Oklahoma State Question 820

Oklahoma State Question 820 is a proposed voter initiative to legalize adult purchasing, possession and consumption of cannabis in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It would place Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority in charge of business regulation. It will appear on the March 7, 2023 general ballot.

State Question 820
Oklahoma Recreational Marijuana Legalization Initiative

History

Background

In Oklahoma, ballot initiatives are drafted by their proponents and then submitted to the Oklahoma Secretary of State who then must notify the Governor, the Oklahoma Election Board, and publish a notice so that any citizen of the state may file a protest as to the constitutionality of the ballot initiative. Citizens have 10 days to file a protest with the Oklahoma Supreme Court. After all legal challenges are heard, the petition process begins. The number of signatures required for the petition to be successful depends on the type of ballot initiative, but all measures are based on the total number of votes cast in the last general election for Governor. Referendums and Initiatives require the least number of signatures at 5% and 8% respectively. Initiatives for Constitutional Changes require 15%. Rejected Initiative or Referendum Measures require 25%. Once collected, the signed petitions are submitted to the Secretary of State for counting. Once counted, the proposed ballot title is sent to the Attorney General of Oklahoma for legal review. After this review, the Secretary of State submits the signed petition to the Oklahoma Supreme Court. After a short period where objections can be filed, the Secretary of State sends the petition to the Governor and the State Election Board. The Governor of Oklahoma chooses the date of the vote on the ballot initiative.[1]

Initiative

The initiative was filed with Oklahoma Secretary of State on January 3, 2022 by Oklahomans for Sensible Marijuana Laws.[2] On July 5, over 164,000 signatures were submitted to secretary of state for November 2022 ballot access.[3] On August 22, 2022, the initiative was confirmed to have over 117,000 validated signatures of the 95,000 needed to qualify for the ballot.[4]

A petition was filed with the Oklahoma Supreme Court in August, after certification, to ensure the measure appears on the November 2022 ballot despite various administrative deadlines that may have expired while the initiative petition signatures were being counted.[5] Petitioners held that the administrative requirement was arbitrary, and not based on any statute or formally adopted administrative rule.[6] On August 30, the court ordered that it would adjudicate whether or not the 2022 ballot would include SQ 820, despite the Oklahoma Election Board's position that August 29 was that statutory deadline.[7][8] On September 21, with two challenges concerning the ballot title still before the supreme court, it issued its decision not to compel the elections board to include the question on the November 2022 ballot.[9][10]

On October 18, 2022, the governor slated a special election to occur on March 7, 2023, which would include the initiative.[11]

Proposal

Oklahoma State Question 820 would change Oklahoma statutes to legalize recreational cannabis in the state for anyone over 21 years of age. Statute based state questions can be altered after their passing through normal legislation passed by the Oklahoma Legislature and signed by the Governor of Oklahoma. The law would set the recreational cannabis tax rate at 15% and allow for some marijuana drug offenders to have their convictions reversed and records expunged.[2]

Campaign

Endorsements
No
Statewide officials
County officials
Organizations
Individuals
Yes
Individuals

See also

Further reading
  • Paul Monies (September 23, 2022). "Here's the reason recreational marijuana isn't on the November ballot". Oklahoma Watch.

References
  1. "Outline of the Oklahoma Initiative and Referendum Petition Process". sos.ok.gov. Oklahoma Secretary of State. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  2. Carmen Forman. "Second petition filed to legalize recreational cannabis in Oklahoma". Oklahoman.
  3. "Group To Present Signatures To Secretary Of State To Get Recreational Marijuana State Question On November Ballot". Oklahoma City: News 9 Now. July 5, 2022.
  4. "SQ-820 To Be On Ballot After Getting Over 100,000 Signatures". Oklahoma City: KWTV-DT. August 22, 2022.
  5. Matt Patterson (August 25, 2022). "SQ 820 group asks state Supreme Court to put marijuana vote on November ballot". nondoc.com. Sustainable Journalism Foundation.
  6. Colleen Wilson. "'The frustration is real': SQ 820 delay debated in Oklahoma Supreme Court". KOKH. "I don't think we would even be in this position of having to 'put the cart before the horse', if the state wasn't insistent on an August 26th deadline that doesn't exist anywhere in law," Ryan Kiesel, senior consultant for the SQ 820 campaign said after the hearing. 'You can't find it in administrative rule, you can't find it in statute, and certainly not the constitution." The SQ 820 campaign contends the Oklahoma Constitution specifies that initiative petitions be placed on the next 'upcoming' ballot. They argued the August 26th deadline set by the state election board is arbitrary and unnecessary.
  7. Clydesdale, Natalie; Raache, Hicham (August 30, 2022). "Oklahoma Supreme Court opts to temporarily not rule on request to put SQ 820 on ballot". Oklahoma City: KFOR-TV.
  8. Sean Murphy (August 30, 2022). "Oklahoma Supreme Court agrees to consider marijuana question". Associated Press.
  9. King, Kari; Camper, Nick (September 21, 2022). "Oklahomans won't vote on recreational marijuana this November". KFOR. 'There is still a possibility of rehearing in two of the protests' said the court
  10. Carmen Forman (September 21, 2022). "Oklahoma recreational cannabis question won't make November ballot". The Oklahoman.
  11. Sean Murphy (October 18, 2022). "Oklahoma governor sets March election for marijuana question". Associated Press – via The Hill.
  12. Denwalt, Dale (February 3, 2023). "Former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating to lead campaign against recreational marijuana". The Oklahoman. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  13. Patterson, Matt (20 October 2022). "Debate: Stitt, Hofmeister tussle over state performance, McGirt and abortion". Nondoc. Retrieved 22 October 2022. Stitt said during the debate he opposes the state question and would personally vote against it. "No, I'm not supporting that. It is still illegal federally. We should not have a checkerboard of jurisdictions across the state, so I'm not supporting recreational marijuana," Stitt said.
  14. Pain, Mason (January 25, 2023). "To legalize or not to legalize? That is State Question 820". Oklahoma Gazette. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
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