Greg Treat (born May 9, 1978) is an American Republican politician from Oklahoma and the current President Pro Tempore of the Oklahoma Senate. He represented the 47th district from 2011 to 2024.[1]
Treat is an Oklahoma City resident and an alumnus of the University of Oklahoma. Prior to taking office, he was a campaign director for several Republican campaigns in the state.[1]
Personal life
He is a graduate of Catoosa High School and "attended the University of Oklahoma earning a political science and history degree...Treat also was awarded the Cortez A.M. Ewing Fellowship while at OU, which allowed him to intern for then-U.S. Rep. Tom Coburn, M.D., in Washington, D.C." He is married to Maressa Treat and has three children.[2]
Career
Elections
Treat was first elected to his seat in a 2011 special election to replace Todd Lamb, who left his seat to become Oklahoma's lieutenant governor. He defeated four other candidates in the Republican primary and did not face a Democratic opponent. He was reelected in 2012 without opposition and defeated Democrat Judy Mullen Hopper in 2016 with 66.35% of the vote.[3] He is term limited in 2024.[4]
Legislation
Fiscal transparency
In 2019, Treat authored a bill to create the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency,[5] an entity to increase transparency and accountability in state government by providing the public and lawmakers independent, objective data on state spending and program performance. Treat also authored several landmark government accountability] measures that give the governor the ability to hire and fire the director of five of the largest state agencies.[6] Treat authored Senate Bill 1848 in 2014, which required abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles (48 km) of their practice. The law was struck down by the Oklahoma Supreme Court in 2016, with the court citing Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt as a precedent.[7][8]
Tribal compacts
In June 2023, Treat criticized senators who did not show up for a tribal compact vote to override Governor Kevin Stitt's previous veto.[9] The next month, he called the Governor "ineffective" and said they were one vote shy of overriding.[10] When the override vote was called again, they were able to get enough votes, but Stitt called it an "illegitimate process."[11]
Taxes
In 2023 after a special session, Treat "claimed senators chose to block action on the issue because Gov. Kevin Stitt, who called the special session on taxation, had not handed senators a specific legislation-ready plan," even though the governor "has no direct role in the legislative budget process."[12]
Domestic violence
In 2024, he authored Senate Bill 1470 along with Representative Jon Echols of the House, called the Oklahoma Survivors' Act. It passed the senate with no nay votes, and then the house with only 3.[13][14] The bill "would permit courts to reduce sentences for domestic violence survivors for crimes they committed relating to that abuse," such as criminalized survivor April Wilkens, who was able to watch the vote pass the House along with other incarcerated women in Mabel Bassett.[15] But Governor Kevin Stitt vetoed the bill along with ten other bills. Chris Boring, president of the District Attorneys Council, applauded the veto but advocates for the measure believed it "is critical to address systemic failures in criminal justice for women in Oklahoma."[16][17] The very next day after Stitt's veto, Treat called for a Senate veto override.[18] The Oklahoma Survivor Justice Coalition advocates said that the governor had been "mislead" by the DAs into thinking it was a bad bill.[19] They claimed that they had "heard this misinformation from the state’s prosecutors and the District Attorneys Council for two years" during their efforts to get a bill passed.[20] In a press release, they accused prosecutors of “continuously and mercilessly prosecuting survivors of domestic violence, and seeking harsh, maximum punishments, while simultaneously letting their abusers plead out and face minimal consequences.”[21] A previous attempt at similar legislation was Toni Hasenbeck's and Julie Daniel's HB 1639 in 2023.[22] Treat accused the DAs of going back on a deal he struck with them and saying that another bill had been drafted to ensure criminals couldn't abuse the system,[18] addressing any concerns prosecutors had with the bill.[21] Treat accused the governor of having "zero communication" with him or any discussion on the bill. He said, "There's an absolute target on senate bills from the governor, he has already vetoed 8 of them." News Channel 8 Tulsa also said that the Oklahoma District Attorneys Association has "refused or ignored repeated requests for comment on the legislation for more than a year."[23] The Senate veto override passed and it was the first veto override of the session.[24] Advocates "encouraged the House to also override the veto, which is necessary for the measure to become law."[25] If both chambers override Stitt's veto, the bill will become a law effective November 1.[26] Co-author Echols said he was "very surprised at the veto" but that, “We’re going to pass protections for domestic violence victims this year... either...through another bill or through an override of this bill.” Representative Monroe Nichols said in a statement that “In my eight years in office, I’ve rarely been more frustrated and confused by a governor’s veto."[27]
Controversies
Treat accepted money from a private pro-cockfighting lobbyist group with misleading name, the so-called "Oklahoma Gamefowl Commission" political action committee.[28]
In April 2023, a "week before the deadline for bills to be heard in the opposite chamber's committees," Treat and the Speaker of the House, Charles McCall, were said to "continue to throw jabs at each other's education plans," leading parents and educators to be concerned there wouldn't be a solution that session.[29] As the session neared its end, both McCall and Treat still had not come to an agreement.[30] It was reported that the "two sides didn't even agree on how much they had been talking about education."[31] McCall reportedly thought the talks were going well, while Treat said he didn't feel "very hopeful."[32]
For school vouchers in a bill introduced in 2023, Treat acknowledged that "private schools wouldn’t be forced to admit all students, but he believes schools would expand enrollment when more families can afford it." Democrats have had concerns that "there are no assurances that low-income students would be admitted into a private school." Treat has also accused House Speaker Charles McCall of "refusing to negotiate and said the Senate’s income cap was a “more responsible” school choice plan."[33]
In June 2023, after severe storms hit parts of Oklahoma that involved hurricane-force winds and tornadic activity that knocked out power for days for more than 350,000 energy customers during severe heat waves,[34] Treat was informed he was the acting Governor who could declare a state of emergency, which he did days after the event. He was not informed ahead of time he was acting Governor, when Stitt was in Paris and the Lieutenant Governor, Matt Pinnell, was also out of state. Stitt had not responded to Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum's calls.[35][36][37][38]
