Oklahoma State Cabinet

The Cabinet of the Governor of Oklahoma is a body of the most senior appointed officials of the executive branch of the government of Oklahoma. Originally an informal meeting between the Governor of Oklahoma and various government officials, the Governor's Cabinet has evolved into an important information link between the Governor and the various agencies, boards and commissions that operate within state government.

Cabinet officers are appointed by the Governor, subject to confirmation by the Oklahoma Senate. Once confirmed, all members of the Cabinet receive the title "Secretary" and serve at the pleasure of the Governor. The Cabinet is responsible for advising the Governor on the operations and policies of the State government.

The current Cabinet is serving under Governor Mary Fallin.

When Governor of Oklahoma David Boren first took office, Oklahoma possessed no form of Cabinet system. Taking the example of other states, Governor Boren began holding semi-official and semi-regular meetings with various heads of state agencies whenever necessary. Under Boren’s successor, George Nigh, following the recommendation of the Nigh Commission, Oklahoma adopted an official Cabinet system with the enactment of Executive Branch Reform Act of 1986 which created an overlay of cabinet secretaries. However, the act did not transfer the statutory and constitutional powers delegated to the agencies, boards and commissions over to the cabinet secretaries. Some citizens argue that it should have but others say that 12-15 people should not replace the hundreds of agencies, boards and commissions within the tradition of active participatory democracy form of governance.

In 2009, the Oklahoma Legislature amended the Executive Branch Reform Act to mandate the establishment of the Secretary of Information Technology.

The Executive Branch Reform Act first called for the creating of a Cabinet with no more than fifteen "cabinet areas" which were to consist of the various state agencies, committees, and boards with similar administrative objectives. These cabinet areas would not be agencies of the State and thus could not exercise the executive power of the State. They would only exist to better serve the Governor in crafting policy and information gathering. The original law mandated only one cabinet area: one containing the Department of Veteran Affairs. The law has since been amended to mandate the creation of Information Technology cabinet area. After that, the law allowed the Governor to create the other fourteen cabinet areas at his discretion until the Oklahoma Legislature formally created the cabinet areas. The heads of these executive cabinet area would be given the title of "Secretary" followed by the name of their cabinet area (or a shortened title thereof).

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Wikipedia