Michael J. Hunter
Michael J. Hunter is an American politician from the state of Oklahoma. Hunter served as the Secretary of State of Oklahoma from 1999 to 2002, having been appointed by Governor of Oklahoma Frank Keating. On November 1, 2016, he was appointed to the same post by Governor Mary Fallin. He also served as Special Counsel to the Governor. On February 20, 2017, Hunter was appointed Attorney General of Oklahoma, replacing Scott Pruitt who was confirmed as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency three days earlier on February 17. In 2018, Hunter was elected Attorney General, beating Mark Myles. May 28, 2018 was the first day of arguments in the case that his office brought against Johnson & Johnson regarding the opioid epidemic.
Early life and education
Hunter was born on July 2, 1956 to Chester and Phyllis Hunter. He grew up on a farm in Garfield County, Oklahoma, and is a fourth generation Oklahoman. Hunter received his undergraduate degree from Oklahoma State University in 1978. He later graduated from the University of Oklahoma College of Law in 1982. While at OU Law, Hunter served as the President of the Student Bar Association. Upon graduating, Hunter entered private practice. His area of specialization was in energy, real property, public employment law and utility regulation.Oklahoma politics
In 1984, Hunter was elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives. While in the House, he served as Chairman of theRepublican Caucus and Vice Chairman of the House Criminal Justice Committee. In 1988, he was one of the eight lawmakers recognized by the Daily Oklahoman as Oklahoma's Best Legislators. That same year he was the recipient of the Oklahoma District Attorneys' Legislative Appreciation Award for his work in criminal justice. Hunter remained in the House until 1991.
After leaving the Oklahoma Legislature, Hunter returned to private practice until 1993. From 1993 to 1994, Hunter served as the General Counsel of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, the state's regulatory authority for public utilities, oil and gas, transportation and pipelines companies.
In 1994, Hunter was the Republican nominee for Attorney General of Oklahoma. Hunter would lose the election to Democratic Muskogee County District Attorney Drew Edmondson.
Federal politics
Following the election of J. C. Watts as the Congressman for Oklahoma's 4th congressional district, Hunter was appointed as Watts' chief of staff in 1995, serving until 1999. As Watts' chief of staff, Hunter managed his offices in Washington, D.C., Norman, Oklahoma and Lawton, Oklahoma. He also served as legal counsel to Congressman Watts in his work on the National Security and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committees.Keating administration
In 1998, incumbent Republican Governor of Oklahoma Frank Keating was reelected to second four-year term. Keating's first Secretary of State Tom Cole stepped down to return to the private sector. On March 16, 1999, Keating appointed Hunter to serve as the 29th Oklahoma Secretary of State. In addition to his duties as Secretary of State, Hunter served as Governor Keating's chief liaison to the Oklahoma Legislature and to the state's Congressional delegation in Washington, D. C.Private sector
Hunter resigned as Secretary of State in October 2002 to become the executive vice president and chief operating officer of the American Council of Life Insurers under president and CEO Frank Keating. He managed the organization's $47 million budget and 135 member staff. The ACLI is the advocacy, legal and research arm of the life insurance industry.In 2011, after serving as Secretary of the Commissioners of the Oklahoma Land Office, Hunter was named chief operating officer of the American Bankers Association, serving again under Keating as president and CEO. Hunter oversees the ABA's government relations, public policy, legal, and communications activities.
Return to Oklahoma 2009-10 and 2015
In August 2009, Democratic Governor of Oklahoma Brad Henry appointed Hunter the 47th Secretary of the Commissioners of the Land Office. The Commissioners of the Land Office is charged with managing the lands the U.S. Congress granted to Oklahoma at statehood to help benefit public education. The office also administers the trust funds and proceeds derived from selling and renting the public lands. Hunter resigned from the Land Office effective September 1, 2010. Douglas Allen, the Assistant Secretary of the Commissioners of the Land Office under Hunter, was appointed interim Secretary, and later Secretary, by the Commissioners.In June 2015, Hunter was appointed First Assistant Attorney General of the State of Oklahoma by Attorney General Scott Pruitt.
Oklahoma Attorney General
On February 17, 2017, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt resigned to become Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Donald Trump. To fill the vacancy caused by Pruitt's resignation, Governor Mary Fallin appointed Hunter as Attorney General to fill the remainder of Pruitt's unexpired term on February 20, 2017.Actions in response to opioid epidemic
Early in his term as Attorney General, Hunter was named the chair of the Oklahoma Commission on Opioid Abuse, following the passage of Senate Concurrent Resolution 12. Hunter, along with legislative leaders and experts worked on a plan to intended to address the increases in addiction and overdoses from opioids. The full plan was released in January 2018, and included 31 policy recommendations, eight of which later became law.Attorney General Hunter filed a series of lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and associated companies. In a case filed in April 2017, the state of Oklahoma under Attorney General Hunter accused Purdue Pharma, Allergan, Cephalon and Janssen Pharmaceuticals of deceptive marketing practices, contributing to over-prescribing of opioids in the state. In March 2019, a settlement was announced, with Purdue Pharma agreeing to pay $270 million, with the Oklahoma State University Health Sciences initially negotiated to receive the largest share of the funds to increase treatment of addiction medicine. After the announcement, members of the Oklahoma state legislature raised concerns about the nature of the settlement, and the potential for it to circumvent the traditional legislative appropriations process. Additional opioid makers agreed to pay settlements in May 2019.
In 2018, Hunter filed suit against multinational consumer products manufacturer Johnson & Johnson, seeking $17.2 billion in damages. Under Hunter's direction, the state pursued a litigation strategy applying a public nuisance framework to the negative impacts of opioid abuse on the state of Oklahoma. The case began trial in the summer of 2019, and gained national attention, as the potential ruling was thought to be an indicator of the prospects for other states and localities aiming to also address the opioid epidemic.
On August 26, 2019, Judge Thad Balkman of the Cleveland County District Court announced a $572 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson, finding the company liable for opioid-related harms, but not at the level proposed by the state's legal team. Judge Balkman later reduced the verdict by $107 million due to erroneous calculations. Both the state of Oklahoma and Johnson and Johnson have appealed the verdict, as of April 2020.
In May 2020, Hunter filed lawsuits against three opioid manufacturers in Bryan County District Court. The lawsuits allege that the companies were irresponsible and helped fuel the opioid crisis in Oklahoma. Bryan County has seen a large number of opioid overdoses and deaths. According to Health Crisis Alert, "According to the suits, in 2017, the three companies provided enough opioids to Bryan County that every adult resident there could have had 144 hydrocodone tablets."
Opinions
An attorney general opinion is a written interpretation of existing State or federal law issued by the Attorney General. While the opinions are not binding upon the courts, State officials are obligated to fellow them under they are set aside by a court. All opinions are permanent until revoked by a subsequent opinion or until overruled by a court.| Relative | Year | Date signed | Subject | Description | Citation | |
| 1 | 2017-1 | April 17, 2017 | Local Government | Municipal governing bodies may express official support for or opposition to ballot measures as long as such vote does not expend public funds | OK AG Op. No. 2017-1 | |
| 2 | 2017-2 | May 4, 2017 | Lottery | State Lottery Commission is not authorized to accept sweepstakes entries via web-based application | OK AG Op. No. 2017-2 | |
| 3 | 2017-3 | May 23, 2017 | Corrections | State law requiring county jails to bear the cost of housing inmate sentenced to Department of Corrections pending transportation is unconstitutional | OK AG Op. No. 2017-3 | |
| 4 | 2017-4 | June 2, 2017 | Public Finance | Funds of the Housing Finance Agency are not public funds for the purposes of constitutional limitations | OK AG Op. No. 2017-4 | |
| 5 | 2017-5 | June 13, 2017 | Healthcare | If a non-state governmental entity acquires management of a long-term care facility then it is deemed the owner of the facility | OK AG Op. No. 2017-5 | |
| 6 | 2017-6 | June 26, 2017 | Public Finance | The temporarily transfer of funds from the Constitutional Reserve Fund in order to supplement cash flow needs of State government is constitutional | OK AG Op. No. 2017-6 | |
| 7 | 2017-7 | August 7, 2017 | Education | State Board of Education may authorize charter school after local school district has denied application | OK AG Op. No. 2017-7 | |
| 8 | 2017-8 | August 28, 2017 | Government Property | Department of Veterans Affairs must seek approval from Long Range Capital Planning Commission in order to sell state-owed real property | OK AG Op. No. 2017-8 | |
| 9 | 2017-9 | September 6, 2017 | Professional Regulation | Subcontractor engaged in roofing contractor work must be registered with State to lawfully engage in such work | OK AG Op. No. 2017-9 | |
| 10 | 2017-10 | September 7, 2017 | Consumer Credit | Gift certificates redeemable for food are exempt from requirement that gift cards may not expire less than 60 months after issuance | OK AG Op. No. 2017-10 | |
| 11 | 2017-11 | September 6, 2017 | Professional Regulation | State Medical Board may not charge physician assistants an additional fee to record the tracking of continuing medical education | OK AG Op. No. 2017-11 | |
| 12 | 2017-12 | September 7, 2017 | Professional Regulation | Discipline records of professional licensing agencies are not subject to expungement process | OK AG Op. No. 2017-12 | |
| 13 | 2017-13 | December 13, 2017 | Healthcare | Hospitals may refuse to grant admitting privileges to a licensed physician based on training of physician, but lack of board certification cannot be sole factor in such decision | OK AG Op. No. 2017-13 | |
| 14 | 2017-14 | December 12, 2017 | Taxation | Constitutional prohibition on revenue raising bills being passed in final five days of legislative session applies to both regular sessions and special sessions | OK AG Op. No. 2017-14 | |
| 15 | 2017-15 | December 13, 2017 | Public Finance | Payment by Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training of meal costs for police cadets prior to collecting funds from cadet's employing agency not unconstitutional | OK AG Op. No. 2017-15 | |
| 16 | 2017-16 | December 20, 2017 | Local Government | Rural water districts are exempt from paying costs associated with relocating existing water lines in Turnpike Authority rights-of-way | OK AG Op. No. 2017-16 | |
| 17 | 2017-17 | December 20, 2017 | Taxation | Real property owner may redeem land sold by county treasurer at tax sales at any time prior to issuance of tax deed buy paying the property taxes for the first year of delinquency | OK AG Op. No. 2017-17 | |
| 18 | 2017-18 | December 27, 2017 | Government Transparency | Oklahoma Sheriff's Association, as administrator of state motorist liability plan, is a private entity supported by public funds and is therefore subject to Open Records Act and Open Meeting Act | OK AG Op. No. 2017-18 | |
| 19 | 2017-19 | December 27, 2017 | Constitutional Law | Legislature is not required to attempt to override the Governor's veto of legislation | OK AG Op. No. 2017-19 | |
| 20 | 2017-20 | December 27, 2017 | Motor Vehicles | Amateur radios are prohibited by state's ban on texting while driving if radio is capable of transmitting or receiving text-based messages | OK AG Op. No. 2017-20 | |
| 21 | 2018-1 | March 15, 2018 | Local Government | Use of county-level property taxes to support county-based cooperative extension program is not violation on constitutional prohibition on use of local taxes for state-level programs | OK AG Op. No. 2018-1 | |
| 22 | 2018-2 | March 30, 2018 | Public Utilities | Sewer utility provider must provide notice to water utility provider before discontinuing sewer service | OK AG Op. No. 2018-2 | |
| 23 | 2018-3 | March 30, 2018 | Public Finance | Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training may expend public funds to train police officer employed by private schools and universities | OK AG Op. No. 2018-3 | |
| 24 | 2018-4 | June 26, 2018 | Education | Members of local school boards who fail to meet mandated training requirements may not be reelected or reappointed to position | OK AG Op. No. 2018-4 | |
| 25 | 2018-5 | June 26, 2018 | Public Utilities | The permissibility of third-party distributed electricity depends on if the source thereof is in unincorporated or incorporated areas of the State | OK AG Op. No. 2018-5 | |
| 26 | 2018-6 | June 29, 2018 | Alcohol | Alcohol breweries may not receive money or other valuable things from a beer distributor in exchange for entering into a distribution agreement with that distributor | OK AG Op. No. 2018-6 | |
| 27 | 2018-7 | September 6, 2018 | Local Government | Municipalities may not use public resources to assist privately-owned cemeteries which are open to the public | OK AG Op. No. 2018-7 | |
| 28 | 2018-8 | September 11, 2018 | Education | Licensed physical therapists may develop Individualized Education Programs for students with disabilities | OK AG Op. No. 2018-8 | |
| 29 | 2018-9 | September 18, 2018 | Professional Licensure | Construction Industries Board has authority to license building inspectors | OK AG Op. No. 2018-9 | |
| 30 | 2018-10 | September 21, 2018 | Government Ethics | Insurance Commissioner may not maintain a financial interest in an insurance business while in office | OK AG Op. No. 2018-10 | |
| 31 | 2018-11 | September 25, 2018 | Local Government | Municipality may appoint same person to serve concurrently as municipal judge and municipal court clerk without violating prohibition on dual office-holding | OK AG Op. No. 2018-11 | |
| 32 | 2018-12 | October 10, 2018 | Professional Regulation | A mental health professional who is not a licensed psychologist may not conduct a psychological evaluation of a patient | OK AG Op. No. 2018-12 | |
| 33 | 2018-13 | October 25, 2018 | Professional Regulation | State licensing agencies may waive licensing fees for low-income individuals | OK AG Op. No. 2018-13 | |
| 34 | 2018-14 | October 31, 2018 | Public Finance | State Horse Racing Commission is subject to rule requiring state licensing agencies to forward 10 percent of all fees collected to State General Fund | OK AG Op. No. 2018-14 | |
| 35 | 2019-1 | January 7, 2019 | Public Pensions | The surviving spouse or child of a deceased alternative payee is not entitled to continued payments from Police Pension Fund | OK AG Op. No. 2019-1 | |
| 36 | 2019-2 | January 29, 2019 | Constitutional Law | Governor may condition the granting of parole upon reasonable conditions | OK AG Op. No. 2019-2 | |
| 37 | 2019-3 | January 29, 2019 | Professional Regulation | A person need not obtain a bail bondsman license if they provide bail money without receiving compensation for the service | OK AG Op. No. 2019-3 | |
| 38 | 2019-4 | February 14, 2019 | Public Finance | Capital gains on assets held by General Land Office may not be expended as income but instead become permanent additions to its portfolio | OK AG Op. No. 2019-4 | |
| 39 | 2019-5 | May 23, 2019 | Corrections | Department of Corrections must spend community sentencing fees to support local community correction systems | OK AG Op. No. 2019-5 | |
| 40 | 2019-6 | September 4, 2019 | Professional Regulation | Department of Health may revoke previously lawfully granted medical marijuana dispensary licenses which do not comply with amended laws | OK AG Op. No. 2019-6 | |
| 41 | 2019-7 | September 26, 2019 | Local Government | Local government must adopt an economic development project plan prior to implementing an economic development incentive district | OK AG Op. No. 2019-7 | |
| 42 | 2019-8 | September 26, 2019 | Lottery | A prize-linked savings account is a form of lottery and is illegal | OK AG Op. No. 2019-8 | |
| 43 | 2020-1 | February 24, 2020 | Professional Regulation | Department of Health is not required to retroactively apply residency requirements for businesses granted medical marijuana business licenses before the passage of the 2019 Oklahoma Medical Marijuana and Patient Protection Act | OK AG Op. No. 2020-1 | |
| 44 | 2020-2 | February 28, 2020 | Public Bodies | The Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association is not considered a state agency or public body. As a result, the association is not subject to the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act and Oklahoma Public Meeting Act. | OK AG Op. No. 2020-2 | |
| 45 | 2020-3 | March 9, 2020 | Tribal-State Relations | Fees generated by tribal gaming operations must continue to be deposited by the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services, as specified by the Model Tribal Gaming Compact. Such action does not concede or express any position with respect to pending litigation on the status of tribal-state legal disputes. | OK AG Op. No. 2020-3 | |
| 46 | 2020-4 | March 13, 2020 | Government Transparency | Oklahoma Open Meeting Act applies in cases where a majority of members of a public body meet. Gatherings of a minority of the body may or may not be subject to the act, depending on the particular facts and intent concerning the nature of the meeting. | OK AG Op. No. 2020-4 | |
| 47 | 2020-5 | March 13, 2020 | Pardons and Inmate Sentencing | The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board may grant parole to aging prisoners, including if they have not yet served future consecutive sentences. | OK AG Op. No. 2020-5 | |
| 48 | 2020-6 | March 13, 2020 | Local Government | Salary increases for county elected and other officials may be voted on take effect during their term of office. Salary increases that were pending review of their legality may go into effect. | OK AG Op. No. 2020-6 | |
| 49 | 2020-7 | March 24, 2020 | Healthcare | Telemedicine can be practiced by Oklahoma healthcare professionals, and is not found to have substantial regulatory restrictions preventing its use as a response to the 2019-2020 coronavirus pandemic. | OK AG Op. No. 2020-7 |