HB1219, a bill that was passed out of the House General Government Committee on Tuesday, made significant progress in Oklahoma City, Okla. (KOKH).
Rep. Kevin West, a Republican from Moore, is reintroducing a bill in this legislative session that failed to pass last year.
The bill prohibits the use of state funding by state agencies to promote Pride Month or any event with a similar theme. Additionally, it restricts the display of flags representing sexual orientation or gender identity on state property or grounds.
The bill was discussed during an early committee meeting of the new legislative session.
“Can you talk to us about why this is a priority, what it does for working families and why you’re pushing this bill forward after it failed last legislative session,” House Minority Leader Rep. Cyndi Munson asked.
“The reason that I’m pushing this is because I’ve heard from constituents and Oklahomans that they want us to focus our energy and efforts on what the agency’s mission and purpose is. Not spending time and money, resources promoting something not all Oklahomans agree with,” West said.
Munson inquired about the enforcement mechanism of the bill and whether additional staff would be recruited to oversee it.
“Right now, there’s not an enforcement mechanism in the bill,” West said. “I’m trusting at this point that if this passes that agency heads and people working within those departments will follow the law.”
West expressed his willingness to modify the bill by specifying the flags that are allowed, rather than those that are prohibited.
“You’re talking about amending, do you feel like this is gonna be something where there’s gonna need to be future legislation for other things, like this Black Lives Matter flag, other things that have been political and divisive,” Rep. Gabe Woolley R-Broken Arrow asked. “Or is that something you’d include in this legislation or are you wanting to just stick strictly to the Pride flag?”
“Like you said, if we start listing what’s prohibited then every few years there could be something else crop up,” West said.
The bill’s application would extend to schools and municipalities, according to West.
The committee approved the bill by a vote of 5-2, and it will now proceed to the Government Oversight Committee.
