OKLAHOMA CITY – One bill that directly affects Oklahoma Corporation Commissioners navigated the legislative maze this year and was signed into law, but another died quietly in a committee.
House Bill 2367 will allow the commissioners to meet privately and discuss certain issues, but not take a vote. It’s a move to skirt the state’s Open Meeting Act, which up to now has prevented a quorum of the three-member commission from discussing issues outside of public earshot.
The measure passed the House of Representatives 54-32 in March and breezed through the Senate 39-6, with three absences, including Sen. Dusty Deevers (R-Elgin), on April 23.
The bill was signed by Gov. Kevin Stitt on April 29 and goes into effect Nov. 1.
Although the Corporation Commission is subject to the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act, the new law provides that the commissioners are exempt from and may discuss administrative, operational and procedural matters between or among themselves, even if a quorum is present, so long as the discussions do not address appropriation of agency funds and no official action is taken.
Administrative, operational and procedural matters authorized in the new law include: scheduling of agenda items to be set before the Corporation Commission for an emergency, regular, or special meeting; prioritizing cases pending before the commission; identifying legislative changes, proposed or passed, and their effects on the Corporation Commission; discussing public and media statements, organizational structure, internal processes, or staffing needs; receiving informational updates from the commission staff on the business of the agency, so long as such updates do not pertain to pending legislative proceedings of the commission; and interviewing potential employees or assessing performance reviews and duties of the Director of Administration and division directors.
The commissioners may not discuss pending legislative matters before the Corporation Commission without complying with the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act, the statute stipulates.
After holding private meetings and discussions, the commissioners will be required to inform the public of what they discussed and did.
In addition, the measure requires periodic training on the Open Meeting Act for commissioners and designated staff.
A “sunset” provision stipulates that the new statute “shall cease to have the force and effect of law on July 1, 2026,” unless the Legislature opts to extend it temporarily or vote to make it permanent.
Authors of HB 2367 were Rep. Tammy Townley (R-Ardmore) and Sen. Dave Rader (R-Tulsa).
In a House committee hearing, Townley told her colleagues she was asked by the Corporation Commission to support the measure and it had the support of the Oklahoma Press Association. She called the existing law “oppressive” and said her bill would apply only to the Corporation Commission, not to other agencies.
Some commissioners had complained they were not legally allowed to attend the same conventions or gatherings without violating state law.
Despite such claims, they still attended the same national conventions and did so in the past several months in California and Washington, D.C. As OK Energy Today reported in early March, all three attended a meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.
The Oklahoma Press Association endorsed HB 2367 and the group’s executive director, Mark Thomas, assisted legislators in crafting the measure. He felt confident the exemption would be workable for the commissioners and told OK Energy Today a protective aspect of the law is the sunset clause.
“The sunset clause would give some comfort level to legislators that this new ability for commissioners to speak about the limited set of subjects with the enhanced reporting provision will end unless reauthorized by the Legislature. Sunset clauses are generally used as a backstop to bad behavior,” Thomas wrote in an email exchange with OK Energy Today.
“If the commissioners abuse this new legislative authority as outlined in statute, it can be amended in the 2025 or 2026 sessions, or simply go away unless the Legislature extends or removes the sunset. Several people believed a sunset clause would be a valuable amendment to the legislation.”
Another proposal, Senate Bill 1388 requested by Corporation Commissioner Kim David, would have allowed all statewide elected officers to receive per diem in lieu of expenses “for each night spent away from home in the performance of their official duties within the state.” State officers also would be reimbursed for mileage and per diem “while performing official duties.”
However, several statewide elected officers have the use of state-provided vehicles.
David, who is paid $114,713 a year, lives in the small town of Porter in Wagoner County. She spent 12 years in the Legislature and received mileage and per diem payments as a lawmaker – but her salary was substantially less than the one she receives today.
Commission Chairman Todd Hiett is another regulator who lives in eastern Oklahoma. His farm in Kellyville is approximately 90 miles from Oklahoma City.
During Senate committee hearings, Sen. Jessica Garvin (R-Duncan), the author of SB 1388, admitted she did not know what such a law would cost the state. The bill received an initial endorsement from the Senate’s General Government Committee but subsequently died in the Senate’s Appropriations Committee.