(The Center Square) – Oklahoma lawmaker overrode Gov. Kevin Stitt’s vetoes on bills extending compact agreements with tribes on tobacco taxes and motor vehicle registration and licensing.
Both bills received 34 votes to override the governor during a special session Monday. Seven legislators voted against it in both cases.
It means the state’s agreement date with tribes for tobacco sales tax compacts will extend until the end of 2024, as will existing agreements with tribes over motor vehicle licensing and registration.
Sen. Nathan Dahm, R-Broken Arrow, said the bill ignores existing statutes that give the governor the authority to negotiate the compacts.
“I’m not here to talk about the merits of the compact, if it should be a one-year, two-year, or five-year extension, or if there should be different terms included in the compact,” Dahm said. ‘I’m rising in opposition because of the process whereby the legislature is trying to extend the compacts, a process that I believe is illegal, not just statutorily but also constitutionally. We cannot simply ignore statute.”
Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, disagreed with Dahm, saying it was a “cut and dry issue.”
“Those who would purport that we are removing the governor’s authority to negotiate have a misunderstanding of what this actually does,” Treat said. “This extends his ability to negotiate by one year to the end of December. The power vested in the governor to negotiate those compacts is statutory. And if this body finds the governor is not negotiating in good faith, I reserve the right as the leader of this body, and you all shall reserve the right to change that law if we so desire and have the support to do so next year.”
Treat said about $57 million in revenue was at stake from the tobacco tax compacts.
Sen. Shane Jett, R-Shawnee, said he was concerned voting to override Stitt in favor of extending the agreements would set a bad precedent.
“It is not going to end well for us because it creates a perverse incentive,” Jett said. “If we set the precedent today that instead of negotiating with the chief executive of the state of Oklahoma elected by the people, that they can do an in-run, or anybody can do an in-run around policy, come to us and begin cutting deals – I’m not saying this is happening, but the perverse incentive is there, that we need to avoid the slippery slope of doing shake downs or fundraising based on legislation that we’re passing when it’s not in the interest of the people of Oklahoma.”
Stitt said Monday the Senate used an “illegitimate process.”
“Despite real concerns for the future of our state, the Senate has chosen to disregard the Governor’s compact in favor of compact language the tribes wanted,” Stitt said. “I am trying to protect eastern Oklahoma from turning into a reservation, and I’ve been working to ensure these compacts are the best deal for all four million Oklahomans.”
Previously, Stitt said in one of his veto letters that one of his reasons for vetoing was due to a “clear violation of Oklahoma’s fundamental and statutory law” by circumventing the governor’s authority to negotiate compacts.
This article First appeared in the center square