OKLAHOMA CITY – After a busy first month of the new legislative session, President Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton (R-Tuttle) said this week is the final week of policy committee for Senate bills.
As the measures pass from committees, they will go to the full Senate for floor work. In his weekly press conference held last Thursday afternoon, Paxton seemed upbeat about the amount of legislation being considered and the progress being made.
He did say House Concurrent Resolution 1004, which is the consent decree aimed at resolving a 2023 lawsuit against the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, is being reviewed before progressing. Paxton teamed up with House Speaker Kyle Hilbert (R-Bixby) to write the resolution.
Paxton said it’s strictly a review to make sure everything is in order and he doesn’t expect any language in the measure to change. If language is changed, the process of bringing everyone involved in the agreement would begin again for approval.
The consent decree has been agreed to and negotiated by the governor’s office, the Office of the Attorney General, ODMHSAS and approved by the House, 91-0, on Feb. 19. The resolution has now crossed chambers and must also pass the Senate to move forward.
The lawsuit, filed in March 2023, Briggs et al v. State, alleged that the Oklahoma Forensic Center in Vinita and ODMHSAS violated due process rights of some pretrial defendants. Specifically, the state is accused of failing to provide timely court-ordered competency restoration services, which would provide treatment for people deemed incompetent to stand trial.
As part of the proposed settlement, the agency will work with experts and community leadership to improve competency restoration services through various measures, including increased training of forensic health care professionals.
In unrelated business, Paxton has two bills scheduled for hearings on March 4 in the House Appropriations and Budget Committee and were co-sponsored with Hilbert. They are:
• House Bill 2674, which pertains to state government. The bill was prefiled with the title of “State Government Act of 2025” but Hilbert filed a committee amendment on Feb. 13 and changed the language of HB 2674 to a measure that would create the Statewide Official Compensation Commission.
In the proposal, the new commission would consist of the same persons who make up the Board on Legislative Compensation and will set the salary for each of the following elected officials: governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, state treasurer, state auditor and inspector, superintendent of public instruction, state insurance commissioner, commissioner of labor and members of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. No salary would be set at an amount less than the salary in effect as of Jan. 1, 2025.
• HB 2645 pertains to revenue and taxation and specifically creates the Oklahoma Revenue and Taxation Act of 2025. This appears to be a placeholder bill and additional language has not been added to date.
Two bills co-sponsored by Sen. Brent Howard (R-Altus) will be heard in committees this week. They are:
• HB 1367, which pertains to alcohol licensure, will be heard in the Health and Human Services Oversight Committee on March 3. In part, the bill would establish new regulations for the Alcoholic Beverages Laws Enforcement Commission (ABLE) licensed establishments in regard to employee liability for violations.
It would also create a rebuttable option for establishment liability. Establishments would need to require employees to obtain seller-server training certificates, maintain valid employee licenses, adopt written policies prohibiting illegal alcohol sales, ensure employees understand the policies and maintain documentation of policy acknowledgment.
• HB 2163, which pertains to open records, will be heard in the Government Oversight Committee on March 4. The intent of the measure is to create a new Public Access Counselor (PAC) Unit within the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office to help resolve disputes involving open records requests. Anyone denied access to public records would be able to file a review request with the PAC within 30 days and explain the public body’s response to their original request.
Sen. Kendal Sacchieri (R-Blanchard) signed on with multiple other senators to co-sponsor Senate Bill 889, which pertains to hospitals. The measure would require Oklahoma hospitals to publicly disclose detailed pricing information for their services in a transparent and accessible manner.
Hospitals would specifically be required to create and publish two digital lists. The first would consist of a comprehensive machine-readable file containing standard charges for all hospital items and services.
The second would be a consumer-friendly list of charges for at least 300 “shoppable services,” which is defined as procedures that can be scheduled in advance. The list must include charges and be available for free online, without having to create an account to access the information. The State Department of Health would be tasked with monitoring hospital compliance. The bill will be heard March 3 in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
A measure authored by Sacchieri, SB 1029, which pertains to the Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS), will be heard March 4 in the Senate Retirement and Government Resources Committee.
In part, the intent is to amend Section 911 of the OPERS and provide employees of participating employers with the option to opt out of the defined contribution retirement plan without penalties.
Results of all committee meetings this week were not available by press time.