By Travis Handler
Join the ACLU of Oklahoma as we march in the Tulsa Pride Parade! As you know, the work of the ACLU is now more critical than ever, and we want this year's parade group to be the biggest yet! Please complete the registration form to march with us on Saturday, October 17th, and we will be in contact with further details.
State Sen. Kyle Loveless, R-Oklahoma City, said the card reader program was a dangerous, unconstitutional tool. Loveless said the fact that DPS officials initially sought access to banking information shows the program was just another method to take money.
“We’ve seen this time and time again,” Loveless said. “Now we see they were trying to get that type of information. This shows this isn’t about identity theft, drugs, or crime or ISIS, it’s just another method to take innocent people’s property.”
At least three requests for legislative studies about the program are pending in the House of Representatives. Loveless said he planned to hold a series of public meetings about the program this fall.
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“In reality, the session did very little to help people,” Kiesel said. “We saw some horrible examples of bigoted and hate-filled legislation and a poorly written budget that does more harm than good.”
Many legislators, he said, were more concerned about deflecting the public’s attention away from the budget problem.
Kiesel said bills such as Senate Bill 1552, which would have made it a felony for a doctor to perform an abortion, and Senate Bill 1619, which targeted Oklahoma’s transgender residents, did nothing positive for the state and were ‘obviously unconstitutional.’
In addition, lawmakers passed a resolution seeking to remove the firewall from the Oklahoma Constitution that keeps the state from funding religious organizations with public money.
Kiesel called that resolution ‘unnecessary.’
“It (the resolution) has nothing to do with policy,” he said. “Instead, it is all about politics. The resolution is
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