OKLAHOMA CITY – A proposal that would prohibit local governments from regulating gardens on personal property failed by a single vote in the Senate Rules Committee last Wednesday.
House Bill 2979 would have created the Oklahoma Right to Garden Act. The proposal would prohibit local governments from regulating gardens on personal properties. The bill’s co-author, state Rep. George Burns, R-Heavener, said the measure was written to address issues in the state’s smaller towns.
“The rural areas are having problems with city managers who are going against them who want to garden,” Burns said.
The bill failed to pass the Senate Rules Committee on a 5 to 6 vote.
Burns said the bill was necessary because the problem was happening in his home district of LeFlore County and “in Oklahoma City as well as Tulsa.” He said the U.S. Constitution authorizes property owners to use their property however they wish.
State Sen. Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, disagreed. “I don’t think it’s an issue,” Paxton said. “I have never heard of a city banning someone from having a garden.”
Ardmore Republican Sen. Frank Simpson said the measure would take away the authorities of local communities. “Never once in all in all my time here, have I received a call from a constituent who said they couldn’t grow a garden,” Simpson said.
The legislation is part of a package being touted by Institution for Justice’s National Food Freedom Initiative, an organization that was founded in 1990 by William Mellor and Clint Bolick and Charles Koch. The IFJ is a far-right think tank that often pushes for preemptive legislations restricting government regulation.
Burns told the committee he was concerned about federal overreach and that the government could prevent people from growing their own food.
“Several states have this legislation to protect themselves from the federal government,” he said. “The Constitution allows us to use our land as we see fit. The government shouldn’t be putting thumbs on people who are trying to grow a garden.”
Paxton countered that state legislation like HB 2979 would hamper local governments from developing ordinances.
“If we are going to pass stuff like this, we might as well abolish municipalities and let the state run things from 23rd and Lincoln,” he said.