Runoff elections could change committee chairmanship makeup

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OKLAHOMA CITY – Ten legislative incumbents will face primary runoff elections this month, and eight of those members hold chairman positions in committees.

Oklahoma requires any primary race in which no candidate garners more than 50 percent of the vote to go to a runoff. Candidates in nearly 30 legislative districts will go to a runoff. No state senators or incumbent Democrats will be on the ballot on Aug. 28, but 10 incumbent House Republicans will be.

A majority of those members hold chairman positions, some of which will likely consider high-profile legislation next year.

State Rep. Bobby Cleveland, R-Slaughterville, is the chairman of the House Public Safety Committee. When voters passed State Question 788 and legalized medical marijuana, they opened law enforcement across the state to a large paradigm shift. Oklahoma lawmakers will likely consider legislation during the 2019 session that updates criminal procedures concerning marijuana.

When Oklahoma State Department of Health officials testified before the legislative working group on marijuana last week, they presented an extensive list of recommended law changes. Several touched on public safety issues, such as increasing fines for inappropriate possession and decreasing the amount of cannabis a person is allowed to carry.

The bulk of the proposed law changes would likely go to the committee on public health, which also has its chairman, state Rep. Mike Ritze, R-Broken Arrow, in a runoff this month. Those would include some of the most controversial measures, such as a limit on the psychoactive component called THC, the requirement for a pharmacist in each dispensary and requiring doctors to provide ongoing care to the patients to whom they’ve issued a marijuana recommendation.

State Sen. Greg McCortney, R-Ada, is the co-chairman of that bicameral, bipartisan working group. He said both of those committees will play a vital role in medical marijuana policy next year.

“Especially the health side,” he said. “I think we will have more bills than we can handle just on marijuana alone.”

He said the group has more work to do before members can be sure what kind of legislation will be filed in January.

The group will meet with a host of law enforcement officials Wednesday to get their perspective on gaps in current medical marijuana regulations.

State Rep. Sean Roberts, R-Hominy, has been a vocal supporter of finding a way for the state to tax electric vehicles’ highway use. Oklahoma pays for highway construction and maintenance mostly with gasoline taxes, and the state government will have to find a way to replace that for electric vehicles. Roberts, the chairman of the Appropriations and Budget Committee on Transportation, will face Louise Redcorn of Pawhuska in the Republican runoff for House District 36.

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