State senators filibuster, delay proceedings during critical final hours to get bills passed

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Oklahoma State Senate leaders say they’re frustrated some of their fellow Senators chose to filibuster during the final hours senators had to vote on remaining bills they’d like to send to the Oklahoma House of Representatives, effectively killing off any bills they did not get a chance to read.

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Those Senate leaders are upset with senators who are members of their own party.

Senate President Pro Tempore (R-Oklahoma City) and Senate Pro Tempore Designee Greg McCortney (R-Ada) say they’re upset fellow Republican Senators Nathan Dahm (R-Broken Arrow) and Dusty Deevers (R-Elgin) spent several hours filibustering on Thursday while the senate was trying to pass as many bills as it could before its midnight deadline.

At least five times Thursday, Sen. Dahm used his allotted debate time to read bills in their entirety, word for word. One bill was 83 pages long.

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Dahm and Deevers both asked extensive questions on many bills, often taking several minutes at a time to ask.

“Everything they’re doing is within the rules, but they’re going to cause a lot of good legislation to die today,” McCortney told News 4.

McCortney believes Dahm and Deevers chose to employ the tactic after none of the bills they sponsored were read on the Senate floor, and many bills they and other more conservative Senators supported did not get read either.

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“It’s a very, very small segment of senators who feel aggrieved because their bills aren’t on the agenda today,” McCortney said. “So they feel like they if they don’t get theirs, then they’re going to keep everybody else from being able to get any of their work done.”

Treat shared a similar sentiment at a press conference Thursday.

“A member came to me with basically a ransom list of bills that if you hear these we’ll stop doing it,” Treat said. “And that’s not the way I choose to lead.”

Treat did not mince words when he said he would not give in to those demands.

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“I don’t negotiate with terrorists,” Treat said.

He went on to clarify he was not using the word “terrorists” to describe the senators themselves.

“I’m not calling them terrorists, I’m calling their actions terroristic,” Treat said.

McCortney said the delays caused by the filibusters could mean numerous bills will not be heard before the midnight cutoff.

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“The biggest one off the top of my head is there’s a pay increase for retired law enforcement officers,” McCortney said. “I don’t know if they’re going to get a pay increase in time of great inflation. These guys are going to stop them from being able to get an increase in their retirement.”

News 4 reached out to both Dahm and Deevers’ offices to set up a time to talk with them Thursday, but never got a response.

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