Oklahoma’s Republican Supermajority Passes More Democrat Bills Through The House Than Republican Bills

Oh, don’t get me started on this two-tiered committee system dreamed up by the House leadership this year. If you haven’t seen my critique of the House on Organizational Day, you might want to take a bit to at least listen to that. It was a phenomenal specter of what we’ve now seen as the House and Senate begin to hear each other’s bills and head for the legislative finish line.

You might even follow that up by reading this overview of what happened to at least one of our House members this year – not a single one of Representative Jim Shaw’s bills were heard on the floor. Not. A. One. In fact, I make the argument that, in a way, everyone in his district should throw their own little Boston Tea Party because I couldn’t find a better current day example of Taxation Without Representation. Honestly, disgusting – but again – I think those of us who have watched politics for a time could have seen that coming.

Former House Rep. Jason Murphy penned a phenomenal article summing up the huge issue of our Republican majority House, passing more Democratic bills out to the Senate than Republicans. I’ve asked his permission to copy some of that into this blog because you need to see his commentary. If you’d like to share his article directly, it’s called, “Why is Oklahoma’s GOP House Protecting Illegal Alien Drivers? The Secret Behind The Blocked Effort to Close The Illegal Alien Driver’s License Loophole?” and you can find it on his Oklahoma State Capitol Substack.

Below is a section from his article:

Navigating even one committee in the House’s smoke-and-mirrors system is challenging enough, especially when certain privileged legislators can kill bills without proper consideration. Navigating two committees, however, is mighty difficult for grassroots legislation lacking institutional support. Such legislation will most certainly struggle to pass through the closed-door decisions of two separate committee chairmen, either of whom can single-handedly halt a bill’s progress.

This essentially created a new layer through which grassroots legislation could be killed without the people closest to the Speaker having to get their hands dirty by refusing to give the bill a hearing before the full house.

So, back to Murphy’s article? What was that case-in-point bill, killed by the system?

It was House Bill 1043. And it was a vital proposal, based on an already enacted Florida law, that closes the loophole by which illegal invaders of our nation are using blue-state driver’s licenses to drive on Oklahoma roads.

Nineteen states reportedly offer driving privileges to the invaders, including New Mexico and Colorado, states that border Oklahoma.

The need for House Bill 1043 became very apparent when Oklahoma City Democrat Arturo Alonso-Sandoval, in declaring his opposition to the reform, reportedly claimed that “many” are using out-of-state licenses.

If Alonso-Sandoval is correct, Oklahoma’s roads are likely buzzing with those who have been enabled by blue states to bypass our driving laws and regulations. They are presumably living in Oklahoma but aren’t following the requirement that Oklahoma residents must obtain an Oklahoma driver’s license to drive on our roads. They’ve found a blue-state-enabled loophole and once again, a way to get around the laws and regulations by which the citizens are governed.

This disrespect for our laws, is sure to have consequences. Anyone who has been in Oklahoma City traffic recently, has no doubt taken note that something is now very wrong: it’s almost impossible to drive through that city without encountering an insane driver who has no regard for the traffic laws—almost as if they have no reason to respect the laws or fear of their enforcement.

House Bill 1043, by Jenkins of the House and Bullard of the Senate, would have closed that blue-state-enabled loophole by refusing to recognize these illegal alien driver’s licenses.

The bill was heard in the public safety committee where it was unanimously approved.

At that point, the legislation should have advanced to the house floor for a hearing before the full house.

But that’s where Hilbert’s new system—and one tyrannical super committee chairman—stood in the way. That chairman, Robert Manger, recently eked out a narrow election win after declaring to his constituents that he was 100% conservative. How, or what he based that on, is unclear, but it was just enough of a head fake to eke out a victory. But what is known, is that according to The Oklahoma Constitution’s Conservative Index—which since 1979 has been Oklahoma’s gold standard for gauging the voting of legislators—Manger actually scored a mere 60% conservative score in 2024.

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But no, the self-declared 100% conservative, Manger, simply refused to as much as give the bill a hearing in his committee.

Thus House Bill 1043 provides us with the perfect case-in-point of how Kyle Hilbert’s new committee system is functioning. It’s another new hallway of smoke and mirrors added to the already crazy house that is the House of Representatives.

So, if after reading that, you can’t see your way to become involved in the 2026 elections in order to get some of the worst offenders of this system out, then please move to another state – like Colorado or California – they’re already ruined. In the meantime, follow those of us reporting on grassroots efforts and let’s push back with everything we have. This is getting nuts.