The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- Oklahoma
- Level
- State
- Authority
- 63 O.S. ch. 24 (Emergency Management), 63 O.S. 683.1 et seq.; recited as authority in EO 2020-07 and every amendment (Ex. OK-001 to OK-041: 'Okla. Const. art. VI, sec. 2; 63 O.S. 683.1 et seq.')
- Issued
- 2009-11-01 Nov. 1, 2009
- Effective
- standing (operative 'only during the existence of a natural or man-made emergency', which the Governor proclaimed on March 15, 2020 (Ex. OK-001) and kept in force to May 4, 2021 (Ex. OK-041)) (read as 2020-03-15)
- End
- standing (this version superseded July 1, 2025) (read as 2025-07-01)
- In force
- Standing since Mar. 15, 2020 (a statutory duty; in force throughout the six quarters)
- Quarters
- 2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Emergency declarationStay-at-homeBusiness closureGathering capSupply chainStanding duty
- Addressees
- persons generally; all businesses and economic resources within the State; public officers (para. 4: removal for willful failure to obey any order, rule or regulation)
- Character
- statutory authority
- Collection
- Standing duties: Oklahoma DUT-OK
Operative words
To activate the Emergency Operations Plan, and to assume regulatory control over all essential resources of this state... 'Resources' shall mean all economic resources within this state including but not limited to food, manpower, health and health manpower, water, transportation, economic stabilization,... industrial production, construction and housing.
Penalty
63 O.S. 683.23(C): willful violation of any OEM rule, regulation or order a misdemeanor, six months or $3,000, each day a separate offense (DUT-OK-007); the Governor's orders recited no penalty of their own (Ex. OK-011, OK-022, OK-033 records); municipal orders carried their own penalties (Ex. OK-052, OK-053, OK-064, OK-067, OK-080)
What it required
During the proclaimed emergency the Governor held 'regulatory control over all essential resources of this state', 'resources' meaning 'all economic resources within this state', with power 'To enforce all laws, rules and regulations relating to emergency management' (para. 2), to provide for evacuation (para. 3) and 'To perform and exercise such other functions, powers, and duties as are necessary to promote and secure the safety and protection of the civilian population' (para. 5); the closure, Safer at Home, elective-procedure, gathering, separation and occupancy commands of EO 2020-07, 2020-13, 2020-20 and 2021-07 were exercises of this statutory power, as the Supreme Court held in Ho (DUT-OK-019, para. 25). Character as recorded: statutory_authority (enabling power; binds through the orders issued under it).
Retrieval noteThe current text (OSCN 2026, read) adds, by SB 672 (2025), a definition of 'economic stabilization' that 'specifically excludes the determination of essential or nonessential private business enterprises or the closing of private business enterprises' and a new 683.8(F) barring pandemic closures without 'documented scientific evidence' and notice and hearing (DUT-OK-020). Those provisions took effect July 1, 2025 and have no application to 2020-2021; the Legislature's decision to write them confirms that the power it narrowed was the power the 2020 orders exercised. 63 O.S. 683.8(D)(7)(c)-(d) (read in the current text and in SB 672's base text) gives the Governor direction and control of 'the conduct of civilians and the movement of and cessation of movement of pedestrians and vehicular traffic during, prior and subsequent to natural and man-made disasters and emergencies' and of 'public meetings or gatherings'.