The lead up to the holidays failed to slow down state agencies, courts or elected officials.
In fact, the race to solve problems, meet filing deadlines and release legal decisions before the end of the year made the last three weeks a mess for any given newsroom to manage. Beyond lingering litigation, the looming fury of 2026’s legislative session and election cycle portend a peculiar political year on Oklahoma’s horizon.
By reading the roundup below, you’ll find new filings in compelling cases, upheaval in a political party and other updates worth knowing as 2025 cascades to a close.
State revenue ‘relatively flat’ as 2026 session nears
When the 2026 regular session of the Oklahoma Legislature begins Feb. 2, early projections indicate that “state revenues will remain relatively flat” and “will limit the Legislature’s ability to make major new investments” for Fiscal Year 2027, according to Senate Appropriations and Budget Committee Chairman Chuck Hall.
Hall (R-Perry) joined his House counterpart, Chairman Trey Caldwell (R-Lawton), at a Dec. 19 meeting of the State Board of Equalization. The board, comprised of statewide officials and tasked with affirming tax collections, has set a Feb. 13 meeting to certify the final Fiscal Year 2027 appropriation limit for the Legislature. That number is expected to be about $10.9 billion, an estimated $338 million increase from FY 2026.
However, the annualized effect of the 2025 session’s 0.25 percent income tax rate reduction will not be felt until the 2027 session.
“The revenue projections presented today to the Board of Equalization show the real-time impact of recent tax cuts,” Hall said in a Dec. 19 press release. “Striking a balance between returning money to our hardworking taxpayers and investing in our state is essential to ensuring that Oklahoma remains a place that people want to live and work.”
As it has in recent years, the Legislature again will have access to significant cash reserves, albeit roughly $1 billion less than last year owing to major expenditures. In 2025, lawmakers purchased a prison, funded a new veterinary hospital at Oklahoma State University and partially funded a new pediatric heart hospital at the University of Oklahoma and helped establish a Level 1 trauma center in Tulsa.
Some of the state’s $3.71 billion in cash reservers can be budgeted for FY 2027, while others cannot. The state’s Constitutional Reserve Fund — known as the “Rainy Day Fund” — can only be spent for fiscal emergencies, and the Revenue Stabilization Fund expands and contracts to avoid major fluctuation in volatile revenue sources. Combined, they carry about $1.78 billion.
Meanwhile, another $544.3 million in the Education Reform Revolving Fund supports the state’s common education system, and the FMAP Rate Preservation Fund — which fills in when the federal government’s Medicaid matching share drops — carries a projected balance of $555.3 million. Both of those funds are likely to be used heavily in the FY 2027 budget.
Heading into 2026, the Oklahoma Health Care Authority faces significant fiscal pressure from changes in the Big Beautiful Bill that Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed over the summer. In terms of Medicaid funding, Oklahoma must reduce its Supplemental Hospital Offset Payment Program tax rates from 4 percent to the new maximum 3.5 percent. That carries a roughly $49 million impact up front, and other Medicaid funding questions are also top-of-mind for state budget leaders.
“I think we’re relatively flat,” Caldwell said after the Dec. 19 meeting. “If you couple that with the overall maintenance of effort we’re going to have, especially when it comes to health care — OHCA and the Department of Mental Health — we’re going to have a very flat budget outlook for this coming legislative session.”
Caldwell, Hall and the Legislature as a whole still face looming questions about Oklahoma’s mental health system.
In 2025, a financial gap at the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services dominated discussion for months, only for the Legislature to punt its longterm decisions to 2026. On a late night in May, lawmakers removed ODMHSAS Commissioner Allie Friesen from office despite her promises to delay cuts impacting services until the Legislature returned in February. Tapped by Gov. Kevin Stitt to succeed Friesen, new Commissioner Greg Slavonic had made no such promise. After a review of agency expenses, the retired U.S. Navy rear admiral chose to have 300-plus ODMHSAS contracts with nonprofit organizations expire in October for more than $40 million in projected savings.
As mental health stakeholders reach out to him about what may or may not be restored in the FY 2027 ODMHSAS budget, Caldwell broadly assessed the revenue picture facing Oklahoma.
“Overall, we’re stable. We’ve kind of stabilized after all of the monetary infusion under the Biden administration,” he said. “We’re starting to see with our sales tax and our use tax, we’re seeing that kind of tick up, even though we’ve pulled back from [taxing groceries] from a state perspective. We’re still seeing those incomes pop a little bit. I think a lot of that can be tied directly to inflationary pressures in the overall market as a whole and a slight effect of the tariffs increasing costs to net goods bought.”
Ethics Commission restores old reporting system, eyes recovery from company
What’s old is new again, at least when it comes to keeping tabs on political campaigns and lobbyist activities in Oklahoma.
Ending months of near-darkness amid a now-defunct shift to a new database built by a Texas vendor, the Oklahoma Ethics Commission relaunched its original Guardian System on Dec. 19 after voting “to terminate the contract with RFD and Associates Inc.” and “to retain the Attorney General’s Office to determine what legal and equitable remedies if any we can pursue.”
The decision means the public and those regulated by the commission can again visit Guardian.ok.gov to review or submit campaign finance filings, lobbyist registrations and other information.
“Our responsibility is to administer Oklahoma’s campaign-finance laws accurately, lawfully, and transparently — especially during an election season,” executive director Lee Anne Bruce Boone said in a brief press release.
During the Dec. 19 meeting, Bruce Boone presented commissioners with background about how RFD and Associates met “none” of the project deadlines for Guardian 2.0’s launch. After commissioners voted to terminate the company’s contract and review whether the state can recover any of the $825,000 already paid on the failed project, RFD chief operating officer Scott T. Glover frowned as he left the State Capitol and declined to answer questions.
“I don’t have any comments right now,” Glover said.
Meanwhile, the commission received a smattering of public feedback about proposed rule changes, which would increase cash contribution limits, add new reporting requirements for so-called “dark money” organizations and modify other guidelines. No action was taken on the proposed changes Dec. 19.
Stitt, Drummond bitter over poultry litter
Speaking of old things that feel new again, a long-soaking federal lawsuit over water quality and poultry pollution remains a sore spot between Gov. Kevin Stitt and Attorney General Gentner Drummond. The pair has been arguing about the issue for months, and their dueling press releases continued after U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frizzell entered a Dec. 19 judgment requiring poultry companies to remediate areas contaminated by phosphorous pollution.
In January 2023 as Drummond took office, Frizzell ruled in the 2005 lawsuit that poultry giants Tyson, Cargill, George’s, Simmons and Cal-Maine were responsible for the Illinois River becoming “polluted with phosphorus, with adverse consequences that include low dissolved oxygen; abundant filamentous green algae; blue-green algae in Lake Tenkiller near the river’s terminus; greatly decreased transparency; and significant detrimental impacts on the numbers and species of fish.”
In June, Frizzell issued an order finding there had been no substantive change in pollution levels. Now, six months later, his latest order requires action to address the public nuisance created by extensive application of poultry waste throughout the Illinois River watershed.
“Once on notice, the defendants had a duty to abate the nuisance and put a stop to the trespass, neither of which they have done,” he wrote.
Outlining his order, which also assessed the companies $350,000 in penalties, Frizzell declared:
Considering the balance of hardships between the state and the defendants, the court concludes that an injunction is warranted. The state persuasively asserts that the hardship that will befall the defendants is that they — like responsible businesses — will bear the costs of: first, remediating the extensive damage they’ve caused in the past; and second, managing more responsibly the poultry waste generated by their birds from this point forward.
However, to balance the equities, and as set forth below, the court adopts a less stringent [soil test phosphorous] standard than that requested by the state, as the court finds from the evidence and testimony presented by the state at trial that nutrient utilization standards that are protective of the environment require only that animal manure applications do not result in soil test phosphorus levels that exceed 120.
Drummond praised Frizzell’s order and called for an overall settlement agreement with poultry producers.
“This judgment has significant ramifications for the industry. These consequences underscore why we have focused on the importance of negotiations with the poultry companies before getting to this point,” Drummond said in a press release. “A robust poultry industry and clean water can and must coexist. I remain committed to working with the poultry companies toward a resolution. I can help facilitate negotiations that achieve cleanup of the watershed while supporting Oklahoma farmers. Let’s find a path forward together.”
Stitt, who held a meeting with farmers in Adair County earlier this month, criticized Frizzell’s order.
“If you can do exactly what the state requires and still end up in court, what are you supposed to do?” Stitt said in a press release. “This isn’t about chicken litter or clean water anymore — that’s what the Legislature is for. Laws should be made in the open, not forced on families through lawsuits.”
Stitt also criticized Frizzell’s adoption of Drummond’s recommendation that a third party be appointed to monitor the companies’ remediation efforts. Frizzell said that a “master must be appointed to oversee the investigation and planning of the remediation to be performed over this large watershed,” and to monitor implementation, compliance and progress.
“This court cannot reasonably perform these tasks itself, particularly in the wake of the McGirt decision and the resultant explosion of this court’s criminal docket,” Frizzell wrote, nodding to his own sizable caseload. “The need to appoint a master and necessary staff is therefore a compelling circumstance requiring an injunction which is, in part, mandatory.”
Stitt said “a reasonable settlement was possible,” and he criticized Drummond for not reaching one with the companies.
“Attorney General Drummond had three years to show up, engage, and negotiate a responsible settlement,” Stitt said. “Instead, this judgment delivers a direct punishment to producers by stripping them of ownership of their litter as a lawful source of revenue.”
Drummond responded by saying Stitt was “completely misrepresenting” Frizzell’s judgment.
“The state of Oklahoma has never sued a single farmer, and the court has not entered judgment against any Oklahoma person or Oklahoma company,” Drummond said in his second release. “If anyone has failed Oklahoma, it is Kevin Stitt — who stood idle while the Illinois River watershed suffered extensive and preventable damage, all to protect corporate interests. Stitt and his hand-picked attorney general, John O’Connor, had 18 months to manage this litigation. Instead, he chose inaction. Only now, after the court has ruled, is he attempting to deflect from his own failure of leadership.”
Drummond said the poultry companies have shown “unwillingness to negotiate” but that he hopes a resolution can be reached.
“I remain open to settlement even after entry of the judgment. A negotiated settlement gives all parties more certainty and flexibility for cleaning up the watershed while ensuring a thriving poultry industry in Oklahoma,” Drummond said. “I stand ready to bring the poultry corporations to the table for negotiations that will ensure clean water and a strong poultry business in Oklahoma. The question is whether Gov. Stitt will finally stop interfering.”
AG opinion issued amid hunting, fishing suit
Meanwhile, Stitt and Drummond are also locked in a legal battle over hunting and fishing licensure in eastern Oklahoma, which courts affirmed as a series of Indian Country reservations for purposes of the Major Crimes Act in 2020.
While Stitt remains steadfast in his belief that the U.S. Supreme Court should reverse its McGirt v. Oklahoma decision and grant the state concurrent criminal jurisdiction over all tribal citizens, he is also trying to stop the City of Tulsa’s new adjudication agreement with the Muscogee Nation, and he has directed the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation to enforce state hunting and fishing licensure laws against tribal citizens in eastern Oklahoma.
In November, the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Cherokee nations filed a lawsuit in federal court to block the state’s actions, arguing Oklahoma is unlawfully intruding on treaty rights and tribal sovereignty. In a motion to dismiss filed Dec. 19, Stitt, ODWC director Wade Free and other defendants claimed “multiple independent legal grounds foreclose this suit.”
“The nations generally ask the court to find that the definition of ‘Indian Country,’ as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 1165 and construed under McGirt, is determinative of any question regarding the appropriate intersection of state and tribal jurisdiction — with the state’s authority to regulate Indians, for any purpose — ending at the outer boundary of Indian Country unless Congress has expressly stated otherwise,” the state’s attorneys wrote. “But that is simply not the law.”
Drummond, however, disagrees with that statement. Acknowledging the pending litigation and that Rep. Chris Kannady’s request specified the reservations of the same three tribes that sued the state, Drummond released an attorney general’s opinion Dec. 18 that cited the 1983 U.S. Supreme Court case New Mexico v. Mescalero Apache Tribe to find that “state wildlife regulation is preempted where tribes have developed comprehensive wildlife management programs.”
“The nations have enacted comprehensive wildlife codes that establish licensing requirements, seasons, bag limits, and enforcement mechanisms,” Drummond wrote. “The nations’ licensing departments are charged with enforcing the codes by issuing or revoking licenses, tracking harvest data, and providing education. Federal law further reinforces tribal authority through statutes recognizing the inherent power of Indian tribes to exercise jurisdiction over all Indians within their territories.”
Drummond’s opinion includes a footnote criticizing some of Stitt’s social media posts as “demonstrably false,” referencing the tribes’ prohibitions on actions like “spotlighting.”
Both men answered questions about the ongoing dispute after the Dec. 19 Board of Equalization meeting.
“The law is settled,” Drummond said. “I would not anticipate any judge misunderstanding what is clear black-letter law.”
Stitt also claimed the law is clear — in his favor.
“We’ll win this case because we’re right on the law,” Stitt said, adding that tribal citizens written tickets in eastern Oklahoma have been cited for actions on state-controlled property. “It’s not trust land.”
While Stitt characterized the dispute as a matter of “civil law,” Drummond insisted the topic “is on the criminal side.”
Bracker balancing test
The Bracker balancing test originates from Thurgood Marshall’s opinion in the 1980 U.S. Supreme Court case White Mountain Apache Tribe v. Bracker. The test is applied to determine whether federal law has preempted state law regulating non-Indians on a reservation by examining the nature of the federal, state and tribal interests at stake and trying to balance each side’s interests.
Notably, the U.S. Supreme Court has never applied the Bracker test to an Indian in Indian Country.
“The Bracker balancing test weighs in [tribes’] favor,” Drummond said.
Calling Drummond’s formal opinion “very interesting,” Stitt said he “100 percent” hopes the U.S. Supreme Court decides to hear the income taxation challenge of Muscogee Nation citizen Alicia Stroble, a case that could ultimately clarify what types of jurisdiction Oklahoma has over Indians in its eastern half. (So far, the only court-affirmed limitation on state civil jurisdiction since the McGirt decision has involved surface mining regulation.)
“I want the Supreme Court to tell me: Am I the governor of just western Oklahoma? Or am I the governor of the state of Oklahoma. I’ve been saying that from the very beginning,” Stitt said. “Just tell me what the rules are, because the citizens of Oklahoma don’t want to keep building roads and bridges — Medicaid — we don’t want to keep building airports and schools if we don’t have jurisdiction. Businesses want to know, ‘Do I have zoning protection in the City of Tulsa? Or can you come in and build whatever you want?’ That’s a very, very important question. That’s why I’m so convinced that, for Oklahoma to be a top-10 state, we need to know what the rules are of the road. I would love for the Supreme Court to put this to bed for once and for all.”
Drummond, meanwhile, said the 2026 election cycle can put an end to state-tribal disputes if he is elected governor.
“In January 2027, we’re going to have a new governor, and the tribes will be eager to work with a governor that recognizes their sovereignty and the intricacies of the criminal justice system,” Drummond said. “So I anticipate, in my administration, that all of these troubles will be resolved and compacted.”
Asked if that type of compacting would look similar to Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols’ agreement with the Muscogee Nation for the city to send all municipal citations against Indian defendants within Muscogee Reservation boundaries to tribal court, Drummond said his administration “would continue to recognize the sovereignty of the tribes.”
“We would partner with them in the investigation, prosecution and incarceration of all Oklahomans, but through compacting,” Drummond said.
Asked whether municipal offenses alleged against Indian defendants would be adjudicated in city or tribal court, Drummond said: “You’re going to have to dial in in January 2027, because we’ve got a plan.”
Snafu blocks independents from Democratic Party primaries, chairman resigns
So much for the season of giving: The Oklahoma Democratic Party has shut out independent voters from its primaries for the first time in a decade owing to a faux pas in the early administration of a party chairman who has now resigned.
The ODP will join Oklahoma’s Republican and Libertarian parties in not allowing independent participation in their 2026 and 2027 primaries, limiting the options of the nearly 500,000 registered “no party” voters in the state during next year’s statewide, legislative and county offices.
Every November in odd-numbered years, state law requires the chairperson of each political party to inform the election board if they would like to permit independents to vote in their primaries. If a political party does not contact the Oklahoma State Election Board with an affirmative notification of intent, no independents may vote in that party’s primaries for the next two calendar years.
According to an election board spokesperson, the board typically sends a letter as courtesy reminding each party of the deadline. This year, the board received no response from Rep. John Waldron, who ousted Alicia Andrews as chairperson of the ODP this summer. Amid rumors of renewed financial issues and unresolved party drama, Waldron (D-Tulsa) resigned as chairman Dec. 8, citing personal reasons.
The election board sent a letter to Waldron on Dec. 3, confirming independents would not be able to vote in Democratic primaries in 2026 or 2027.
“Please be advised that no notification was received by the statutory deadline that the Oklahoma Democratic Party intends to allow registered independents to vote in in its primary elections in calendar years 2026 and 2027, pursuant to the provisions of [Title 26, Section 1-104(B)],” the letter said. “No other recognized party provided such notification, either.”
The Republican and Libertarian parties do not typically allow independents to vote in their primaries, but OSEB Secretary Paul Ziriax said the Oklahoma Democratic Party had allowed the practice since 2016.
According to the election board, there were 658,136 registered Democrats in the state at the beginning of 2025, accounting for 26.6 percent of all registered voters in Oklahoma. Meanwhile, 488,756 Oklahomans were registered as “no party,” meaning independent voters constituted 19.8 percent of the state’s total electorate and more than 42 percent of those eligible to vote in Democratic primaries during prior elections.
Several Democrats expressed frustration online with the party’s inaction. JeKia Harrison, a legislative assistant in the House who previously ran for House District 97, said the ODP had voted at its state convention this year to continue welcoming independent voters in its primaries.
“At this year’s State Convention, a question was raised and it passed that independents would continue to vote in Democratic primaries and runoff primaries,” Harrison wrote in a post to Facebook. “The leadership team of the Oklahoma Democratic Party has failed to carry out its responsibility as directed by our bylaws. I implore every Democrat who has been a ‘stickler’ for the rules to keep that same energy now. Hold leadership accountable. Do not accept excuses in place of responsibility.”
Proponents of State Question 836, which would open Oklahoma’s primaries to all voters and advance the top-two choices to general elections regardless of party affiliation, criticized the fact that independents have no chance to vote in “primaries that effectively decide the vast majority of elected offices in the state.”
“In contrast to the competitive and meaningful primary elections held every cycle, general elections are largely uncompetitive. Of the 445 county, state, and federal races up for election last cycle, only seven (about 2 percent) were decided in November general elections by fewer than 10 points,” a press release from Vote Yes 836 said. “The remaining 98 percent of November races were blowouts, determined instead in June primaries or August runoffs, or ended on filing day when candidates ran unopposed.”
Judge issues declaration of ‘actual innocence’ for Perry Lott
While more eyes may be on the lingering retrial of Karl Fontenot, another controversial case arising from Ada in the 1980s also has new developments. On Nov. 26, a Pontotoc County judge issued a “declaration of actual innocence” for a separate man convicted more than 30 years ago for a rape he said he did not commit.
Perry Lott was convicted in 1988 and sentenced to 350 years in prison for the 1987 sexual assault of a woman in Ada. More than three years after he was exonerated by DNA testing, Pontotoc County District Judge Steven Kessinger vacated and dismissed Lott’s conviction, finding him “actually innocent” and qualifying him for state restitution. Earlier this year, the Oklahoma Legislature approved HB 2235 to increase the compensation rate for wrongful convictions to $50,000 per year served in prison.
In Lott’s case, the Nov. 26 order listed several inconsistencies in the evidence and testimony during his trial, including inconsistent witness identification and a truthful polygraph examination that showed Lott’s innocence “has not been rebutted by evidence.”
“Inconsistencies in the evidence and testimony [included] Mr. Lott having facial hair and the perpetrator having none; the victim occasionally expressing uncertainty as to the characteristics of the perpetrator; the victim in post-conviction interviews being uncertain as to the number of perpetrators; Mr. Lott having an alibi that was not substantially impeached; and Mr. Lott having no access to a telephone which would make it difficult to impossible for him to have made the threatening phone calls that were made by the real perpetrator,” Kessinger’s order states.
Pontotoc County District Attorney Erik Johnson told NonDoc in 2023 that he anticipated Lott’s lawyers from The Innocence Project would file for the declaration of actual innocence.
Rural Oklahoma colleges land unrestricted millions from MacKenzie Scott
Philanthropist and billionaire MacKenzie Scott announced Dec. 9 that she has given $7.1 billion in donations to organizations over the last year, with $134 million going to rural colleges and universities in Oklahoma.
Yield Giving is Scott’s endeavor to share “a financial fortune created through the effort of countless people.” Following her 2019 divorce from Jeff Bezos, with whom she made key contributions to the creation of Amazon, Scott signed a pledge to give the majority of her wealth to charitable causes over the course of her lifetime. According to Forbes, Scott has a net worth of $34.1 billion.
Eight colleges and universities serving rural Oklahoma have announced receiving donations from Yield Giving since Nov. 21, with most announcing the donation is the largest in the history of each institution. The following schools have received donations:
- Carl Albert State College in Poteau, $23 million;
- Seminole State College in Seminole, $17 million;
- Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, $17 million;
- Northern Oklahoma College in Tonkawa, $17 million;
- East Central University in Ada, $17 million;
- Eastern Oklahoma State College in Wilburton, $16 million;
- College of the Muscogee Nation in Okmulgee, $8 million; and
- Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College in Miami, $19 million.
All donations are unrestricted, meaning the colleges and universities can use the money however they see fit.
According to The Oklahoman, Scott’s donations are equivalent to approximately 8.1 percent of the Oklahoma Legislature’s appropriation for higher education in the current fiscal year.
Oklahoma senator files bill for ZIP codes in Hochatown, north Enid
U.S. Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) introduced legislation to give two Oklahoma communities their own ZIP codes.
Lankford filed S.3176, which would direct the U.S. Postal Service to assign unique ZIP codes to Hochatown in McCurtain County and North Enid in Garfield County.
The measure has been referred to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, where Lankford serves.
“I’m hopeful unique ZIP codes for Hochatown and North Enid will bring clarity for postal deliveries and online sales tax collections — and, most importantly, ensure clear communication with first responders during emergencies,” Lankford said in a media statement.
U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) signed on as a cosponsor. If the bill is approved, the USPS would have up to 270 days to establish the new ZIP codes.
A similar ZIP code bill, sponsored by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), passed the House earlier this year also and included both Hochatown and North Enid.
New Hughes County assessor sworn in following valuation fiasco
Hughes County’s new assessor was sworn into office Dec. 11, less than three weeks after the forced resignation of Amber Jones, who stepped down Nov. 21 after state officials discovered her office had only completed 1 percent of the required property valuations last year.
County commissioners accepted resumes to fill the vacancy left by Jones’ resignation and selected Brooke McNaughten to fill the position. McNaughten resigned as an administrative assistant from the Wes Watkins Technology Center in Wetumka to take the county post.
Jones’ resignation came at the request of Hughes County District Attorney Erik Johnson, who said State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd alerted him to the issue. The Oklahoma Tax Commission recommended unprecedented sanctions against the county, which the State Board of Equalization approved Dec. 1.
“This is a serious situation,” Byrd told the rest of the board. “When these evaluations are not conducted correctly or valued correctly, it puts the [government] entities at risk of not receiving funds that, by law, are required to be levied.”
Also on Dec. 1, the State Board of Equalization approved Category 1 and Category 2 noncompliance designations for other counties.
Counties placed into Category 1 noncompliance were: Blaine, Greer, Jackson, Rogers and Seminole. The board voted to move Sequoyah County into Category 2 noncompliance for tax assessments, and Byrd noted that Caddo, Nowata, Okmulgee remain at Category 2 noncompliance.
Meanwhile, the assessor offices in Choctaw, LeFlore, McCurtain, Murray, Okfuskee counties were found to have returned to full compliance, and six counties were said to have received a “perfect” score on the their compliance evaluations: Carter, Comanche, Mayes, Oklahoma, Stephens and Woods counties.
According to the OTC, Hughes County’s valuation problems have worsened since 2020, with residential and commercial assessments falling out of alignment with actual market conditions. The county has failed annual performance audits since 2022, and inspection rates dropped from 24 percent in 2023 to just 1 percent in 2024.
A memorandum of understanding signed in April required Jones’ office to complete several corrective tasks by November 2025, but only two were completed.
Hughes County’s move from Category 2 to Category 3 noncompliance marked the first time a county has received that designation since its creation in 1992. Category 3 status allows the OTC to directly supervise the assessor’s office and withhold the assessor’s salary until compliance is restored. Johnson said Jones’ failures created “slipshod” assessments that hurt schools and other entities dependent on property tax revenue.
Former Rep. Bruce Niemi dies at 76
Former Oklahoma Rep. Bruce Niemi died in the early morning hours of Dec. 1, his daughter announced on Facebook. A lifelong Tulsan, Niemi was born April 24, 1949. After attending the University of Oklahoma and teaching at Tulsa Community College, he served one term in the Legislature representing Tulsa’s 78th district.
A Democrat, Niemi flipped the then-conservative district after the 1990 election before it returned to Republican control in 1992. Niemi was a devoted volunteer for the Tulsa County Democratic Party and Democratic campaigns in Tulsa. He served as chairman of the Tulsa County Democratic Party from 2022 to 2025.
Several prominent Tulsa Democrats spoke out in the wake of Niemi’s passing, including Mayor Monroe Nichols.
“Today, Tulsa mourns the loss of Bruce Niemi, a dedicated public servant and an incredible human being,” Nichols said in a Facebook post. “In every space he served — whether in government, the classroom, his church or countless civic and political organizations — he showed up with integrity, curiosity, and a commitment to making things work.”
In another post, current Tulsa County Democratic Party Chairwoman Sarah Gray called Niemi “the kind of man who felt called to do something and then went out and found something to do.” Former Oklahoma Democratic Party Chairwoman Alicia Andrews called him “a true champion for democracy.”
Former Tulsa City Council member Grant Miller, a Republican, also mourned Niemi’s passing.
“There’s something rare and deeply needed in the way Bruce approached public life — kindness, humility, and a genuine desire to make things better for everyone,” Miller wrote. “We need more people like Bruce involved in our country and our communities. He was a good man, a thoughtful leader, and someone I’m grateful to have had the pleasure of knowing.”
