Oklahoma legislative session ends early, leaving Medicaid reform unresolved

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:01]LATEST ON BREAKING NEWS AND WEATHER ALERTS.

[00:00:05]THE 2026 SESSION AT OUR STATE CAPITOL HAS COME TO AN END.

[00:00:09]OUR KOCO PATRICK TALBOT, WAS THERE TODAY AS SENATE LEADERS TALKED ABOUT A BIT OF A CONTENTIOUS END TO THE YEAR FOR THEM.

[00:00:17]THE SENATE ARE THE ONES THAT ALWAYS TRY TO WORK HARD.

[00:00:20]WE DON’T LOOK FOR A CAMERA TO GET IN FRONT OF, TO WORK HARD.

[00:00:23]SENATE PRO TEM LONNIE PAXTON, WRAPPING UP THIS YEAR’S LEGISLATIVE SESSION NEARLY TWO WEEKS AHEAD OF DEADLINE.

[00:00:29]SENATE DEMOCRATS NOT PLEASED WITH THE EARLY END TO THIS YEAR’S SESSION.

[00:00:33]WE DID CERTAINLY OBJECT TO ENDING EARLY OUT OF CONCERNS ABOUT NOT SOLVING SOME BIG PROBLEMS THIS SESSION.

[00:00:39]ONE BIG ISSUE THAT DIDN’T GET RESOLVED MEDICAID REFORM.

[00:00:42]ONE BILL WOULD HAVE GIVEN THE LEGISLATURE CONTROL TO RESTRICT MEDICAID IF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PULLS FUNDING.

[00:00:47]RIGHT NOW.

[00:00:47]MEDICAID REQUIREMENTS ARE IN OUR STATE’S CONSTITUTION, AND THE STATE WOULD STILL HAVE TO FUND IT.

[00:00:53]EVEN WITHOUT THAT FEDERAL MONEY.

[00:00:56]BUT A GROUP OF REPUBLICANS HALTED THE BILL’S PROGRESS.

[00:00:58]SO VERY DISAPPOINTED WE DID NOT GET A MEDICAID STATE QUESTION ON ANY BALLOT THIS YEAR.

[00:01:03]THOUGH DEMOCRATS OPPOSED THE MEASURE, THEY WERE SHOCKED IT FAILED.

[00:01:05]IF YOU’D ASKED ME AT THE START OF THE SESSION AFTER AFTER THE GOVERNOR GAVE A SPEECH, IF YOU’D ASKED ME WHERE WE WOULD END UP IN THE SESSION, I COULD NOT HAVE BELIEVED THAT WE DO NOT HAVE A MEDICAID STATE QUESTION TO UNDERMINE CENTER CARE.

[00:01:17]HOUSE SPEAKER KYLE HILBERT HAS ALLUDED TO THE POSSIBILITY OF A SPECIAL SESSION TO ADDRESS THIS MEDICAID ISSUE, BUT SENATE LEADERSHIP IS HESITANT FOR AN IDEA TO BECOME A LAW IS VERY DIFFICULT, AND IT SHOULD BE DIFFICULT.

[00:01:28]OUR FOUNDING FATHERS SET IT UP THAT WAY.

[00:01:30]IT’S HARD TO IMAGINE WE WOULD COME BACK TO ONE, BECAUSE IT WOULD TAKE TWO THIRDS OF THE LEGISLATURE OR THE