I, Brad Henry, Governor of the State of Oklahoma, pursuant to the power and authority vested in me by law, so that the status quo shall be maintained, and pursuant to the provisions of Subsection D of Section 840-2.14 of Title 74 of the Oklahoma Statutes, hereby order a state agency hiring freeze.
For purposes of this hiring freeze, each statewide elected official shall perform the duties of a Cabinet Secretary in approving or disapproving exemptions to this hiring freeze. These duties shall be accomplished in the same manner as other official actions by the elected officials.
Subject to written approval by the Governor, the Secretary of Human Resources and Administration may delegate specific agencies to a Deputy Secretary for purposes of complying with this Order.
This hiring freeze shall be implemented by all agencies in accordance with the following guidelines:
1. It is my direction that no audits of classified positions or reallocation of unclassified positions shall be initiated or conducted at the request of any agency unless specifically approved by the appropriate Cabinet Secretary.2. All audits resulting from a classification grievance shall be exempt from the provisions of this Executive Order.3. Except as specifically provided and authorized by this order, all affected state agencies are prohibited from hiring, reinstating, or promoting employees and from accepting a transferred employee from another agency.4. Exceptions to this hiring freeze may be granted pursuant to special conditions as declared by the Chief Administrative Officer of any agency and approved by the appropriate Cabinet Secretary for that agency.a. A Chief Administrative Officer shall submit a written request to the appropriate Cabinet Secretary stating the special conditions requiring the submission of the request.b. Such requests may be on forms provided by the Office of Personnel Management. If an agency has an internal form regularly used by that agency which provides all the necessary information, that form may be used in lieu of the Office of Personnel Management forms if approved by the Administrator of the Office of Personnel Management.c. The Cabinet Secretary shall indicate approval in writing of the submitted request for the granting of an exception to this hiring freeze.d. All approved requests and approved Cabinet Secretary findings shall be maintained as an official record by the Office of Personnel Management in accordance with Records Management Act. Any agency which does not submit personnel action requests for approval to the Office of Personnel Management shall be responsible for maintaining this documentation.e. In the event of a vacancy in a Cabinet Secretary position, the Secretary of State shall act as the approving authority for the hiring freeze exception requests.5. The Administrator of the Office of Personnel Management and the Director of the Office of State Finance are hereby directed to develop and implement procedures necessary to carry out the provisions of this Executive Order.6. The Director of the Office of State Finance is authorized to require Cabinet Secretaries to provide him with periodic accountings of their approvals and disapprovals of written requests for exemptions to this hiring freeze. These reports shall be provided to the Governor.7. The Oklahoma Military Department shall not be required to comply with this order for hiring personnel and contracts for which the department receives total federal government reimbursement. Copies of this Executive Order shall be distributed to the Secretary for Human Resources and Administration for immediate implementation.
The provisions of this Executive Order shall be effective from January 1, 2011, and shall terminate December 31, 2011.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of Oklahoma to be affixed at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, this 1st day of January, 2011.
BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA
Brad Henry
ATTEST:
Michelle Waddell
Acting Assistant Secretary of State
Okla. Admin. Code § 1:2011-1
Added at 28 Ok Reg 463, eff 1-1-11As of the 8-15-10 cut-off date for the 2011 Edition of the OAC, this EO 11-1 was scheduled to be terminated on 12-31-11.