's relationship with the state's Native American tribes is.

The latest divide is over tribal license plates. A member of the Otoe-Missouria was ticketed by an Oklahoma state trooper on Wednesday for having a tribal tag but living outside of the tribe's jurisdiction, according to information posted on the tribe's website.

"After over 20 years of cooperation between the State and Tribes regarding vehicle tag registration, it appears the State has altered its position of understanding concerning tribal tags,” Otoe-Missouria Chairman John Shotton said. “This change was made without notice or consultation with all Tribes that operate vehicle tag registration. We are concerned about this change and are reviewing all legal options to address this issue."

Other tribes weighed in, with Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. specifically naming Stitt in a Facebook post.

"Governor Stitt’s latest attack on tribal sovereignty will not be tolerated," Hoskin said in the post. "Our sovereign right to issue motor vehicle tags, expressed in our vehicle tags compact with the state of Oklahoma, extends statewide. The Governor, or perhaps his Native American Liaison, might try reading the compact."

It's the latest in a long line of disputes between Stitt and the tribes that have also put him at odds with the Legislature. The governor sued House Speaker Charles McCall and Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat after the legislative bodies overrode his veto of tribal contracts dealing with motor vehicle registration, licensing, and tobacco sales earlier this year.

In 2021, the tribes sued Stitt in federal court over his signing of four tribal compacts with legislative approval. Attorney General Gentner Drummond took over the state's defense this year after the governor racked up more than $600,000 in legal bills. Drummond called Stitt's actions "unlawful" in a letter.

"The four tribal gaming compacts you signed were invalid from the start because you did not have the approval or authorization from the Oklahoma Legislature to enter the gaming compacts," Drummond said.

The dispute over license plates comes a week after the governor proposed a plan to legalize sports betting in the state. His plan would require updates to the gaming compacts with the tribes. However, the tribes were not consulted, according to the Oklahoma Gaming Association.

"The members of the OIGA have been preparing to receive an offer from the State on sports betting for the past couple of years, and while we appreciate Gov. Stitt finally joining the sports betting conversation, to date he has not engaged in meaningful and respectful government-to-government discussion with tribes," the association said in a Facebook post. "We remain hopeful that he is committed to moving forward in a productive manner in accord with established law and process, which would include working with the Oklahoma Legislature to offer a compact supplement to tribes within the State-Tribal Gaming Act construct that protects the tribes’ 'substantial gaming exclusivity.'" To approach it otherwise is simply to invite failure."

via Oklahoma's Center Square News