OK Initiative Petition Legislation – Does It Threaten Our ‘Democracy’?

No. We live in a Republic.

Okay. Trick question, but that’s (I hope obvious) to make a point here. Sometimes when the shrieking about something is so loud you have to put your hands over your ears (hypothetically), it’s Kabuki Theater, not reality.

The shrieking SB1027 received was LOUD and varied. There were even conservatives up in arms. Consequently, we had the author of the bill – Senator David Bullard – on with us to WALK US THROUGH the bill. You can see the full live video on our Rumble and our YouTube channel.

Early on in the bill’s legislative cycle, I had an elected official call me and ask what I thought of the bill. I hadn’t read it, so I read it quickly (it’s not a big bill) and decided pretty early on in my reading that Bullard was on to something. I never had a problem with the bill from the beginning – it made sense to me.

Lots of state questions that have made it to the ballot have defied my ability to figure out how they got there. They just didn’t make sense for Oklahoma. Criminal justice ‘reform’, medical marijuana and the expansion of Medicaid are a few that pop into my head virtually immediately.

I’ve known we’ve had a problem writing our gists (the gist of the question is the ‘explanation’ you see on the ballot) for a long time. If you can’t read the gist of the state question and know EXACTLY what you’re voting for (or against), there is a HUGE problem. Citizens get snookered that way. They think they’re voting one way, but then they weren’t voting the way they thought they were voting because they didn’t understand the gist.

The first part of SB1027 fixes that (don’t forget, NEW LANGUAGE in a bill is UNDERLINED).

Section 2 amends the existing language to specify that YOU MUST BE A REGISTERED OKLAHOMA VOTER to circulate an initiative petition in Oklahoma. This is huge. Part of the biggest problem we’ve had with initiative petitions is that people come into Oklahoma from outside the state with initiative petitions that will try to change Oklahoma values – do you REALLY believe MOST people in Oklahoma wanted medical marijuana, or expanded Medicaid?

Section 3 does several things:

1. Any person collecting signatures HAS TO display a statement saying whether or not they’re getting paid to collect signatures.
2. If you feel you were duped by the petitioner and/or you didn’t understand the gist as it was written, you can petition the Secretary of State (SOS) to have your name removed from the petition.
3. Any organization paying a person to collect signatures SHALL LIVE IN THE STATE and any person being paid to collect signatures SHALL LIVE IN THE STATE and SHALL DISCLOSE TO THE SOS WHO IS PAYING THEM and they can’t be paid per sheet or signature, they must be paid an hourly wage. (This is huge for accountability.)
4. Anyone paying petition circulators SHALL turn in a weekly summary of expenditures to be published on the SOS website until conclusion of the petition.
5. Petitions amending state statute SHALL have 11.5% the number of votes cast during the most recent statewide general election for Governor for each county.
6. Petitions amending the Oklahoma Constitution SHALL have 20.8% the number of votes cast during the most recent statewide general election for Governor for each county.

Section 4 adds that the ballot title may not contain words or euphemisms (etc.), that would confuse or deceive voters.

Section 5 declares the law to have severability (if one part is struck down, the rest stays).

Section 6 declares the law to be in effect for any initiative petition upon which the SOS has not yet set a circulation date and section 7 declares an emergency so that it can take effect upon passage.

Now, seriously. Where is/are the problems here? Why wouldn’t we want petitioners to live in the state, declare who’s paying them and not get paid by someone – or organization – who/that doesn’t live/reside in the state? You don’t really want to understand the State Question (or initiative petition) you’re voting for (or signing)? Come on. This is a no-brainer.

The only thing about which there was some concern during the podcast, was how the law would be monitored – how do we make sure initiative petitioners are following the law? There were a couple of ideas mentioned during the podcast and Senator Bullard asked people to send him the suggestions that were voiced, but truly, it’s up to WE THE PEOPLE! We need to be informed (and now that you are, you need to inform your neighbor) of the provisions in this now state law.

The other thing that’s up to WE THE PEOPLE is NOT to put a bunch of garbage on social media that isn’t true. In the clip below, Bullard talks about how the ‘talk’ about the bill ran over the ‘truth’ of the bill. We can’t do that. We need to READ THE BILLS OURSELVES, not just push the ‘share’ button from our social media page.

Learn to look up bills on the state legislature webpage, or on a webpage called LegiScan. It’s not hard. All you do is type in the number of the bill on which you want information and it pops right up! You can read everything from the number of amendments the bill has to the number of votes the bill has. Truly, this is something EVERY member of WE THE PEOPLE need to learn how to do for themselves. We can’t trust social media, but we can trust ourselves.

Now, just because I want you to know what the bill says for yourself, here it is below. Read it and SHARE this post with your friends and neighbors today!