With an executive order, Gov. Kevin Stitt, R-Tulsa, is making permanent the restriction on state agencies entering into contracts with external lobbyists.

“When taking office, I 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,” said Stitt. “The agencies’ practice of hiring contract lobbyists skirts transparency laws and empowers agencies to ignore voters’ mandates.

“I quickly issued an executive order limiting agencies from entering into new contracts or extending current ones through the end of the 2019 fiscal year. My new executive order makes this restriction permanent during my administration.”   

On January 24, 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 came into compliance by April.