Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed State Bill 825 Monday, which will require cities to put all redirections or reductions of funding up for a vote.
Stitt wrote in a tweet the bill will “make it harder for cities to defund the police.” The bill was authored on Feb. 1 by Oklahoma Sen. Rob Standridge (R-Norman).
“Any municipality that levies a dedicated tax pursuant to a vote of the people for the purpose of funding public safety or any other governmental purpose shall not redirect all or a portion of the dedicated tax revenue to another purpose without a vote of the people authorizing such action,” the bill states.
This bill comes after the Norman City Council re-voted on their FYE 2021 budget and ratified a $865,000 reduction to a proposed increase to the Norman Police Department budget. The Norman City Council vote included a $300,000 increase in community outreach programs.
The vote was prompted by an Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling, which found the Norman City Council violated the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act during a meeting in June 2020 where the council first ratified the $865,000 cut to the proposed NPD budget increase. The investigation began after Carter County Associate Judge Thomas K. Baldwin said the city’s notice was “deceptively worded” and “materially obscured” the meeting’s purpose.
The bill will take effect Nov. 1.
