OKLAHOMA CITY — Three bills related to Oklahoma’s Open Meeting Act are pending in the Legislature this year.
The Oklahoma Press Association briefed reporters and editors on those bills, as well as other measures affecting news organizations, Thursday during the OPA’s annual Legislative Summit at the state Capitol.
The OPA summarized each bill and outlined the organization’s position on them for people attending the event. Here are those summaries:
•House Bill 3278 by Rep. John Pfeiffer, R-Orlando, allows the Oklahoma attorney general to determine if a violation of the Open Meeting Act has occurred, and it authorizes the AG to enter a consent order when a violation is verified. The bill was in the House Judiciary/Public Safety Oversight Committee as of Thursday.
HB 3278 is an attempt to help the attorney general’s office identify and resolve open-meetings violations, said OPA Executive Vice President Mark Thomas.
“The AG knows local district attorneys are strapped working on other cases,” he said in an email. “Finding an easy way to identify and correct violations would be a welcome addition to the statute.”
•House Bill 4489 by Rep. Tammy Townley, R-Ardmore, grants limited exemptions for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, a three-person board that regulates public utility companies, to discuss certain issues outside a public meeting. The measure is currently on hold until lawmakers can consider amendments.
Apart from a provision changing the expiration date, HB 4489 contains the same language as a 2024 law. That law created exemptions to the Open Meetings Act so members of the Corporation Commission could talk about certain issues outside a public meeting, as long as they did not discuss pending legislative proceedings before the board and appropriation of commission funds.
The 2024 law required the commission to post the issues under discussion within five days after the event unless the board was considering action on that issue.
”The key piece of the 2024 legislation was the reporting function after they talk to identify the topics they discussed,” Thomas said.
He said amendments to the new bill, including a shorter sunset provision, are probably needed before the measure moves forward.
The 2024 law was set to expire in July of this year, but HB 4489 would extend the exemptions until July 1, 2031.
•House Bill 2940 by Rep. Jim Olsen, R-Sallisaw, strengthens the right to record public meetings.
The open meetings law already allows people to record public meetings unless they disrupt the proceedings, according to the OPA. The association said HB 2940 reinforces that right by creating a civil penalty for any public official or law enforcement officer who illegally stops a person from recording a public meeting.
Thomas said he was not aware of any cases where people were ejected from public meetings for recording the proceedings, but the bill’s author believed the enhanced penalty would prevent that from happening in Oklahoma.
“The only rights the public have on open meetings is to see the agenda, attend the meeting, and record the meeting if they don’t interrupt the proceedings,” Thomas said. “We are always looking for ways to allow public bodies to operate efficiently while still being transparent to the voters and taxpayers.”