AG Opinions

Attorney General opinion determining that Oklahoma’s Health Information Exchange (HIE) does not violate article II, section 37 of the Oklahoma Constitution. Article II, section 37 provides, in pertinent part, that “[a] law or rule shall not compel, directly or indirectly, any . . . health care provider to participate in any health care system . . . .” OK Const. art. II, § 37(B)(1) (emphasis added). Through exemptions afforded under Oklahoma law and an emergency administrative rule, participation in Oklahoma’s HIE is voluntary. Accordingly, there is no compulsion to participate in a health care system and, therefore, no violation of article II, section 37 of the Oklahoma Constitution. 

Oklahoma school districts are authorized to make payroll deductions for membership dues in professional organizations that (a) collectively bargain pursuant to state, as opposed to federal, law or (b) do not collectively bargain at all. The phrase “collectively bargains on behalf of its membership pursuant to any provision of federal law” in title 62, section 34.70.1 of the Oklahoma Statutes means the organization collectively bargains “according to,” or “in conformance with,” any provision federal law. So defined, section 34.70.1 does not apply to Oklahoma school districts and their employees that either do not collectively bargain or that do so pursuant to the Oklahoma School Code (the “School Code”).

Attorney General opinion concluding that a generally applicable zoning ordinance is not preempted by 21 O.S. § 1289.24.

Attorney General opinion regarding the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) Fund and permissible actions and expenditures relating to the Fund. The opinion concludes that the Oklahoma Legislature may not authorize or formally approve the use of funds from the Trust Fund for uses not specifically referenced in article X, section 40, as this is a power reserved to the TSET Board of Directors. However, the Oklahoma Legislature may enact legislation expressing a preference, or recommending, that the TSET Board of Directors expend earnings of the Trust Fund for certain uses, though such legislation has no legal force or effect. Finally, the opinion determines that expenditures to benefit Oklahoma’s Medicaid program would fall within the permissible purposes of article X, section 40 of the Oklahoma Constitution.