Oklahoma
State Constitution
Constitution Text
Preamble
Invoking the guidance of Almighty God, in order to secure and perpetuate the blessing of liberty; to secure just and rightful government; to promote our mutual welfare and happiness, we, the people of the State of Oklahoma, do ordain and establish this Constitution.
Article II: Bill of Rights
Section 18: A grand jury shall be composed of twelve (12) persons, any nine (9) of whom concurring may find an indictment or true bill. A grand jury shall be convened upon the order of a district judge upon his own motion; or such grand jury shall be ordered by a district judge upon the filing of a petition therefor signed by qualified electors of the county equal to the number of signatures required to propose legislation by a county by initiative petition as provided in Section 5 of Article V of the Oklahoma Constitution, with the minimum number of required signatures being five hundred (500) and the maximum being five thousand (5000); and further providing that in any calendar year in which a grand jury has been convened pursuant to a petition therefor, then any subsequent petition filed during the same calendar year shall require double the minimum number of signatures as were required hereunder for the first petition; or such grand jury shall be ordered convened upon the filing of a verified application by the Attorney General of the State of Oklahoma who shall have authority to conduct the grand jury in investigating crimes which are alleged to have been committed in said county or involving multicounty criminal activities; when so assembled such grand jury shall have power to inquire into and return indictments for all character and grades of crime. All other provisions of the Constitution or the laws of this state in conflict with the provisions of this constitutional amendment are hereby expressly repealed.
The legislature shall enact laws to prevent corruption in making, filing, circulating, and submitting petitions calling for convening a grand jury.
Section 19: The right of trial by jury shall be and remain inviolate, except in civil cases wherein the amount in controversy does not exceed One Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($1,500.00), or in criminal cases wherein punishment for the offense charged is by fine only, not exceeding One Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($1,500.00). Provided, however, that the Legislature may provide for jury trial in cases involving lesser amounts. Juries for the trial of civil cases, involving more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00), and felony criminal cases shall consist of twelve (12) persons. All other juries shall consist of six (6) persons. However, in all cases the parties may agree on a lesser number of jurors than provided herein.
In all criminal cases where imprisonment for more than six (6) months is authorized the entire number of jurors must concur to render a verdict. In all other cases three-fourths (3/4) of the whole number of jurors concurring shall have power to render a verdict. When a verdict is rendered by less than the whole number of jurors, the verdict shall be signed by each juror concurring therein.
Article V: Legislative Department
Section 3: Referendum petitions shall be filed with the Secretary of State not more than ninety (90) days after the final adjournment of the session of the Legislature which passed the bill on which the referendum is demanded. The veto power of the Governor shall not extend to measures voted on by the people. All elections on measures referred to the people of the state shall be had at the next election held throughout the state, except when the Legislature or the Governor shall order a special election for the express purpose of making such reference. Any measure referred to the people by the initiative or referendum shall take effect and be in force when it shall have been approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon and not otherwise.
The style of all bills shall be: "Be it Enacted By the People of the State of Oklahoma." Petitions and orders for the initiative and for the referendum shall be filed with the Secretary of State and addressed to the Governor of the state, who shall submit the same to the people. The Legislature shall make suitable provisions for carrying into effect the provisions of this article.
Section 5: The powers of the initiative and referendum reserved to the people by this Constitution for the State at large, are hereby further reserved to the legal voters of every county and district therein, as to all local legislation, or action, in the administration of county and district government in and for their respective counties and districts. The manner of exercising said powers shall be prescribed by general laws, except that Boards of County Commissioners may provide for the time of exercising the initiative and referendum powers as to local legislation in their respective counties and districts.
The requisite number of petitioners for the invocation of the initiative and referendum in counties and districts shall bear twice, or double, the ratio to the whole number of legal voters in such county or district, as herein provided therefor in the State at large.
Section 8: Laws shall be provided to prevent corruption in making, procuring, and submitting initiative and referendum petitions.
#### The Senate Sections 9 - 9(b) repealed by State Question No. 416 at election held May 26, 1964.
Section 9A: The state shall be apportioned into forty-eight senatorial districts in the following manner: the nineteen most populous counties, as determined by the most recent Federal Decennial Census, shall constitute nineteen senatorial districts with one senator to be nominated and elected from each district; the fifty-eight less populous counties shall be joined into twenty-nine two-county districts with one senator to be nominated and elected from each of the two-county districts. In apportioning the State Senate, consideration shall be given to population, compactness, area, political units, historical precedents, economic and political interests, contiguous territory, and other major factors, to the extent feasible.
Each senatorial district, whether single county or multi-county, shall be entitled to one senator, who shall hold office for four years; provided that any senator, serving at the time of the adoption of this amendment, shall serve the full time for which he was elected. Vitalization of senatorial districts shall provide for one-half of the senators to be elected at each general election. #### The House of Representatives
Section 10A: The House of Representatives shall consist of the number of Representatives as determined by the formula and procedure set forth herein. The number of members of the House of Representatives to which each county shall be entitled shall be determined according to the following formula:
After the first four Representatives, a county shall qualify for additional representation on the basis of two whole ratios of population for each additional Representative. Each Representative nominated and elected shall hold office for two years. #### Legislative Apportionment
Section 11E: The Supreme Court, upon petition of any qualified elector alleging failure of the Commission to timely act, is hereby vested with original jurisdiction to compel, and shall compel, the Commission to make the apportionment as herein provided. It shall also have exclusive jurisdiction of any review hereunder. If more than one petition be filed, the court shall consolidate such proceedings for hearing and disposition, and shall file its opinion and issue its writ within sixty days from the timely filing of such last petition. In the event any action filed hereunder shall be abandoned or dismissed, any other qualified elector shall be allowed to intervene within ten days thereof.
Sections 12 - 16 repealed by State Question No. 416 at election held May 26, 1964. #### Qualifications and Rights of Members
Section 25: The first session of the Legislature, held by virtue of this Constitution, shall not exceed one hundred and sixty days.
#### Legislative Sessions
Section 26: The Legislature shall meet in regular session at the seat of government at twelve o'clock noon on the first Monday in February of each year and the regular session shall be finally adjourned sine die not later than five o'clock p.m. on the last Friday in May of each year.
The Legislature shall also meet in regular session at the seat of government on the First Tuesday after the First Monday in January of each odd numbered year, beginning at twelve o'clock noon for the purposes only of performing the duties as required by Section 5 of Article VI of the Constitution and organizing pursuant to the provisions of this Article and shall recess not later than five o'clock p.m. of that same day until the following first Monday in February of the same year, beginning at twelve o'clock noon.
Section 27A
#### Leadership, Rules and Organization
Section 30: Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalty as each House may provide.
Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same. The yeas and nays of the members of either House on any question, at the desire of one-fifteenth of those present shall be entered upon its journal. Neither House, during the session of the Legislature, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.
Section 35: The presiding officer of each House shall, in the presence of the House over which he presides, sign all bills and joint resolutions passed by the Legislature, immediately after the same shall have been publicly read at length, and the fact of reading and signing shall be entered upon the journal, but the reading at length may be dispensed with by a two-thirds vote of a quorum present, which vote, by yeas and nays, shall also be entered upon the journal.
#### Legislative Authority and Duties
Section 45: The Legislature shall pass such laws as are necessary for carrying into effect the provisions of this Constitution.
#### Limitations on Legislative Powers
Section 53: Except as to tax and assessment charges against real property remaining delinquent and unpaid for a period of time as long or longer than that provided by law to authorize the taking title to real property by prescription, the Legislature shall have no power to release or extinguish, or to authorize the releasing or extinguishing, in whole or in part, the indebtedness, liabilities, or obligations of any corporation or individual, to this State, or any county or other municipal corporation thereof.
#### Statutes, Bills, Acts, and Laws
Section 59: Laws of a general nature shall have a uniform operation throughout the State, and where a general law can be made applicable, no special law shall be enacted.
#### Other Legislative Powers and Duties
Article VI: Executive Department
Section 5: The returns of every election for all elective state officers shall be sealed up and transmitted by the returning officers to the Secretary of State, directed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who shall, immediately after the organization of the House, and before proceeding to other business, open and publish the same in the presence of a majority of each branch of the Legislature, who shall for that purpose assemble in the hall of the House of Representatives. The persons respectively having the highest number of votes for either of the said offices shall be declared duly elected; but in case two or more shall have an equal and the highest number of votes for either of said offices, the Legislature shall, forthwith, by joint ballot, choose one of the said persons so having an equal and the highest number of votes for said office.
#### The Governor
Section 10: There is hereby created a Pardon and Parole Board to be composed of five members; three to be appointed by the Governor; one by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; one by the Presiding Judge of the Criminal Court of Appeals or its successor. An attorney member of the Board shall be prohibited from representing in the courts of this state persons charged with felony offenses. The appointed members shall hold their offices coterminous with that of the Governor and shall be removable for cause only in the manner provided by law for elective officers not liable to impeachment. It shall be the duty of the Board to make an impartial investigation and study of applicants for commutations, pardons or paroles, and by a majority vote make its recommendations to the Governor of all deemed worthy of clemency. Provided, the Pardon and Parole Board shall have no authority to make recommendations regarding parole for convicts sentenced to death or sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
The Governor shall have the power to grant, after conviction and after favorable recommendation by a majority vote of the said Board, commutations, pardons and paroles for all offenses, except cases of impeachment, upon such conditions and with such restrictions and limitations as he may deem proper, subject to such regulations as may be prescribed by law. Provided, the Governor shall not have the power to grant paroles if a convict has been sentenced to death or sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. The Legislature shall have the authority to prescribe a minimum mandatory period of confinement which must be served by a person prior to being eligible to be considered for parole. The Governor shall have power to grant after conviction, reprieves, or leaves of absence not to exceed sixty (60) days, without the action of said Board. He shall communicate to the Legislature, at each regular session, each case of reprieve, commutation, parole or pardon, granted, stating the name of the convict, the crime of which he was convicted, the date and place of conviction, and the date of commutation, pardon, parole and reprieve.
Section 14: In case of a disagreement between the two houses of the Legislature, at a regular or special session, with respect to the time of adjournment, the Governor may, if the facts be certified to him, by the presiding officer of the house first moving the adjournment, adjourn them to such time as he shall deem proper, not beyond the day of the next stated meeting of the Legislature. He may convoke the Legislature at or adjourn it to another place, when, in his opinion, the public safety or welfare, or the safety or health of the members require it: Provided, however, That such change or adjournment shall be concurred in by a two-thirds vote of all the members elected to each branch of the Legislature.
#### The Lieutenant Governor
Section 16: In case of impeachment of the Governor, or of his death, failure to qualify, resignation, removal from the State, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the office, the said office, with its compensation, shall devolve upon the Lieutenant Governor for the residue of the term or until the disability shall be removed.
#### The Secretary of State
Section 18: The Secretary of State shall be the custodian of the Seal of the State, and authenticate therewith all official acts of the Governor except his approval of laws. The said seal shall be called "The Great Seal of the State of Oklahoma."
#### The State Auditor and Inspector
Section 19: The State Auditor and Inspector must have had at least three years' experience as an expert accountant; his duties shall be, without notice to such treasurer, to examine the state and all county treasurers' books, accounts and cash on hand or in bank at least twice each year, and publish his report as to every such treasurer once each year. For the purpose of such examination he shall take complete possession of such treasurer's office. He shall also prescribe a uniform system of bookkeeping for the use of all treasurers. The State Auditor and Inspector shall perform such other duties and have such other powers as may be prescribed by law.
#### The Commissioner of Labor
Section 21: The Legislature shall create a Board of Arbitration and Conciliation in the Department of Labor and the Commissioner of Labor shall be ex-officio chairman.
#### The Insurance Commissioner
Section 24: The Insurance Commissioner shall give bond, perform such duties, and possess such further qualifications as may be prescribed by law.
#### Department of Mines
Section 26: repealed by State Question No. 594 at election held August 26, 1986
#### Commissioner of Charities and Corrections Sections 27 – 30 repealed by by State Question No. 509 at election held July 22, 1975, effective January 8, 1979 #### Board of Agriculture
Section 31: A Board of Agriculture is hereby created to be composed of five members all of whom shall be farmers and shall be selected in the manner prescribed by law.
Said Board shall be maintained as a part of the State government, and shall have jurisdiction over all matters affecting animal industry and animal quarantine regulation, and shall be the Board of Regents of all State Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges, and shall discharge such other duties and receive such compensation as now is, or may hereafter be, provided by law.
Section 31a: There is hereby created a Board of Regents for the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College and all Agricultural and Mechanical Schools and Colleges maintained in whole or in part by the State. The Board shall consist of nine (9) members, eight (8) members to be appointed by the Governor by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a majority of whom shall be farmers, and the ninth member shall be the President of the State Board of Agriculture. Any vacancy occurring among the appointed members shall be filled by appointment of the Governor by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The members of the Board shall be removable only for cause as provided by law for the removal of officers not subject to impeachment. The members shall be appointed for terms of eight (8) years each, with one term expiring each year, provided that the members of the first Board shall be appointed for terms of from one (1) to eight (8) years respectively. Provided that no State, National or County officer shall ever be appointed as a member of said Board of Regents until two years after his tenure as such officer has ceased.
#### Commissioners of the Land Office
Section 34: Each of the officers in this article named shall, at stated times, during his continuance in office, receive for his services a compensation, which shall not be increased or diminished during the term for which he shall have been elected; nor shall he receive to his use, any fees, cost, or perquisites of office or other compensation.
#### State Seal
Article VIIB: Selection of Justices and Judges
Section 5: Each Judicial Officer elected before or after the adoption of this Article shall, unless removed for cause, serve out the term for which he is elected and those Judicial Officers serving at the date of the adoption of this Article, whose Judicial Office comes under the provision of this Article on the date of the expiration of said term, shall be deemed to have been appointed as provided herein and eligible to file a declaration of candidacy to succeed themselves as provided in this Article. If retained in office, the term of each such Judicial Officer shall be six (6) years commencing the second Monday in January following such election.
The term and election of each Judicial Officer appointed to fill a vacancy after the adoption of this Article shall be as follows: If such appointed officer has served or will have served twelve (12) months on or before the next general election following appointment, such officer may file for election for the remainder of the term for which such officer was appointed, or for a six (6) year term, whichever is applicable, within the time and in the manner elected Judicial Officers file their candidacy under this Article. If such appointed officer has not served or will not have served twelve (12) months on or before the next general election following appointment, such officer shall continue in office until the second general election following appointment and may file for election for the remainder of the term or for a six (6) year term, whichever is applicable, as herein provided.
Article IX: Corporations
Section 1: As used in this article, the term "corporation" or "company" shall include all associations and joint stock companies having any power or privileges, not possessed by individuals, and exclude all municipal corporations and public institutions owned or controlled by the State; the term "charter" shall mean the charter of incorporation, by or under which any corporation is formed. The term "license" shall mean the authority under which all foreign corporations are permitted to transact business in this State.
#### Railroad, Transportation, Transmission and Public Service Corporations
Section 14: This section was repealed by State Question No. 643, Legis. Ref. No. 288, adopted at election held November 3, 1992.
#### Corporation Commission
Section 20: From any action of the Corporation Commission prescribing rates, charges, services, practices, rules or regulations of any public utility or public service corporation, or any individual, person, firm, corporation, receiver or trustee engaged in the public utility business, an appeal may be taken by any party affected, or by any person deeming himself aggrieved by any such action, or by the State, directly to the Supreme Court of the State of Oklahoma, in the manner and in the same time in which appeals may be taken to the Supreme Court from the District Courts, except that such an appeal shall be of right, and the Supreme Court may provide by rule for proceedings in the matter of appeals in any particular in which the existing rules of law are inapplicable. If such appeal be taken by the public utility or public service corporation affected by any such action, the State of Oklahoma shall be made the appellee, but in other appeals hereunder, the public utility or public service corporation affected shall be made the appellee.
An appeal from an order of the Corporation Commission affecting the rates, charges, services, practices, rules or regulations of public utilities, or public service corporations, shall be to the Supreme Court only, and in all appeals to which the State is a party it shall be represented by the Attorney for the Corporation Commission, and the Attorney General, or his duly authorized representative. The Supreme Court's review of appealable orders of the Corporation Commission shall be judicial only, and in all appeals involving an asserted violation of any right of the parties under the Constitution of the United States or the Constitution of the State of Oklahoma, the Court shall exercise its own independent judgment as to both the law and the facts. In all other appeals from orders of the Corporation Commission the review by the Supreme Court shall not extend further than to determine whether the Commission has regularly pursued its authority, and whether the findings and conclusions of the Commission are sustained by the law and substantial evidence. Upon review, the Supreme Court shall enter judgment, either affirming or reversing the order of the Commission appealed from. No court of this State, except the Supreme Court, shall have jurisdiction to review, affirm, reverse, or remand any action of the Corporation Commission with respect to the rates, charges, services, practices, rules or regulations of public utilites, or of public service corporations, or to suspend or delay the execution or operation thereof, or to enjoin, reverse, or interfere with the Corporation Commission in the performance of its official duties; provided, however, that writs of mandamus or prohibition shall lie from the Supreme Court to the Corporation Commission in all cases where such writs respectively would lie to any inferior court or officer.
Section 33: Any person, firm, or corporation owning or operating any coal, lead, iron, or zinc mine, or any saw mill, grain elevator, or other industry, whenever the Commission shall reasonably determine that the amount of business is sufficient to justify the same, near or within a reasonable distance of any track, may, at the expense of such person, firm, or corporation, build and keep in repair a switch leading from such railroad to such mine, saw mill, elevator or other industry; such railroad company shall be required to furnish the switch stand and frog and other necessary material for making connection, with such side track or spur under such reasonable terms, conditions and regulations as the said Commission may prescribe, and shall make connection therewith. The party owning such mine, saw mill, elevator or other industry shall pay the actual cost thereof. If any railroad company, after proper demand therefor is made, shall refuse to furnish said material for making said connection and put the same in place, or after the building of such switch, shall fail or refuse to operate the same, such railroad company failing and refusing for a reasonable time, shall forfeit and pay to the party or corporation aggrieved, the sum of five hundred dollars for each and every offense, to be recovered by civil action in any court of competent jurisdiction; and every day of such refusal on the part of the railroad company to operate such switch as aforesaid, after such demand is made, shall be deemed a separate offense.
#### Construction of Laws - Power of Legislature
Section 34: As used in this Article, the term "transportation company" shall include any company, corporation, trustee, receiver or any other person owning, leasing or operating for hire a railroad, street railway, canal, steamboat line, and also any freight car company, car corporation, or company, trustee or persons in any way engaged in such business as a common carrier over a route acquired in whole or in part under the right of eminent domain, or under any grant from the Government of the United States; the term "rate" shall be construed to mean rate of charge for any service rendered, or to be rendered; the terms "rate," "charge" and "regulation" shall include joint rates, joint charges and joint regulations, respectively; the term "transmission company" shall include any company, receiver or other person owning, leasing or operating for hire any telegraph or telephone line; the term "freight" shall be construed to mean any property transported or received for transportation by any transportation company. The term "public service corporation" shall include all transportation and transmission companies, all gas, electric, heat, light and power companies, and all persons, firms, corporations, receivers or trustees engaged in said businesses, and all persons, firms, corporations, receivers or trustees authorized to exercise the right of eminent domain or having a franchise to use or occupy any right of way, street, alley or public highway, whether along, over or under the same, in a manner not permitted to the general public, and all persons, firms, corporations, receivers and trustees engaged in any business which is a public utility or a public service corporation, at the present time or which may hereafter be declared to be a public utility or a public service corporation. The term "person" as used in this Article shall include individuals, partnerships, and corporations in the singular as well as plural number; the term "bond" shall mean all certificates or written evidence of indebtedness issued by any corporation and secured by mortgage or trust deed. The term "frank" shall mean any writing or token issued by or under authority of a transmission company, entitling the holder to any service from such company free of charge.
The provisions of this Article shall always be so restricted in their application as not to conflict with any of the provisions of the Constitution of the United States, and as if the necessary limitations upon their interpretation had been herein expressed in each case.
Section 36: The common law doctrine of the fellow-servant, so far as it affects the liability of the master for injuries to his servant, resulting from the acts or omissions of any other servant or servants of the common master, is abrogated as to every employee of every railroad company and every street railway company or inter-urban railway company, and of every person, firm, or corporation engaged in mining in this State; and every such employee shall have the same right to recover for every injury suffered by him for the acts or omissions of any other employee or employees of the common master that a servant would have if such acts or omissions were those of the master himself in the performance of a non-assignable duty; and when death, whether instantaneous or not, results to such employee from any injury for which he could have recovered under the above provisions, had not death occurred, then his legal or personal representative, surviving consort or relatives, or any trustee, curator, committee or guardian of such consort or relatives, shall have the same rights and remedies with respect thereto, as if death had been caused by the negligence of the master. And every railroad company and every street railway company or inter-urban railway company, and every person, firm, or corporation engaged in underground mining in this State shall be liable under this section, for the acts of his or its receivers.
Nothing contained in this section shall restrict the power of the Legislature to extend to the employees of any person, firm, or corporation, the rights and remedies herein provided for. #### Fares
Section 37: REPEALED
#### Private Corporations
Article X: REVENUE AND TAXATION
Section X-6: Property exempt from taxation - Exemptions under territorial laws -
Exemption of certain property for limited time.
Section X-6C: enterprise areas - Economic stagnation or decline - Use of local
taxes and fees for public investments - Development or redevelopment of unproductive, etc. areas.
Section X-8: Valuation of property for taxation - Limit on percentage of fair cash
value - Approval by voters.
Section X-8A: Approval of exemption of household goods of heads of families and
livestock employed in support of family - Adjusted millage rate - Computation procedure - Maximum rate.
Section X-8C: Limit on fair cash value on homestead.
long as the individual head of household who is sixty-five (65) years of age or older owns and occupies the property and as long as the gross household income from all sources does not exceed Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00) in any calendar year. If any improvements are made to the property, the fair cash value of the improvements shall be assessed in accordance with law by the county assessor and added to the assessed value of the property. Once the fair cash value of the improvements has been added to the fair cash value of the property, the total fair cash value shall not exceed the revised valuation of the property so long as the individual head of household who is sixty-five (65) years of age or older owns and occupies the property and so long as the gross household income from all sources does not exceed Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00) in a calendar year. For any individual head of household who is sixty-five (65) years of age or older prior to January 1, 1997, and has gross household income from all sources of Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00) or less in calendar year 1996, the fair cash value of the real property shall be the fair cash value placed upon the property on January 1, 1997. If the individual head of household ceases to own and occupy the property or if the gross household income from all sources exceeds Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00) in a calendar year, the fair cash value of the property shall be determined as if the provisions of Section 8 of Article X of the Constitution of the State of Oklahoma or any other provisions relating to a limitation on the fair cash value of locally assessed real property had been in effect during the time the property was valued pursuant to the provisions of this section.
Section X-9B: Area school districts for vocational and technical schools - Tax
levies.
Section X-10: Increased rate for public buildings or for building fund for
school distr icts.
Section X-10A: Tax levy for cooperative county libraries and joint city-county
libraries.
Section X-12: Special forms of taxation - Amounts - Reference to Federal
taxation.
Section X-14: Levy and collection by general laws and for public purposes -
Assumption of debts.
Section X-23a: Surplus accruing to General Revenue Fund - Payment of bonded
indebtedness -Investments - Appropriation of surplus.
Section X-25: Authorization of debt - Annual tax - Submission to voters - Final
passage.
Section X-26: Indebtedness of political subdivisions - Assent of voters -
Limitation of amount - Annual tax.
Section X-27: Indebtedness for purchase, construction or repair of public
utilities.
Section X-29: Bonds and evidence of indebtedness - Certificates as to
compliance with law.
Section X-31: Indebtedness for construction, equipment, etc., of state buildings -
Use of part of cigarette tax for payment.
Section X-33: Indebtedness for construction of buildings and other capital
improvements - Restrictions - Term - Sources of payment.
Section X-34: Indebtedness for capital improvements to institutions of higher
education - School and hospital for mentally retarded.
Section X-36: Indebtedness for capital improvements - University Medical
Center.
Section X-39: Water resources and sewage treatment programs - Funding - State
financial assistance - State liability.
Section X-42: Economic development credit enhancement reserve fund - General
obligation bonds.
Section X-43: State construction, remodeling or other capital improvements - Amount
of indebtedness - Payment and discharge of debt - Issuance of bonds.
Article XIV: Banks and Banking
Section XIV-1
Banking department. General laws shall be enacted by the legislature providing for the creation of a Banking Department, to be under the control of a Bank Commissioner, who shall be appointed by the Governor for a term of four years, by and with the consent of the Senate, with sufficient power and authority to regulate and control all State Banks, Loan, Trust and Guaranty Companies, under laws which shall provide for the protection of depositors and individual stockholders.
Section XIV-2
Classification of loans and lenders - Licenses - Maximum rates of interest. The Legislature shall have authority to classify loans and lenders, license and regulate lenders, define interest and fix maximum rates of interest; provided, however, in the absence of legislation fixing maximum rates of interest, all contracts for a greater rate of interest than ten percent(10%) per annum shall be deemed usurious; provided, further, that in contracts where no rate of interest is agreed upon, the rate shall not exceed six percent (6%) per annum. Amended by State Question No. 454, Legislative Referendum No. 167, adopted at election held Sept. 17, 1968.
Section XIV-3
Excessive rate - Forfeiture of interest - Recovery of double interest. The taking, receiving, reserving, or charging a rate of interest greater than is allowed by the preceding section, when knowingly done, shall be deemed a forfeiture of the entire interest which the note, bill, or other evidence of debt carries with it, or which has been agreed to be paid thereon. In case a greater rate of interest has been paid, the person by whom it has been paid, or his legal representatives, may recover from the person, firm, or corporation taking or receiving the same, in an action in the nature of an action of debt, twice the amount of the interest so paid: Provided, such action shall be brought within two years after the maturity of such usurious contract: Provided, However, That this section may be subject to such changes as the Legislature may prescribe.
Article XXIV: Constitutional Amendments
Section 1: Full Text
Any amendment or amendments to this Constitution may be proposed in either branch of the Legislature, and if the same shall be agreed to by a majority of all the members elected to each of the two (2) houses, such proposed amendment or amendments shall, with the yeas and nays thereon, be entered in their journals and referred by the Secretary of State to the people for their approval or rejection, at the next regular general election, except when the Legislature, by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of each house, shall order a special election for that purpose. If a majority of all the electors voting on any proposed amendment at such election shall vote in favor thereof, it shall thereby become a part of this Constitution. No proposal for the amendment or alteration of this Constitution which is submitted to the voters shall embrace more than one general subject and the voters shall vote separately for or against each proposal submitted; provided, however, that in the submission of proposals for the amendment of this Constitution by articles, which embrace one general subject, each proposed article shall be deemed a single proposal or proposition.
Article XXVII: Oklahoma Alcoholic Beverage Control Board
Section 1: Full Text
Sections 1 - 11 repealed by State Question No. 563 at election held September 18, 1984.
Schedule
Section 1: Full Text
### Sources Oklahoma Constitution on Oklahoma Supreme Court Network
Source: Imported from all_50_state_constitutions_FINAL.md
Last Updated: June 28, 2026
Overview
The Oklahoma Constitution of 1907 serves as the fundamental law of the state, establishing the framework for government and protecting the rights of its citizens.
History
Oklahoma was admitted to the Union on November 16, 1907.
The current constitution was adopted in 1907. State constitutions are often amended more frequently than the federal Constitution, reflecting changing needs and values of state residents.
Structure of Government
Legislative
State Legislature
Executive
Governor & Cabinet
Judicial
State Courts
Bill of Rights
Like the U.S. Constitution, the Oklahoma Constitution includes protections for individual rights and liberties. State constitutions often provide broader protections than the federal Constitution, serving as a "floor" rather than a "ceiling" for rights.