Oklahoma AG: Workers’ Comp Panel Sessions Must Be Public

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Oklahoma’s attorney general says state law requires the Workers’ Compensation Commission to open its meetings to the public.

Two commissioners had wanted to discuss appeals involving injured workers’ cases in closed meetings, the Tulsa World reported.

“While we are aware that this conclusion may place the commission in the unusual place of holding these deliberations in public, clear statutory language controls our analysis,” stated the opinion released by Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s office. “We must presume that the Legislature considered all of the consequences and determined that the public’s interest would best be served by the Commission holding its deliberations in public.”

Commission Chairman Troy Wilson said in a statement that the group appreciates the thoroughness by the AG’s office on the issue. He requested the opinion on Aug. 18, asking if state laws or privileges existed that would allow the commission to close discussions “in order to maintain the confidentiality of the deliberative process.”

The 2013 law that created the panel states that its hearings “shall be open to the public.” The AG’s opinion stated that the panel could have had private deliberations under the state Administrative Procedures Act, but the statute creating the commission exempted it.

The Administrative Procedures Act lets organizations hold discussions in executive session if they are part of individual proceedings, such as appeals hearings.