Oklahoma inmates who believe they were wrongly convicted of a violent crime may soon have a new tool available to help prove their point.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin this week rejected an idea aimed at ensuring that state agencies are operating as efficiently as possible.

Fallin vetoed Senate Bill 907, which would have created a Joint Legislative Committee on Accountability. The panel would have included legislators from both sides of the aisle — an effort to avoid claims that partisan points were being sought — as well as two members from the private sector, who could review executive branch agencies and request performance audits.

In her veto, Fallin said the governor and legislators already have avenues available to ask for audits. But they seldom do, and that isn’t likely to change.

“For 20 years, people have been talking about this. It hasn’t happened,” a miffed state Auditor and Inspector Gary Jones said. “This bill would make it happen.”

Lawmakers approved SB 907 by votes of 44-0 in the Senate and 87-5 in the House. We’ll see if that support translates into a veto override.

The chorus of voices looking to stop text-messaging while driving now includes the country’s four largest cellphone companies.

T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Sprint and AT&T are getting behind a multimillion dollar ad campaign promoting AT&T’s “It Can Wait” campaign.

“Every CEO in the industry that you talk to recognizes that this is an issue that needs to be dealt with,” the head of AT&T told The Associated Press.Perhaps the message eventually will sink in with Oklahoma legislative leaders.

Several efforts this year to ban texting and driving failed. Oklahoma is one of just 11 states that haven’t outlawed texting at the wheel, which is dangerous not only to the person sending or reading messages, but to others on the road.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has confirmed a plant in that state will open unless Congress reinstates a ban on horse slaughter. This development will likely reduce any drive for a horse plant in Oklahoma.

Interested investors will want to monitor the New Mexico plant’s experience first. Will protesters impede functional operation of the plant? Will frivolous lawsuits bombard the plant’s owners? And how much market demand will there actually be for horse slaughter (although it’s clear plants in Mexico and Canada are staying busy)?

Having the chance to let someone else go first in this arena is not a bad thing for Oklahoma.

Since her election, Gov. Mary Fallin has touted efforts to right-size government. In particular, she has repeatedly argued Oklahoma has too many agencies, boards and commissions.

This week, she showed those words were more than campaign rhetoric by vetoing a bill that had received almost unanimous support in the Legislature. House Joint Resolution 1023 would have recreated the Oklahoma Juvenile Justice Reform Committee to review Oklahoma’s juvenile justice system.

The measure passed the House 92-3 and cleared the Senate 43-0. But Fallin noted the committee could be formed through an executive order “rather than passing legislation and adding statutory provisions to our already lengthy legal code.”

That’s a good point. Others have previously noted numerous boards remain part of state law even though those groups have not met in years. As Fallin points out, such semi-permanent legal changes aren’t necessary to achieve short-term goals.

At the time, a lobbyist for the Oklahoma Tag Agent Coalition complained about the Tax Commission “spending money to put the state in competition with private enterprise.” (Horrors!)

Turns out the concerns were for naught.

The Tulsa World reports that three years later, the number of online license tag renewals has grown but business conducted over the Internet comprises less than 1 percent of total tag agent-related revenue. In 2012, tag agents collected $817 million in taxes and fees. Online transactions amounted to just $427,287.

For now at least, it’s clear folks much prefer to conduct these transactions in person.

Shelton remains steadfast, making the case for school choice in situations where parents are uncomfortable with the idea of a child’s teacher having a gun.

Shelton argues, “It is my job, not a teacher’s, to introduce guns to my children. Parents should be empowered to take their children out of any school that allows guns in the classroom.” Fair enough.

But school choice supporters reasonably argue: Why stop there? Should parents be forced to keep their children in a failing school, based solely on geographic proximity, so long as teachers don’t have weapons?

Shelton’s argument isn’t unreasonable, but it can apply to situations well beyond the “guns in school” issue.

This week the House rejected further efforts to crack down on texting at the wheel.

Rep. Curtis McDaniel, D-Smithville, originally introduced a texting ban bill that passed through a House committee but wasn’t heard on the floor. He later tried unsuccessfully to add the ban as an amendment to another bill.

On Tuesday, three tries by Democrats to get anti-texting language added to legislation were rejected. One would have limited the ban to places like school zones and work zones, and even that got shot down.

Speaker T.W. Shannon, R-Lawton, is among those opposed to banning driving and texting, and so Oklahoma remains one of just 11 states that haven’t tried to crack down on this dangerous and omnipresent practice.

Dorman authored a similar measure in 2012 that easily passed the House (where only three lawmakers opposed it), but was then killed in the Senate on a 27-13 vote.

HB 2228 must still clear several more legislative hurdles, but this appears to be a good idea that is sadly necessary to protect children. Dorman is to be commended for continuing to work on this issue.

During debate on a bill this week, Oklahoma state Rep. Dennis Johnson, R-Duncan, said customer service gives small businesses like his an edge over big stores and chains, even though customers might try to “Jew me down on a price.”

Johnson, 59, later said he grew up hearing that scurrilous phrase but didn’t know why he used it. It “just came out of one of the wrinkles of my brain and was not something that was intentional.”

That excuse might hold more water except that Johnson was speaking on the floor of the Oklahoma House, where one expects a modicum of thought to accompany the proceedings. And it might fly better if Johnson had immediately corrected himself.

Instead he continued his debate until a nearby colleague pointed out what he had said. “Did I?” Johnson responded. Then, smiling — almost laughing — he added, “I apologize to the Jews. They’re good small businessmen as well.”

No doubt the Jews will be glad to hear that.

The state of Oklahoma received a $64.8 million payment this week from U.S. tobacco companies, which have been writing similar checks to Oklahoma since 1999.

In fact the latest payment put Oklahoma over the $1 billion mark in money received as part of an agreement settling a lawsuit filed by 46 states over costs tied to tobacco-related illnesses. The payments will continue as long as tobacco products are sold.

In 2000, Oklahoma voters wisely approved the creation of a trust fund to hold onto the bulk of the settlement money and use the fund’s earnings for health-related purposes. The fund’s balance stands at $797 million, and since 2001, more than $151 million in earnings have been realized.

No other state protected its money; as a result, their tobacco payments go out as quickly as they come in, used for any number of nonhealth-related reasons.

After losing the Oklahoma County sheriff’s race by about 75,000 votes, Republican Darrell Sorrels requested a recount. After 14 of 256 precincts were recounted, he closed the gap with incumbent John Whetsel — by a single vote. Fortunately, Sorrels then dropped his request.

In a Wagoner County court clerk’s race, the runner-up in the Republican Party runoff lost nearly 2-1 and still requested a recount.

While those seeking a recount pay a $600 deposit for the first 3,000 ballots recounted and $600 for each additional 6,000 ballots, the process still requires significant manpower resources from local election officials. Lawmakers are trying to discourage frivolous recounts by doubling the required deposit when the margin of victory is greater than 10 percent.

That’s a good idea that will still allow valid recounts but discourage expenditures on political sour grapes.

House Bill 1923 would create the Emergency Drought Relief Fund and an Emergency Drought Commission. After an emergency drought declaration is issued, the commission will recommend fund expenditures to the governor. That group’s members include the executive director of the Oklahoma Conservation Commission, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the executive director of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board.

Money placed in the fund could be used for things like pond cleanup and construction; water conservation in agriculture; providing water for livestock; rural fire suppression activities; red cedar eradication; soil conservation; emergency infrastructure conservation; and other activities.

We previously endorsed this proposal, which is simply a good management effort to prepare for potential drought challenges. Hopefully, the drought will break this summer and the fund won’t be needed.

A report by the National Conference of State Legislatures shows that only three states have a lower percentage of females in their legislatures than Oklahoma. Which means what, exactly?

Heading into the 2014 elections, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin is the second-best positioned governor facing re-election in the nation, according to the FiveThirtyEight blog at the New York Times.

Based on the three most recent polls, the blog places Fallin’s job approval rating at 65 percent and disapproval at only 23 percent. Only one governor potentially running for re-election has a better net job approval.

That may surprise some Democrats who hoped Fallin’s rejection of Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion would provide them leverage with voters. If anything, that decision may have helped Fallin.

Even if her numbers dip, it may not mean much given Oklahoma’s Republican leanings. Proof of that conclusion can be seen in Illinois, where Gov. Pat Quinn is the second-most unpopular governor up for re-election in 2014, yet FiveThirtyEight notes he “is still considered a favorite to win re-election” because of that state’s heavy Democratic tilt.

Sadly, evidence continues to mount making clear that mistreatment of horses is far too common.

Near Wewoka, a woman has been arrested for animal abuse after officials found between 20 and 30 dead horses on her property, and another 64 that were malnourished. This is the second time Carolyn Vaughn has faced animal cruelty charges.

Ironically, Vaughn claimed she was running an animal rescue operation. “Saving” those horses from slaughter didn’t save them from either suffering or a miserable death.

Horse slaughter may not be ideal, but was Vaughn’s horse rescue mission really any better?

Kirby suggested the company could receive Oklahoma Quality Jobs Act incentives and a five-year property tax exemption for manufacturers, and noted recent lawsuit reforms and potential workers’ compensation reforms could make Oklahoma an ideal place for the business.

Many dismissed the invite as a stunt, but maybe Kirby was on to something.

A manufacturer of Colt rifles is now moving to Breckenridge, Texas. The CEO of Colt Manufacturing in Connecticut has suggested the company may relocate after passage of extremely restrictive gun laws. And Texas Gov. Rick Perry has reportedly sent letters to several gun companies, encouraging relocation to Texas.

If that approach is succeeding in Texas, local officials may soon ask, “Why not in Oklahoma?”