Ethics Commission Delivers its FY 22 Budget and Promulgated Rule Changes to the Governor and Legislature

Ethics Commission Delivers its FY 22 Budget Request & Promulgated Ethics Rules to the Governor and Legislature.

Today, the Commission fulfilled its Constitutional duty under Article 29 Section 2, and Article 29 Section 3, of the Oklahoma Constitution by delivering to the Governor and the Legislature its: FY 22 Budget request; and  Promulgated Ethics Rules for the 2021 Legislative Session.

FY 22 Budget Request Summary

The Commission requested 2 Budget Neutral Legislative Solutions and 2 Targeted Appropriation Increases totaling $350,000 to remedy what have become critical problems at the Commission. 

The Budget Neutral solutions will:

1. Establish a revolving fund and redirect registration and administration fees for the Commission's online reporting system(s) that will be used solely for costs of administering and maintaining reports of the Commission; and
2. Modify the language in Title 74 O.S. 4258 regarding the Commission's existing revolving fund for deposit of fees.  The request is to either restore the 2018 language or raise the cap for expenditures from the fund that are currently limited to $150,000.  This change will allow the Commission to resume fee based programs for education, administrative compliance processes, and increase the Commission's flexibility to address unexpected and unbudgeted for costs.

The requests for additional appropriations are as follows.

• $200,000 to fund information services for the Commission. This will provide critically needed in house knowledge by an I.S. staff member of the online filing requirements of the Commission, greatly improve the monitoring and security of the Commission's data, and the ability to identify what steps are required to bring filing by political subdivisions online. 
• $150,000 to fund the Political Subdivision Enforcement Division created in 2014 to provide much needed assistance for filings made at the political subdivision level.

The Commission's overall available expenditure budget has decreased from $1.3 million dollars in FY 2016 to $837,960 in FY 2021. The common sense solutions outlined above and reflected in House Bills 1744 and 1746, will take significant steps toward fulfilling the expectations of Oklahoma citizens, political committees, lobbyists, and state officers and employees.  

The Commission Delivered 2 Rule Changes Promulgated in 2020

The following Rule changes are critical to consolidating Commission operations and promoting consistency within the Ethics Rules.

• 2021-01 (Campaign Finance Rule 2). Affects only open candidate committees formed for elections held prior to January 1, 2015. This change will promote orderly transition to a single set of Campaign Finance Ethics Rules by resolving issues preventing closure of those committees, and repeal of those Rules on January 1, 2022.  
• 2021-02 (Lobbyist Rule 5). Creates a new gift category under Rule 5 for books or similar informational materials that may be received by state officers and employees from lobbyists, liaisons, or lobbyist principals so long as the item relates to their positions in state government.  The value of gifts within this category are not within the $500 overall limit for meals and major life event gifts. 
  • Reporting: These gifts will only be reported when a single item exceeds $100.  These items will be reported in the same manner as other non-meal gifts to state officers and employees under Rule 5.
  • Lobbying activities lawful prior to January 1, 2021 are in no way impacted by 2021-02.  Those lobbying activities are treated the same in 2021 as such activities have always been treated under Rule 5.

Newly promulgated Ethics Rules which become effective, are effective upon sine die adjournment of the legislative session. However, the Commission voted to have its Executive Director enforce lobbying Rule 5 in accordance with 2021-02 beginning January 1, 2021.