Senate President Pro Tem Names Senate Confirmation Working Group

OKLAHOMA CITY – Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat on Wednesday announced the members of a bipartisan working group to study the Senate’s confirmation process for executive nominations.

President Pro Tem Treat made the announcement a week after new laws went into effect giving the governor the ability to hire and fire the heads of five of the largest state agencies. To ensure the proper vetting of executive nominations moving forward, Treat said he has tasked the working group with developing recommendations on how to make the Senate confirmation process more thorough and complete.

“I made the commitment to members of the Senate while advocating for this new appointment power for the governor that I would appoint a bipartisan working group to ensure the Senate confirmation process would be thorough and complete,” said Treat, R-47, Oklahoma City.

“Senate confirmation of executive nominations has always been an important function of the institution. With the new gubernatorial appointments of agency directors, it’s even more important that we get it right and thoroughly vet executive nominations to ensure the men and women nominated are qualified and capable leaders who will serve the state of Oklahoma well. I look forward to reviewing the recommendations of the working group.”

The working group face a tight timeline when scheduling their deliberations. The President Pro Tem has set a deadline of April 4th for the group to submit their recommendations to his office.

The members of the working group are:

Senator Kim David, R-18, Porter

Senator Roger Thompson, R-8, Okemah

Senator Frank Simpson, R-14, Springer

Senator Rob Standridge, R-15, Norman

Senator Darrell Weaver, R-24, Moore

Senator Kay Floyd, D-46, Oklahoma City

Senator Julia Kirt, D-30, Oklahoma City