The 2019 legislative session included passage of many reforms the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs has endorsed for many years. Those measures, if implemented correctly, should result in better oversight of government, less waste, and greater freedom for citizens.

Even so, the session was also marked by some glaring failures and at least one truly terrible policy decision.

Among the session’s achievements was passage of legislation to make government more accountable and efficient. This included giving the governor the ability to select the leaders of five major agencies, creation of a Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency to conduct performance evaluations of agencies, boosting state savings by $200 million, and requiring state agencies to report the use of all federal funds in a transparent manner.

Other praiseworthy acts include Oklahoma Supreme Court redistricting that increased the pool of potential jurists by hundreds in some districts, further criminal justice reforms that increase job opportunities for former convicts and made retroactive voter-approved sentencing reforms, new free-speech protections on state college campuses, and lawmakers’ research-based decision to not expand Medicaid and keep their focus on aiding the truly needy.

But lawmakers also failed to raise the cap on the successful Equal Opportunity Scholarship program. That failure means thousands of children with special needs, kids struggling with addiction, and students living with the challenges of poverty will be unable to attend the schools that can best serve them. Lawmakers also failed to give voters the chance to direct state tobacco settlement payments to rural health care needs.

But the session’s true low point may be the doubling of the “Hollywood handout” film rebate, a de facto voucher program that sends millions out of state. Consultants hired by the state Incentive Evaluation Commission concluded the film program does nothing to permanently boost the Oklahoma film industry and does little for the state’s image. They recommended the program be ended.

Instead, lawmakers doubled program payments, and even voted to allow some filmmakers to get payments from the Oklahoma Quick Action Closing Fund.

There was no greater example of misplaced priorities in state government this year. Rather than help needy children or address rural health needs, lawmakers set the stage for more millions to be sent out of state to subsidize films. The Legislature did some good this year, but when it was bad, it was really bad.

Jonathan Small serves as president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs ( www.ocpathink.org).