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Oklahoma United Condemns House Passage of Senate Bill 1027
Oklahoma United condemns the Oklahoma House of Representatives for today passing Senate Bill 1027, a measure that undermines the right of citizens to bring issues directly to a vote. The bill will now return to the Senate for consideration of House amendments.
“We are deeply disappointed in the House’s decision to pass a bill based on misleading claims and a fundamental misrepresentation of its impact,” said Margaret Kobos, Founder and CEO of Oklahoma United. “Contrary to what some lawmakers have suggested, SB 1027 does not empower rural Oklahoma, nor is that the intent—it caps participation in every county and dismantles the principle of one-person, one-vote.”
SB 1027 places arbitrary caps on the number of petition signatures that can be gathered from each county. The caps mean that only a small percentage of citizens in every county will be permitted to sign a petition, and voters in larger metro areas, where many Oklahomans live, will no longer matter.
The bill also transfers decision-making power away from the courts and into the hands of political appointees, while making signature gathering more difficult, more expensive and less accessible to everyday Oklahomans.
“SB 1027 is not about protecting rural voices or strengthening democracy. As the original author has stated himself, and as aired publicly in today’s House debate, it’s about shutting down petitions and eliminating the voices of the majority of Oklahomans,” said Kobos.
Oklahoma United encourages all Oklahomans to continue to fight for fair democratic processes and defend Oklahomans’ constitutional right to petition their government.
Oklahoma United supports sq 836 for fully OPEN PRIMARies.
THE OKLAHOMAN, 3/9/25
Bill that dramatically changes initiative, referendum process clears Senate committee
At least one nationally recognized expert on the U.S. Constitution said the bill's restrictions on the initiative process are unconstitutional. Robert McCampbell, an Oklahoma City attorney who specializes in constitutional law, wrote that the bill was unconstitutional.'
"The bill includes provisions that restrict petition circulators, prohibit out-of-state contributions, grant broad discretionary power to the secretary of state over citizen-initiated petitions, and retroactively change the procedure for initiative petitions. Each of these provisions conflicts with well-established legal precedent," McCampbell wrote in a four-page memo analyzing the measure.
The government, McCampbell said, is not free to "impose burdensome roadblocks to the citizen initiative process."
"The courts are unanimous that circulating a petition is 'core political speech' where First Amendment protection is at its 'zenith," he wrote. "The restrictions on core political speech embodied in SB 1027 cannot survive scrutiny under the First Amendment."
Other opponents of the bill, echoing McCampbell, said SB 1027 would "make it dramatically harder for Oklahomans to bring issues directly to a vote, undermining one of the most fundamental avenues for public participation in policymaking."
"(The) vote to advance SB 1027 is a disappointing step backward for democracy in Oklahoma. By making it harder for citizens to bring issues to the ballot, lawmakers are silencing the voices of everyday Oklahomans and limiting public participation in policymaking," said Margaret Kobos, founder of Oklahoma United. "The right to petition is fundamental to our state's history and this bill adds unnecessary barriers that will make it nearly impossible for grassroots efforts to succeed."
