Oklahoma governor challenges tribal compacts in court after override vote

The Oklahoma House voted to renew cigarette tax compacts with tribal nations Monday, prompting Gov. Kevin Stitt to challenge lawmakers in the state’s highest civil court.

The 72-16 vote was the last step needed to override a veto by Stitt, who had blasted lawmakers for moving to renew the deals without him.

The governor is now asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to invalidate the extensions, because he contends the Legislature bypassed his constitutional authority.

“I was elected by Oklahomans to make sure I protect Oklahoma,” Stitt said at a news conference hours after the vote. “That’s exactly what I’m doing. And if the Legislature is siding with the tribal compact, they’re going to have to answer to the voters on that one.”

Stitt has demanded the compacts be changed before he will sign on to any extensions. He accused lawmakers of siding with tribal leaders to extend existing compacts over the terms Stitt has offered. Nearly all of the deals were going to expire in December.

The Legislature already had voted earlier this month to renew three car tag compacts over the governor’s objections. The compact extensions are all set to last through 2024, although Stitt’s new legal challenge places them under a cloud of uncertainty.

More:   Even after compact vote, will state-tribal relations improve?

Legislative leaders have insisted the Legislature has the power to extend the compacts and withdraw the governor’s authority to negotiate the deals. Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat said in a statement that he is confident the Oklahoma Supreme Court will side with the Legislature. He faulted the governor for creating the “chaos and confusion” he says he is working to avoid.

“Plain and simple, the governor’s continued rhetoric and vitriol surrounding not only these compacts, but also our Native American Tribal partners as a whole, seeks to divide the state,” said Treat, R-Oklahoma City. “It is clear at this point the governor has no end game, goal or aspirations of working with the legislature or tribes.”

House Speaker Charles McCall said soon after the vote that he hoped state officials would use the extra time to negotiate longer-term agreements with tribal nations that work for all sides. He described the Legislature as a “fail-safe” if talks between the governor and tribal officials do not progress.

“I'm optimistic that we're going to move forward and find the best deal, the best agreement for the state of Oklahoma, for the tribes and for all the citizens of our state,” said McCall, R-Atoka.

Under the current terms of the tobacco tax compacts, the state and tribal nations split the tax money generated on tobacco sales on tribal lands.

Stitt has offered to renew the deals only if they are amended to make clear they do not apply throughout entire reservations, only to land owned for or by tribes. He said Monday that he also offered to renew the compacts for two years, instead of the single year approved by the Legislature. It's unclear when he did so; his previous offers in June were limited to one year.

More: Oklahoma attorney general moves to oust governor from defending his tribal gaming compacts

The summer-long dispute over the future of the compacts is the latest chapter in Oklahoma’s fractured relations with tribes under Stitt. The governor has routinely challenged tribal compacts since he took office in 2019. His criticism intensified the next year after the Supreme Court’s McGirt v. Oklahoma ruling, which has prompted courts to recognize that eight tribal reservations still exist.

Federal law limits state powers over tribal citizens on reservations. Stitt is concerned the state could ultimately lose its power to collect income taxes from tribal citizens on the reservations, which collectively cover much of eastern Oklahoma.

No tribe has started to sell tobacco products outside of lands where they had authority before the McGirt decision, Rep. Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City, said during debate Monday on the House floor.

The governor’s stance to oppose a one-year extension on those grounds defies logic, Echols said. Many of the tribes whose compacts are expiring also are unaffected by the McGirt decision, he said.

“There is no existential threat to the state of Oklahoma for a one-year extension,” said Echols, the House majority floor leader.

More: McGirt v. Oklahoma, 3 years later: How police work on the Muscogee Nation reservation

Rep. Tom Gann, R-Inola, spoke out in support of Stitt and asked lawmakers to table the extensions until next year. His motion was quickly tabled. “We are not overriding a governor’s veto, we are overthrowing the governor’s authority here,” Gann said.

Gary Batton, the chief of the Choctaw Nation, traveled from southeast Oklahoma to watch the vote. He sat in the House gallery among several other tribal leaders. Lawmakers have made clear they understand the importance of working with tribal governments, Batton said in a statement. “They acknowledge the benefits working together provide for all Oklahomans,” he said.

He thanked lawmakers for “correcting Gov. Stitt’s errors.”

The House vote was the final piece of business in a special session that legislators have kept alive since May to try to overturn Stitt’s compact vetoes.

Read more:

• Oklahoma attorney general moves to oust governor from defending his tribal gaming compacts

• Supreme Court justice grants Tulsa temporary reprieve on tribal reservation ruling

• The story behind Gov. Stitt's new 'One Oklahoma' video on tribal reservations

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma Legislature renews tribal compacts, Gov. Stitt sues