GOVERNOR STITT FILES NEW EXECUTIVE ORDER EXTENDING RESTRICTION ON CONTRACT LOBBYISTS
“When taking office, I uncovered that several state agencies were collectively spending more than $1 million annually on contract lobbyists to advocate for their own special interests to the Legislature and the executive branch,” said Governor Kevin Stitt. “The agencies’ practice of hiring contract lobbyists skirts transparency laws and empowers agencies to ignore voters’ mandates. I quickly issued an executive order limiting agencies from entering into new contracts or extending current ones through the end of the 2019 fiscal year. My new executive order makes this restriction permanent during my administration. Oklahomans are united around a vision to make our great state Top Ten, and I will continue to pursue common-sense reforms, such as EO 2019-29, to ensure state agencies are in alignment.”
A copy of EO 2019-29 is available by clicking here.
On January 24, Governor Stitt filed Executive Order 2019-2 to require all state agencies, boards and commissions to submit a list of every contract lobbyist hired and the amount of each contract dating back to 2015. The EO placed a freeze on agencies, boards and commissions from entering into new contracts while the information was being submitted. All entities came into compliance by April, which is linked in an excel format here.
from MuskogeePolitico.com
