Inola Republican Rep. Tom Gann’s mean-spirited measure that would prevent courts from halting evictions, even during health emergencies like COVID-19, is on the Oklahoma House docket and could be taken up as early as Monday [3.8.21].

Gann’s HB 1564 may solve one problem – that of landlords who need rent payments in order to meet their obligations – but it creates others, including the potential that thousands of Oklahoma families who’ve lost jobs because of the pandemic will be tossed into the streets.

With Observercast taking a one-week break from new episodes, we urge you to check out two recent episodes that highlight the impact of evictions on workaday Oklahomans:

June 29, 2020’s Ten Days, No Home, featuring conversations with Ryan Gentzler, the director of the Oklahoma Policy Institute’s Open Justice Oklahoma program, and former OKC Rep. Jason Dunnington, who served on Gov. Kevin Stitt’s coronavirus task force.

Feb. 22, 2021’s A Lack of Compassion, Rep. Cyndi Munson on HB 1564.

We’ll be back next week with a new episode of Observercast.