The Oklahoma Attorney General is the state’s chief legal officer, representing Oklahoma in court, advising state agencies, and running specialized units that handle consumer fraud, Medicaid fraud, crime victim services, and utility rate cases. The office is currently held by Gentner Drummond, who was sworn in on January 9, 2023 as the state’s 19th Attorney General. The duties are set out in Title 74, Section 18b of the Oklahoma Statutes, and they stretch from arguing cases before the state Supreme Court and the Court of Criminal Appeals to more than twenty other specific mandates.1Justia. Oklahoma Code 74-18b – Duties of Attorney General
What the Office Does for Oklahomans
Most of the Attorney General’s work is done on behalf of the state as an institution, but several divisions exist to help residents directly.
Consumer Protection
The Consumer Protection Unit enforces the Oklahoma Consumer Protection Act and related laws that prohibit deceptive, unfair, and fraudulent business practices.2Oklahoma Attorney General. Consumer Protection Unit The Act, found in Title 15 beginning at Section 753, covers conduct from misrepresenting the origin or quality of goods, to bait-and-switch advertising, to charging for services that were never needed. When investigators find a violation, the office can sue to stop the practice and recover money for the people harmed.
The same unit administers the Oklahoma Telemarketer Restriction Act, which maintains a do-not-call registry for Oklahoma phone numbers. Telemarketers who ignore the registry can be penalized, with limited exceptions written into the law.
Utility Rate Cases
When an electric, gas, telephone, or water company asks to raise rates, the Attorney General’s Utility Regulation Unit steps in on behalf of residential customers before the Oklahoma Corporation Commission.3Oklahoma Attorney General. Utility Regulation Unit The unit’s attorneys and analysts review the request, challenge costs they consider unjustified, and push for rates they argue are fair across the customer base. This is one of the few areas where the office acts as a direct advocate for individual Oklahomans rather than for the state itself.
Medicaid Fraud
The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigates healthcare providers suspected of submitting false claims to the state Medicaid program or abusing patients in their care. Under state law, it is the designated entity for all suspected Medicaid fraud referrals from the Oklahoma Health Care Authority.4New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Oklahoma Code 56 1003 – Medicaid Fraud Control Unit Creation Status Power and Authority Its investigators can issue subpoenas, execute search warrants in any county, and exercise all the powers of a district attorney in these cases.
How to File a Consumer Complaint
If a business has treated you unfairly, the Consumer Protection Unit accepts complaints from the public. There is no fee to file.
What to Gather First
Before you contact the office, pull together the business’s full legal name and physical address, not just a brand name or website. Collect the dates of your purchase and every later interaction, along with contracts, receipts, invoices, service agreements, emails, and notes from phone calls. Putting everything in date order helps the investigator see what happened.
How to Submit the Form
Download the consumer complaint form at oklahoma.gov/oag.5Oklahoma Attorney General. Complaints Complete it, save it as a PDF, and email it with your supporting documents to ConsumerProtection@oag.ok.gov with “Complaint” in the subject line.2Oklahoma Attorney General. Consumer Protection Unit The same complaints page hosts separate forms for employment discrimination, housing discrimination, public accommodation complaints, and racial profiling. Each of those has its own filing deadline, so check the specific requirements before you send anything.
What Happens Next
Investigators review the complaint to decide whether the Consumer Protection Act or another applicable law was violated. If they see merit, the office usually contacts the business first to seek a voluntary resolution: a refund, corrected service, or a change in practices. That mediation step settles many complaints without litigation. When a business will not cooperate and the office sees a pattern of similar complaints, it can escalate to formal legal action. You receive updates as the matter moves along.
Help for Crime Victims and Survivors
The Victim Advocacy and Services Unit supports crime victims and their families as they move through the criminal justice process.6Oklahoma Attorney General. Victim Advocacy and Services Unit One of its most important programs is the Address Confidentiality Program, which gives survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking a substitute mailing address so an abuser cannot track them through government records. Participants use the substitute address for all dealings with state and local agencies, and those agencies are legally prohibited from demanding the real address. The office forwards mail and acts as the participant’s agent for legal papers.
The unit also connects victims to a 24-hour Safeline for crisis intervention and emergency shelter, to the Oklahoma VINE system that tracks offender custody status, and to local district attorneys’ offices.7Oklahoma Attorney General. Victim Services Resources
Reporting Open Government Violations
Oklahoma’s Open Records Act and Open Meeting Act require public bodies to conduct business transparently. The Attorney General’s office employs a Public Access Counselor to make sure agencies comply with both. If you believe a city council, school board, state agency, or other public body is withholding records it should release or meeting behind closed doors when it should not, you can report the problem by emailing opengov@oag.ok.gov.
The office partners with the Oklahoma Press Association to host free public seminars on open records and open meetings law around the state, aimed at both the officials who have to follow the law and the citizens and reporters who rely on it.
Formal Legal Opinions
The Attorney General also serves as the state government’s lawyer in an advisory sense. Under 74 O.S. ยง 18b, the office issues written legal opinions answering questions from the legislature, state officers, boards, commissions, and district attorneys.1Justia. Oklahoma Code 74-18b – Duties of Attorney General One boundary matters here: private citizens and businesses cannot request a formal opinion. If you want the office to weigh in on a legal question, an authorized official has to submit the request.
These opinions carry weight. They bind public officials unless a court later overrules them. The exception is when the Attorney General concludes a statute is unconstitutional. Those opinions are treated as advisory only, because declaring laws unconstitutional is ultimately the courts’ job.
Who Can Hold the Office
Article VI, Section 3 of the Oklahoma Constitution sets the qualifications. A candidate must be at least 31 years old, a U.S. citizen, and a qualified voter in Oklahoma for at least 10 years before the election.8Oklahoma Senate. Oklahoma Constitution – Article VI – Executive Department The constitution does not currently require the Attorney General to be a licensed lawyer, a point that surprises most people. A proposed constitutional amendment on the 2026 ballot would add a requirement that candidates be licensed Oklahoma attorneys with at least five years of practice. Until voters decide, non-attorneys who meet the other qualifications remain eligible.
The Attorney General serves a four-year term beginning on the second Monday of January after the election, on the same cycle as the governor. No person can serve more than eight years total in the office.9New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Oklahoma Constitution Article 6 Section 4 – Terms of Office Succession If someone is appointed or elected to fill a vacancy and serves less than a full term, those partial years do not count toward the eight-year cap. Only full terms count.