Last week, the Republican-controlled Oklahoma House of Representatives decided to completely ignore any semblance of transparency in government. Oklahomans, it's time to demand better.
Here's what happened: (1/)

SB 627 passed through the Senate as a bill that dealt with the Red River Boundary Commission. This bill was assigned to the House Gen. Gov't Comm., and the original author of the bill passed the bill on to another member. The new author of the bill then filed an amendment. 2/

The amendment completely replaced all the original language of the bill. Instead of dealing with the Red River Boundary Commission, the amendment changed the bill to prohibit public bodies from conducting gender or sexual diversity training. 3/

If you're thinking that language sounds familiar, you're right. This is the same language that was in HB 1888, which was not given a hearing on the House Floor before the first legislative deadline. 4/

The @oklahousedems members on the committee objected strenuously to the adoption of this amendment and noted that the amendment language was completely non-germane to the original bill. Nonetheless, the chair of the committee allowed the amendment to be adopted. 5/

Republicans did the same thing on Thursday with SB 2. This bill originally dealt with the School Finance Review Commission. At about 9:30am, an amendment was filed that completely replaced the original language of the bill. 6/

The amendment changed the bill to attack transgender student-athletes. This new language was considered in committee at 10:30am, and many members of the committee were completely unaware of the amendment or its effect. 7/

Again, the Democratic member of the committee objected to the consideration of this amendment, but the Republican chair of the committee allowed the non-germane amendment to be adopted. 8/

Both of these bills subsequently passed through their committees on party lines. The content of both bills is bad enough, but on top of that, Oklahomans should be outraged at the way their legislature is conducting business right now. 9/

Even legislators can't keep track of what they're voting on, so how can we expect the general public to be able to know what their government is doing? 10/

It's a horribly non-transparent way to legislate, and I am embarrassed that our leadership is letting legislators get away with these actions. They're doing their best to keep the public in the dark. Don't let them get away with it. 11/11