On March 17, Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter joined a lawsuit against President Joe Biden and members of his administration over their move to shut down the Keystone Pipeline. Filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, the complaint aims to prevent the Biden administration from circumventing limits placed on the presidency by the Constitution, the Administrative Procedure Act and congressionally enacted national policy in what the lawsuit calls a critical energy matter. Oklahoma joined 20 other state attorneys general in filing the lawsuit.

Attorney General Hunter said President Biden’s executive action halting the pipeline is unlawful and does nothing but harm Americans. “The president doesn’t have the constitutional authority to unilaterally block this project,” Attorney General Hunter said. “It is up to Congress to approve the project, which they have done already. Further, the argument that transporting crude oil via pipeline is worse for the environment than by rail or shipment is preposterous and has been disproven numerous times, even by the Obama-Biden State Department. The Keystone Pipeline also will move the United States closer to energy independence. This will help Oklahomans and Americans by keeping costs for products and fuel down. As a fourth generation Oklahoman who has worked in the industry, I know how critical it is to our state. That is why I will do everything I can to ensure our energy sector is protected from federal overreach.”

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In order to handle the criminal case load as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s McGirt v. Oklahoma decision, the Cherokee Nation has spent $10 million to upgrade its justice system. While McGirt only directly affected the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals recently handed down several decisions which applied McGirt to the Cherokee, Seminole, Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations. The Cherokees are trying to deal with the hundreds of cases that are leaving the state of Oklahoma’s criminal justice system and entering either the federal system or the tribal system. Cherokee Nation Attorney General Sara Hill says some cases might not get retried in the federal or tribal courts because of how long ago they occurred.

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On April 20, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation announced that its River Spirit Casino Resort will be hosting the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA competitions in Tulsa this fall. The pageant will be held November 26-29, 2021, in the Paradise Cove Theater. Over 100 contestants are expected travel to Oklahoma from each state to compete for the title of Miss USA and Miss Teen USA. Miss USA Organization President Crystle Stewart called it a “state of the art entertainment center that rivals any of the centers I have been to around the world, not just in the Nation.” Stewart won the Miss USA 2008 title and has been a part of the organization since that time. “At the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, we anticipated that if we built River Spirit Casino Resort to the highest caliber possible, prominent events such as the Miss USA Organization would be attracted to River Spirit,” Principal Chief David Hill said. “Today’s announcement is a testament to those ambitious efforts and our ability to compete in the national arena for high-profile events.” Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum commended the Muscogee (Creek) Nation for being a “tremendous driving force” in the local economy. More than 3,000 visitors are also expected.

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State General Revenue Fund (GRF) collections in March totaled $489.3 million, which is $16.4 million, or 3.5%, above the monthly estimate. This was only $5.3 million, or 1.1%, below collections in March of 2020. Total GRF collections through the first nine months of fiscal year 2021 are $4.8 billion, which is $27.5 million, or 0.6%, above the estimate, and $94.1 million, or 2%, above prior year collections for the same period. March tax and fee revenue collections exceeded estimates by 3.5% and were bolstered primarily by income taxes and natural gas tax collections. Year-to-date collections continue to track just above estimates at 0.6%. Sales tax and oil tax collections remain weak categories with sales tax falling below estimates for the last five months and oil collections missing estimates for all months in the fiscal year. “Oklahoma continues to exceed year-to-date collection estimates. As life starts to return to normal, post-pandemic, we hope to see this economic momentum continue forward,” said OMES Executive Director Steven Harpe. “These financial indicators show us Oklahoma’s recovery plan is on track and making great strides.”

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On February 16, the Board of Equalization, chaired by Gov. Kevin Stitt, voted to approve $9,640,475,940 in revenue to be appropriated by the Legislature for Fiscal Year 2022, an increase of $1,807,310,758 over appropriated expenditures for FY 2021. “Other states are waking up to the reality of huge budget deficits, but Oklahoma’s economy is strong thanks to the balanced approach we took to address the pandemic and the Legislature’s wise decision not to spend all of the authorized amount last year,” said Gov. Stitt. “Keeping businesses open and getting COVID vaccines out quickly and efficiently has proven critical to keeping our head above water. Moving forward, my top budget priorities for FY 2022 are to deliver taxpayers more for their money and to invest in our fellow Oklahomans to fully unlock our full economic potential.”

The estimate includes $1.7 billion in one-time cash or non-recurring revenue. Gov. Stitt believes the State of Oklahoma should use the non-recurring revenue to significantly replenish its savings account to be prepared for any future downturns and strategically invest in infrastructure projects to help grow the economy. They also voted at the meeting to approve a Constitutional limit on appropriations for FY 2022 of $7,908,933,430 which restricts expenditures from certified funds and cash.

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Ron McWhirter

Democrats Charge Racism to Distract from Their Agenda

Thursday 6th of May 2021
Oklahoma Democrat leaders have called for Diversity and Inclusion training for members of the Oklahoma Legislature, due to what they call “racist” comments made by Republican legislators.
  On April 7, a member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives made a comment that the Democrats called racially insensitive. Rep. Jim Olsen (R-Roland), the House author of Senate Bill 612, was speaking in support of the bill in the House Public Health Committee. The legislation would abolish abortion by making it a felony for a doctor to perform an abortion, except to save the life of the mother in a medical emergency. It had already been approved in the Senate, 38-9, and was now beginning its way through the House.

Read the full story, here.

News

Oklahoma Struggles with McGirt Decision

Thursday 6th of May 2021
In July of last year, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the conviction of Jimcy McGirt of three serious sexual offenses. The decision, written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, contended that, for the purposes of the Major Crimes Act, land in eastern Oklahoma remains a reservation for the Creek Nation. The 5-4 decision reversed a decision by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals which had said that all Indian courts had been abolished at statehood. Instead, the Supreme Court ruled that because McGirt was a Creek, he could only be prosecuted in Creek tribal courts, or in federal court.
  Technically, the decision only directly affected McGirt, but the precedent set has created a cloud of uncertainty on the status of criminal law, taxation, and many other matters in lands once held by the Creek Nation. Additionally, it is expected that future litigation will lead to all of eastern Oklahoma which was once held by the Creek, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Choctaw tribes being considered Indian land.

Read the full story, here.

Steve Byas

Electronic Voting Fails at State Republican Convention

Thursday 6th of May 2021
The great English philosopher G.K. Chesterton said that before one takes a fence down, one must find out why the fence was put up. Certainly, change is sometimes good, but sometimes it is not
  .Electronic voting is a bad idea whose time should never come.
The recent debacle at the 2021 Republican State Convention demonstrated that rather powerfully. The powers that be in the Oklahoma Republican Party decided that we should do our voting, not by the old tried and true method of voting by counties – by paper ballots – then announcing it in a process that takes only a minimal length of time, but rather we should vote through a link provided in an email that we received on our smart phones, tablet, or laptop computer.

Read the full story, here.

News

State GOP Convention Contends with Electronic Voting and Elects Leaders

Thursday 6th of May 2021
The 2021 Oklahoma Republican Convention was held on Saturday, April 10 in the newly completed Oklahoma City Convention Center. There were 1,279 delegates from across the state in attendance. The GOP biennial convention is held in non-election years to elect leaders, adopt rules, and approve a party platform in preparation for the upcoming election year.
  Oklahoma Republican Party state chairman David McLain announced on January 15 that he would not be seeking another term. He was elected to the two-year term in 2019. In an email to Republican leaders, McLain noted some of the highlights accomplished during his administration including registering a record number of new Republicans, gaining seats in the state legislature, taking back the 5th Congressional District seat, and bringing in 65 percent of the vote for President Trump. Mike Turner, who was elected vice-chairman in 2019, resigned and was replaced by the Republican State Committee last year with Shane Jemison, who ran for election to the post at this year’s convention.

Read the full story, here.

Charlie Meadows

Will We Learn from Frigid 2021?

Thursday 6th of May 2021
Just as Joe Biden has been blathering about the “existential threat” from climate change, and the need to move away from fossil fuels to fully embrace alternative green energy, along came a frigid cold snap never experienced before by anyone alive today in states like Texas and Oklahoma.
  Why are those two states significant? Texas happens to be the largest producer of wind energy among all the states and Oklahoma is second. Truth is, the wind factories, commonly known as high tech windmills and promoted by climate change alarmists, failed miserably under such extreme cold temperatures. This should be a real wake up call as to how dangerous the “green new deal” is to America and its people if we continue the foolishness of embracing such nonsense.

Read the full story, here.