Democratic state lawmakers hosted a town hall Saturday at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church to provide Norman residents a platform to voice their concerns about state and federal issues.
Cars lined the street in front of the church as 200 Normanites attended the two-hour town hall.
Attendees of the town hall routinely broke out into applause.
Republicans have been advised to avoid town halls, according to NBC. In recent months, lawmakers have faced several protests when hosting town halls. In Oklahoma, Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla) held a town hall over the phone on March 20 to address concerns regarding federal cuts in Oklahoma. Despite this, Cole will not be attending Norman’s Women in Action for All "Non Cole Town Hall” on April 9.
Rep. Jared Deck (D-Norman) acted as a moderator and participant. Attendees wrote questions on notecards that were provided to Deck, who directed them to his fellow lawmakers. Deck was joined by Rep. Jacob Rosecrants (D-Norman), Rep. Annie Menz (D-Norman) and Sen. Mary Boren (D-Norman.)
Topics ranged from concerns about the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE – a Trump administration advisory panel tasked with “modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity,” according to a Jan. 20 executive order establishing the initiative – to Sen. Lisa Standridge’s (R-Norman) efforts to prohibit municipalities with a population less than 300,000 from approving new homeless shelters.
DOGE
On concerns about DOGE and job losses, Menz said she was angry.
“We’ve got people who are (a) flat tire away from losing everything, and now you’re coming in with this new made-up government entity that is going to slash everything,” Menz said. “It’s definitely wrong, and I think that people who are affected by this individually should be angry, and we owe them an explanation.”
On Feb. 27, OU Daily reported that National Weather Center employees in Norman were notified that they were to be laid off. The layoffs at the National Weather Center followed mass layoffs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The New York Times reported that the NOAA layoffs were expected to cost more than 800 people their jobs.
Boren expressed concern about how federal funding cuts have affected those at the university level and the impacts on veterans.
“It’s incumbent upon us to find the words to articulate to those that have the decision-making capacity how this is impacting the people that they represent,” Boren said. “Your words, your feedback, your observations, are critical to changing this.”
Rosecrants said he is working with the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission to ensure those affected by job and funding cuts receive the assistance they need, even if what can be offered is limited due to the nature of the cuts.
“They’re going to need assistance when it comes to those federal jobs, again, I don’t think there’s a whole lot we can do,” Rosecrants said. “But at the same time, at least we’re doing something for that. And I think the main thing is that we need to keep our federal delegation aware that they haven’t fixed the freaking problem.”
Protecting international students
In light of the Trump administration’s targeting of pro-Palestinian international students and faculty, which, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, has led to 300 or more visa revocations, lawmakers were asked about protecting international students.
“One of the things that our international students need is they need to know that we are there for them, that we are supporting them,” Deck said.
On Feb. 7, OU Students for Justice in Palestine registered as a student organization after more than a year of organizing and activism. The group has held several protests and teach-ins, most recently on Mar. 10, when they protested the Board of Regents meeting and were removed.
Menz, a member of the legislature’s Latino caucus, said she and her fellow caucus members Sen. Michael Brooks (D-Oklahoma City) and Rep. Arturo Alonso-Sandoval (D-Oklahoma City), have been putting together legal clinics to provide what she called a “safety blanket” through information.
Menz also mentioned the Oklahoma Standby Guardianship Act that passed during the 2024 legislative session. Authored by Brooks and Rep. Chris Kannady (R-Oklahoma City), the act allows parents to proactively name a “standby” guardian under certain circumstances.
Deck also noted that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that has carried out the arrests of international students in recent weeks, uses administrative warrants, not judicial warrants.
“A judicial warrant is when someone can knock a door down and enter a facility. (With) an administrative warrant, they must have permission from the homeowner or the resident, or the business,” Deck said. “If an ICE agent or a federal agent (were) to come to a public school, they would have to go through the front desk like anyone else.”
According to the National Immigration Law Center, compliance is always required with valid judicial warrants. Compliance is not always required with administrative warrants, which do not authorize searches but may authorize civil arrest or seizure.
The idea of the public schools being an arena for immigration enforcement has caused tension in Oklahoma’s executive branch.
In an interview with KOCO published on Jan. 23, State Superintendent Ryan Walters said he would support ICE raids in schools.
On Jan. 28, the Oklahoma State Board of Education approved a rule requiring schools to collect citizenship information and report the number of students unable to verify their citizenship to the Oklahoma State Department of Education. Gov. Kevin Stitt harshly criticized the board’s ruling and accused Walters of using children as “political pawns.” Stitt said he would block the rule, which currently awaits legislative approval.
‘Ryan Walter-ize it’
On education, and Walters specifically, lawmakers fielded numerous questions.
As the Trump administration attempts to dismantle the Department of Education, Walters has publicly lobbied for states to have more control over federal education funding. On Tuesday, Walters sent a memo requesting consolidated block grants for all of the Every Student Succeeds Act funds marked for Oklahoma. Distributing funding through block grants gives states control of the allocation of the funds.
In response to a question asking what block grants are, Deck said it is essentially money going back to the states, but said there are drawbacks.
“It’ll be a patchwork system, the way it used to kind of be,” Deck said. “It would only, I think, make the inequalities more of a spotlight. You would see people that need more, get less, and then people that have more get the same or more … It really comes down to the way the state’s going to administer them and divvy them up, and can you really trust the state to do that?”
More pointedly, lawmakers were asked how the dismantling of the Department of Education will affect Oklahoma.
Rosecrants, a former social studies teacher who jokingly said he “basically cyberbullies” Walters after trying to reach out in other ways, took the lead answering the question.
“We need to move away from the whole idea that they’re going to eliminate the department. That takes congressional action to do that,” Rosecrants said. “What they are going to do, and what can still affect negatively, I think will negatively affect things, including (Individualized Education Plans), 504s, special needs kids, those types of families that need the real help, I think they’re going to try and Ryan Walter-ize it."
Rosecrants said that lawmakers don’t have to physically tear down the department, but they can make it to where all the institutional knowledge “walks out the door.”
‘They are out of control’
City issues such as Standridge’s efforts to thwart homeless shelters and the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority’s ACCESS Oklahoma plan were also discussed.
Standridge’s Senate Bill 484 would restrict municipalities with less than 300,000 residents from approving new homeless shelters within 3,000 feet of a school or school property. Existing shelters will be permitted to continue operating, regardless of their proximity to a school.
Norman residents have been split over the location of the emergency shelter, A Friend’s House, with proponents lobbying for its relocation. According to Deck, Standridge’s SB 484 would have ironic consequences on Norman’s shelter.
“I do want to point out, what this bill does is it keeps our current shelter downtown, right there,” Deck said. “It means we can’t move it. It basically enables our city council to keep it right there in the middle of downtown, where I know several folks would like it to move.”
On Mar. 25, SB 484 passed the Oklahoma Senate 36-9, with two senators not voting. The bill needs the approval of the Oklahoma House of Representatives before heading to the governor’s desk.
Boren, who voted against the bill in the Senate, isn’t sure if the bill will be approved by her colleagues in the lower chamber.
“There is not much widespread support for that kind of mindset,” Boren said. “These are narrow people that have way too much political power, that can navigate their grievances through legislation, and I think at the end of the day, I think it will fail.”
A grievance many Norman residents share is their opposition to the OTA and the impending ACCESS Oklahoma turnpike expansion. Opponents of the project posit that the expansion would displace residents, many of whom have decades-long ties to Norman.
In August, Norman City Council unanimously rejected a resolution that would have allowed the OTA to build turnpike facilities in Norman. In October, the OTA announced it would be moving forward regardless of the city’s input.
On Mar. 17, Cleveland County Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution requesting the OTA resume its plan to design and build frontage roads and access points throughout the county.
When asked if OTA is too big to fail and how to hold them accountable, Menz said she is working across the aisle to rein them in.
“They are out of control,” Menz said. “They are suing us actively right now because we came to pass a bill and override a veto of that bill that would bring them under more legislative scrutiny.”
Bringing the conversation full circle from the OTA to DOGE, Boren encouraged the community to get involved with community groups – specifically, Oklahomans for Responsible Transportation, the organization behind the Pike Off OTA movement – should continue their efforts.
“This is one of the most unique, most vibrant, most successful, bipartisan, bicameral, all walks of life, Libertarian, Independent, Republican, all colors of Republican, beet red all the way to pink, and Democrats. And they are really filtering out that national narrative so that they can save their homes,” Boren said. “It’s a wonderful example of how we can take back our country.”
This story was edited by Ana Barboza and Ismael Lele.
