TRANSCRIPT
Dick Pryor: This is Capitol Insider - taking you inside politics, policy, and government in Oklahoma. I'm Dick Pryor with Quorum Call publisher, Shawn Ashley. Shawn, as expected, when an elected official's term is nearing an end, more appointees are leaving, and they're leaving the Stitt administration now. Secretary of State Josh Cockroft will leave that position at the end of the month, and OMES Director Rick Rose has announced his resignation effective September 26th. Rose says he will be returning to private law practice. The announcement of Rose's departure, though, comes as Rose and Attorney General Gentner Drummond are at odds over vehicle purchases by the AG's office. Tell us more about that.
Shawn Ashley: That's exactly right. Rose submitted his resignation September 3rd. And one day later, Drummond wrote to Governor Stitt, alleging Rose had refused to process the attorney general's office's purchase of vehicles. In that letter, Drummond noted this refusal was presumably at Stitt's instruction. And he noted such an act would represent a serious misuse of the governor's authority. Drummond added, "If you did not direct or authorize this action, then you should remove Director Rose for abusing his position in a way that impedes ongoing law enforcement activities." In a press release Tuesday, Rose made clear his resignation was not the result of the dispute with Drummond. He also pointed to a section of statute that gives the OMES Director authority to approve or deny agency vehicle purchases.
Dick Pryor: The Oklahoma Supreme Court upheld a district court's dismissal of a lawsuit filed by Del City State Representative Andy Fugate that was challenging Governor Kevin Stitt's executive order requiring state employees to return to their offices. How did the court decide the matter?
Shawn Ashley: Well, the court did not consider the merits of the case but ruled on the issue of standing - whether Fugate had been harmed by the order and therefore could challenge it. Now, the district court said he had not been harmed and did not have standing to challenge the order. And the Supreme Court reaffirmed this position. Stitt suggested in a press release that the Supreme Court had backed his order, but Fugate countered that was not the case. "The court did not back the governor," Fugate said, "It simply said that a single legislator could not challenge the governor."
Dick Pryor: We've been monitoring and discussing trends in state revenue for several months. Revenue figures for August have now been released. What do they show?
Shawn Ashley: Total revenue collected by the state declined in August compared to the prior year, State Treasurer Todd Russ reported. Collections for the month of August were 1.27 billion dollars and that was down 2.7 million or 0.2 percent from the same month one year ago. Now nearly half of that amount, 599.1 million dollars, went into the general revenue fund, the largest source of appropriations by the legislature. And that amount was 20.7 million or 3.6% more than the estimate on which the appropriations are made, but 3.9 million or 0.6% below the estimate. The big contributor to that drop in prior year collections was the elimination of the sales tax on groceries. That legislation took effect at the end of August 2024. So, this year was the first August where we didn't have the sales tax on groceries in effect and it led to the lower collections.
Dick Pryor: Attorney General Gentner Drummond has released an opinion interpreting a new state law that regulates adult performances in public places or in front of minor children. What did Drummond determine?
Shawn Ashley: Senator Julie Daniels requested the opinion, and her questions were very pointed. Essentially, whether the new law, particularly combined with existing laws, prohibited drag shows. Drummond's opinion says the answer is fact specific. The opinion states "whether a performance contains obscene material requires an analysis of the specific nature of the performance, its content, and its purpose, as well as consideration of the performance in light of relevant community standards." Now, that opinion is rather consistent with what the authors of the bill, Representative Kevin West and Senator David Bullard said during their presentation of the bill during the legislative session.
Dick Pryor: Much of the discussion about this law centered on drag shows, but the law is broader than that.
Shawn Ashley: As West and Bullard noted when the bill was being considered, it applies to any obscene adult performance in front of children or in a public place, and it contains some unique language that makes it unlawful for a political subdivision, like a city, town or perhaps a public performance facilities governing board, to allow, permit, organize, or authorize an obscene adult performance. The statute does not prescribe a punishment for a public subdivision. Who would pay the fine? Or who would go to prison?
Dick Pryor: All right. Thank you, Shawn.
Shawn Ashley: You're very welcome.
Dick Pryor: For more information, go to quorumcall.online. You can find video of Capitol Insider segments on the KGOU YouTube channel. Audio and transcripts are at kgou.org and look for Capitol Insider where you get podcasts. Until next time, with Shawn Ashley, I'm Dick Pryor.
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