OKLAHOMA CITY – Two bills that would force property owners to wait at least six months before they could sell land to the state Department of Wildlife Conservation are working their way through the Oklahoma Legislature.
House Bill 2214 and Senate Bill 776 include language which requires a property be listed for sale six months prior to its purchase by the Wildlife Department. The bills also stipulate that Wildlife Department can only pay the appraised price to purchase land.
The measures’ author, state Sen. Casey Murdock, R-Felt, said the bills were authored because he is against government ownership of land.
HB 2214 passed the House by a vote of 52-38, with 11 House members excused. In the Senate, SB 776 passed with a 39-6 vote; two Senators were excused. Both bills have been sent to the opposite house of the Legislature for hearings.
In a posting on the social media site Facebook, Murdock said he opposes government ownership of land no matter what agency is doing it.
“We have too much government-owned land now,” Murdock wrote. “Please be aware of what is going on. I have a bill that is in the House now to slow the buying of land by Wildlife. It states that it has to be on the market for 6 months before they can buy it. It does not stop them from buying land. It does give private citizens the opportunity before the government swoops in and buys it.”
Murdock’s bill also would strike the state’s existing wildlife license and fee system and would require the department to create a structure through the regulatory process – which would require legislative approval.
The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) is self-funded by sales of licenses and through fees. The agency receives no state appropriations.
The measures’ co-author, Rep. Kevin McDugle, R-Broken Arrow, said the legislation is a “work in progress.” Like Murdock, McDugle said the bills would limit the Wildlife Department’s ability to purchase land for hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation and to run the department’s licensing system “more like a business.”
Though some hunting and fishing groups have endorsed the licensing section of the bills, at least one group has expressed concern about the limitation on land sales.
The Oklahoma Chapter of the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers announced their opposition to SB 776.
“Oklahomans overwhelmingly appreciate – and are committed to defending – the rich opportunities to hunt, fish and recreate on public lands within the state,” the group said in a message on its website. “With less than 5% of the state’s landmass in public ownership, it is imperative that we retain the ability to acquire new public lands as opportunities arise.”
SB 776 would “unnecessarily limit the authority” of the Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Commission from acquiring new public lands by putting impractical limitations on the department, the organization said.
“This bill would also infringe upon the rights of private property owners to sell property as they wish,” the group said. “This bill also threatens the future of our public land hunting and fishing heritage, and we need every Oklahoman public landowner to join us in urging your legislator to oppose this bill.”
The bills are the latest attempt by Murdock and McDugle to impede the Wildlife Department’s efforts to purchase land.
In 2019, McDugle said the ODWC had set up its own kingdom to do their own thing without listening to the people. The pair also blocked the reappointment of a wildlife commissioner who opposed earlier legislation that would have restricted land purchases.
Both lawmakers petitioned Gov. Kevin Stitt to rescind his nomination of Wildlife Commissioner Danny Robbins. Robbins, who opposed the lawmakers’ earlier attempts to slow land purchases by the agency, said the commission’s mission had become too politicized.
Robbins told the Tulsa World the commission had, for the first time in decades, been forced to release position statements on legislation.
“We are supposed to make our decisions based on what is best for the resource and for all the people of Oklahoma,” Robbins said to the newspaper. “If you’re worried about offending someone in the Legislature, you can’t do your job effectively.”
During that same time, Murdock told an Oklahoma City television station that land purchases by the Wildlife Department were an economic drag on rural Oklahoma.
“The Wildlife Commission is buying land in rural Oklahoma, but when land is owned by the state or U.S. government, there are no families living on it,” Murdock said. “Their kids aren’t going to attend the local school. They aren’t spending their money in the local businesses in nearby towns.”
Legal experts also have raised concern about HB 2214. Oklahoma City attorney Melanie Rughani, a shareholder at the Crowe & Dunlevy law firm and chair of the firm’s appellate section, said HB 2214 could be problematic because of a provision that would requires the Wildlife Conservation Commission to use its funds for maintenance on roads that lead to property purchased by the agency.
That section, she said, raises issues about whether the measure violates the Oklahoma Constitution. “I’m not sure if maintenance of county roads falls within that provision” of the state Constitution, she said.
Rughani noted that the Department of Wildlife Conservation and the Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Commission were established in the Constitution and are authorized by the Constitution to purchase land. Restrictions on that ability, she said, could be problematic.
“I could see an argument that restricting the purchase (of land) could violate the state Constitution,” she said.
State lawmakers have until the end of May to finish their work for the 2021 legislative session.