The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday heard oral arguments over the constitutionality of Senate Bill 1027, the sweeping legislation enacted in May that imposes several requirements on initiative petition organizers. The high court’s ruling will shape the future of voter-led ballot initiative campaigns in Oklahoma, which have brought criminal justice reform, legalized medical marijuana and Medicaid expansion to the state over […]
Oklahoma Supreme Court
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Threatening truth
Just weeks after a majority of Oklahoma voters approved State Question 788, a bizarre bit of news broke. Julie Ezell, a lawyer for Oklahoma State Department of Health, had been charged with sending herself threats. On July 17, 2018, Ezell was charged in Oklahoma County District Court with counts of using a computer to violate […]
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Moving forward
Proponents for State Question 807 have filed their brief with the Oklahoma Supreme Court while the court has also denied a Tulsa attorney to submit a “friend of the court” brief and participate in the referee hearing scheduled for this week. On Feb. 18, petitioners for SQ807 Ryan Kiesel and Michelle Tilley filed their brief […]
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Tangled web
The petition drive for State Question 807 remains in limbo while the Oklahoma secretary of state has given the go-ahead for the gathering of signatures for State Question 808, but the author of that measure is both the challenger of SQ807 and also remains jailed in Tulsa County. Paul Tay is the central figure in […]
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Abortion access
Proposed legislation in 2012 that would have granted a fertilized egg the same rights as a person mobilized Danielle Williams to join the fight for reproductive justice. “It was kind of the first moment that I took the abortion debate personally. I luckily have never needed abortion care or anything like that, but it was […]
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Not politicians
A coalition of citizens wants to end partisan redistricting. Members argue that the practice, known as gerrymandering, essentially lets politicians pick their voters instead of the other way around. People Not Politicians, the coalition led by Let’s Fix This and League of Women Voters of Oklahoma, filed an initiative petition last week in hopes of […]
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Chicken-Fried News: Secretive Sooners
Add “Black Hole” to the list of names people call the University of Oklahoma (OU) board of regents — right next to “corrupt,” “failures” and probably a less appropriate type of hole. Freedom of Information (FOI) Oklahoma presents the Black Hole award to an organization or individual “that has most thwarted the free flow of […]
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Abortion ruling
An Oklahoma judge made history by upholding a law banning a second-trimester abortion procedure. District judge Cindy Truong’s ruling affects a 2015 bill that bans dilation and evacuation (D&E) abortions in the second trimester. Reproductive rights activists are calling the decision “rogue” because other states — including Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky and Texas — passed similar […]
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Chicken-Fried News: Moving forward
Let the debate begin! That’s what we all thought when we saw the recent Oklahoma Supreme Court decision in favor of Restore Oklahoma Now, Inc., ruling that their initiative petition — State Question 795 — seeking a public vote on whether to increase the oil and gas production tax was “legally sufficient.” Oklahoma Independent Petroleum […]
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Alcoholmanac: ABLE Commission is prepared to issue licenses under new alcohol laws, but a small number of businesses are applying
ABLE Commission is prepared to issue licenses under new alcohol laws, but a small number of businesses are applying.