LEGISLATIVE ISSUES REPORT Elections, Studies, Lawsuits, Advocacy Jennifer James McCollum, APR Public Relations & Community Development JUNE 2018 PRIMARY ELECTION RESULTS and TAKEAWAYS ELECTION STATS VOTER TURNOUT and MORE • 74,000 Voted Early • 2.0 Million Registered Voters • Total Ballots Cast: 452,194 • Approximately 49 Freshman Legislators • Term Limits GOVERNOR’S RACE SQ 788: MEDICAL MARIJUANA • Grassroots Effort • Licensing and regulation responsibilities fall within the purview of Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH). • The goal is an orderly and fairly regulated marketplace for medical marijuana. • 63-Page Draft of Emergency Rules available from OSDH. • State board to review finalized rules on July 1. Applications and requirements available July 26. OSDH set to begin accepting applications August 25. • Fallin considering a third special session in light of passage of SQ 788 STATEWIDE RACES GOVERNOR, LT. GOVERNOR • GOVERNOR’S RACE: Cornett and Stitt will face each other in a runoff in August; The winner will be the Republican party’s gubernatorial nominee and will face Democrat nominee Drew Edmondson in November. Also, this year, the Libertarian primary resulted in a runoff between Chris Powell and Rex Lawhorn. • LT. GOVERNOR’S RACE: Republicans Dana Murphy and Matt Pinnell will advance to a runoff in August. The winner will face Anastasia Pittman, the Democrat nominee, in November. • AG: Republicans Mike Hunter and challenger Gentner Drummond will continue their campaigns. • SUPERINTENDENT of PUBLIC INSTRUCTION: Republicans Joy Hofmeister and Linda Murphy will advance to runoff in August STATEWIDE RACES GOVERNOR, LT. GOVERNOR • LABOR COMMISSIONER: Republicans Costello and Osborne will advance to a runoff in August; The winner will face Democrat Fred Dorrell in November • CORPORATION COMMISSIONER: Republicans Bob Anthony (Incumbent) and Brian Bingman will advance to a runoff in August • INSURANCE COMMISSIONER: Glen Mulready won the Republican primary. He will face Democrat Kimberly Fobbs in November’s general election • AUDITOR/INSPECTOR: Cindy Byrd and Charlie Prater will face off in a runoff in August. HOUSE and SENATE INCUMBENTS NEARLY 30 PERCENT OF CURRENT LEGISLATURE • 31 House Incumbents Faced Primary Challengers; 29 Republican, Two Democrat. Six Senate Incumbents Faced Primary Challengers; All Republican. No Democrat incumbents in the Senate faced primary challengers • 100 Teachers/Administrators Sought to Unseat Lawmakers • 32 percent of candidates were women; four times more than in 2014; women currently make up 14 percent of the legislature. • Six House lawmakers lost in Tuesday’s primary election: • Rep. Greg Babinec, District 33 • Rep. Steve Vaughan, District 37 • Rep. Scott McEachin, District 67 • Rep. Scooter Park, District 65 • Rep. Chuck Strohm, District 69 • Rep. Ervin Yen, District 40 HOUSE and SENATE INCUMBENTS MORE RESULTS • Rep. Kevin McDugle, District 12, won by just seven votes • Ten legislators did not win their primaries and face runoffs in August: • Rep. Mark Lawson, District 30 • Rep. Travis Dunlap, District 10 • Rep. George Faught, District 14 • Rep. Bobby Cleveland, District 20 • Rep. John Pfeiffer, District 38 • Rep. Jadine Nollan, District 66 • Rep. Jeff Coody, District 63 • Rep. Tess Teague, District 101 • Rep. Sean Roberts, District 36 • Rep. Mike Ritze, District 80 COUNTY COMMISSIONER RACES • CANADIAN COUNTY DISTRICT 1: Incumbent commissioner Marc Hader won over challenger Wesley Higgins • LOGAN COUNTY DISTRICT 1: Republicans Dan Simmons, Marven Lee Goodman and Mark Sharpton with Commissioner Goodman and Sharpton advancing to a runoff in August • LOGAN COUNTY DISTRICT 3: Incumbent Commissioner Monty Piercy won over challenger John R. Myers • OKLAHOMA COUNTY DISTRICT 1: Republican Chad Albee lost to Brad Reeves. In the Democrat race Carrie Blumert and Al McAffrey are headed to a runoff. • OKLAHOMA COUNTY DISTRICT 3: Republican Kevin Calvey beat Rick Buchanan INTERIM STUDIES JULY 13 DEADLINE HOUSE REQUESTS 57 INTERIM STUDIES VARIETY of SUBJECTS • Transportation (See United We Ride study to aid transportation needs of poor, disabled and seniors.) • Poverty (Interim Study H 18-034 is a proposed study to look at possible avenues of curbing generational poverty in at-risk areas of the state) • Education (See the proposal on Education Reform) • Retirement, Healthcare, Mental Health • Public Safety (See the proposal on safety in public schools) • State Revenue, Budgets • Speaker of the House McCall (R-Atoka) will decide which receive a hearing • Find them here. ECONOMY OKLAHOMA TREASURER’S ECONOMIC REPORT Total gross receipts collected for May were $970.9 billion, a 6.1 percent, or $55.9 million, increase for the same month from the prior year. Of this increase, $33.8 million came from new legislative changes; the remaining $22.10 million came from economic growth. • May-June Report • Similarly, the General Revenue Fund (GRF) grew by $112.30 million from the previous year, for a total of $497.8 million. OKLAHOMA SALES TAX HOLIDAY August 3 - 5 • Certain clothing and shoe purchases are exempt from sales tax for this time period only. Qualified items are exempt from state, city, county and local municipality sales taxes. • Retailers are required to participate and may not collect state and local sales or use tax on most footwear and clothing that are sold for less than $100 during the holiday. • Excerpt from Rule 65 regarding Sales Tax Holiday • Oklahoma Sales Tax Holiday Information and FAQs LAWSUITS SCOTUS RULING: VICTORY for MAIN STREET AMERICA U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 21, that Internet retailers can be required to collect sales taxes in states where they have no physical presence, reversing a 1992 ruling that later spurred the rise of Internet shopping. • Brick and mortar stores will no longer be penalized for collecting the tax revenues that fund schools, infrastructure, and the vital public services that state and local governments provide. • SCOTUS decision was 5-4 • The 1992 ruling resulted in states losing between $8 billion and $33 billion in annual tax revenues • Read the Court’s Opinion Here JANUS vs. AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE, COUNTY, AND MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES From the Oklahoma Council for Public Affairs Yesterday: The Supreme Court of the United States handed down a landmark decision for freedom of speech and association. Mark Janus, an Illinois state employee, won his suit against the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees. Janus objected to the union’s ideology, but was forced to pay thousands of dollars to it under Illinois state law. The Court, in an opinion by Justice Samuel Alito, condemned the Illinois law and any policy that forces government workers to pay a union as a condition of employment. Read the Court’s Opinion Here BONUS LINK! Now you can see Oklahoma data for yourself. Check out the OCPA Data Tool. ETHICS COMMISSION On June 26, the Ethics Commission filed a lawsuit that challenges SB 1600, the FY 2019 General Appropriations Bill. They argue the bill is unconstitutional because it did not make a sufficient appropriation to the commission from the General Revenue Fund in violation of Article 19, Section 2. They are asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to make sure the agency is properly funded. • Originally, the Commission was intended to receive a budget equal to 5 percent of the total political contributions made in the last gubernatorial election. At the time, that would have been between $600k-700k. Today, the amount would be about $3 million • The FY 2019 Appropriation is $710k. The lawsuit states that in order for the Ethics Commission to perform its basic constitutional duties, it needs, at a minimum, 17 more employees, and a total budget of $2,467,097 ETHICS COMMISSION • According to the lawsuit: • The commission only has personnel to review on a cursory basis a small fraction of the more than 11,000 reports electronically filed in 2018; • The commission does not have the personnel to regularly review contribution and expenditure reports filed annually by political action committee and others engaged in advocacy for or against candidates; • The commission does not have the personnel to regularly review reports filed by political party committees or candidate committees in other election cycles ADVOCACY, PROTESTS 2018 KIDS COUNT DATA BOOK Annie E. Casey Foundation • 36th in Economic Well-Being • 46th in Education • 44th in Family and Community Domain • 40th in Health • Percent of teens, 16-19, not attending school is 9 percent • 7th highest rate of child and teen deaths in the nation • 2018 Kids Count Data Book 2019 LEGISLATIVE ISSUES and PRIORITIES ACOG staff members are preparing a formal legislative agenda now to include the organization’s overarching legislative issues and priorities . We expect to present a draft to the board for review and consideration this fall, and publish it shortly thereafter. We will be providing members a means for providing feedback and input. In the meantime, if you have pressing issues you would like us to research for the 2019 Legislative Issues and Priorities, please let us know. REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT DECLINES RALLY PLANNED at CAPITOL • WHEN: 12 Noon, Oklahoma Capitol, Tulsa, Tahlequah as well as nationwide • WHAT: Protest Over Federal Immigration Policies • WHO: Led by Immigration Lawyers and Advocates • According to OKDHS, the number of refugees resettling in Oklahoma has been decreasing. • In FY2016, 555 refugees • In FY2017, 272 refugees • In FY2018, 66 refugees (so far) • Most of the refugees who have resettled in Oklahoma did not cross the U.S. southern border. Those who resettled here in 2016-present include, but are not limited to, persons from Burma, Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Eritrea, Russia and the Ukraine. QUESTIONS? Jennifer James McCollum, APR Public Relations & Community Development Director ASSOCIATION OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA GOVERNMENTS acogok.org/june-report Office: 405.234.2264.