B.C. Clark’s anniversary jingle is back on airwaves for the 68th year, and people on Twitter are complaining about the Thunder’s absence from the NBA’s coveted Dec. 25 schedule, which can only mean one thing: Christmastime is here.
The working world tends to slow down as folks head home to their families, but even so, news in Oklahoma never completely stops, not even for Ol’ Saint Nick — just ask the officials and attorneys who will be in mediation this week in an eleventh-hour attempt to save a proposed mental health facility in Oklahoma City.
Here at NonDoc, we wish you a happy holiday season, but before you completely clock out, check some of the recent happenings around the state.
FY 2026 budget projection down from FY 2025
If you missed the Oklahoma Board of Equalization’s 20-minute meeting Dec. 20, no one would blame you. The board of statewide officials reconvenes in February each year to certify the final appropriation limit the Legislature uses to build the next fiscal year’s budget.
For the FY 2026 budget projection, things are looking less rosy than they have in recent years, but that has largely been expected. While setting the FY 2025 budget during the 2024 session, lawmakers eliminated the state portion of sales tax on groceries, and they spent more than $1 billion in carryover cash on targeted investments, such as differed maintenance projects at state parks, buildings and higher education institutions. Saying revenues were likely to slow in coming years, the State Senate refused to approve the quarter-point income tax percentage cut advanced by the House and pleaded for by Gov. Kevin Stitt. Senate leaders said an income tax cut would have risked returning to the revenue failures and budget cuts endured a decade ago before the historic 2018 tax increase.
When the preliminary FY 2026 budget projection was unveiled Friday, the $12.29 billion estimate for funds available to appropriate came in about $200 million below what the Legislature appropriated for FY 2025. Speaking with media after the meeting, Stitt said the recurring revenue projection is about $70 million below the February 2024 number, but he declined to say the projection affirmed the wisdom of senators last session. Instead, Stitt reiterated the importance to keep spending levels in check.
Drummond drama
Like Superintendent Ryan Walters, Attorney General Gentner Drummond did not attend the Dec. 20 Board of Equalization meeting, but he issued a press release about having “no confidence” in the numbers presented. He suggested Stitt has a history of “political games” on revenue estimates and called for greater legislative involvement in their creation.
Stitt scoffed at the statement and praised Tax Commission and OMES leaders for conservative projections that left them “under on their estimates the last four years in a row.”
“It’s going to be basically flat from last year, so just like I’ve said all along for the last six years: Revenue doesn’t just always go up in a straight line,” Stitt said. “I feel great with the fact that we’ve cut the grocery tax for helping Oklahoma families, and it’s a reason why we need to be very cautious on the expense side of the ledger. That’s why I’m talking about flat budgets.”
Stitt said he would likely call for a 0.25 percent cut to Oklahoma’s 4.75 percent income tax rate, noting that’s lower than his 0.75 percent rate cut request in prior State of the State addresses. He said he will also ask legislators to create a “path to zero” on the income tax rate that would include triggers when revenues grow from year to year. The next time Oklahoma had $400 million in revenue growth, Stitt said as an example, his proposal would dedicate $200 million to a tax cut and “grow government” by $200 million.
Senate Appropriations and Budget Committee Chairman Chuck Hall (R-Perry) said there are “a lot of variables up in the air right now that make it hard to pinpoint what the budget picture could look like in two months.”
“We expected state revenue would be down some due to the grocery tax cut, but we didn’t expect the reduction in oil prices, lower-than-normal sales tax collections and other factors that have resulted in this decrease in revenue,” Hall said. “The Board of Equalization’s February numbers will help tell us if those issues are temporary or more of a long-term trend.”
Hall said he anticipates that “tax cuts are still likely to be part of the conversation when the legislative session starts.”
“Building a state budget is always a balancing act. You have folks that want tax cuts, but then we also have budget requests from executive branch agencies totaling over $1 billion more than what we appropriated in the current year,” Hall said. “We implemented a new budget process last year that allowed all senators to have more involvement in the budget process. I’m sure we will use a similar transparent budget process this year that will let all senators have a say in determining our budget priorities.”
House Appropriation and Budget Committee Chairman Trey Caldwell (R-Lawton) said the state “is in a very strong position when it comes to our cash on hand and the multitude of saving mechanisms that we have.”
“If we’re going to add $400 million to year-over-year expenses, we need to try to find those efficiencies, because the year-to-year revenue hasn’t kept pace the last couple of years,” said Caldwell, who is entering his first session as chairman of the House budget committee. “These numbers should really drive home the fact that we, as the budget team and the House of Representatives, need to really focus on trying to find more efficiencies and make sure that we are tightening the belt but still keeping our eyes open for opportunities when it comes to infrastructure and economic development.”
With the 2025 regular session set to begin with Stitt’s seventh State of the State address Monday, Feb. 3, lawmakers will only have to wait 11 days to receive the final FY 2026 budget projection and appropriation limit. For those who love this sort of inside baseball, the Board of Equalization is scheduled to certify those final figures at 1 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14. Happy Valentine’s Day, legislative fiscal staff.
OSDE proposes 2025 administrative rule changes on immigration status, civil rights
On Dec. 16, the Oklahoma State Department of Education announced proposed administrative rule changes for 2025 that include a number of controversial amendments.
With the changes presented ahead of the next regular session, the 2025 Legislature will have the chance to approve or deny any of the agency’s proposed rules that are ultimately adopted by the State Board of Education. If lawmakers take no action on a rule sent to them, the governor must approve or deny the rule.
The most notable changes of the proposed administrative rules reflect the conservative ideals Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters has promoted throughout his term. OSDE’s entire provision on “civil rights” — which currently includes the guiding precept that “the State Board believes it is essential for the education process to include cultural awareness and sensitivity for a school age population which reflects diverse backgrounds, races, cultures and attitudes” — would be entirely revoked. Other changes also address the citizenship status of students.
In an Oct. 30 press release, Walters demanded that President Joe Biden’s administration reimburse Oklahoma for the use of taxpayer money to educate “illegal immigrant children” in state schools. Walters demanded a total of $474.9 million.
Within the administrative rule changes proposed, one would require students to provide proof of citizenship before enrollment, and it would require Oklahoma school districts to record the number of students who were unable to provide such documentation. Walters said such requirements are necessary to calculate the costs and resources used to educate students whose citizenship status is undocumented.
Other proposed changes address a new flag policy, more than 50 new references to the Bible, policy to “eradicate” diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, and a requirement that districts “immediately report” any personnel who resign or are not re-employed “due, in whole or in part, to suspicion of abuse or neglect of a student under the age of 18.”
Administrative rules are open to public comment via email through Jan. 17, the same day as multiple scheduled hearings for the State Board of Education to consider adopting the rules and sending them to the Legislature.
Lawsuit challenging gender rule advances
On Dec. 19, attorneys representing an anonymous plaintiff met with an attorney representing Superintendent Ryan Walters and the State Board of Education in Cleveland County District Court Judge Michael Tupper’s courtroom to argue over a lawsuit challenging an administrative rule passed last year.
The plaintiff, an unnamed Cleveland County transgender student, filed the lawsuit Dec. 21, 2023. They filed the suit after the board passed an emergency rule prohibiting school districts from changing gender designations on past school records without board approval. At the time, Walters said the rule was needed to prevent “radical judges” from changing reality.
“If you’re a gender, that is the gender that you are,” Walters said after a board meeting in September 2023. “You can’t go back and change your birth certificate. So we’ve got to stand for truth and reality in society.”
While the changing of birth certificates has spurred its own litigation, Thursday’s hearing over the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgement featured Tupper asking numerous questions of the attorneys over the 90-minute hearing.
David Whaley, the attorney representing Walters and the board, was unable to explain some of the arguments Tupper asked him about. He confirmed after the hearing that he had been asked to step in as the attorney representing the defendants Wednesday, a day before proceedings.
Tupper said he would likely issue a ruling in the next 30 days.
Former Wellston substitute sentenced to four years
CHANDLER — With one side of the courtroom filled with dozens of Emma Delaney Hancock’s friends and family, Lincoln County Associate District Judge Sheila Kirk sentenced the former Wellston Public Schools substitute teacher to four years in prison for sexting a student in 2022.
A jury found Hancock guilty on two counts of “soliciting sexual conduct or communication with a minor by use of technology” after a three-day trial in October. She was acquitted of three other charges related to her alleged relationship with the student. For the two counts on which they found her guilty, jurors recommended three years in prison.
Throughout the sentencing hearing, Hancock — the daughter of Wellston’s mayor and wife of its police chief — cried while wearing an orange jumpsuit with her hands cuffed.
Kirk adopted the jury’s recommendation of three years in prison for one count on which Hancock was found guilty. For the second count, Kirk technically adopted the jury’s three-year recommendation but suspended two of those years. Kirk ordered the sentences to run consecutively — or one after the other — and Hancock will have to register as a sex offender.
The student Hancock was accused of having a relationship with also attended the hearing with his family.
“We’re satisfied,” said a family member of the victim after the hearing.
Prosecutors with the Lincoln County District Attorney’s Office asked Kirk to give Hancock six years in prison, and they read impact statements from the victim and the family member.
“Since the incident, I have struggled with feelings of anxiety and sadness that I never experienced before,” the victim wrote. “I often feel anxious and find it hard to trust. Activities that used to be fun and enjoyable now feel overwhelming, and I usually just want to avoid them. School has also become a challenge for me.”
In his statement, the victim, a senior at Wellston High School, said he had decided not to return to school for his final semester. This semester had been his first back at school since the events that lead to Hancock’s arrest.
Prosecutors also read a statement from his parents.
“Our lives have been irrevocably changed. [Our son], once filled with joy and an outgoing demeanor, now carries a weight that no child should have to bear. The fear and anxiety that have taken root in his heart are palpable,” the parents wrote.
Hancock did not speak during the hearing. Her attorney, Billy Coyle, asked for her sentence to be suspended or “at a minimum” for the two sentences to run concurrently, which would have meant three years instead of four.
“She’s already done two and a half months. She has to be a convicted sex offender. They’re going to get every ounce of blood they’ve wanted out of her,” Coyle said. “It’s like they want her on a stake in front of the village and burning with fire. I mean, if they could get everything — every ounce of blood out of her — they would. I’m asking that she go home to her children — that she be able to raise her kids.”
When Kirk announced her decision, members of Hancock’s family expressed signs of shock and outrage, prompting a warning from Kirk.
“If you cannot control your emotions, you need to exit the courtroom,” Kirk said. One person sitting with Hancock’s supporters left after Kirk’s statement.
As Hancock begins her prison sentence, she is also facing a civil lawsuit brought by the victim and his father alleging nearly identical facts to the criminal case. The plaintiffs in the civil case asked the judge for default judgement after Hancock’s conviction, on which that judge has not yet ruled.
Coyle immediately filed paperwork to begin an appeal on Hancock’s behalf, and he said he appreciated that Kirk chose not to give Hancock six years in prison. He said he thought Hancock would not have to serve all, or even most, of her four-year sentence.
“We feel grateful (…) that the judge saw through everything and suspended part of the second sentence,” Coyle said.
Key witness testifies in God’s Misfits case
In a deal to avoid the death penalty, a defendant in a Panhandle double homicide case took the stand in a preliminary hearing and alleged that others orchestrated the murders, according to new reporting Nolan Clay of The Oklahoman.
Paul Jeremiah Grice, one of six defendants accused of participating in the murder of Veronica Butler, 27, and Jilian Kelley, 39, admitted to hitting Butler with a hammer and stabbing her in the neck as she attempted to fight him off. Allegedly a member of an anti-government group called God’s Misfits, Grice said he had been “brainwashed by evil” — particularly singling out defendant Tifany Adams, who was the grandmother of Butler’s two children, and Adams’ boyfriend, defendant Tad Bert Cullum. Grice said he fell for claims that Butler’s children were being abused while under their mother’s care.
Spectators in the courtroom reportedly sobbed so loudly during Grice’s testimony that the judge had to halt proceedings temporarily. In tears, Grice claimed Adams laughed as the murders took place.
“It was the most evil laugh I have ever heard,” he said.
Kevin Ray Underwood executed
On Dec. 19, the state of Oklahoma executed Kevin Underwood by lethal injection for the brutal murder of a 10-year-old in 2006 in Purcell. Underwood was pronounced dead at the State Penitentiary in McAlester at 10:14 a.m., according to Nolan Clay of The Oklahoman.
Underwood was convicted and sentenced to death in 2008 after admitting to police that he murdered Jamie Rose Bolin, his neighbor, with the intent to carry out cannibalistic fantasies.
Underwood’s execution — which occurred on his birthday — became the 25th and final execution in the United States this year. It marked Oklahoma’s fourth execution this year.
Clay reported that Underwood said he was sorry for his actions when asked if he had any last words.
“I would like to apologize again for all the terrible things I did,” he said from the execution gurney. “I hate that I did those things, and I wish I could take them back.”
Underwood made similar remarks during his clemency hearing Dec. 13, when he asked the Pardon and Parole Board for mercy. Board members voted 3-0 to deny clemency.
That PPB meeting occurred after two cancellations in the wake of two board members’ resignations (including one who is under investigation for bribery after allegedly sending sexual messages to a woman seeking a pardon). Underwood had cited the resignations and rescheduling of his clemency hearing in a recent court filing seeking a stay of his execution, saying he was entitled to hearing before a full five-member board.
That stay motion was eventually denied by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, according to The Norman Transcript.
OCC pondering Supreme Court ruling on Winter Storm Uri
Hearing from several attorneys that the best action to take would be no action, the three-member Oklahoma Corporation Commission agreed to postpone its decision on whether to dismiss a two-year-old order dealing with franchise fees and utilities that the Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down last month.
Commissioner Bob Anthony, attending the next-to-last scheduled meeting of his 36 years on the regulatory body, said during the Dec. 18 meeting that he had drafted an order to dismiss the matter so it is resolved “before I walk out the door.”
“I think it’s been rather disruptive to the finances of the cities, and it’s caused uncertainty as to the obligation — financial obligation — that ratepayers may have,” Anthony said.
Commissioners in August 2022 issued an order that prohibited utility companies from billing customers for franchise fees, municipal fees and any other taxes allowed by state law on costs related to Winter Storm Uri, the 14-day megastorm that struck the region in February 2021. In November, the Supreme Court invalidated the order and said the topic should be adjudicated in district court instead of by the commission. The total fiscal impact of those fees being collected from ratepayers is unknown, but Anthony — who dissented in the August 2022 final order — said about $60 million to $100 million is owed to cities and towns from unpaid franchise fees and municipal taxes.
Commissioner Todd Hiett, who voted for the 2022 order along with former Commissioner Dana Murphy, said its intent was to make it clear ratepayers would not be saddled with having to pay increased franchise fees or taxes on securitized debt caused by the winter storm.
The high court ruled the commission’s determination that the February 2021 Regulated Utility Consumer Protection Act changed, amended or altered a utility’s legal obligations concerning municipal franchise fees and gross receipts taxes is a determination not sustained by law and must be reversed.
“I agree with the Supreme Court,” Hiett said. “Our order stated we do not have jurisdiction in that arena. That’s between the utilities and the municipalities. That is completely separate from our ratemaking responsibilities here. (…) There are hundreds if not thousands of franchise agreements across the state, and we do not know exactly what’s contained in each individual franchise agreement.”
Oklahoma Medicare and Medicaid selected for pilot program
The Oklahoma Health Care Authority is one of four Medicaid agencies in the nation that has been selected to take part in a new pilot program beginning Jan. 1 and lasting eight years.
The national Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Dec. 18 that Oklahoma, Michigan, New York and South Carolina had been selected to deliver mental health care under a new CMS Innovation in Behavioral Health Model. According to a CMS fact sheet, the IBH Model is designed to provide incentivized “payment approaches” for qualifying mental health practitioners — including safety net providers — to “deliver person-centered, integrated care.”
According to the CMS fact sheet, intended outcomes include: enhanced quality and delivery of “whole person care,” increased access to services, fewer avoidable emergency room and inpatient visits, and strengthened health IT systems. Participating practices would enroll patients in the care model who are on Medicaid and/or Medicare with moderate to severe mental illness and/or substance abuse disorder.
DA Greg Mashburn to retire, Jennifer Austin appointed to succeed
Gov. Kevin Stitt has appointed Jennifer Pointer Austin to succeed District Attorney Greg Mashburn on March 1 when he retires after more than 18 years as the chief prosecutor for District 21, which covers Cleveland, McClain and Garvin counties.
“When I first took office, I pledged to uphold justice, protect the vulnerable, and serve the public with integrity,” Mashburn said in a press release. “These principles have guided me daily, and together, we have achieved significant milestones in pursuit of safer, more crime-free communities.”
Mashburn became district attorney after unseating former DA Tim Kuykendall in 2006. Rumored as a possible candidate for other political offices, Mashburn chose to step aside in March with essentially two full years left in his current term. District attorneys around Oklahoma have sometimes chosen to resign and support the appointment of a key assistant for the purpose of an incumbency advantage in the next election. Austin has been Mashburn’s first assistant DA since 2022, and she attended last week’s meeting of the District Attorneys Council instead of Mashburn.
“Jennifer’s career exemplifies dedication, integrity, and a steadfast commitment to justice,” Stitt said in his own press release. “Her decades of experience prosecuting the most challenging cases, combined with her leadership and service to victims of crime, make her a terrific choice to serve as district attorney.”
Austin, who followed Mashburn from the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office to Cleveland County in 2007, said she is “deeply honored” by Stitt’s appointment.
“Throughout my career, I’ve been committed to standing up for victims and ensuring justice prevails,” she said. “I’m eager to lead the office with integrity and a continued focus on keeping our communities safe.”
