OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — The House and Senate members of the Oklahoma State Legislature voted to override vetoes from Governor Kevin Stitt on Friday.
Friday was the last day of regular session.
To start the day in the House, HB 1090 was passed 84-0.
The bill puts into law the autonomy of the state auditor to look into financial documents of state agencies, without the direction from the Governor.
“Let the auditor dig into every single agency and find out how money is being wasted and how we can do it better,” said Rep. Ryan Martinez of Edmond.
Martinez is also the leader of the special House investigation into Swadley’s and its deal with the Tourism Department. He said transparency and accountability are his main priorities.
“These are dollars that belong to Oklahomans, and they deserve to know how they are being spent,” said Martinez about HB 1090.
SB 1695 is another financial transparency bill that was passed in the House.
The override will require financial disclosures from those “who are appointed by the Governor as a director of an agency,” or “who are appointed as a cabinet secretary of the Governor.”
In Gov. Stitt’s veto, he said, “I would urge the Legislature to revisit the topic and pass legislation that subjects all state officers — whether elected, appointed, or subject to retention election.”
SB1695 passed 84-1 with Martinez moving for the bill to become law.
“Why would you veto something that is going to create more openness and transparency,” asked Martinez, rhetorically.
Then the focus shifted away from finances over to the Tribes.
When HB 3501 was brought up by Rep. David Hardin, there was a point when Martinez, from the House floor, openly asked, “would it be safe to make the assumption that his [Gov. Kevin Stitt] racist and hateful behavior towards the important tribes in this state are getting in the way of our good public policy?”
House Bill 3501 increases coordination of conviction data between tribal courts and the state.
It would share the number of DUIs and speeding tickets someone has with the Department of Public Safety (DPS). All in an attempt to better understand people’s driving records.
When the bill was originally drafted by Rep. David Hardin of Stilwell, he said DPS fully supported it.
“I asked, ‘Are you good with this bill,’ or ‘Do you support this legislation,’ and I was told ‘Yes, we think it’s a good bill,” said Hardin.
He added that DPS wanted to stay in the shadows of the law, which was proposed to Hardin by the Choctaw Nation, because of the open rift Stitt had with Tribal leaders.
Ultimately, Hardin said this bill keeps roads and Oklahomans safe. And from the House floor, he asked that cooler heads prevail moving forward.
“We need to put our emotions aside and work with the tribes,” said Hardin.