Under the dome: It didn’t get much attention, but on the same day Gov. Kevin Stitt signed Senate Bill 2, barring transgender athletes from women’s and girl’s competitive sports, he also signed SB 6, the Sgt. Craig Johnson Act.
Named for the Tulsa Police officer killed while attempting to make an arrest in 2020, the new law will make it easier to pursue accessory to murder charges.
Tulsa District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler asked for the change after he was unable to bring that charge against getaway driver Matthew Hall because Johnson had not died at the time he and accused shooter David Ware fled the scene.
With the signing of SB 6, accessory murder charges now apply “if the person knew or reasonably should have known that the act committed upon the victim could foreseeably result in their death.”
•The state’s portal for funding applications for the state’s $1.9 billion American Rescue Plan Act allocations closed Thursday. Requests totaled almost $18 billion — nine times the amount available.
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•The Legislature continues to move slowly and methodically forward with recommendations for ARPA spending. Among proposals approved at the sub-committee level last week is an advance fiber optic technician training course developed by Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology in Okmulgee, in conjunction with the Muscogee and Cherokee nations, to be offered through Career Tech centers.
•Committee meetings continue in the Senate and resume in the House this week. Each chamber is considering bills and joint resolutions already passed by the other.
Poll numbers: Stitt’s job approval has dipped below 50% and is at a net +3, but he still holds a 14-point lead on his presumed Democratic opponent for re-election, Joy Hofmeister, according to an independent poll released midweek.
Amber Integrated, an Oklahoma City-based firm with Republican roots but no horse in this year’s gubernatorial battle, said polls conducted in late March showed Stitt’s approval rating has moved from 52% in December to 47% currently, while disapproval rose from 37% to 44%.
Also of interest, Stitt was the choice of 59% likely Republican primary voters against largely unknown Broken Arrow physician Mark Sherwood. Sherwood came in at 15%, with 26% undecided.
Nevertheless, Stitt led Hofmeister 44% to 30%, largely unchanged from three months ago.
In other races, 2nd District Congressman Markwayne Mullin had a sizeable lead on contestants in the GOP primary to succeed U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, but 38% say they’re undecided.
James Lankford led Jackson Lahmeyer 64% to 10% in the other GOP primary, and challenger Gentner Drummond was up 37% to 16% against incumbent John O’Connor in the Republican attorney general primary, with 47% undecided.
Campaigns and elections: Former Oklahoma City Mayors Mick Cornett and Kirk Humphries signed a fundraising letter urging support for Drummond.
Cornett, it may be worth noting, lost to O’Connor — Stitt’s hand-picked choice for attorney general — in the 2018 Republican runoff.
•Lahmeyer called on Lankford to vote against Supreme Court nominee Katanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation, something Lankford had signaled he was going to do anyway.
Meetings and events: Vicki Ruzicka, manager of Library Services for Tulsa Public Schools, will be featured speaker at Heart of the Party, Oklahoma Federation of Democratic Women meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Baxter’s Interurban, 717 S. Houston Ave.
•Second District Congressman and U.S. Senate candidate Markwayne Mullin will have a telephone townhall at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday. Those wishing to participate must sign up by 5:35 p.m. at mullin.house.gov/live.
•Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler will speak on the McGirt ruling at the Republican Women’s Club of Tulsa County, 11:30 a.m. April 12 at Tulsa Country Club, 701 N. Union Ave.
Reservations at rwctulsa@gmail.com.
•The Republican Women’s Club is holding a candidate meet-and-greet, with light refreshments and a cash bar, at 6-9 p.m. April 21 at the Doubletree Hotel-Warren Place, 6110 S. Yale Ave.
Admission $15. Tickets through Eventbrite.
Bottom lines: O’Connor has joined another multi-state lawsuit against federal mask mandates. … The Oklahoma Democratic Party accused Stitt of choosing the national spotlight over the best interests of the state when he decided to not only sign Senate Bill 2, but by making an event of it.
— Randy Krehbiel, Tulsa World
