OKLAHOMA CITY (May 28, 2025)—Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs President Jonathan Small today praised Gov. Kevin Stitt for signing into law important initiative-petition reforms.

“Senate Bill 1027 preserves the people’s right to send proposals to a statewide vote but puts in place sensible guardrails so the process does not become a free-for-all in which any horrible idea can be put on the ballot,” Small said. “By signing the bill into law, Governor Stitt has made sure that serious proposals with significant support from citizens in much of the state can advance, but taxpayers will not have to waste state funds holding elections on extreme ideas.

“All lawmakers who supported these important reforms deserve praise,” Small continued, “as do House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, state Senator David Bullard, and Senate President Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton for showing leadership on this important issue.”

Senate Bill 1027 requires that the gist of a proposition, the description of a proposed ballot measure provided to voters, use simple language that clearly describes the proposal and avoids jargon understood by only a subset of the population.

The bill also requires that those gathering signatures must be Oklahoma registered voters, and signature-gatherers must publicly reveal if they are being paid by outside entities to circulate a petition and identify their funders.

The bill requires that a petition inform voters of a proposal’s fiscal impact, which could require either tax increases or the diversion of funds from other uses.

The provision receiving the most attention requires that initiative petitions collect signatures from Oklahomans across the state, not just those living within a few concentrated areas. Under the bill’s reforms, petitions will need to gather signatures from citizens in about 16 to 20 counties. Oklahoma has 77 counties.