A&B Select Agencies Subcommittee

The Oklahoma House of Representatives today added to its transparency portal a government efficiency survey intended to root out duplication of services, waste and inefficiencies in state government.  This initiative piggybacks on the federal effort to eliminate government waste through the newly-created federal Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). "We will work hand-in-hand with President-Elect Trump and our federal delegation on broader efforts to make government more efficient with DOGE," said House Speaker-Elect Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow. "We want to ensure our state government is working as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible. As lawmakers, we want the assistance of Oklahomans who have first-hand experience with duplicative and wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars." Oklahomans can enter any examples they have experienced of state governmental waste or duplication into the easy-to-use portal, which will be submitted to House budget leaders for review to be utilized during legislative budget hearings and the crafting of the FY26 state budget.  "We know Oklahomans get frustrated every day with the inefficiency of government, and we need their help to root out the most egregious examples so we can eliminate unnecessary expenditures," said Rep. Trey Caldwell, R-Lawton, who will serve as House Appropriations Chairman for the 60th Legislature. "The more efficient we can become, the more we can invest in critical government services and pursue lowering the overall tax burden for all Oklahomans." Constituents can file government waste complaints online by entering some demographic information, the issue area their example encompasses, and details of waste or inefficiencies. "We are confident we will get examples of inefficiency that we likely would not have known about otherwise," said Rep. John Kane, R-Bartlesville, who will serve as Vice Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee this upcoming session. "Every January we have an opportunity to walk through budget requests with state agencies, and we will have the ability to ask about these constituent submissions directly in an effort to make government as efficient and effective as possible." The portal is live today, and Oklahomans can immediately start entering examples of waste they have already encountered or will see in the future. "We hope to capitalize on the momentum we are seeing on the federal level with the efforts of President Trump at DOGE, and the national priority they have set to reduce waste," Hilbert said. "Oklahoma has the opportunity to align with these efforts and lead at the state and local level as we seek best practices and frameworks for auditing and reducing waste in government spending." The Government Efficiency survey may be accessed via the homepage of the House website, okhouse.gov, similar to the House Budget HQ , which was launched in the 2024 session and updated regularly. All submitted agency FY26 budget requests have been updated and can be viewed in the portal.  

The Oklahoma House of Representatives gave the stamp of approval Tuesday to legislation to legalize sports betting and potentially bring in over $9 million a year to the state budget. Rep. Ken Luttrell, R-Ponca City, filed House Bill 1027, which adds in-person and mobile sports betting as a supplement to the state-tribal model gaming compact. The state would receive a percentage of gaming revenue. "Right now, Oklahoma is missing out on a huge financial opportunity for both our state and our tribes," Luttrell said. "Oklahomans are traveling across state lines to participate in sports betting, and we're losing those dollars. It makes economic sense to provide sports betting as an option." If passed, tribes implementing sports betting would pay the state a 4% fee for the first $5 million dollars made in one month, a 5% fee on the next $5 million and a 6% fee for additional monies. The sliding fee system would restart each month. The Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES) estimated sports betting could bring in up to $9,350,000 a year, of 12% would enter the general revenue fund and 88% would go toward education. In his debate in favor of the measure, Luttrell quoted Kentucky state Rep. Michael Meredith, R-Oakland, the author of Kentucky's current sports betting bill, who said, "Revenue is not the reason I think this is good policy. I think it’s good policy because we’re taking something out of the illegal, unregulated space and creating a regulated marketplace." Luttrell filed similar legislation in 2022, House Bill 3008, which was approved by the House Appropriations & Budget Subcommittee on General Government but was ultimately not heard by the full House A&B Committee. HB1027 passed the House 66-26 with its title off, meaning it will return to the House for another vote after being approved by the Senate. Sen. Bill Coleman, R-Ponca City, is the Senate author of the bill. Luttrell, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, previously served as co-chair of the House Native American Caucus and serves on the Executive Committee of the National Caucus of Native American State Legislators.