TULSA, Okla. — The 2025 Oklahoma legislative session ended in the early morning hours of May 30.
2 News reached out to 21 Tulsa lawmakers, seeking their perspective; six responded. Sen. Dave Rader, Rep. Ronald Stewart, Rep. John Waldron, Rep. Suzanne Schreiber, Rep. Derrick Hildebrant, and Rep. Mark Tedford.
WATCH: SINE DIE: Oklahoma Legislature wraps up for 2025
2 News asked each lawmaker the same three questions. Excerpts of their answers are available below.
How would you describe this legislative session in a nutshell?
Rep. Stewart - “Organized chaos.”
Rep. Waldron - “It was … in some ways … not so bad.”
Rep. Hildebrant - “Very deliberative, if I were to put it in just a few words”
Sen. Rader - “You know, they’re all busy, this was busy as well.”
Rep. Schreiber - “A wild one. We had so much policy come out of it.”
Rep. Tedford - “Pretty smooth, until probably the last day.”
It was during the last day when tensions between the legislature and Governor Stitt boiled over. Rep. John Waldron said the legislature overrode 47 of the governor’s vetoes, an all-time record.
This year, there seemed to be more conflict between the legislature and the governor. Did you get that sense?
Rep. Hildebrant - “My sense with the governor’s relationship with the legislature is actually very smooth.”
Rep. Stewart - “I don’t know if I would classify it as just direct animosity but I do believe that there was absolutely differences of opinion.”
Rep. Tedford - “Leading up to the last day, the governor had gotten pretty much what he wanted.”
Sen. Rader - “Many of us were surprised by the veto memos, and then within some of those memos, we were surprised by some of the tone of those memos.”
Rep. Schreiber - “I think maybe he was testing some of the power that the governor has.”
Rep. Waldron - “We did hand the governor an awful lot of power and we missed some opportunities to hold him accountable.”
Those squabbles aside, the legislature does not serve the governor; they serve the people of Oklahoma. Despite some of the drama, each lawmaker had something to remember.
What was your proudest accomplishment this legislative session?
Sen. Rader - “The pediatric heart hospital, in OKC, there with OU Health, so I was very honored to be able to carry that bill.”
Rep. Schreiber - “The childcare bill that I worked really really hard on, to deliver no-cost child care to employees working in the childcare field.”
Rep. Hildebrant - “House bill 1075 which was called Protect Our Kids Act, which in essence, held accountable educators who are accused of inappropriate conduct with children.”
Rep. Waldron - “Stopping a ban on new wind turbine construction.”
Rep. Tedford - “House Bill 1512 which sets up the state’s health insurance marketplace, in lieu of the federal marketplace.”
Rep. Stewart - “House Bill 1137, with the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People bill.”
Perhaps no bill encapsulates Oklahoma politics like HB 1137. The governor’s veto highlighted his conflicts with the tribes. What’s more, the legislature overrode the veto as part of their record number of overrides.
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