House Speaker Charles McCall has launched a new initiative to increase legislative oversight and assess the performance of agency governing boards.

“The Legislature has been too deferential and hands-off with these governing boards for most of state history, and the House is going to change that,” said McCall, R-Atoka.

McCall is assigning House committees to regularly monitor the governing boards of more than three dozen state agencies and identify legislators to attend governing board meetings as necessary – including attendance at private executive sessions as authorized by state law – so legislators can be better informed and increase their watchdog role over agencies.

Additional government oversight by the House began in 2016, when the House launched more budget hearings for the largest state agencies. In 2017 and 2018, the House exposed waste and mismanagement at agencies through agency accountability hearings. In 2019, the Legislature created the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency, which next year will start providing legislators with independent budget information and agency performance reviews.

Oklahoma has nearly 200 boards and commissions overseeing state agencies. Many have existed for decades, or even since statehood.

Since its enactment in 1977, the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act has contained a provision authorizing legislators to attend private, executive sessions of governing body meetings, but the provision has rarely been invoked.

Guidelines will be put in place to ensure confidentiality of executive sessions is maintained when a House member attends.

Some House members have already started attending governing board meetings – including executive sessions.