OKLAHOMA CITY – Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat deemed in his Thursday press conference the recent legislative week as productive.
He said all the House bills have been assigned and are being worked through the committee process, which is going well.
Sen. Dusty Deevers (R-Elgin) As of Friday, House Joint Resolution 1034, co-sponsored by Sen.
Deevers, is still in the Senate Rules Committee. The measure pertains to expanding rights of citizens to keep and bear arms.
If passed, the resolution would direct the Secretary of State to refer to the people for their approval or rejection of a proposed amendment to Section 26 of Article II of the Oklahoma Constitution. The proposition states that this measure would prevent infringement of the fundamental right of a citizen to keep and to bear arms.
It also will not prevent the Legislature from adopting regulations that serve a narrowly tailored compelling state interest. The measure would prohibit the imposition of registration or special taxation upon the keeping of or the transfer of arms, ammunition, or the components of arms or ammunition.
The resolution was referred to the Senate Rules Committee on March 19.
Sen. Jessica Garvin (R-Duncan) On Tuesday, March 26, Gov. Kevin Stitt signed into law the Oklahoma Wildlife License Modernization Act, Senate Bill 941, which was co-sponsored by Sen.
Garvin. The measure is a carryover bill from 2023 and was authored by Sen. David Bullard (R-Durant). It is designed to streamline and simplify hunting and fishing licenses, said a press release by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. It will also provide funding for the Wildlife Conservation Department by primarily adjusting license costs to regional averages.
Highlights in the act include:
• Consolidation of more than 50 current hunting and fishing licenses into 15.
• Defining all “youth” as anyone younger than 18, whether resident or nonresident.
• Creation of a single “youth super license” that will take the place of about 15 different types of youth hunting licenses.
• Providing resident deer hunters one license for all deer they are allowed to harvest in a season, which previously was only offered to nonresidents.
• Increasing license costs for nonresidents hunting deer and waterfowl in Oklahoma.
• Adding the black bear hunting license to the privileges granted with the lifetime hunting and lifetime combination licenses.
The release also noted that it has been more than 20 years since any notable changes were made to the state’s fishing and hunting licenses and fee structure. The act will bring Oklahoma’s fees more in line with those of other surrounding states. Some licenses will see an increase and others a decrease.
Overall, the new act is expected to generate as much as $10 million in additional revenue to fund fish and wildlife conservation in Oklahoma, wrote the ODWC.
It will become effective July 1, 2024.
Sen. Brent Howard (R-Altus) Several bills authored or co-sponsored by Sen.
Howard recently passed through the respective committees they were assigned to for consideration. In part, they include:
• SB 468 is a carryover bill from 2023 pertaining to estate planning. It passed the House Judiciary - Civil Committee on Thursday, March 28. The measure would create the Uniform Electronic Estate Planning Documents Act and establish requirements for certain electronic documents and signatures. It has now unanimously passed the House and Senate committees.
• House Bill 3036 passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, March 26, and pertains to civil procedure; forcible entry and detainer; jury trials; and repealer. In part, the bill states that a jury trial shall only be an option for claims for the collection of rent or damages to the premises, or claims arising under the Oklahoma Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, and shall not be an option for forcible entry and detention actions.
It has also unanimously passed the House and Senate Judiciary committees.
• HB 3359, which pertains to revenue and taxation and creates the Pass-Through Entity Tax Act, unanimously cleared the Senate Finance Committee on Monday, March 25. In part, the measure stipulates that for tax years beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2022, there will be levied on each electing pass-through entity the pass-through entity tax and details how it will be calculated. The bill has also been unanimously passed through all previous House and Senate committees.
Sen. Chris Kidd (R-Waurika) A bill modifying various provisions of the State Dental Act passed the House Public Health Committee on Wednesday, March 27. SB 1929 was authored by Sen.
Kidd and co-authored by Rep. Toni Hasenbeck (R-Elgin). If signed into law, the act will amend several words, phrases and terms in the state’s statutes. The bill is lengthy, comprising 53 pages, and it covers a variety of topics related to licenses, permits and certificates. It has currently unanimously passed both Senate and House committees.
Several other of Kidd’s proposed bills are being considered in the designated House committees.
Sen. Lonnie Paxton (R-Tuttle) A carryover bill from 2023, SB 458, which would have provided independent prescriptive authority of Advanced Practice Registered Nurses who met certain requirements was vetoed Friday, March 29.
The measure, co-sponsored by Sen. Paxton, was originally passed by the Senate and House and sent to Gov. Stitt on Monday, March 25.
It was vetoed four days later.
The 34-page bill outlined requirements that an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse recognized by the Oklahoma Board of Nursing as a Certified Nurse Practitioner, Clinical Nurse Specialist, or Certified Nurse-Midwife who has completed a minimum of 6,240 hours of practice with prescriptive authority supervised by a physician or completed an accredited residency program may apply to the Oklahoma Board of Nursing for authority to prescribe and order independent of supervision.
Several other of Paxton’s bills that he authored or co-sponsored did recently pass from their assigned committees, including HB 3596.
The measure proposes to modify various provisions of the Employment Security Act of 1980 and has passed unanimously from both House and Senate committees.