Oklahoma
Republican lawmakers aim to modify Oklahoma's bank blacklist law
Two Republican senators want to amend a new law that bars state agencies and pension systems from working with banks that an Oklahoma official deemed hostile to fossil fuel energy companies.
Amid uncertainty about the law’s implementation and a lawsuit challenging the measure’s constitutionality, senators Dave Rader, R-Tulsa and Chuck Hall, R-Perry, filed bills to tweak Oklahoma’s Energy Discrimination Elimination Act.
Hall filed Senate Bill 1510 to clarify that the law, which targets financial institutions that are limiting their oil and natural gas investments and adopting environmentally friendly policies, doesn’t apply to municipalities.
This comes after Stillwater officials had to rethink a series of energy efficiency projects across their city because State Treasurer Todd Russ blacklisted the bank from which they intended to borrow millions in funding.
Under the act, Russ’ office was tasked with compiling and maintaining a list of financial institutions that boycott fossil fuel companies. The list includes Bank of America, which offered Stillwater the lowest interest rate to fund more than $13 million in lighting and infrastructure projects.
Hall, a former two-term city mayor whose district includes Stillwater, said he believes the law was never intended to apply to municipalities, but they were inadvertently included.
“We’re excluding these municipalities because, in my opinion, we should do everything we can not to preempt the decisions that are made on a local level,” he said.
Stillwater officials explored all their options, including considering borrowing funds from other banks and seeking legal guidance from Attorney General Gentner Drummond’s Office. Although Drummond’s office advised Stillwater officials that pursuing funding through Bank of America was still an option, city officials felt the move could leave them open to possible legal challenges, said Deputy City Manager Brady Moore.
He’s hopeful the proposed legislation gives municipalities clarity by exempting them.
“Municipalities are already up against a funding challenge just on all the services and amenities that we oversee, so it’d be nice to have the most competitive options for financing and not be at a disadvantage,” Moore said.
In the meantime, Stillwater plans to tackle its energy efficiency projects over the upcoming years without taking out a bank loan.
“We still have a really positive path forward,” Moore said.
During an interim study in October to discuss the law’s implementation, Rader said some legislative tweaks were necessary.
Rader recently filed Senate Bill 1536, which would give the state treasurer the ability to seek an attorney general’s opinion if he disagrees with how an agency or pension system is responding to the law. The attorney general’s opinion would determine if the governmental entity is in compliance with the Energy Discrimination Elimination Act.
Russ has criticized the Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System for taking an exemption under the law that prevents it from having to divest from the blacklisted companies on the grounds that doing so would be a breach of the pension system’s fiduciary responsibility.
Rader said his bill is likely to change over the course of the legislative session that begins Feb. 5.
“I think this is a door opener for some other issues that were in the bill,” he said. “I do not expect the bill that I submitted will be the bill in its finality.”
A state retiree filed a lawsuit in November to challenge the law he alleges is unconstitutional because pensioners could be forced to cover the costs if pension systems drop certain fund managers.
Oklahoma’s Energy Discrimination Elimination Act is similar to laws implemented in other conservative-led states.
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OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA. (KOKH) — An investigative audit into the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority; it’s something the Oklahoma County Board of Commissioners is considering.
Fox 25 has been covering issues with the Oklahoma County Detention Center for years, from failed inspections to staffing issues and missed paychecks.
The issues had members of the Jail Trust recommending last June they undergo a performance review. Now, in a letter recently issued, county commissioners are asking State Auditor Cindy Byrd to look into the county Criminal Justice Authority, also known as the jail trust. But whether it’s tied to those ongoing issues remains unclear.
“I really wouldn’t know. I wouldn’t know where to begin with that. I just wouldn’t even want to speculate, honestly,” said Commissioner Myles Davidson.
Commissioner Davidson told FOX 25 if the audit were to happen, it wouldn’t be cheap.
“To go into a budget that we’re extremely tight on, and start adding hundreds of thousands of dollars, and time, these audits don’t happen overnight. I don’t know that we would have an answer to any question we could possibly ask before the budgetary cycle is over,” said Davidson.
Davidson said that cycle ends June 1. Instead, he’s suggesting they look into existing audits to see if there’s any useful information there first.
“I would simply say that we need to look at the audits that have been submitted already to the state auditor that the jail trust has already paid for, and then if we have questions about those, we need to bring in that auditing agency and question them. We do have the authority to do that,” Davidsons said.
However, Davidson isn’t sure they have the authority to request this audit.
“When it comes to statute, we have to have it lined out, expressly in statute that we have this authority, and every county commissioner across the state has to abide by that,” he said.
Davidson said they’ll be meeting Monday to find out whether or not they do have the authority to request this audit. He told FOX 25 the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s office reached out to folks with Cindy Byrd’s office and was told the audit would cost $100,000, adding that she’s so swamped that she can’t do it this calendar year.
FOX 25 also reached out to Jason Lowe’s office but they said they have no comment.
OKLAHOMA CITY (KSWO) — Oklahoma lawmakers have voted to honor country music artist and Oklahoma native Toby Keith.
House Concurrent Resolution 1019 recognizes Keith’s lasting impact on music and proposes renaming a planned turnpike in his memory.
The concurrent resolution was authored by Rep. Jason Blair, R-Morgan, and Sen. Lisa Standridge, R-Norman.
The planned route will extend from Interstate 44 east to Interstate 35, then continue east and north to I-40 at the Kickapoo Turnpike.
Copyright 2026 KSWO. All rights reserved.
Governor Kevin Stitt has said he wants the State Superintendent of Education to be a governor-elected position instead of an elected one. Political analyst Scott Mitchell examines what this would mean for the state.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt is urging lawmakers to send a state question to voters that would make the state superintendent an appointed position, as he named Lindel Fields of Tulsa to the role and announced a turnaround team to help implement his education agenda.
Is the State Superintendent an elected role?
Yes, the State Superintendent of Education is still an elected role. Elections are scheduled for Nov. 3, 2026.
Cons of making the superintendent an appointed position
Mitchell said making this position appointed could cause distrust among some Oklahomans
“Over the years, we’ve seen that capture of regulatory sort of is easy to do when you have term limits, then lobbies become more powerful, and they have all the history. It’s very complicated.
He also said if the position were to be elected, they would likely have the same agenda as the governor.
“Yes, and I think the governor would be absolutely saying, ‘Yes, they’re going to do what I want them to do.’”
Changing how the superintendent is chosen changes what the founding fathers set.
“Voters are going to have to say yay or nay if it gets to them, is whether or not we want to change the way that the founding fathers set up the way that we make sure that power is not concentrated in Oklahoma,” he said.
Is Ryan Walters’ term the reason Stitt wants to make this position appointed?
Mitchell said he believes the former State Superintendent played a role in the government wanting to appoint this position.
During his time as superintendent, Walters was known to have multiple controversies. He resigned in 2025, allowing Stitt to appoint Lindel Fields.
“His impact on this, even though he’s gone, is certainly evident,” said Mitchell. “Walters left midstream, right? And so the governor had a chance to appoint someone. Well, it wasn’t just an appointment; it was chaos before and relative calm and competency after. And that has given the governor an opening for people to see with their own eyes. Yeah, you can put somebody in, we’re talking about Lindel Fields, that appears to get up every day, not trying to find some, get a click on social media, but rather to do his job. And across the board, for the most part, this guy’s getting thumbs up.
Stitt said electing Fields has already given him some leverage since he has been well perceived so far.
“That allows a governor to say, Look, I’ve got some standing, some leverage to go to the voters and say, let’s put expertise as the main reason that a person’s there, not because they were able to win an election because they had some sort of populist or dramatic ideas.”
Who is running for Oklahoma State Superintendent?
Republican Ballot
- Sen. Adam Pugh
- John Cox
- Rep. Toni Hasenbeck
- Ana Landsaw
Democrat Ballot
- Craig Mcvay
- Jennettie Marshall
Independent
To learn more about each candidate, click here.
A full breakdown of candidates in the 2026 Oklahoma State Superintendent race, including party affiliation, background and key education priorities.
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