Governor Stitt completes action on bills in Oklahoma

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OKLAHOMA CITY — When the dust settled on the legislative session, Gov. Stitt had already signed 488 bills and vetoed 32, some of which were overridden, according to his office.

The veto numbers do not include line-item vetoes, where Stitt objected to only certain sections of a bill but agreed with the rest.

The deadline ended Friday, when Stitt signed the remaining 74 bills, many of which concerned funding, and vetoed others.

The invoices signed by Stitt include:

• House Bill 2914, called the Oklahoma Sheriff’s Office Funding Assistance Grant Program, provides $17.9 million to fund local departments.
• House Bill 2923 would provide a 7% pay raise for district, associate and special district judges. It takes effect July 1 and costs nearly $3.2 million. The legislature rejected a recommendation from the Board on Judicial Compensation for a 17% across-the-board pay raise for all judges.
• House Bill 2896 provides an additional $74 million to the Department of Public Safety for its central training center and related facilities.
• Senate Bill 1155 would help complete the Oklahoma Museum of Popular Culture, which is currently under construction in Tulsa.
• House Bill 1734 would require criminal background checks on owners and employees of medical marijuana facilities.

On June 5, Stitt signed Senate Bill 1994, which would allow property owners, under certain conditions, to ask sheriffs to remove people who illegally occupy their property.

Anyone who unlawfully occupies or enters a property without authorization and causes damage of $1,000 or more is guilty of an offence and is liable to a fine of up to $10,000, imprisonment for up to three years, or both.

On May 31, Stitt signed House Bill 1105, which extended the deadline for filing popular initiatives and referendums from 10 to 90 days.

Critics said the measure would make it harder to get bills on the ballot. Supporters said it was necessary to ensure the integrity of the process.

Stitt also signed Senate Bill 473 to create judicial offices for business courts in Tulsa and Oklahoma City.

In addition, an 11-member working group has been established to work on the creation of a business court system in Oklahoma. The final report must be submitted no later than January 1, 2026.

During the budget negotiations, Stitt advocated the creation of an economic jurisdiction.

On May 31, Stitt passed House Bill 1792, the Oklahoma Sentencing Modernization Act of 2024, which revises felony sentencing to provide more uniformity in sentences imposed from county to county.

Stitt also signed Senate Bill 1424, which protects poultry producers from civil lawsuits if they follow a state-approved waste disposal plan. Chicken waste is sold as fertilizer.

The disposal of chicken manure was the subject of a state lawsuit in federal court for pollution of the Illinois River basin.