The opening motion is how the Senate's veto override on Senate Bill 26 x got underway this week. That law makes way for an extension of tribal tobacco compacts which would have expired this year.
Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat says the reason for the extension is to give the governor more time to negotiate with the tribes not take that power away.
"Those who would purport that we are removing the governor's authority to negotiate, have a misunderstanding of what this actually does. This extends his ability to negotiate by one year to the end of December,” says Sen. Treat.
But he adds there is a time limit.
"And if this body finds that the Governor is not negotiating in good faith, I reserve the right as the leader of this body and you all shall reserve the right to change that law if we so desire and have the support to do so next year,” says Sen. Treat.
Governor Stitt recently held a news conference asking senators to not override the veto because he was offering a replacement compact that would prevent the tribes from expanding past trust land.
He also fears that by overriding his veto, the legislature is ceding power to the tribes in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's McGirt decision.
Stitt had his supporters on Monday.
"The letter of the law, which is what we've adhered to in the McGirt decision when we validate these things, takes us down a path that I don't believe that we need to go down and it's a step in the wrong direction,” says Sen. Warren Hamilton.
Hamilton believes these veto overrides are leading to the balkanization of eastern Oklahoma.
"If we vote to override the governor's veto, we are taking steps in the direction that led Bosnia to its eventual ruin,” says Sen. Hamilton.
As predicted by Treat about three weeks ago when the first override failed the Senate did *narrowly* have enough votes to override.
House Bill 1005 x, the license tag compact extension was also overridden by the same margin in the Senate on Monday.
Shortly after the votes were tallied Governor Stitt issued a statement saying:
"Despite real concerns for the future of our state, the senate has chosen to disregard the governor's compact in favor of compact language the tribes wanted. I am trying to protect eastern Oklahoma from turning into a reservation, and I’ve been working to ensure these compacts are the best deal for all four million Oklahomans. Unfortunately, the senate seems to disagree and used an illegitimate process to do so."
The governor's concern stems from the U.S. Supreme Court's McGirt ruling which changed criminal jurisdiction within tribal reservations. His fear is that the tribes are using the McGirt ruling and the other related court decisions to expand their power across eastern Oklahoma.
But at least one tribe isn't looking to expand its power like that.
"The concern that by extending this compact, suddenly you're gonna see as the press conference the Oklahoma Governor held, he posited that the tribes are gonna start opening up smoke shops at every street corner. It hasn't happened for the past three years. I don't know how that's a reasonable thing to be worried about with only one year left on the clock,” says Chickasaw Nation Special Counsel Stephen Greethem.
Greethem says the tobacco retail operations won't be expanding just because the current compact is being extended by the legislature.
"Tribal law provides that our tobacco retail operations are located on trust land,” says Greethem.
He adds the Chickasaw Nation is willing to work with Stitt.
"Chickasaw nation, we've already communicated long ago to the governor that we can work with him on some kind of an agreement that deals with the trust land versus reservation land issues. But we need to sit down and work it out. These are, these are these issues that we're not negotiating in a vacuum. It's been five years of difficult relations,” says Greethem.
While the tribes and the governor appear to be headed back to the negotiating table over the tobacco and license tag compact it is Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond who is making moves to take over representation for the state of Oklahoma in a federal lawsuit concerning four gaming compacts.
Treat and House Speaker Charles McCall filed a legal challenge to the compacts which included a provision for sports betting, which has yet to be approved by the legislature.
"Treat One and Treat Two very clearly established the legislature's role and also said that the governor had violated state law in entering those compacts with those four tribes. He is now seeking to have a federal bureaucracy overrule state law and say that he can do things that state law and the state constitution says it can't,” says Sen. Treat.
Despite the Oklahoma Supreme Court's ruling that Stitt’s gaming compacts were invalid, Stitt submitted them to the Department of Interior for approval.
Some of the larger tribes with existing gaming compacts filed a lawsuit against the federal agency, Stitt, and the four tribes involved with the new gaming compact, which included sports betting, to prevent it from going into place.
Drummond filed with the court to take over the representation for the state, saying in part:
"The governor is free to make his own decisions regarding how he wants to interact with the tribes, but he is not free to violate Oklahoma law. I am taking this action in order to uphold the law and defend our constitution."
After this week, all eyes return to the Oklahoma House.
Capitol Correspondent Jason Doyle breaks down the latest following the veto override of the Tribal Compacts. The Oklahoma Senate believes it is the best path for strengthening relations with the Tribes.
___________________________________________________________________________
The Oklahoma News Report, hosted by Rich Lenz, is a weekly in-depth exploration of news and issues affecting all Oklahomans, featuring topical information and meaningful stories that provide context and meaning to educate and engage every citizen across the state. For more information about The Oklahoma News Report, visit https://www.OETA.tv/onr.
Follow The Oklahoma News Report:
• Facebook - @OETAONR (https://www.facebook.com/OETAONR)
• Twitter - @OETAONR (https://twitter.com/OETAONR)
Support local, independent journalism. Become a member of OETA at https://www.oeta.tv/donate.