OKLAHOMA CITY Gov. Kevin Stitt elaborated on his vision for an Oklahoma business court this week, but it’s at least two years away from implementation.
The governor reiterated his priorities moving forward during the final Budget Summit 2024 meeting Wednesday morning, one of which includes the creation of a court system to handle business-related disputes.
Lawmakers told the Journal Record in February they heard Stitt call for the creation of such a system during his State of the State address earlier that month, but they weren’t quite sure what that would look like and hadn’t had a meaningful discussion with the governor about a plan.
Joined by state GOP leaders including Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City and House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka at the conference table in the Oklahoma Governor’s Conference Room that once belonged to the late T. Boone Pickens, Stitt said he believes the legislature can get the framework for business courts “across the finish line.”
“Business courts, I think, are going to continue to make Oklahoma the most business-friendly state,” Stitt said. “It’s a signal to the business community that we want them to know that we want to be the business-headquartered capital of the world, and there’s not going to be a lot of frivolous lawsuits going on in Oklahoma, and a business-to-business exchange kind of court system with more highly-trained business attorneys is kind of the thought process that Delaware has and Texas just set up.”
Stitt said he wants to put a taskforce together to get the system rolled out by 2026. He wants a judge in Oklahoma City and in Tulsa, but as of now, there are no details as to how the judges might be appointed.
House Majority Floor Leader Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City, estimates the framework development process to take about 24 hours. He said he has some language and would like to share it with law experts in the Senate.
“There's no pride of authorship,” Echols said. “I do believe it's close enough that we could come up with an agreed product for implementation a couple years from now, with whoever your team would decide would be the right person.”
Since he’s due to term out after this year, Treat said he would assign Pro Tem Designee Sen. Greg McCortney, R-Ada, to work with Echols the framework.
Stitt said the system would be used for business-to-business disputes such as a complicated merger. As of now, there’s no funding required, but Stitt said it’s time to study other systems and determine if Oklahoma should have a court in Tulsa, Oklahoma City and another for rural parts of the state, or just have one.
Stitt said he’s communicating with Delaware-headquartered companies for ideas.
Delaware established the nation’s first business court system in 1792. It’s based on Medieval England’s Chancery model. According to Delaware Court Records, most litigation heard in the Delaware Court of Chancery is related to commercial, corporate and fiduciary disputes.
Lawmakers could also look to Texas, the latest state to implement such a system. The Lone Star State became the 30th state to develop a business court with the passage of House Bill 19 last year. The bill creates a system with 11 divisions across the state and will be officially established on Sept. 1.
“Let's do the hard work and get this process started,” Stitt said. “Then, in future legislative sessions, we figure out if this is one or two courts and what the framework looks like.”
Treat said Thursday there’s still a lot to be sorted out regarding the development of the framework, but he is eager to explore that with Stitt and see if it can come to fruition.
“I know the state of Texas has recently adopted it, but there’s still a lot to be learned about it and making sure that we’re a business-friendly state that we can solve contractual disputes in a rapid time frame,” Treat said.
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