OKLAHOMA CITY — New Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt announced his first executive orders Thursday morning during a news conference.
In the news conference, held at 10:30 a.m. at the Oklahoma Capitol, Stitt said he will be signing four executive orders on Thursday afternoon.
As a part of one order, Stitt said he plans separate the Secretary of Finance's position into three different jobs to help the government become more customer-focused. Stitt also said is separating the Secretary of Health and Human Services into multiple positions. There will now be one person focused on health and mental health in the state, and one person focused on human services and child services. Stitt is also separating the tourism and commerce positions to help Oklahoma become a "top 10 state."
In a second order, Stitt says he is hoping to increase government transparency by cutting down the number of agencies that contract with outside lobbyists. He says he has instructed all agencies to let him know how much they are paying lobbyists.
In a third order, Stitt said he is taking on agency employee reform. A hiring freeze on state employees will continue as it pertains to classified employees. Some classified positions are no longer needed, Stitt said.
Stitt also plans to sell the state airplane, King Air, which was used for the governor's travel, as a part of a fourth order. He said he expects to fetch a price of around $2-3 million.
Stitt was inaugurated earlier this month. Stitt said he planned to hit the ground running, with the goal of making Oklahoma a top 10 state.
Watch the full news conference above.
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