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OKLAHOMA CITY – Reps. Kevin West, R-Moore, and Tom Gann, R-Inola, today issued statements regarding Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner Todd Hiett, who has been accused of sexual molestation and public drunkenness. The two said they are considering filing a writ of prohibition against Hiett, asking the courts to intervene to protect the public interest. "Corporation Commissioner Todd Hiett’s admission of public drunkenness, alleged sexual assault, alleged harassment and his alleged drunk driving should be enough for any decent individual to disqualify himself from cases at the OCC involving the victims or witnesses to his alleged crimes," the lawmakers said in a joint statement. "Multiple news articles report that these complaints include employees and representatives, including attorneys, of public utility companies the OCC regulates. "Hiett should have removed himself from voting in the August 27 meeting, but instead he cast the deciding vote to approve a $31 million rate increase for Oklahoma Natural Gas customers," they continued. "The victim and witnesses to Hiett's June 9, 2024, sexual assault at a Minnesota conference are allegedly ONG employees. If that is not enough, ONG is being represented by the law firm that hosted a reception in Oklahoma City, where Hiett is alleged to have sexually harassed two female OCC employees and to have driven home drunk. Hiett has not publicly denied any allegations made against him." West questioned Hiett's impartiality. "Oklahomans deserve better," West said. "Corporation commissioners are considered quasi-judicial in some of their cases, like utility fuel cases that require a state officer to rule, and legislative in others, like utility rate cases. Under Ethics Rule 4.7, an officer must disqualify him/herself in any case, legislative or judicial, in which 'a reasonable person with knowledge of the relevant facts [would] question his or her impartiality.'" Gann said, "I spent 15 years in internal auditing, and I can tell you this conflict goes beyond mere appearance—it's a clear conflict in fact as well. Hiett obviously used poor judgement by not disqualifying himself in ONG’s recent rate case as he should have." There are four fuel cases worth over $1 billion for public utilities currently pending at OCC. They involve ONG (PUD2024-000047), Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO) (PUD2024-000040), Arkansas Oklahoma Gas Corporation (PUD2024-000046) and Summit Utilities of Oklahoma (PUD2024-000042). Fuel adjustment cases, also known as purchased gas adjustment cases, are judicial. The lawmakers assert that when cases are judicial, commissioners must behave like judges and follow the  Code of Judicial Conduct . "The OCC is supposed to examine the utility’s fuel purchases and determine whether they were fair, just, reasonable and prudent before allowing those costs to be passed on to customers," West said. "We need commissioners who can use sound judgement and are free from bias. How can Commissioner Hiett make such judgements when his actions allegedly involving people in these cases prove otherwise?" Similar to State Ethics Rule 4.7, Title 5 O.S Section Rule 2.11 of the Code of Judicial Conduct requires Hiett to disqualify himself in judicial cases in which "the judge's impartiality might reasonably be questioned." Instead, Hiett voted on July 31 to approve three procedural orders in ONG’s judicial fuel case. On Aug. 27, Hiett voted to approve seven more orders in the judicial fuel cases for PSO, AOG and Summit. "Like ONG, PSO is also represented in its $554 million fuel case by the same law firm that hosted the reception," the representatives said. "Both State Ethics Rules and the Code of Judicial Conduct are laws, and failure to follow them is a violation of state law." OCC has hired outside counsel to perform a "confidential fact-finding" investigation into the commissioner's misconduct, but instead of handling "behavior of a criminal nature," like violations of state law, this firm instead promises to refer the latter to the state attorney general's office. "This seems like a way to slow play the investigation, allowing Hiett to continue voting on these matters in which he cannot remain objective. How convenient," the representatives said.  "Any party to an OCC case with direct knowledge of illegal conduct by Commissioner Hiett who has not yet officially reported it or filed a civil lawsuit against him has leverage over Hiett in their cases before him at the OCC," they said. "The threat always exists that if he doesn’t rule in their favor, the illegal conduct could be reported, or a civil lawsuit could be filed. His impartiality is unquestionably tainted." West added, "The victims of this disgrace and bias in these judicial cases are not the utilities, but the millions of Oklahomans who are being unfairly disadvantaged in the votes in which Hiett has a perverse and legally prohibited incentive to give the utilities what they want. If Commissioner Hiett continues with this reckless behavior, it may become necessary for legislators to file a writ of prohibition requiring the courts to determine whether intervention is necessary to protect the public interest." 

OKLAHOMA CITY – Rep. Justin Humphrey, R-Lane, today issued the following statements about the recommendations of the Oklahoma State Work Permits and Visas Task Force, which was created by Gov. Kevin Stitt via an executive order signed April 30. "I recently was notified about the work of Governor Stitt's Oklahoma State Work Permits and Visas Task Force, which was charged with evaluating and making recommendations to allow immigrants to have visas, permits and documentation to pursue the American dream, contribute to our workforce, and for Oklahoma universities and industries to recruit and legally retain global talent without fear of unnecessary deportation or separation from family safely and legally. "I lack the vocabulary skills to properly express my anger on this order. The American dream is swiftly being stripped from our children by our own U.S. and state governments. The Oklahoma State Work Permits and Visas Task Force plan appears to do just that: steal Oklahomans’ American dream and give it to illegals. Your state government is greatly concerned about illegals attending college while our own children can no longer afford to obtain a college education. Governor, how about a task force to lower college tuition for Oklahomans? Does Oklahoma really need to recruit illegals to colleges and industries? Why is Oklahoma ignoring our own children and our own workforce? We have thousands of Oklahomans in prisons. Statistics show an inmate trained in an industrial skill is approximately 66% less likely to return to crime, but we offer little training for inmates. We very likely have the worst prisons in the nation, but let’s ignore our prisons and concentrate on bringing more illegals into our state. Couldn’t we establish a task force to teach students the importance of work and earning a living? How about offering Oklahomans incentives to attend college, technology training or to enter the workspace? Governor, don’t incentivize illegals to come to Oklahoma, attend our schools, take our jobs, and hijack Oklahomans’ dreams. Instead, let’s work to stop Oklahoma students and our labor force from leaving our great state to improve earnings. "Republican’s platforms claim less government and promoting more local government. Yet, I have watched as Republican leadership has grown government more and more while vastly reducing local services. This task force is recommending creating an Office of New Oklahomans to promote interagency coordination and collaboration on issues impacting non-citizens. Once again, we see government growth in action. The task force recommended a new office but failed to report how they intend to fund this new agency to sponsor illegals. If we are going to create a new office, what if we create an office to identify illegal use of state resources? For instance, how much does it cost to educate illegals? How much does incarceration of illegals cost our state? How much do illegals cost our state in terms of medical or human services resources? What is the true cost of illegals on our state budget?  "The task force communicates with one-hundred dollar words, but let me enlighten with the five-cent meanings. The task force recommends empowering employers to help navigate visa types, legal requirements, costs, and credentialing processes, helping international talent to get connected with employment opportunities. That means the government is going to make it legal to give illegals your job. The task force recommends optimizing efficiency for an international talent navigation credentialing processes. That means legalizing policies to allow illegals to work in Oklahoma. The task force recommends issuing driving privilege cards to non-citizens. This means giving illegals a driver’s license. "I believe Oklahomans want illegals deported, but our state government chooses to focus on how to improve the lives of illegals. Oklahoma has massive government problems. The Oklahoma Department of Human Services has numerous allegations of state facilities allowing physical and sexual abuse of children, placing children in abusive homes, and illegally removing children from homes. The Department of Corrections is likely the worst correctional department in the nation with countless human rights' violations ranging from stabbings, overdoses, murder, covering up rape, locking inmates in cages, withholding food and water, and no bathroom privileges. District attorneys allegedly are using fraudulent illegal fees to fund their offices. Oklahoma is reported to be a red state, but we are one of the most over-regulated states. What is being done about dark money destroying our state’s elections? Many of our state agencies are entangled in alleged misconduct or illegal behavior. With all these issues directly affecting Oklahomans, why concentrate on how to improve the lives of illegals? "I understand this is a difficult subject. There are many good, hard-working people illegally in Oklahoma. I personally know of families I would be proud to see become citizens. We might discuss having a family sponsor an illegal immigrant for the purpose of work or even citizenship. Helping people who have proven to be good neighbors and hard workers is a very different conversation than giving illegals a driver’s license, helping them attend college, giving them jobs, and promoting illegals to come to our state. The border crisis has created a national catastrophic disaster, and Oklahomans must do our part to combat the invasion of our nation. I encourage Oklahomans to obtain a copy of the task force report and see if it makes you as angry as it did me."

Reps. Trey Caldwell, R-Lawton, Daniel Pae, R-Lawton, Rande Worthen, R-Lawton, Toni Hasenbeck, R-Elgin, and Sen. Dusty Deevers, R-Elgin, today sent an urgent letter to Secretary Paul Ziriax formally requesting an investigative audit into the August 27 runoff election for Comanche County sheriff. The legislators expressed serious concerns following reports that multiple ineligible voters received a ballot for the Republican runoff election for Comanche County sheriff. The legislators said this clear breach of electoral protocol occurred despite at least one voter contacting the Comanche County Election Board regarding the incorrect ballot, with the issue not realized until after the ballot had been cast. According to an August 29 report by KSWO-TV 7News, the secretary of the Comanche County Election Board acknowledged the distribution of an incorrect ballot on election day. She also allegedly said that once a ballot enters the system, there’s nothing they can do about it.  In the letter, the legislators emphasized, "Given the importance of ensuring free and fair elections, we are deeply concerned that other ineligible voters may have received an incorrect ballot. A transparent investigation is crucial to maintaining public trust in our electoral process. "We have been advised that State Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax has dispatched members of the State Election Board staff to the county election board to assess the situation. We ask the secretary to step in and ensure that a thorough review and audit is made of the situation and that appropriate action is taken if these allegations prove to be true." Citing Okla. Stat. tit. 26 § 1-104, the legislators reiterated that voters may only vote using the primary ballot under the party in which they are registered, stating, "no registered voter shall be permitted to vote in any Primary Election or Runoff Primary Election of any political party except the political party of which his registration form shows him to be a member…" The legislators said, “The right to vote is a fundamental expression of our American freedoms, and it must be fiercely protected to ensure the integrity of the November 5 presidential election. We must guarantee that each voter's voice is safeguarded and that every aspect of our electoral process remains secure and trustworthy." Read the letter here .

Rep. Jim Olsen, R-Roland, commented on the consistently high performance of the state of Oklahoma in election integrity. "Oklahomans are very concerned with the issue of election integrity," Olsen said. "They want election results to be accurate, and not fraudulent. I am happy to report that for a number of years, Oklahoma has had an excellent system. I am especially happy to report that our performance is steadily improving. "The Heritage Foundation rates every state in the country on their election integrity. Last year, Oklahoma had a very good rating of 13th in the country. This year we are rated as #5 in the country. So we are deliberately moving closer to perfection." Olsen also remarked that the Oklahoma State Election Board has been very helpful to work with the Legislature in the goal of continuous improvement toward perfection in election integrity. The Oklahoma State Election Board released audit findings Monday confirming 100% accuracy of June's primary election results. Olsen said Oklahoma’s rise in the rankings can be attributed to recently enacted legislation that strengthened voter ID requirements, improved the accuracy of voter registration lists, prohibited the private funding of elections, and banned the use of ranked-choice voting.

OKLAHOMA CITY – Rep. Sherrie Conley, R-Newcastle, today commented on new training released by the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) that gives schools guidance regarding communications between school employees and students who are relatives that attend schools in the districts where they work. Conley said earlier this month she'd been contacted by numerous people after House Bill 3958, which she authored, took effect in July. The legislation requires school personnel engaging in electronic or digital communication with an individual student to include the student's parents or guardians. She was told districts were informing employees that were family members of students that they must communicate through a school-approved platform and include parents or guardians even in personal messages. The new OSDE guidance reads, "If school personnel have a familial relationship with the student, the statute does not require that the communication include a parent/guardian. The focus of the statute is not communications between family members." Conley said she's relieved. "This legislation was intended to curb the number of instances where school faculty is inappropriate with a non-relative student through text messaging or other electronic communications," Conley said. "It was never intended to stop a grandmother, aunt or other family member from reaching out to a student to whom they are related to share a personal message." Under the new law, the State Department of Education was required to develop and provide training for school personnel on the communication requirements of the act. Conley said she's pleased with the department's interpretation of legislative intent and the guidance that is now available to school districts throughout the state. Conley said she'll explore whether clarification in the law still is needed through an interim study she'll hold this fall. The study was requested to examine additional ways to keep students safe at school. The study is tentatively set for 1 to 2:30 p.m. Oct 1. 

Rep. Trey Caldwell, R-Lawton, today celebrated the groundbreaking of a new hospital, Memorial Health of Tillman County Critical Access Hospital, in Frederick, Oklahoma.  In 2016, Memorial Hospital and Physician Group in Frederick discontinued patient care and ER services. Since its closure, residents have driven between 30 minutes to an hour to receive hospital-level care.  "When I took office in 2018, I knew bringing a hospital back to this area was a top priority of mine," Caldwell said. "Southwest Oklahoma has voiced how important this is, and I've done everything in my power to make it happen. Now, six years later, we're closer than ever to returning a hospital to Tillman County, and I couldn't be more proud."  To support the construction of Memorial Health of Tillman County Critical Access Hospital, the Legislature appropriated funds through Senate Bill 20XX in 2022. The measure tasked the Rural Hospital Rebuild grant program with distributing American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to medical facilities in disproportionately impacted populations.  Speaker Pro Tempore Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, led the charge to implement a transparent application process to distribute ARPA funds to targeted projects across the state.  "For too long, rural hospitals have been left to wither on the vine," Hilbert said. "Thanks to Rep. Trey Caldwell’s leadership, we injected $25 million into rural communities to restore their access to healthcare. Lives are going to be saved thanks to this funding, and I’m particularly thrilled to join him in Frederick for the groundbreaking of the new hospital that spurred this investment across the state." Additional funding included Congressman Tom Cole securing about $6 million in direct congressional appropriations, $1.8 million from the Oklahoma Department of Commerce's Public-Private Partnership (P3) program, and loans from U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs.  The hospital will have five emergency treatment rooms, 10 inpatient beds, physical therapy, radiology, laboratory and space for additional support services. Memorial Health of Tillman County will serve people in Tillman County and nearby residents of Comanche, Jackson, Kiowa and Cotton counties, totaling around 15,000 people.  "This is the first time in fifty years that a hospital has been rebuilt after closure, except for one instance in Kansas following a tornado," Caldwell said. "This is a turning point for rural Oklahoma, and I hope it shows other communities that a lot of good can happen when people work together."  Caldwell thanked Congressman Tom Cole; Brent Smith, CEO of Comanche County Memorial Hospital; Ryan Ade, a medical practitioner and Chairman of the Tillman County Trust Authority; former Oklahoma House Speaker Loyd Benson; Kenneth Corn, Oklahoma's USDA State Director for Rural Development; and numerous others who have played an instrumental role in making the groundbreaking possible. 

OKLAHOMA CITY – Reps. Mark McBride, R-Moore, and Dick Lowe, R-Amber, today commented on a change to the method for scoring state academic tests they say was not communicated to statewide educators, parents or the public. McBride and Lowe, who serve as chair and vice chair of the House Appropriations & Budget Subcommittee on Education, said the change made it look as if student proficiency rates during the last school year have jumped when they cannot accurately be compared to the prior year. "The Oklahoma State Department of Education dropped the ball on telling school administrators, parents or anyone about the change in the way they would determine student performance on state tests," the lawmakers said in a joint statement. "This left districts shocked and surprised when they saw this year's scores, and it puts a false narrative out there. While we want to recognize the heroic efforts of our state educators, and we don't in any way want to diminish the incredible work they do in educating their students, the truth must be told." Oklahoma subject matter academic standards are updated every six years on a rotating schedule. Over 100 educators and other subject matter experts gather under the direction of the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) to accomplish the task, and the standards are ultimately approved by the Legislature. Once standards are updated in a particular subject, such as English language arts or math, testing companies rewrite state tests to match the new standards. OSDE then works with testing vendors to develop new cut scores and performance level descriptors (PLDs) to determine if a student is performing below basic, at basic, or is proficient or advanced. Because the tests, cut scores and PLDs change every six years per subject, the current year's test in that subject cannot accurately be compared to the prior year. This has been an ongoing concern with the state's A-F School Report Card, the lawmakers said. Normally, standards are only changed in one subject matter per year, but because of a delay due to the COVID pandemic, English language arts and math were updated on the same schedule. New tests were developed and administered for the 2023-2024 school year, and new cut scores and PLDs were determined. When schools received their results of last year's state tests, the number of students showing proficient or above in English language arts and math was inflated over the previous year, which McBride and Lowe said caused confusion. They said they are seeking guidance to explain how to interpret the test scores that they hope to share with school administrators statewide, which can then be shared with parents and other education stakeholders. "Had OSDE done its job and communicated this process clearly before these scores were released, we would not have this misunderstanding," McBride said. "I can only hope they do better in the future." 

OKLAHOMA CITY – Rep. Justin Humphrey, R-Lane, today issued the following statements about the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA). "For the last year I have been working with whistleblowers from the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority to expose improper and possible criminal acts. These whistleblowers have documented an abundance of shady purchasing practices, including failure to use purchase orders and conducting business without proper contracts. They assisted me in putting all these improper purchases in files and on a thumb drive to give investigative authorities. Two of the whistleblowers alleged a top executive at OMMA was conspiring to do business with a company that employed that executive’s wife. Whistleblowers produced a tape of this executive, sounding aggressive and intimidating, telling employees there was nothing wrong with the business transactions but because of the employees, the transaction would be terminated and that their actions had been an embarrassment. The tape is very compelling and appears to be an admission of guilt. I do want to report that these two brave whistleblowers have been fired. "On approximately July 16, 2024, KFOR in Oklahoma City reported on an email shared with the station in which Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority Director Adria Berry said her agency was being forced to rift between 25 to 30 employees, 10% of the agency's staff. The director indicated the rift was the consequence of a reduction in fees. I met with many of the rifted employees who claimed OMMA doesn’t receive funding from fees. Instead, all their funding is appropriated through the state budget. I checked, and while OMMA was funded by fees when it was first created, this year the agency is funded solely through state budget appropriations by the Legislature. Additionally, the Legislature increased OMMA’s budget by several million dollars this fiscal year – from $37 million for Fiscal Year 24 to $41.9 million for FY25. It seems very clear Director Berry was not truthful in claiming she had to rift employees due to a reduction in fees. "These former employees maintain that one department received a significant portion of the firings. They provided verification this department consists of approximately 97% white employees, yet all of the employees let go from that department are black. I found this information extremely disturbing. They also reported the agency was paying instructors to teach employees Yoga and breathing techniques, including paying for mats and cleaning laundry, and that some employees are allowed company cars to drive long distances to come to work and only work a few short hours a day. These same employees declared the agency has remodeled top executives’ offices multiple times in their brief existence. Last week, these whistleblowers and I met with State Auditor Cindy Byrd and her staff to brief them on our concerns. We provided documentation to verify that our claims are warranted.  "I submit that it is very possible OMMA fired experienced employees who were reporting wrongdoing. I want to encourage statewide elected officials to investigate why dozens of employees have been fired based on a lie, and I want to personally ask that this be made right."

Rep. Kevin Wallace, R-Wellston, today announced that the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT) would begin an investigation into spending concerns regarding the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE). This investigation, approved by Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, and spearheaded by Wallace in his capacity as Chairman of LOFT, will focus on issues raised by both legislators and private citizens regarding alleged OSDE funding disbursement issues. "In my capacity as Chairman, I intend to have LOFT investigate funding disbursement concerns raised by both citizens and legislators in regard to funds earmarked to OSDE for specific purposes," Wallace said. "This isn’t about Superintendent Walters; this is about the transparency of a State Agency and getting answers for our constituents. When the Legislature approves funding for a specific purpose, it is incumbent on the agency to which those funds are allocated to spend them properly and in a timely manner. If there are issues with disbursements being made, that information should be communicated to the Legislature well before schools are incumbered. I look forward to using the processes and procedures available within LOFT to address the concerns that have been raised with OSDE funding, and will conduct a thorough, transparent investigation to provide answers to my fellow legislators and the citizens of Oklahoma." "LOFT is designed to ensure that taxpayer dollars are being spent responsibly by state agencies, making them the ideal entity to examine any concerns related to spending at OSDE," McCall said. "This investigation by LOFT allows us to address these concerns efficiently without the need for a costly special legislative session. I trust that Chairman Wallace, and LOFT, will conduct a comprehensive review that will provide clarity on the issues at OSDE and offer solutions to ensure that taxpayer funds are managed appropriately. I fully support this process. Additionally, my office will be sharing all relevant information with Attorney General Gentner Drummond regarding any potential violations of the Open Records or Open Meeting Acts by OSDE. We are committed to transparency, and the findings from this investigation will be made available to the public.” LOFT is a state agency in the legislative branch that assists the Oklahoma House and Senate. LOFT provides budgetary recommendations to the LOFT Oversight Committee for use in setting the funding of state government, higher education, and public schools.