The Council distinguishes itself from the District Attorneys Association, a private organization, in order to lobby the legislature, though it is composed of the same members.
In 2019, Steve Kunzweiler and member of the Council organized a DA breakfast "where they could all come together for the first time ever" to later "feel comfortable to pick up the phone and call one of the district attorneys if they have a question about proposed legislation" that would affect their work.
The Oklahoma District Attorneys Council assists local DAs by providing financial, personnel, and other administrative services upon request.
"[9] Senator Greg Treat, in a 2024 press conference, called the separation of the Association and the Council a "creative way to hide open records.
[12] Toni Hasenbeck authored and filed HB 1639, the OK Domestic Violence Survivorship Act, after a mid-September 2022 Oklahoma House interim study in January 2023—a bill that "would allow a survivor to enter into a lesser sentencing range when evidence of abuse has been substantiated.
"[27] The Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice released a statement asking the Senate to add retroactivity back in and saying that often the prosecution of current criminalized survivors tried "to keep out the evidence of the abuse because it was prejudicial to their cases."
"[28] Many other Oklahoma organizations, such as DVIS and SheBrews and persons involved in the OK Survivor Justice Coalition voiced their concern but hope in the bill.
"[32] Hasenbeck has stated that, because of HB 1639, she has had District Attorneys in her office who dislike the bill "because they don't want to have lookbacks" on their past cases if retroactivity is retained in the language.
[33] Later, and to the pushback of survivor advocates, Eric Epplin, the DAC Assistant Executive Director, "said the council was concerned about the language of the bill being too broad and potential re-litigation hearings would be burdensome to families of the victims.
"[34][35] In 2024, Greg Treat authored Senate Bill 1470 along with Representative Jon Echols of the House, called the Oklahoma Survivors' Act.
Chris Boring, president of the District Attorneys Council, applauded the veto but advocates for the measure believed it "is critical to address systemic failures in criminal justice for women in Oklahoma.
[43] In a press release, they accused prosecutors of “continuously and mercilessly prosecuting survivors of domestic violence, and seeking harsh, maximum punishments, while simultaneously letting their abusers plead out and face minimal consequences.”[44] A previous attempt at similar legislation was Toni Hasenbeck's and Julie Daniel's HB 1639 in 2023.
News Channel 8 Tulsa also said that the Oklahoma District Attorneys Association has "refused or ignored repeated requests for comment on the legislation for more than a year.
"[53] In December 2023, Representative Justin Humphrey accused DAs of possibly illegally collecting money during supervised probation and called for the attorney general to investigate.