Latest news with #Kendrix
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Attempt to revive Ryan Walters' immigration-check rule in Oklahoma schools fails
A second attempt to revive state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters' proposal to track immigrant students and their families has failed, this time during a House committee hearing. The House Administrative Rules Committee voted 10-3 to reject an amendment by state Rep. Molly Jenkins, R-Coyle, that would have changed the status of the rule from rejected to approved. After voting down the amendment, the committee voted 13-0 to approve Senate Joint Resolution 22, which covers proposed new education policies, and send it to the House floor. Rep. Gerrid Kendrix, R-Altus, the committee's chair, said after the meeting on Monday, May 19, that he's hopeful the full House might be able to consider the resolution on Wednesday, May 21, or Thursday, May 22. If it passes the full House, it would go to Gov. Kevin Stitt, as it's already made it through the Senate. Stitt has been a fierce critic of the Oklahoma State Department of Education's proposed rule and has accused Walters, a fellow Republican, of using children as political pawns. The proposed rule from the agency — which is led by Walters — would require schools to seek information about the immigration status of students and their parents during enrollment. Another proposed rule by that agency that's in line for rejection is one that would require Oklahoma teachers to take the U.S. Naturalization Test to renew their teaching license. Jenkins, the committee's vice chair, is the second legislator to push for acceptance of the proposed immigration rule. Last week on the Senate floor, state Sen. Shane Jett, R-Shawnee, proposed two amendments to the resolution, either one of which would have listed the rule as accepted. But 19 Republicans joined with eight Democrats to table those two amendments. After Jett's amendments were tabled, the Senate voted 43-0 to approve the resolution. In Monday's committee meeting, Jenkins cited 'the invasion that we have over our southern border' as her reason to suggest approval of the immigration-check rule. 'I feel like this is an issue that requires transparency for the taxpayers of the state of Oklahoma,' she said. Two of her fellow Republican committee members pushed back. Rep. Clay Staires, R-Skiatook, said he didn't think the agency had statutory authority to create such a rule, repeating a concern he voiced at a separate meeting in April. Kendrix agreed, saying, 'This is not a policy committee, it's a statutory authority committee.' After nearly a half hour of back and forth, only Rep. Kevin West, R-Moore, and Rep. Cody Maynard, R-Durant, voted with Jenkins to support her amendment. Following the meeting, Kendrix said he didn't know if other House members might try to follow the lead of Jenkins in proposing amendments to the resolution that could be considered once it reaches the House floor. 'I think it's always a possibility and that's a part of our transparent and accountable process, that everybody gets a chance to have their voice,' Kendrix said. 'I have no issue with that.' Walters, during a news conference at the Capitol on May 16, accused the Legislature and governor of not being transparent concerning the issue. 'It's incredibly disappointing that we see the Senate not provide that type of transparency for taxpayers,' Walters said. 'Let's just be real clear. Our rule says that we are going to account for how many taxpayer dollars, how much goes towards illegal immigrants in our schools.' This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Ryan Walters' Oklahoma immigration rule rejected by House committee
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill seeks to stop Oklahoma agencies' rules from taking effect without legislative OK
Rep. Gerrid Kendrix, R-Altus, speaks with news reporters at the state Capitol after a meeting of the House Administrative Rules Committee, which he leads, on May 14. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice) OKLAHOMA CITY — Rather than punting the responsibility to the governor, a bill moving through the legislative process would require the Legislature to proactively approve changes to state agencies' rules. Oklahoma's current administrative rules process requires all submitted rules to be reviewed by the Legislature, but if lawmakers take no action, they are sent to the governor. If the governor also declines to act, the rules automatically go into effect. Senate Bill 995, authored by Rep. Gerrid Kendrix, R-Altus, would require the Legislature to approve all rules through a joint resolution. Any that are not explicitly approved would be considered disapproved. Proactive approval used to be required for the Legislature, Kendrix said, but the process was changed over a decade ago. Usually a dry topic, administrative rules have the force of law and are designed to build upon the statutes legislators create. 'Myself, as an elected legislator, if I run legislation and I can't get it taken up on the floor, what happens to it? It dies,' he said. 'But that's not what happens with the rules. So we have granted a little more authority to unelected bureaucrats, agency directors. I don't want to be mean, but we've allowed that more authority to them than to the elected legislator.' The measure is an attempt to add more light and transparency to the process and to involve more people in conversations, he said. Last year, lawmakers faced criticism for refusing to vote on a controversial set of 20 rules proposed by the Oklahoma State Department of Education. One of the more controversial rules tied a school's state test scores to its accreditation. Lawmakers sent the rules to Gov. Kevin Stitt, who approved them all. Kendrix, who chairs the House Administrative Rules Committee, said the full Legislature hasn't taken action on administrative rules since he was elected in 2020. He said this year there are over 5,000 pages of rule packets riddled with mistakes. 'I'm trying to bring transparency to it, which in turn creates accountability,' Kendrix said. 'It creates more structure and attention to the rules. I mean, we have rules coming in that have incomplete sentences, that have words that are misspelled, and being a (certified public accountant), I'm a detailed guy. And so if we have things like that that are happening, what else is happening?' SB995 is a 'piece of the puzzle' to bring more transparency since there has been increased interest from Republicans and Democrats on the issue in recent years, he said. The legislation has had strong bipartisan support, he said. The bill unanimously cleared the state Senate and a House committee. It awaits a hearing before the full House. Kendrix and Sen. Micheal Bergstrom, R-Adair, the Senate author, held an interim study in October to explore the idea for the measure. As a House committee made changes to the bill, the Senate will reconsider the amended version if it passes off the House floor. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
