Legislative Review

2024 brought major developments, predicting more for next year

Whether the criminal prosecution of a former president or the withdrawal from the November ballot of a sitting incumbent president, one could argue 2024 has been the most eventful year of national politics in a generation or two. And with the presidential election now decided, next year likely portends events of equal intrigue.

All of this, however, threatens to overshadow the momentous decisions, elections and events here in Oklahoma; the ripple effects of which will continue for some time.

As for 2024, it was a year of many important developments for Catholics, some good, some bad and some pending.

With the passage of last year’s Parental Choice Tax Credit, $150 million was up for grabs, first to families in lower economic tiers and eventually to all families. The good news is every penny of those funds were claimed. The bad news: the program created such high demand that we ended the 2023-24 school year with a $37 million shortfall, leaving hundreds of families still waiting in hopes of enrolling their children in private schools.

Our private school coalition continues to press state leaders — the Oklahoma Tax Commission in particular — to continue revising the program so that it addresses urgent concerns from parents. Over the next few years, the cap on the program will continue to increase allowing more families to participate. Should the demand ultimately outpace that cap, however, we will press the legislature to continue increasing it, if not remove the cap altogether.

If you’ve been following the saga of Saint Isidore of Seville Virtual Catholic School — the first religious charter school in the nation — you know that our legal battle with Attorney General Gentner Drummond continues apace. Our attorneys, along with those representing the Oklahoma Charter School Board, which approved our charter, recently filed a cert petition at the U.S. Supreme Court requesting that justices agree to take up our appeal.

Earlier this year, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled against our charter, including a demand that the Charter Board rescind our contract. Whether the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to take the case remains to be seen. If it does, and if we prevail, Saint Isidore will forge ahead with our mission to offer authentically Catholic virtual education to kids across the state who need better and more flexible options.

Staying with the Oklahoma Supreme Court, we witnessed an historic first with the defeat of Justice Yvonne Kauger on the November ballot. No appellate judge in Oklahoma had ever lost a retention vote.

Kauger was appointed to the state court in 1984 by Gov. George Nigh, before more than a dozen members of the current state legislature were born. She had been outspoken in many of her judicial opinions in favor of the abortion industry and unfettered access to abortion. While we have worked closely with the state legislature in recent years to enact more than a dozen critical protections for unborn life, our state court has struck down many of them, both before and after the Dobbs decision.

Gov. Kevin Stitt will take up the responsibility of selecting a new appointee to the court in the coming weeks, someone we expect will be committed to adhering to the letter of the law.

When it comes to the sanctity of life, our efforts to expand the Choosing Childbirth program earlier this year were successful. In May, Gov. Stitt signed the bill that allows for more ministries, non-profits and churches to participate in state funds earmarked for women with crisis pregnancies and young families.

Additionally, we reached an agreement with legislative leaders to increase annual funding for this program to $19 million. The Oklahoma Life Foundation, a joint creation of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma and Oklahoma Faith Leaders, has been honored as the largest recipient of grant dollars from that program which will benefit numerous organizations, including Catholic Charities, our Respect Life Offices, Mercy Health, Deaconess Adoption Agency and many others who are on the front lines of care and support for women and children.

Finally, another historic first in our state saw the election both of a new speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives and a new Pro Tem of the Oklahoma Senate. Never before have both leadership positions turned over in the same year. This means a new slate of committee chairs and caucus leaders, all of whom will profoundly influence the success of our legislative efforts in 2025.

Just before Christmas, we will kick off the slow build up to the 2025 legislative session, which officially gavels in on first Monday in February. Among our slate of priorities for the Catholic Conference next year are ongoing expansion of support for women and children, essential additions to parental choice programs, continued criminal justice reform, new protections for religious liberty and critical modifications to our judicial selection process.

Brett Farley is the executive director for the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma, the official voice of the Catholic Church in Oklahoma on matters of public policy.