With the conclusion of the 59th Session of the Oklahoma Legislature, it is time to evaluate what resulted from four months packed with committee meetings, floor hearings, rallies, and more.
At the beginning of the session, we filtered through over 4,000 bills and sorted them into categories based on our policy platform. We added over 1,000 bills to our tracker and followed them through the entire legislative session. As always, many of them failed at various steps in the legislative process, but some did end up making their way all the way past the Governor’s desk to become signed into law.
Here are some of the featured pieces of legislation that stood out to us in each area.
Housing:
As a key area of focus last session, we tracked various bills surrounding access to safe and secure housing. One positive bill that did not survive was Senate Bill (SB) 1575, which would have extended the timeline for eviction. Currently, a tenant can get evicted within five days of “receiving” notice, which can take any form. This bill did not get a floor hearing on the Senate side.
In addition to having a very rapid eviction process, we have no laws protecting renters from retaliation by predatory or abusive landlords. Currently, renters can be punished with fees, eviction, or both for filing grievances regarding safety or habitability of their residence. Another bill, HB 2109, would have rectified this issue and provided protections on both sides. However, the original Senate author stepped down, and the next author backed out on sponsoring the bill, which killed its progress.
While many good initiatives did not survive the legislative process, several other bad bills did. Two measures were filed in either chamber regarding “homelessness” and seeking to criminalize unhoused persons. These bills, aimed to punish people “camping on state land,” were pushed by a national organization that is targeting states like ours and pushing these harmful agendas. One such bill, SB 1854, passed through and was signed by the governor with an effective date of 11/01/2024. People experiencing homelessness deserve our care and compassion, not criminal punishments.
Healthcare
Healthcare is always a contentious area in the legislative session. Although our state has extremely limited access to abortion, every session sees more bills filed limiting sexual education, contraception access, and other forms of reproductive healthcare. Early session measures included attempts to criminalize the transport of “abortion-inducing drugs” as a felony and to include “unborn children” as victims in assault or battery cases. Neither of these measures makes vulnerable communities any safer. Pregnant people of color are already at a high risk in the healthcare field, and measures like this will not aid this epidemic.
One bill, HB 3098, made it through the House and a Senate committee before failing to get a floor hearing. This bill sought to expand the list of criminalizing the “willful spread of sexually transmitted diseases” to include HPV, amongst others. We oppose bills that seek to incarcerate Oklahomans further. Additionally, only women can be tested for HPV so that this bill would expand the targeted attacks against women in the healthcare arena.
Another bill that unfortunately resurfaced at the end of the session falls into the same trend of restricting safe access to healthcare, the “women’s bill of rights” HB 1449, creates “biological” definitions of men and women.
We are already the worst state for women regarding safety and health, and nothing about these initiatives seeks to fix this problem. HB 1449 will likely impact funding to domestic violence shelters, schools and create more issues instead of creating any productive measures to help people in this state.
Immigrant Rights
Since welcoming over 1,000 new Afghan refugees in 2021, CAIR Oklahoma’s policy platform has expanded to include promoting safe, healthy immigrant communities and helping our new neighbors integrate fully into life in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Muslim community is representative of dozens of different cultural and ethnic backgrounds, many from families who have immigrated here across the years.
These experiences have also highlighted our struggling social safety network in our state and the problematic policies that are pushed to win political points over helping people. One such policy unfortunately made it through at the end of the session.
HB 4156 was sent “direct to calendar” in the last weeks of session, meaning it did not go through the committee process like regular bills. The bill seeks to outdo Texas’s SB 4, an aggressive anti-immigration bill which targets individuals present in the state without “legal authorization”. It creates a new crime, “impermissible occupation” and establishes fees and a misdemeanor for the first offense, and felony charges, jail time, fees and a 72-hour window to leave the state following the second offense.
The rhetoric during the debate was dehumanizing, harmful, and hateful. This bill will not make communities safer, and it will certainly not help us become a “Top 10 State” unless that standard is for separating families and disregarding human beings. This bill does not solve the problems of people lacking documentation, unlike previous measures led by Sen. Michael Brooks earlier in the session. The Department of Justice, the ACLU, and other groups have filed suit to enjoin this bill; however, the bill is scheduled to become effective July 1st.
Freedom of Religion/Freedom of Expression
At the core of our work, every session, we unfortunately see more attacks on freedom of speech, expression, and religion every year. This session started off with HB 3217, “Patriotism not Pride,” which aimed to restrict funding for promoting LGBTQ+ Pride. This bill did not get a floor hearing but managed to highlight the continuing trend of attacks on DEI and education.
While we understand that Islamic perspectives on LGBTQ+ identities are complex, the truth is that if the state can attack, marginalize, and shame any members of our beloved Oklahoma, none of us can truly be safe. For this reason, we have opposed measures that attack the LGBTQ+ community – threats to civil liberties for our neighbors can quickly become threats to ourselves.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) were hot topics this session, from Gov. Stitt’s executive order prohibiting funding for DEI in schools, to the State Department of Education’s partnership with the well-known right-wing organization PragerU. We have previously spoken out against the use of PragerU materials in classrooms, as they are known for creating misleading and factually inaccurate content. Fortunately, many of the bills specifically targeting DEI and seeking to censor classroom materials became dormant.
Specifically looking at freedom of religion, we did have a resurfacing of legislation looking to put the Ten Commandments in the classroom and at the state capitol. Initiatives such as this have already been addressed in previous years by an Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling that public money cannot be used to support a specific viewpoint on public grounds.
In another attack on the Establishment Clause, the legislature pushed through a last minute “shucked” bill that would have drastically impacted schools and religious freedoms. SB 36 aimed to all schools to employ volunteer chaplains as school counselors. Children in public schools deserve to access counseling that is uninhibited by religious teachings.
Civil Rights
This sessi
on saw a resurfacing of legislation focused on codifying the Oklahoma Counter Terrorism Intelligence Center, or “fusion center,” that has existed by executive order since 9/11. This center operates as a clearinghouse of information collected from local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. This information is “to protect citizens from terrorism;” however, it’s not clear if the information is collected according to the rights of due process, and it cannot be subpoenaed. The Muslim community and other communities of color are historically treated poorly by the agencies involved in this center, and efforts such as these can only have obvious disproportionate impacts on communities of color, minority religious groups, immigrants, and low-income families.
Voting
When it comes to voting, Oklahoma already has an abysmal voter turnout rate, yet every session we see more attempts to limit access and expansion to voting. The interim study period saw multiple sessions focused on banning ranked choice voting and these initiatives came to fruition. HB 3156 made it through the process and was signed by Gov. Stitt to ban ranked choice voting. No jurisdiction in Oklahoma currently uses ranked choice voting, so it’s not clear what problem this legislation was trying to solve – other than their assertion that Oklahomans aren’t smart enough to interpret and use a ranked choice ballot.
Two other bills also passed into law that challenge ballot measures or initiative petitions. Because Oklahoma has no public testimony at the legislature, initiative petitions and ballot measures are the only remaining avenues for direct democracy available to the people. In past years, Oklahomans have achieved Medicaid expansion, criminal legal reform, and more through these mechanisms. Sadly, SB 518 and HB 1105 will create more signature restrictions and effort and increase the window for objections for state questions.
Criminal Justice Reform
Criminal justice reform is always a key aspect of our policy platform and legislative agenda. This session started off with some positive momentum, with Rep. Kevin McDugle leading efforts with policies to place a moratorium on the death penalty. These attempts unfortunately did not become law, but many other bills seeking to increase the number of 85% crimes also failed.
One victory in this area is SB 1835. The “Oklahoma Survivors’ Act” will be in effect come August. This bill directs courts to consider domestic violence as a mitigating factor in sentencing for other crimes and will work retroactively for people currently incarcerated. This initiative started off in another bill and was vetoed by the Governor in a disheartening manner but resurfaced to then pass into law. We applaud the work of the many coalition members who achieved this victory, sharing the stories of survivors of domestic violence who were incarcerated after fighting back against their abusers and providing multiple mechanisms for their supporters to work towards this shared goal.
State Powers & Finance
One notable movement in this category came with the Senate Joint Resolution led by Sen. Julie Daniels. SJR 34 sought to pose a state question to create a constitutional amendment changing the current judicial nomination process and leave nominations up to the Governor.
This bill garnered criticism from the Oklahoma Bar Association amongst many civic engagement groups as well. Currently the judicial nominating commission is a crucial aspect of having a balanced process between the branches of government and maintain limited power amongst the three. Attempts to undermine the judicial nominations process and the nonpartisanship of the judicial branch pop up each session, but thankfully no measures have passed.
This year, the budget talks took a different format that aimed to be more transparent with online portals and more public access. However, even with these changes, minority party leadership still did not have a seat at the table, and in-fighting still took center stage.
Federal/International
Although our work is focused on the state of Oklahoma, we are tracking federal issues that impact our communities here at home. These include the Afghan Adjustment Act, which would provide a legal, permanent avenue for permanent residency for our Afghan neighbors here. This bill has not seen any movement in Congress; currently, we believe it’s being held up in a show of political partisanship by Congresspeople who would rather play games with people’s lives than do the real work of governing.
Since October, the ongoing genocide in Gaza has been at the center of many people’s hearts and minds. Although we have witnessed countless war crimes being streamed to our phones, our state legislature and Congress have refused to side with humanity. The state passed many measures to reinforce “support for the state of Israel”, the most recent of which was signed on the very last deadline by Gov. Stitt. SB 729 will create an office for partnership in Jerusalem, illegally occupied territory, and purports to “foster cooperation between the people of Israel and the people of Oklahoma on projects of mutual benefit.” While conversations during the session claimed that the cost to the state would only be around $30,000, we believe that this is a misuse of state resources and a betrayal of our Palestinian-Oklahoman community, as well as those who are advocating for a free and liberated Palestine.
In Congress, our tracking includes policies for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, a halt to arms sales to Israel, and measures seeking to censor Pro-Palestinian voices. Our Palestine Resource Page will contain the most recent updates on these measures, as well as the action items that are needed to make your voice heard in Congress and beyond.
Stay involved!
Each session, we publish weekly recaps of committee meetings and floor hearings, and this year, we introduced a new bill tracker feature! These efforts include countless hours of observation and research from our team to help provide you with the information to stay informed. Using this information is crucial to stay engaged in what your government is doing with your tax dollars on your behalf. Civic engagement requires all of us to take action to support the causes nearest to our hearts. This week was a primary election for dozens of districts, and our updates are intended to keep you informed of what your elected official has been involved with and if they earned your vote.
Check your voter registration here: Okie Muslims Vote | CAIR Oklahoma
Check out our video for the end of the session