OML tracking hundreds of bills with municipal ties

The state Capitol, located just a few blocks from the Oklahoma Municipal League’s office, is once again alive with activity as a new legislation session is underway.

Oklahoma’s state Capitol is again alive with activity as the second regular session of the 57th Legislature began Feb. 3. For the next four months, hundreds of bills will make their way through the legislative process, including many that could impact municipal governments across the state. 

“There are a lot of bills to keep track of,” said Jodi Lewis, Oklahoma Municipal League’s director of legislative affairs. 

Lewis said any proposed legislation addressing sales tax would get a lot of her attention, especially since sales tax remains the sole source of general fund revenue for cities and towns. 

“We are watching very closely all of the sales tax exemption bills because that goes after the one revenue source (cities) have,” said Lewis, who is entering her third legislative session with OML. “There are already more than 150 sales tax exemptions on the books and that equals just over $8 billion in revenue cities and towns could receive.”

While OML will oppose additional sales tax exemptions, Lewis said they support changes to the Competitive Bidding Act, including an increase in the threshold required to receive sealed bids for projects.

Tim Young, the city manager of Tuttle, said competitive bidding through sealed bids can help ensure governments receive the best price when constructing major and complicated projects, but it is not always cost effective for smaller projects.  

“When dealing with smaller, less expensive projects, contractors are less likely to want to spend the many hours and the cost to prepare a sealed bid they may or may not receive for minimum profit,” Young said. “As a result, if a sealed bid is received, it is often much higher as one would expect when compared to comparable work to be performed on behalf of the private sector.”

Proposed legislation would still require written quotes and cities can still choose to competitively bid. 

“It is important to let city councils and other governing bodies have the flexibility to determine what works best for their communities in the interest of getting the best price and project to benefit our residents,” Young said. 

Lewis said she will also be paying close attention to bills related to municipal emergency medical services, nuisance properties, employee regulations related to medical marijuana use and public safety districts. 

Medical marijuana was a big topic during last year’s legislative session following the statewide vote to approve its use. The OML was involved in legislation that restricted use among municipal public safety employees, but this year Lewis said there is an effort to expand restrictions to cover public safety officials working in a volunteer capacity. 

“Fire and police were included last year, but there was nothing in the law that spoke to volunteer firefighters and volunteer law enforcement officers,” Lewis said. “Cities are employers too, and this is an important issue.”

Lewis said she will also be following bills related to firearms and anything that seeks to address where Oklahomans are able to carry a gun. 

The Public Safety Districts – House Bill 1192 has recently been approved by the House and will now head to the Senate for approval.  Should it be approved by the Governor, municipalities will have the ability to hold an election to appropriate up to 5 mils of an ad-valorem fee to be used for public safety expenses.

Lewis is also pushing for the creation of an annual sales for resale permit, which would aid in compliance of the sales for resale tax exemptions.

“There is often times leakage with people that use their sales tax exemption status to not have to pay sales tax on something they claim they are reselling,” Lewis said. “The ultimate goal is making those sales tax permits have an annual expiration but additionally creating a new permit that would be for resale.”

Recapturing just 1 percent of that leakage would mean $60 million in new revenue for the state, and $15 million for cities and towns, Lewis said. 

A handful of bills also address emergency orders of detention, which have become major challenges for law enforcement. 

“It’s a huge issue right now for local law enforcement and sheriff’s offices when a patient cannot be treated in a hospital and the hospital determines they need to go to a mental health facility,” Lewis said. “By statute that person would have to be handcuffed, put in the back of a squad car and transported to the nearest available mental health facility.”

Current law allows for a third-party transporter, but they can only be reimbursed for mileage.

“The cost of contracting it out is more expensive than millage, but transports take so much time it is keeping these officers off the street,” Lewis added. 

OML is also supporting an amendment to the Municipal Emergency Medical Services act that would designate municipal EMS systems as a qualifying entity for the Warrant Intercept Program. This will allow municipal governments to recover their outstanding expenses via the state income tax collection process.

Lewis said she will also be pushing for legislation to create the Investigative Audit Revolving Fund, which is a revolving fund to cover municipal expenses related to investigative audits. Currently, when an investigative audit is initiated, state statute requires the municipality to immediately encumber funds to pay the State Auditor’s Office.

“Many municipalities that desire an audit of this nature are forced to forgo the request due to lack of funding,” Lewis said. 

Besides the bills Lewis already has on her radar, she will also be watching shell bills that currently do not contain language but could see late additions in the months to come. 

“Dropping language in shell bills at the last minute is a tactic that is often used, and we watch it closely and prepare for it,” Lewis said. 

The 2020 session is set to run through May 29th.