Jon Echols

In 2016, Echols asked Sheriff Regalado's Office to make a change to a "key standard to bid on a lucrative jail medical contract" so that his company could bid. "Echols and two of his business partners at Turn Key Health Clinics, based in Oklahoma City, each contributed $1,000 to Regalado’s campaign for sheriff in April.[4] Turn Key Health Clinics was founded by Representative Jon Echols.[5] He is the co-founder and president. Turn Key Health contracts for "medial services in the Oklahoma County Jail." The Oklahoma County Jail has made headlines for its series of deaths.[6][7][8][9] Turn Key Health has been "the target of lawsuits in at least three states where patients have died under the care of its medical staff. A former Turn Key nurse told Oklahoma Watch that inadequate staffing left patients with substandard care."[10] Echols has said that "he works for the company’s CEO mostly outside of Oklahoma to minimize perceived conflicts of interest."[11]

In 2023, Echols was the House author on Senate Bill 840 (co-authored by Sen. Greg McCortney, R-Ada), a bill that "deals with name, image, likeness — the new endorsements phenomenon known as NIL." Echols marked it as "high-priority."[12] The bill would allow "for colleges and universities to back opportunities for NIL; allows schools to set parameters to prevent NIL activities from interfering with school or team activities; allows schools to be compensated for use of logos or facilities; prohibits students from securing NIL compensation using a school logo; allows schools to require that athletes take financial literacy and contract courses; doesn’t require that athlete compensation be in line with market value; and does not count scholarships as compensation." Some "lawmakers who opposed the measure lamented the apparent end of the amateur student athlete and the beginning of an era in college sports that allows 17-year-olds to enter into multimillion-dollar endorsement deals."[13][14]

In mid-April 2023, Echols steered SB 519 through committee. It "would give charter schools right of first refusal for leasing Commissioners of the Land Office property." During the committee vote, as Speaker Pro Tem Kyle Hilbert of Bristow, "had to be tracked down to break a 5-5 tie and keep the bill moving."[15]

In October 2023, Echols voiced support for Israel in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, saying that Israel is in its rights to "wipe" Hamas out, but pointed out that Hamas is "not our Muslim brothers and sisters."[16]