Sen. Kirt to hold interim study on Oklahoma’s Ethics

OKLAHOMA CITY –Sen. Julia Kirt will hold an interim study on Oct. 24 focused on Oklahoma’s laws for ethics and accountability for elected officials.

“Ensuring public servants are held to the highest standards of conduct is essential if government officials are to earn and maintain the public’s trust,” Kirt said. “Oklahoma has had some spectacular breaches of public trust over the past few years. I believe that we can expose bad actors and support quality leaders by improving our ethics systems.”

Recent events have brought ethical standards and conflicts of interest into the spotlight, but these issues have always been at the top of Kirt’s legislative to-do list.

“Since joining the legislature, I have introduced legislation for transparency and ethics training. One bill was signed into law this year, requiring political appointees to file financial disclosures, which show when they might profit from state decisions,” Kirt said.

Kirt noted that other bills did not make it through the legislative process. For instance, one bill would have brought to light the governor’s private fundraising for a new mansion, and another would have made sure all members of the legislature received up-to-date training on campaign finance rules and how to avoid conflicts of interest.

Kirt will be joined by the director of the Oklahoma Ethics Commission, Ashley Kemp; J.J. Gentry, counsel for the South Carolina Senate; and Andy Moore, executive director of Let’s Fix This.

“My goal for this study is to better understand what kind of ethics guardrails we can put in place to improve public trust. I want to hear from our state’s experts and learn from other states, because I know we can strengthen our laws and improve enforcement,” Kirt said.

The public is welcome to attend the interim study on Monday from 1:30-3:30p.m. at the State Capitol, Room 535. The study will also be streamed at oksenate.gov/live-chamber.

-END-

For more information, contact: 

Sen. Julia Kirt at 405-521-5636 or Julia.Kirt@oksenate.gov