OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Senate, facing a barrage of internal fights in the Republican Caucus, mountains of legislation and an often uncooperative House of Representatives, voted to adjourn the Second Session of the 60th Oklahoma Legislature sine die early, on May 14.
And while the official date of sine die is actually at 5 p.m. May 29, both houses bought themselves a little time, just in case it was needed. To do this, the Senate and House passed House Concurrent Resolution 1027. The resolution passed by a 28-17 vote in the Senate; it had previously passed the House on a voice vote.
Still, adjourning sine die next week is not really that early, Senate Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, said last Tuesday.
“It’s a couple of weeks early,” Paxton said. “We’re sunny. The adjournment is effective Thursday of next week. That gives us a deadline to shoot for. We’re continuing to work today and we’re getting through most of our legislation, most of our bills, making progress. But we have, we can work every day until Thursday of next week.”
As written, the resolution makes the Legislature’s sine die adjournment flexible.
“Following adjournment of each house on Thursday, May 7, 2026, the House of Representatives or the Senate may reconvene at any time prior to 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 14, 2026, upon the mutual agreement of the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate; provided, that members of the respective house shall be provided at least twenty-four hours’ notice of the reconvening of said chamber,” the resolution said.
If the House or the Senate reconvene pursuant to the provisions of the resolution, the respective chambers will adjourn sine die at such time as may be declared by the presiding officer of the respective chambers, but in no case later than 5 p.m. on Friday, May 29.
The adjournment follows months of fighting over proposed state questions, Medicaid spending and policies, including drawn-out arguments over the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust and education funding.
“We just wanted to get a deadline out there, but we could work every day until Thursday next week, or we could just work a couple of days,” Paxton said.
Those arguments came on top of a nonstop effort by members of the Senate’s Republican Freedom Caucus to oust Paxton and push far-right religious legislation through.
Still, while the Legislature probably won’t be meeting regularly this week, one reason for the temporary sine die was to anticipate what the governor might do with the legislation currently awaiting his signature.
Should Gov. Kevin Stitt veto bills that lawmakers supported, lawmakers would have the opportunity to return to the Capitol sometime this week and override those vetoes.
“It gives us the opportunity to consider those if our membership decided to do so,” Paxton said.
The sine die (Latin for “without a day”) adjournment normally shuts down the Legislature for the year. Under the state Constitution, the Legislature has until 5 p.m. May 29 to finish all its work.