OKPOLICY.ORG
There are interesting goings on at the Oklahoma Healthcare Authority (OHCA) regarding Governor Kevin Stitt’s July 31, 2025, executive order requiring that OHCA “shall require, as a condition of participation in the SoonerCare program, that all providers submit a signed attestation disclosing whether they or any related entities engage in abortion-related activities.”
The executive order also provided that “OHCA shall issue proposed rule changes, as necessary, and provider communications within sixty (60) days of this order and shall complete implementation of the revised standards within one hundred twenty (120) days.”
Stitt apparently issued the order to implement his previously stated goal to make Oklahoma the most pro-life state in the nation, but the directive ran into some stumbling blocks with the OHCA Board. On Sept. 30, Board members tabled a rule to implement the executive order because of concerns about a lack of clarity on what certain words meant and the consequences providers like doctors and hospitals could face for non-compliance.
Then, in a special meeting on Nov. 11, a vote from the OHCA board to approve the emergency rule implementing the executive order failed after some members cited concerns about the order’s legality and impact on providers.
Former Senator Clark Jolley, an appointee of the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, argued the executive order was an improper exercise of legislative power by the governor. Agency rules must be based on statutory authority, not an executive order by the governor. Board member Alex Yafee, an appointee of the Speaker of the House, said he thinks the board is asking for litigation if the agency requires the attestations for credentialing and contracting with providers.
The motion to pass the rule failed by a vote of 3 to 2 by the nine-member board. Members Jolley and Yaffee — alongside Tanya Case, an appointee of the Speaker — voted against the rule while members Marc Nuttle and Kim Leland, appointees of Gov. Stitt, voted yes. Member John Christ, a gubernatorial appointee, abstained. Member Jeffrey Cruzan, an appointee of the Senate Pro Tem, along with gubernatorial appointees Kevin Corbett and Phillip Kennedy were not at the meeting.
After the rule failed, the board unanimously passed a motion to seek Attorney General Gentner Drummond’s official opinion on whether the agency is required to follow the executive order. It also unanimously passed a resolution to request that Nuttle and OHCA CEO Clay Bullard get clarification on the order from the governor and encourage him to postpone enforcement of the attestation requirement until rules have been passed by the board.
The OHCA board’s action could be a signal that at least they, and perhaps others, have grown weary of the advancement of executive authority over the constitutional powers dedicated to the legislative branch. This seems to be true in the Stitt administration as well as at the federal level. To me it’s not healthy, either for a representative democracy or for sound and even-handed public policy.
