Oklahoma governor signs bill exempting state from WHO and UN mandates

Sen. Micheal Bergstrom, R-Adair, supports a bill to exempt Oklahoma from WHO mandates. Bergstrom is pictured attending special session on Oct. 3 at the Oklahoma Capitol. (Photo by Kyle Phillips/For Oklahoma Voice)

OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma will not enforce any mandates from the World Health Organization, the United Nations and the World Economic Forum under a bill signed by Gov. Kevin Stitt on Wednesday. 

Senate Bill 426 takes effect immediately and states that Oklahoma is not bound by any requirements or mandates issued by the organizations. 

Sen. Micheal Bergstrom, R-Adair, said last week that the law does not prevent the state from following recommendations from WHO, the UN or the World Economic Forum. 

“Our health department, our government, our subdivisions can listen to any recommendation from anyone and make a decision,” Bergstrom said. “But we are not going to be bound by their dictates, their mandates.”

Bergstrom said it would not change the way the state responds. He cited the COVID-19 pandemic as an example. 

“During the last pandemic, we made our own decisions,” Bergstrom said. “There were recommendations that came down and we realized that some of those … were not particularly good recommendations, and we decided to do things the Oklahoma way.”

But critics questioned the necessity of the bill and how it would affect the state’s ability to respond to global health emergencies.

WHO did not issue any mandates during the pandemic that affected the United States, just recommendations. Any mandates came from state, tribal, county and local officials. 

Sen. Carri Hicks, D-Oklahoma City, questioned whether the state law would supersede any federal mandates or regulations. 

Bergstrom said that if the federal government were to make an agreement with WHO, that violates Oklahoma’s constitutional laws then the state would not be bound to comply. 

The Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution states that federal law generally takes precedence over any state law. 

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