Senate looks to give Oklahomans an avenue to recall politicians
State Sen. Bill Coleman, R-Ponca City, attends special session on Oct. 3, 2023, at the Oklahoma Capitol. (Photo by Kyle Phillips/For Oklahoma Voice)
OKLAHOMA CITY – A state lawmaker wants to create a process to allow voters to recall elected state officials.
The Senate on Thursday passed Senate Bill 990, which is expected to be the vehicle to set up the process that Oklahomans can use to remove someone from office independent of the involvement from the Legislature.
'We all got to this room here by the will of the people, and currently, the only way a person can be removed from office is not by the will of the people,' said Sen. Bill Coleman, R-Ponca City. 'It's by our friends across the rotunda, and it's on this body to remove somebody from statewide elective office.'
In Oklahoma, impeachment proceedings start in the House. If the House votes to impeach, a trial is held in the Senate and requires two-third of the senators, who serve as jurors, to vote to remove a state official from office.
Grounds for impeachment include willful neglect of duty, corruption in office, habitual drunkenness, incompetency, or any offense involving moral turpitude committed while in office.
'What I want to do is change that to where the people, the people that elect somebody, decide whether or not somebody should be recalled,' Coleman said.
He said he envisions an initiative petition-like process requiring those seeking a recall election to collect signatures from 25% of the voters who cast ballots in the last gubernatorial election.
'It needs to be a high bar because overturning the will of the people is a big deal,' he said.
In order for citizens to qualify an initiative petition for the ballot, they must collect signatures from 8% of voters in the last gubernatorial election.
To get a constitutional amendment on the ballot requires signatures from 15%.
Coleman said the final bill will have some guardrails so a person can't be removed just because they are unpopular.
The current version of the bill only applies to statewide officers. It was not immediately clear if a final version will apply to lawmakers.
Coleman said he has had a request to have it include county officers.
The current version creates a procedure for the Legislature to start the process, but Coleman wants to alter the measure so it can be done by members of the public.
'This is about a process, a process that the people of Oklahoma are locked out of,' Coleman said.
Sen. Dana Prieto, R-Tulsa, voted against the measure.
'This has the potential to be greatly abused,' Prieto said. 'We have a process for it already and that is called elections.'
Some Democratic lawmakers have called for the impeachment of state Superintendent Ryan Walters, a Republican. But former House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, said the House would not pursue it unless Walters committed a crime.
In 2004, the Oklahoma House impeached Insurance Commissioner Carroll Fisher, a Democrat who had been convicted of embezzlement and perjury.
Fisher resigned before the Senate could hear the matter.
Senate Bill 990 passed by a vote of 31-15 and is available for consideration in the House.
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