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Governor Kevin Stitt announced a new executive order Friday. The order makes permanent the restriction on State agencies entering into contracts with external lobbyists.

When taking office, Gov. Stitt uncovered that several state agencies were collectively spending more than $1 million annually on contract lobbyists to advocate for their own special interests to the Legislature and the executive branch.

At the end of January, Gov. Stitt filed Executive Order 2019-2 to require all state agencies, boards and commissions to submit a list of every contract lobbyist hired and the amount of each contract dating back to 2015. The EO placed a freeze on agencies, boards and commissions from entering into new contracts while the information was being submitted. All entities came into compliance by April.

Gov. Stitt said the agencies’ practice of hiring contract lobbyists skirts transparency laws and empowers agencies to ignore voters’ mandates. He said he quickly issued an executive order limiting agencies from entering into new contracts or extending current ones through the end of the 2019 fiscal year. 

The new executive order makes this restriction permanent during Gov. Stitt's administration. He said Oklahomans are united around a vision to make our great state Top Ten, and the he will continue to pursue common-sense reforms, such as EO 2019-29, to ensure state agencies are in alignment.