Why regulation of Oklahoma chiropractors will continue despite governor's veto

When Gov. Kevin Stitt vetoed 20 unrelated bills this year as retribution for the Senate not adopting his tax and education agenda, three of those bills were meant to extend the life of entities within his own state government.

Two of the vetoes were rendered moot through other legislation. One, however, wasn't reconsidered. Because of that, by law, the Board of Chiropractic Examiners will expire on July 1.

Kind of.

To be clear, the board will still continue regulating Oklahoma chiropractors. That's because agencies, boards and commissions that go beyond their "sunset," or expiry date, can still operate for up to one year after termination without suffering any ill effects.

"The board's still going to be able to carry out its mission of protecting the public's health, safety and welfare by regulating chiropractors, issuing licenses, doing license renewals, all that," said Executive Director Beth Kidd. "We're going to be able to continue to do business as usual."

It's still a precarious position to be in, however. To ensure the continued regulation of chiropractic in Oklahoma beyond July 1, 2024, lawmakers will either need to take an override vote sometime next spring or draft new legislation recreating the board.

Before they left the Capitol on May 26, the Senate voted to override the governor's veto. It takes two, however, and the House adjourned without taking up the override. House Speaker Charles McCall has indicated he would support extending the Board of Chiropractic Examiners. The first time around, his chamber voted 86-0 to give the board another three years in law.

"The House would not change its position on that," said McCall, R-Atoka. "We would vote to override to keep that in place."

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Why did the Board of Chiropractors veto get left behind?

Despite all the support, how did it get left behind? The most likely scenario, either directly or indirectly, is that politics got in the way. The final week of session is hectic on its own, but a standoff about how to implement private school tax credits bogged down meaningful work in the House and Senate for weeks leading up to adjournment.

"The governor vetoed a lot more bills than I've ever seen in my time, and it was really just a matter of prioritizing the things that had to get done before we had to end session," said Senate Floor Leader Greg McCortney, R-Ada.

McCortney said the Senate spent an entire workday overriding vetoes. At the Oklahoma Legislature, that kind of time is precious, especially in the final week of session.

"There are bills that probably would have gone the distance, and would have become law, that didn't because we had to double back," he said.

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Stitt vetoed 50 bills this year. Reversing a veto takes time and in some cases, political capital. Only 19 of those vetoes were overridden by lawmakers before they had to adjourn.

Among the 20 Senate bills that ended up under Stitt's veto pen on April 26, the two other sunset bills were for boards that regulate architects and psychologists. Their sunset dates were extended, however, with separate legislation adopted that month and signed by the governor.

None of those sunset vetoes garnered the same level of public attention as when he vetoed the extension for Oklahoma Educational Television Authority (OETA), specifically questioning the broadcaster's long-term value to the state and claiming that its programming "overly sexualizes" children.

Bolstered by an outpouring of public support to save OETA, lawmakers easily overrode the veto.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Gov. Kevin Stitt vetoed regulation of Oklahoma chiropractors. Here's what's next