Legislative Wrap Up
A Look at the 2017 Oklahoma Legislature Numbers
- 2460 Bills and Joint Resolutions were filed in the 2017 Legislative Session
- 410 of 2460 made it to the Governor's Desk (16.7% of bills made it through the Legislative process)
- 393 of the 410 bills were signed by the Governor (98.5%)
- 17 of the 410 were vetoed (4.15%)
The Issues
The budget and its funding took center stage in the 2017 Oklahoma Legislative Session. The results once again were a patched together plan with possible constitutional problems. While efforts were made to identify long-term funding solutions and identification of essential services, no progress resulted. Funding and essential services will once again be a major emphasis next year as lawmakers are tasked with finding legislative answers to the State's budgetary crisis.
Public Statements
The Oklahoma Conference of Churches engages in legislation in many ways, including making public statements as an organization. The following is a list of the public statements made this legislative session.
Bill Summary
The 2017 Oklahoma legislative session began with the introduction of 2,460 bills, down from previous years, with 393 completed. The OCC IMPACT Committee scrutinized each bill and identified those that impact one of six focus areas, Criminal Justice, Education, Environment, Health, Immigration, and Poverty for a total of 787 tracked. Some were strongly supported by the Committee with others just as strongly opposed. Most were considered neutral bills but watched to see if amendments might change our perspective.
The following table describes some of the most important legislation tracked by the IMPACT Committee this session.
TOPIC AREA
|
BILL #
|
BRIEF SUMMARY
|
OUTCOME
|
Criminal Justice
|
HB1121 |
Creates integrated domestic violence court |
Failed |
Criminal Justice |
HB2281 |
Modifies penalties and crimes |
Failed |
Criminal Justice |
HB2286 |
Pardon/Parole application of earned credits and admin parole |
Failed |
Criminal Justice |
HB2290 |
Drug and mental health court |
Failed
|
Criminal Justice |
HB1127 |
Sexual Assault requres a judge to instruct juries on the meaning of "consent" |
Passed |
Criminal Justice |
HB1306 |
Blue Lives Matter in Oklahoma Act of 2017 established rules related to use of the death penalty regarding the killing of a police officer |
Passed |
Criminal Justice |
HB1324 |
Modifies pre-sentencing investigation procedures and increases the defendant's cost of the investigation from $250 to $500 |
Passed |
Criminal Justice |
SB0377 |
Electronic Monitoring |
Failed |
Criminal Justice |
SB0649 |
Modifies court and handling procedures |
Failed |
Criminal Justice |
SB0650 |
Restriction from enlistment of convicted of certain offenses |
Failed |
Criminal Justice |
SB0689 |
Modifies certain sentencing provisions |
Failed |
Criminal Justice |
SB0786 |
Burglary, Maximum Sentences; establishing offenses |
Failed |
Criminal Justice |
SB0793 |
Creates corrections and oversight taskforce |
Failed |
Criminal Justice |
SB0826 |
Reintegration |
Failed |
Education |
HB1206 |
Competency Examinations--redefines requirements for special education teachers, eliminating the need to pass a required test |
Passed |
Education |
HB1622 |
Teacher Retirement--amended the requirement for meeting the minimum retirement payment with 30 days written notice |
Passed |
Education |
HB1623 |
Regulates the use of corporal punishment for students with significant cognitive disabilities unless it is included in the individualized education program and has the approval of the parent or guardian |
Passed |
Environment |
HB1123 |
Makes trespassing and vandalism illegal regarding certain infrastructure such as pipelines |
Passed |
Environment |
HB1304 |
Oklahoma Swine Feeding Operations Act--allows waiver of the requirement that activities be at least 3 miles from the town |
Passed |
Environment |
HB1377 |
Oklahoma Oil and Gas Regulation Modernization Task Force |
Failed |
Environment |
HB2151 |
Exemption of Oil and Gas Task Force from Open Meeting requirements |
Failed |
Environment |
HB2298 |
Amends Wind Tax Credits |
Passed |
Environment |
SB0147 |
Animal Feeding Operations--allows waiver of the requirement that activities be at least 3 miles from the town |
Passed |
Health |
HB1357 |
Caregiver support--allows Department of Human Services to expand services within current resources to support caregivers |
Passed |
Health |
HB1620 |
Requires State Health Department to develop rules for caregivers working with persons with dementia |
Passed |
Health |
HB1894 |
Creates rules related to health care decisions made for patients. Clarifies who can make health care decisions related to adults who are unable to make decisions for minor children |
Passed |
Immigration |
HB1845 |
The Real ID Act--Updates information required on diver's licenses to bring Oklahoma into compliance with federal regulations |
Passed |
Poverty |
HB1913 |
Raised the interest rate on certain payday loans |
Passed- Vetoed by Gov. Fallin |
Poverty |
SB0506 |
The Healthy Food Financing Act provides a rotating fund to encourage the development and availability of healthy, inexpensive food in low-income areas |
Passed |
.
The Oklahoma Conference of Churchs' IMPACT Committee will continue to monitor legislative activity during the interim session. We will continue to keep you updated with all that is happening and how it affects our communities of faith and those we serve.
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