Steve Metzer
Tulsa World Capitol Bureau Staff Writer
OKLAHOMA CITY — Gov. Kevin Stitt expressed disappointment Friday in a judge’s ruling this week that prevents Oklahoma from enforcing a law passed to protect the state’s energy industry from discrimination.
Gov. Kevin Stitt, shown here on Thursday at a budget meeting with legislative leaders, says he is disappointed with a judge's ruling that prevents Oklahoma from enforcing a law passed to protect the state’s energy industry against discrimination.
However, Stitt also predicted that the ruling by Oklahoma County District Judge Sheila Stinson will only amount to a temporary “pause” in enforcement of the Oklahoma Energy Discrimination Elimination Act. Additionally, he said he supported State Treasurer Todd Russ in his selection of an attorney to defend the law in a lawsuit filed by a state pensioner.
In a press release issued Thursday, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said he had fired the attorney, Cheryl Plaxico, and “removed” Russ from “any decision-making authority” in the suit.
The act, passed by the Oklahoma Legislature and signed by Stitt into law in 2022, called upon the treasurer to create a list of banks and other financial firms with environmental, social and governance policies that would put the companies at odds with and prevent them from investing in the oil and gas industry. The current list includes some of the nation’s most recognizable financial institutions, including Barclays, Bank of America, BlackRock Inc., Climate First Bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co., State Street Corp., and Wells Fargo & Co.
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The Oklahoma Public Employee Retirement System Board of Trustees acted after the law was adopted to take an exemption based on estimates that it would cost the system nearly $10 million to disinvest from blacklisted banks. That was met with pushback by Russ, who late last year was sued by Don Keenan, a state government pensioner and former member of the OPERS board. In his suit, Keenan claimed that his retirement benefits could be eroded by enforcement of the law.
On Monday, Stinson enjoined the state from enforcing the law until the case is decided.
“The Court finds a substantial likelihood that this stated purpose of countering a ‘political agenda’ is contrary to the retirement system’s constitutionally stated purpose,” Stinson wrote in her order.
During his weekly press conference at the Capitol, Stitt said he thought it was “pretty clear” that the treasurer has the authority to enforce the act, and he said he was disappointed by the ruling.
“We want our pension funds investing public dollars for the benefit of those pensions,” Stitt said. “(But) sometimes you’ve got these ESG-minded funds that might be invested in or pushing folks for political purposes or some kind of political agenda, and that’s why the Legislature passed that bill.
“I don’t know how anybody could argue that we’re not going to let companies come into Oklahoma and attack our oil and gas industry, and that’s what the treasurer is trying to do, and we certainly support the treasurer in that effort.”
In his press release, Drummond said Russ hired Plaxico over the attorney general’s recommendation. Russ disputed that in a response, asserting that he hired the private attorney only after Drummond declined his request for representation by the Attorney General’s Office.
On Friday, Stitt stood with Russ.
“When we saw the attorney general’s press release, the thing that seemed odd to us was that the treasurer had asked the AG to represent him in that case and the attorney general turned that down,” he said. “That’s why he went to get outside counsel.”
In separate remarks, Stitt reiterated his commitment to cutting income taxes paid by Oklahomans and to putting the state on a “path to zero” income taxes in coming years.
“I am for any tax cut that I can get the House and Senate to sign and get on my desk,” he said. “If I (could) write the bills, we would probably already have a zero percent income tax rate.”
Stitt also commented on how much damage Oklahoma has suffered in recent violent weather and how much it might cost communities such as Barnsdall, Sulphur and Marietta to rebuild.
He said the state House and Senate have agreed to set aside $45 million for recovery efforts and that the federal government has been very responsive so far to funding the state’s needs. He said he’s been in frequent contact with federal disaster relief officials and has heard from President Joe Biden.
“This passes through all politics, and they just really want to help Oklahoma right now,” he said.
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