OKC Curfew Enforcement, Stephanie Bice's Senate Seat, Stopped Trains & More

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Mayor Holt issued the order on on enforcement in response to governor states ban on food or drink sales after 11 for 30 days. Ryan what do you think about okay see pulling back on enforcement? Well and you know when they say pulling back on enforcement the the prohibitions still there it's just a matter of whether or not they're going to be enforcing it with a separate fine and penalty on top of what the state may already do. You know so you're not going to see Oklahoma City police officers out issuing citations. I think the amount was up to $750 for violations of the curfew the 11 p.m. curfew for bars and restaurants. So that's what's stopping. I mean the curfew is still there and if you look at state regulators they said that there still may be consequences in licensing and fees that operators may face if they begin to violate this. It should be noted that the state recognizes or the state is reporting at least that you're seeing compliance almost across the board here. You know almost everybody is complying with this. Nobody is disputing the fact that bar owners employees of bars and restaurants are being seriously hurt by this. I mean they've been seriously hurt by COVID all around. It's it's a desperate situation out there. There needs to be a real relief package either from the federal level or the state level or both to help provide some relief to those folks. But what happened in district court was that the judge said because the city of Oklahoma City has removed their fine and I'm not going to be enforcing that on their fine that that issue was moot for now and there's going to be a January hearing on whether or not state law would even allow that to take place at all. So I mean there's still going to be a question of that as to whether state law and municipal law would allow the governor and or mayor to be able to close bars restaurants at a certain time in response to a pandemic. Niva. Well and the and the other side of this along along with what all Ryan just described is the fact that these the bar owners and bartenders club owners that have filed this lawsuit they seem very interested in what they describe as wanting to get a solid decision on whether or not the use of the Oklahoma riot control and prevention act is lawful. So you got this you got this difference of opinion the club owners and bartenders continuing that that was passed to really fights civil disorder and not infectious diseases or a pandemic and you've got the city in their court filing saying that that it did Oklahoma City civil emergency code it was a state of emergency such as they proclaimed by the mayor because you have a local transmission of a disease that is a public disaster and so they believe that it falls under the public peace and health and and life and prosperity clause. So I think it's interesting that that you've got this that this real contrast on the on the legal dispute and it will be interesting to see whether they really can move forward through the courts as as the group's attorney suggested when he was before the district court judge. Yeah and you know the the main argument from the plaintiffs in this case the bar owners and and employees of bars and restaurants that have filed this case their main argument is just what Niva said and that's a 1968 law what they're saying is that when the legislature passed that law in 1968 it was intended to as a response to the upheaval that was happening across the United States you know during the civil rights movement in the 1960s and it wasn't you know the legislature didn't intend at all for this to deal with something like a pandemic. Now that legislative history is only relevant in a court case though if the language is as ambiguous if there's some uncertainty as to what that language means and frankly I just don't see that there's any uncertainty whenever it says that the governor and the municipal code the mayor have the power whenever there's a finding that you have public disorder disaster or a riot exists within any part of the state and you know that language right there you know whether or not the legislature intended intended only in response to what they are seeing in other cities in the late 1960s or not that language is pretty clear and so I don't think that judge Ogden or any other appellate judge is going to find that that is ambiguous to the point where they have to go back and look at legislative history. Governor Stitt sets a date for a vote on the state senate seat held by Stephanie Bice. The February 9th election comes after Bice beat congresswoman Kendra Horn last month and even how competitive will it be for this Oklahoma City district seat? Well I think it'll be it it'll be very competitive I mean you have a special election it's certainly as we as we've talked many times a different dynamic than in a regular election cycle so we have an election date for the primary set for February 9th we have we're going through the Christmas holiday season they're basically they're basically going to be in a 30 or 45 day drill in all practicality and you will have no doubt Republicans will feel that probably anywhere from 6 to 6 to 10 or more candidates that will jump into this race because it is a winner take all primary so someone very likely in a multi-way primary could win the nomination with let's say 20 or 25% of the vote or maybe less so I think when when we look at that and and we and we look at the just the the numbers the percentages that the makeup of the district itself you have 58% registered Republicans 24% registered Democrats rest independent so I mean it clearly is a seat that the Republicans can hold on to and will be very focused on but the primary will be the key I think from all indications right now the the probably front runner or perceived front runner and prefiling next which is next week would be Rob Johnson who held that seat prior to Stephanie winning winning the seat he's Rob Johnson's of kind of a well-known political figure in terms of having been in the house been in the Senate he would have six years left if he were successful in the endeavor his father interestingly enough had the seat before he did so there's a there's a history there obviously someone who run before to have a fundraising apparatus of a volunteer network a lot of the infrastructure things so that that type of candidate can hit the ground running not to say that there aren't many other candidates that will jump into this race many are out there certainly looking at it so there's no foregone conclusion what will happen but in a short race money and volunteers and the ability to get the message out quickly and effectively will be will be a big key to this so and I think on the Democrat side I have every expectation that they will look for a strong candidate knowing that in special elections it is a great opportunity to be competitive and maybe pick off a seat that the that the Republicans have but I think that's still going to be a tall order when you're looking at a district that's basically Northern Oklahoma County Eastern Canadian County and largely Edmund and and a little bit of a Yukon so it's it will be fascinating to watch this early next year right yeah I talked to my state senator Julia Kurt this morning who is working with senate democrats and and recruiting folks and and trying to you know as niva said take advantage of a special election cycle where I mean we saw that up in Tulsa with Senator Alice Knightley Freeman who was recently defeated in the general election but had won that state senate seat there in a in a special election and even if you just pick a seat up like this for a couple of years I mean it's helpful I mean it's not going to change the dynamics in the Senate it's it's heavily lopsided in favor of the Republican majority but every seat counts and if if you're the Democratic caucus you know having somebody there having an incumbent makes it a lot easier to try to even be competitive in a seat like this whenever the general whenever a regular election comes around but even for a couple of years would be really important and you know Senator Kurt said that there are there's at least one democrats that's announced there's another that they anticipate announcing soon they're excited about this seat you know she said that it's all about turnout and she said looking at the demographics of this district the demographics of this district have changed a lot since it was drawn in 2010 and she said there are 20,000 new residents there versus 2010 that the demographic that the demographics are a very young district a lot of voters in their 30s and so they see this as a seat where democrats can be competitive there's going to be a very I think spirited primary in the Republican side and I think there's even a libertarian out there I don't know if they've announced yet or not but there's a libertarian that's thinking of running so this is as Niva said a Republican favored seat but in a special election maybe not all bets are off but most bets are off right it depends on who turns out to actually vote a state law to keep trains from stopping at cross streets for longer than 10 minutes gets declared unconstitutional a federal judge permanently halted enforcement saying it interfered with US law on commerce Ryan did you think this might happen yeah and you know and this isn't just because I watch planes hit trains and automobiles last night with my son you know for nearly two centuries since the time that they started acquiring land and laying tracks railroad operators have been some of the most powerful political and legal operators in the United States I mean Abraham Lincoln Daniel Webster these you know before before enduring an after and in some cases they're they're storied political careers they represented railroads and sometimes in all the way up to the United States Supreme Court some of the most famous Supreme Court decisions have to do with railroads and so you know while they may not have as much power in a state legislature to stop a bill like this I don't think that there is ever any question that there would be some challenge at some point once the state began issuing citations for these delays and that they would appeal to federal law you know if you're if you're a resident in any of these communities that have railroad crossings I mean you recognize both the inconvenience and as the attorney general my country said the danger that's posed by some of these very long delays of railroad crossings if you have paramedics that can't cross from one side of the town to the other for you know in some of these instances over an hour then you're putting people's lives at risk and so the judge in this case said they didn't they weren't saying that the state had zero ability to regulate railroads but in this instance they didn't and you know the way you change that would be federal law and I would just I would be surprised if every member of Oklahoma's congressional delegation or ever and or including a congresswoman elected vice hasn't been proactively contacted by the railroad industry trying to you know keep them from taking this state issue to congress so that congress would give states like Oklahoma the ability to regulate delays at railroad crossings I mean this is this is going to be I think a proactive lobbying effort on their part now in congress Niva well I think it's interesting the 18 page opinion I mean clearly gives some very helpful guidance if lawmakers want to look at introducing legislation in the next session and I think we can expect that that could could be likely because what what was said is that a state or local government can address grade level railroad crossing issues like we're talking about and and the key is they have to do it in a manner that doesn't run a foul of federal law so as long as they don't you know hit that wall with running you know running up against the interstate commerce act then there is the potential for still some legislative remedies to to be looked at and I think that there will be folks that certainly will take that into account and that's where they give and take even you know with the railroads and the other folks can come into play and try try to address some of these issues that are that are significant particularly when you're talking in communities where it does pose a real health and safety risk you know with long weights on on the tracks with these trains and no way to no way to quickly to bird around so it's an issue that there's been obviously many things said and as as Brian alluded to I mean the fact that when you start talking about what oftentimes we're we're called the railroad bearers of centuries going by I mean we have in Oklahoma we have 900 you know 900 plus miles of railroad tracks throughout the state so it is something that is important it's something that all parties certainly are sensitive to and I think we'll we'll watch with interest to see what possible legislation may be put on the table in this upcoming session I'm trying to find it in the Oklahoma article but I did Ryan is there any way to appeal this I don't know if Mike Hunter's planning on appealing it at all if there is a place to even appeal it once it's gone through federal debt yeah no you you could appeal to to the 10th circuit you could appeal to the United States Supreme Court I mean the the the gear there's no guarantee that those appeals will will be taken up or that you have any success there but you know as Niva said I you know we we in Oklahoma I don't think that we because we we haven't really they seen a real passenger rail system in Oklahoma but freight rail in Oklahoma and short line operators in Oklahoma that's not a thing of the past they they provide valuable services in Oklahoma and it's a big part of our of our state's industry and economy and you know and I think it's really exciting and so I'm glad that the legislature may be talking about rail railroads and you know and improving upon what we've gotten building up on what we've got and we've got a president elect and Joe Biden who has been a champion of of railroads and rail travel and so maybe you know we're going to see this resurgence at the federal level at the state level of conversations about how to improve rail in Oklahoma including improving rail for folks that aren't on the on the tracks themselves but are sitting at these cross at these at these crossways where they need to get across and there's a really long delay Oklahoma County Commissioner Kevin Calvy is asking for a delay on a judges ruling over the county jail trust to oust immigration agents from the jail Calvy says he once time for state lawmakers to address the issue in the upcoming session in fact representative John Fyfer has already announced legislation requiring jails to comply with ice requests Neva do you think lawmakers will take up this bill next year? Well I wouldn't be surprised I mean the house last year in February voted overwhelmingly I think of 7821 past the bill that that would require the county jails to comply with ice detainees but the Senate never took it up so I think it may be an issue where it very well could come down to kind of the same the same composition in an upcoming session because I think there are a number of senators that express reservations at the time about the fact that talking about requiring or mandating something I mean who's going to pay for those extra costs of the you know of those folks being held and a lot of things when you start talking about particularly county jails and in the smaller counties and budgets and you know a lot of other things come into play not just the idea of you know the issue the kind of the overarching issue that Commissioner Calvy is interested in and that is trying to trying to make it where the jail trust would in fact have to follow the ice policy that they that the commissioners passed two to one back in October so it's a it's an interesting it's an interesting kind of fight that continues the Oklahoma County District judge Cindy Trong she had said a hearing earlier this week for January 5th to either put the case on hold or dismiss it so I think you know this is Calvy is trying to buy time to see if there can be some legislative action legislative action if that date can be pushed off the ruling can be pushed off to April so the lots of moving pieces the district attorney is weighed in along with the jail trust wanting the judge to dismiss the case so it'll be it'll be fascinating to see because there's certainly a lot of players in the mix on on both sides Ryan yeah I think that this case gets dismissed in January it's it's a really heavy lift to ask a district judge to put off ruling on a case on the grounds that there's a speculative legislative action that could happen in three or four months and the governor could sign I'm with Niva I do think that there's probably legislative support to pass something like this I think that the governor would likely sign something like this but you know that that's just too speculative for I think a judge to want to walk into I think that judge wrong more likely is going to say Commissioner Calvy I'm dismissing this if the legislature does something in the future come back to me you know come back to this court and make your case then and there's the the the separate question of even if the legislature does that even if the legislature creates this obligation of counties or the jail trust to allow or to to cooperate with ICE on these detainers there's the separate issue of whether or not that cooperation is in violation of federal including the United States Constitution because essentially what the county is asking and Commissioner Calvy are asking the jail administrators to do is to you know have somebody who's ready to be released they've done everything that they need to do to be released and asking them to hold them for up to two more days beyond their release date so that ICE can process them well you know if you think about our our constitutional protections if the government is going to take any one of us regardless of our immigration status is going to take any person uh because some of these folks may be adjudicated by ICE to not be uh you know need need to be detained or deported you so you could have a US citizen that is held for two days beyond the time that they were supposed to be let out just so an administrative agency at the federal level could take a look at it there's also the speculative question of what the Biden administration will do uh with ICE detainers altogether that's you know that's speculative as well um and then on top of that you've got the issue of whether or not I think the the more interesting issue that isn't speculative and that's the one that Judge Trong's gonna you know possibly have to rule on is whether or not the county commission the Oklahoma County Commission has this authority or whether it's the jail trust it has this authority um and that's going to be a really that's going to be a really important take away from any order that she has um and uh i think that you know possibly empower the jail trust to operate without having to you know deal with this oversight from the county commission the capital is getting a new state seal the bronze seal measuring 14 feet in diameter and weighing three thousand pounds is getting installed on the ground floor in February it includes a five-point star inside the territory of Oklahoma a pioneer the emblem of the five tribes and the Latin state motto meaning labor conquer all things Ryan what do you think of this new art piece coming to the capital? I think it's exciting it's uh it's uh it's a it's a moment uh that you know i think uh represents the completion or the near completion of the of this capital restoration project you know i first went to the capital uh in any real capacity in in 1996 as a as a senate page uh and you're walking around from from then to now uh it is it is so different and um you know there there are certainly things that i miss about the old building just for nostalgia's sake but in terms of a user-friendly capital that's safe to work in i mean you think folks that go to that building it's you know session lasts from February to May but there are people that work in and out of that building 12 months of the year and they were working in some pretty abysmal conditions i mean everything from you know regular sewage uh backed up in the basement to asbestos to you know scary wiring that that sometimes worked you know if things falling off the roof on to people's desk um and so that dilapidated building uh and the update that it's received is pretty remarkable i i went to the state capital for the first time since march uh and uh for an interim study in the last couple of months uh and i tell you what you know somebody who's been around the capital lot i got lost trying to find the entrance uh yeah and when you go in that new entrance and and what was the the old basement when you go in that new entrance it is it is a totally different experience and i think that uh it reflects well up on the state of Oklahoma and i think uh really this entire renovation of the capital the restoration project i mean it's it's been going on for five for five years now uh but it is narrowing completion i think the completion date really is still uh on the book says 2022 but they've moved uh a long way down the road and and and Ryan is right i mean it is so impressive to see just the changes that are already there and i think the capstone of this uh this new seal i mean the the trozos seal that they they uh tore out uh during all of this renovation it had been in there for 54 years so i mean it had it had served its purpose and time well but this i think will be um and impressive because as folks come to the capital i mean this will be kind of the focal point that they will be able to see from every from every vantage point uh as they look down in the rotunda and see that the seal on the what is now the first floor as Brian said used to be the basement for folks that had been to the capital previously but um i i think that this was one of the wisest moves that uh that was made back when the lawmakers approved the 245 million dollar dollars in onsite because the repairs were desperately needed and then to do the additional um the additional restoration and bringing it back to really its elegance and and really glory of how it was first constructed and and the appearance of it i think it's something that all local homins will be able to uh to visit and have a great deal of pride i think the state seal you know which um as they talked about uh and some of the releases uh this week uh announcing the the the state seal being put in that um it does represent one of Oklahoma's oldest symbols and so you have this contrast i mean the 300 feet directly up it you have the guardian which uh uh was uh is one of uh Oklahoma's newest symbols so i think that contrast and i think the beauty of kind of tying all of that together from a historical perspective i think of is something that uh all Oklahoma's not just the folks that are there working every day inside that building and doing the people's business but every school child that visits on that trip uh to see the capital to every a visitor from uh not only all 50 states but from around the time and um experience that i think uh i think it reflects well in all of us and i applaud the great efforts that have been done by the uh by the folks that are working on on this project and and the manhattan construction uh company in particular who have uh i think been the you know the shepherds of much of much of the uh the work that's been done and well unlike niva said i love that dynamic of old and new uh and both the the seal and the guardian were were cast at the same foundry uh the foundry in Norman uh you know one of one of my first jobs out at the state capital was working for my friend and mentor state senator kelly heinie and uh it was right around the time that he had completed the guardian and they put it out on the the north steps of the capital and i got to stand out there and and help bring people like niva said not just from oklahoma and all 50 states from but people from around the world to come up and take a photo with the guardian while it was still in the north steps uh before was placed on top of the dome and so to to know that you know you've got that that old and new uh contrast there it's it's really really exciting and niva and ryan's comments do not necessarily reflect the views of k oes u it's 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