Oklahoma’s Gov. Stitt signs legislation to increase agency oversight

Oklahoma City; April 12, 2021: Today, Gov. Kevin Stitt signed legislation that will improve democratic oversight of the state’s regulatory agencies by creating a legislative joint committee to review proposed agencies rules and an expeditious process to repeal old ones.

“Over half of the laws Oklahomans are required to comply with were created by unelected government bureaucrats,” said Daniel Dew, Pacific Legal Foundation’s director of legal policy, who testified in support of the legislation last year. “The Legislature is the voice of the people and has the constitutional responsibility to make law and policy for the State of Oklahoma. Senate Bill 913 gives the Legislature the tools necessary to prevent overly burdensome regulations from being enacted, and also the ability to quickly cut bad or unnecessary rules.”

Senate Bill 913 creates a Joint Committee on Agency Rules. The JCAR will be comprised of members of the House and Senate and will consider proposed rules. If a rule is approved by the JCAR, it will be sent to the full legislature for approval. The bill also creates an expedited repeal process to allow the JCAR to promptly review unnecessary or overly burdensome regulations.

“It is the Legislature’s prerogative to set policy for the State of Oklahoma and the reforms in Senate Bill 913 will ensure the Legislature has meaningful oversight over agency regulations,” said lead sponsor and Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Julie Daniels. “This was a real team effort with input from House and Senate members, Governor Stitt and his staff, the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, and out of state organizations like Pacific Legal Foundation.”