Law & Principles

OCPA 2021 legislative scorecard: Watch list update (March 8, 2021)

March 8, 2021

Staff

Below is an updated watch list of bills that are eligible to be included on OCPA’s scorecard for Oklahoma’s 2021 legislative session.

The legislative scorecard is an effort to inform Oklahoma citizens how their state legislators voted at the state Capitol on issues related to free markets, limited government, individual initiative, and personal responsibility.

OCPA anticipates periodically updating the watch list with additional bills as the session progresses. The watch list, along with subsequent updates, will be emailed to every legislator and posted on OCPA’s website.

A bill’s presence on the watch list does not guarantee that it will be included on the scorecard, but a bill on the watch list is eligible to be added to the scorecard at any time.

Not all bills on the scorecard will be weighted the same when calculating a lawmaker’s score. Different bills—and different votes on those bills—may be given different point values on the scorecard, as determined by OCPA’s policy team.

Bills of potentially greater consequence on issues related to free markets, limited government, individual initiative, and personal responsibility may be given a higher point value than other bills.

Subject to the fluidity of the legislative process, OCPA will strive to add a given bill to the watch list prior to that bill being voted on.

(UPDATE: Added to watch list is HB 1773 and HB 2074.)

SCR 2—Standridge—Higher Education—requiring the state Regents of Higher Education to submit a report on faculty courses taught and other info—SUPPORT

SJR 2—Bullard—Judicial Reform—Modifies procedures for nominating judges, divesting power from the Judicial Nominating Commission—SUPPORT

SJR 7—Pederson—Initiative Petitions

SB 5—McCortney—Health Care

SJR 9—Boren—Education—Mandates “equitable” public school funding, turning education funding disputes over to the courts—OPPOSE

SJR 12—Newhouse—State Constitutional Convention

SJR 13—Standridge—TSET Reform

SJR 15—Standridge—Higher Education

SJR 18—Paxton—Pension Reform—Prohibits the raiding of pension assets and the reducing of funded status for state pension plans—SUPPORT

SB 20—Floyd—Bars any member of the Legislature who is employed by a school, career tech, or college from participating in the Teachers’ Retirement System

SB 22—Floyd—Education—Requires schools that sell property to give right of first refusal to nonprofits in certain circumstances

SB 35—Brooks—Criminal Justice Reform

SB 38—Thompson—Criminal Justice Reform—Turns oversight of drug courts over to the Administrative Office of the Courts—SUPPORT

SB 49—Floyd—Increases application license fee for chiropractors

SB 52—Hicks—Teacher Pay

SB 53—Hicks—Education—Bans the State Board of Education from sponsoring a charter school—OPPOSE

SB 68—Simpson—Education—Allows for open public-school transfers for children in military families—SUPPORT

SB 69—Simpson—School Choice—Provides virtual charter school enrollment for children of active-duty military members—SUPPORT

SB 72—Bergstrom—Taxation—Removes sales tax deduction for certain types of research

SB 77—Kirt—Elections

SB 78—Bullard—Health Care—Requires insurers to pay out-of-network entities directly for services

SB 79—Thompson—Taxation & Health Care—Provides sales tax exemption for the University Hospitals Trust

SB 96—Hall—Health Care—Requires hospitals to share medical bills on file for patient if requested, also increases fees for such information

SB 101—Hicks—Business & Economy—Repeals legislative preemption authority regarding mandatory minimum wage—OPPOSE

SB 102—Haste—Requires state health agencies to report all mental health services provided by state Department of Health, including funding sources, total funding, and outcome summaries

SB 103—Kirt—Changes absentee voting law

SB 108—Montgomery—Pensions

SB 120—Standridge—Health Care

SB 126—Daniels—School Choice—Making changes to the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship program that would protect private religious schools from discrimination—SUPPORT

SB 127—Allen—Regulation—Prohibits the Corporation Commission from issuing regulations more restrictive than federal standards, rules or regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency

SB 129—Howard—Taxes—Removes cap on itemized deductions—SUPPORT

SB 142—Pederson—Education

SB 152—Dossett—Education—Removes language allowing State Board of Education to sponsor certain charter schools—OPPOSE

SB 155—Howard—Judicial Reform—Requires the Oklahoma Supreme Court to maintain a public calendar of cases—SUPPORT

SB 157—Dossett—Education—Disallowing the Governor to replace his appointees on State Board of Education—OPPOSE

SB 161—Young—Minimum Wage

SB 165—Hicks—Health Care

SB 166—Dossett—Education—Gives State Board of Education sole authority to sponsor virtual charter schools

SB 203—Daniels—School Choice—Provides eligibility for Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship for children of incarcerated parents—SUPPORT

SB 176—Kirt—Requires additional hurdles for Governor-appointed state agency directors and cabinet members, potentially discouraging individuals with business and management experience from applying—OPPOSE

SB 178—Kirt—Lifts the cap on the Ethics Commission Fund, likely incentivizing the Ethics Commission to impose more fines—OPPOSE

SB 185—Dossett—Criminal Justice Reform

SB 190—Allen—Pensions

SB 204—Boren—Taxation—Creates a revolving fund and income tax refund for donations to the state’s General Revenue Fund—OPPOSE

SB 205—Kirt—Elections—Requires development of a system for automatic voter registration—OPPOSE

SB 210—Howard—School Board Accountability—Makes it easier to have recall elections for school board members—SUPPORT

SB 216—Burns

SB 218—Hicks—Taxes, Welfare—Makes earned income tax credit refundable—OPPOSE

SB 231—Brooks—Criminal Justice Reform—Allows depositions for criminal trial witnesses for “good cause”

SB 229—Montgomery—Education—Emergency teaching certifications

SB 239—Education—Allows State Superintendent and State Department of Education to bar State Board of Education from considering sponsorship of a charter school upon appeal—OPPOSE

SB 247—McCortney—Health Care

SB 258—Rosino—Taxation

SB 259—Kirt—Sunsets certain economic incentives

SB 271—Taylor—Education—Classroom discipline

SB 276—Brooks—Criminal Justice Reform—“Ban the box” for college applications

SB 221—Standridge—School Choice—Provides scholarships for students with health-related concerns—SUPPORT

SB 286—Rader—Health Care

SB 222—Standridge—School Choice—Provides scholarships for bullied students—SUPPORT

SB 307—Quinn—Education

SB 309—Brooks—Criminal Justice Reform

SB 320—Garvin—Criminal Justice Reform

SB 324—Daniels—Workers’ Compensation

SB 328—Standridge—Taxation

SB 331—Bergstrom—Education—Creates the “Save Women’s Sports Act”--SUPPORT

SB 332—Boren—Imposes minimum wage increases—OPPOSE

SB 349—McCortney—Health Care

SB 357—Paxton

SB 360—Brooks—Criminal Justice Reform

SB 368—Bullard—Prohibits closures of religious institutions or deeming them nonessential—SUPPORT

SB 372—Rosino—Criminal Justice Reform—Requires individuals with unpaid child support to have driver’s license revoked

SB 375—Boren—Requires health departments to provide birth control—OPPOSE

SB 377—Hicks—Education

SB 383—Standridge

SB 386—Quinn—School Choice—Creates Digital Wallet program to provide educational financial aid—SUPPORT

SB 387—Haste

SB 389—Allen—Taxes—Adjusts gross production tax rates

SB 391—Brooks—Criminal Justice Reform

SB 392—Standridge—Health Care

SB 394—Coleman

SB 395—Dossett—Taxes—Requires 3/4 vote of Legislature for reducing taxes—OPPOSE

SB 397—Dossett—Health Care

SB 401—Pugh—Taxation

SB 402—Simpson—School Choice—Expands Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship eligibility to children from military families—SUPPORT

SB 412—Bergstrom—Taxation—Eliminates ethanol retailer credit

SB 416—Thompson—Elections—Modifies procedures for change, cancellation or restoration of voter registration

SB 417—Dossett—Education

SB 419—Dossett—Eliminates state test on U.S. history

SB 435—Hicks—Taxation—Creates tax credit for electric bikes—OPPOSE

SB 438—Dahm—Criminal Justice Reform—Eliminates no-knock warrants

SB 450—Brooks—Education—Requires schools that receive funding for bilingual students to use the money to train teachers for educating students who speak English as a second language

SB 454—Daniels—Taxes—Eliminates the sales tax increase imposed on car sales during the Fallin administration

SB 461—Daniels—Taxation

SB 462—Taylor—Health Care—Right to Shop

SB 468—Hicks—Health Care

SB 473—Daniels—Judicial Reform—Requires appellate courts to keep and publish their dockets—SUPPORT

SB 478—Coleman—Health Care

SB 484—Dahm—Allowing state agencies to avoid certain onerous federal rules and regulations, with Legislative approval

SB 487—Dahm

SB 493—McCortney—Health Care—Allows OMES to allow entities to pool together to buy prescription drugs

SB 513—Montgomery

SB 515—Daniels—Judicial Reform—Changes how appellate judges are assigned to cases when a judge or justice recuses or is conflicted—SUPPORT

SB 523—Paxton—Elections—Prohibits court settlements that amend election law in a way that violates existing law—SUPPORT

SB 532—Standridge—School Choice—Creating the School Choice for Disadvantaged Children Program—SUPPORT

SB 538—Standridge—Health Care

SB 539—Dahm—Administrative rules

SB 542—Dahm—Requires review of all occupational licenses, with goal of eliminating many

SB 545—Dahm—Modifying food truck regulations

SB 548—Daniels—Health Care—Provides deterrent to surprise medical billing, prohibiting large hospitals and other entities from harming a patient financially without providing the patient with a good-faith cost estimate in advance of the service provided—SUPPORT

SB 550—Newhouse—Health Care

SB 553—Boren—Eliminates capital-gains deduction—OPPOSE

SB 568—Montgomery—Crowdfunding

SB 576—Boren—Elections—Allows for the “curing” of absentee ballots that officials believe contain errors—OPPOSE

SB 589—Hicks—Health Care—Requires drug manufacturers to notify Insurance Department of certain price increases

SB 608—Expands state’s film tax incentive program—OPPOSE

SB 610—McCortney—Creates the Opioid Settlement Judgment Revolving Fund

SB 614—Bullard—Higher Education—Affords certain rights to students enrolled in higher-education institutions

SB 630—Bullard—Education

SB 633—Daniels—Higher Education—Creates the “Student and Administration Equality Act” requiring colleges and universities to allow students to have an attorney represent them during hearings that can result in expulsion—SUPPORT

SB 634—Daniels—Public Employee Unions—Requires certain annual authorization from a public school employee before union dues may be automatically withdrawn from paycheck—SUPPORT

SB 637—Standridge—Higher Education—Prohibits colleges or universities from requiring students to take any course unrelated to their degree—SUPPORT

SB 653—Newhouse

SB 665—Dossett—Education—Bars for-profit entities from managing virtual charter schools—OPPOSE

SB 668—Floyd

SB 670—Murdock

SB 674—McCortney

SB 678—Jett—Prohibits government closure of churches for being “nonessential”—SUPPORT

SB 690—Pugh—Health Care—Broadens who is allowed licenses for telemedicine services—SUPPORT

SB 694—Jech

SB 695—Health Care—Bars the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, the state’s Medicaid agency, from implementing managed care without an affirmative vote by the Legislature—OPPOSE

SB 704—Rader—Criminal Justice Reform—Eliminates certain sentence enhancements, with specific carve-outs for certain violent or heinous offenses—SUPPORT

SB 710—Jech—Elections

SB 714—Jech—Elections—Requires absentee ballots to be requested at least three weeks prior to an election

SB 718—McCortney—Health Care

SB 721—Hicks—Health Care

SB 734—McCortney—Medical “reference pricing”

SB 747—Standridge

SB 783—Pugh—Education—Allows for more robust open-enrollment and transfer policies for students in public schools—SUPPORT

SB 786—Jett—Mandates that all businesses be considered “essential”—SUPPORT

SB 803—Jett—Education

SB 805—Dahm—Higher Education

SB 806—Weaver

SB 813—Standridge

SB 814—Bergstrom

SB 823—Taylor—Education—Funds public schools based on current-year enrollment or prior-year number—SUPPORT

SB 833—Dahm—Food freedom

SB 876—Dahm—Makes all new state government employees unclassified—SUPPORT

SB 890—Jett—Health Care Financing

SB 902—Dossett—Medicaid—Requires state Department of Corrections to provide Medicaid applications to all released inmates—OPPOSE

SB 904—Dossett—Medicaid

SB 913—Daniels—Administrative rules

SB 914—Paxton—Pensions

SB 930—David—Health Care—Exempts private hospitals from property tax break

SB 946—Daniels—Judicial Reform—Makes the Judicial Nominating Commission subject to the Open Meetings Act—SUPPORT

SB 948—Bullard—School Board Accountability—Moves some school elections to presidential primary date—SUPPORT

SB 951—Daniels

SB 957—Howard—Judicial Reform—Changes how appellate courts operate when a judge is recused or disqualified—SUPPORT

SB 961—Daniels—Privacy protections for charitable donations

SB 962—Treat—School Board Accountability—Moves school elections to November—SUPPORT

SB 984—David—Establishing parameters for the state Attorney General's use of outside counsel

SB 989—Dahm—Bans use of public funds for lobbying

SB 990—Hicks

SB 991—Dahm—Criminal Justice Reform—Eliminates civil asset forfeiture—SUPPORT

SB 994—Dahm

SB 1005—Dugger

SB 1007—Jett

SB 1009—Paxton—Modifying the composition of the Firefighters Pension and Retirement Board

SB 1014—Treat

SB 1019—Dahm—Strips tax breaks from entities that engage in censorship

SB 1020—Dahm—Creates the Oklahoma Learning Pod Protection Act—SUPPORT

SB 1026—Quinn

HJR 1001—Fugate

HR 1005—Steagall—State’s rights

HB 1004—Olsen—Parental and family rights in counseling

HB 1006—Bush—Health Care

HB 1008—Bush—Health Care—Establishes a medical-legal partnership program with the state Department of Health

HB 1009—Sims—Taxation—Increases the homestead exemption

HB 1012—Bush—Health Care

HB 1014—Roe—Schools

HB 1019—Worthen—Health Care

HB 1028—Kerbs

HJR 1030—Kannady

HJR 1031—Caldwell—Elections—Protecting Oklahoma’s Electoral College votes—SUPPORT

HB 1032—Mize—Food freedom

HB 1046—Kerbs—Education—Requires public school districts to post their most recent audit online

HB 1054—Tax on e-cigarettes—OPPOSE

HB 1056—Olsen—Prohibits restriction of religious activities during state of emergency—SUPPORT

HB 1091—Bush—Medicaid—Adds certain specifications regarding possible Medicaid managed care contracts—OPPOSE

HB 1137—Fetgatter—Taxation

HB 1236—McBride—State’s rights

HB 1574—Rosecrants—Elections—Establishes agreement among the states to elect the President of the United States by national popular vote—OPPOSE

HB 1590—Provenzano—Subjects certain public funds to reporting and auditing requirements

HB 1591—Provenzano—Education—Eliminates the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board

HB 1594—Provenzano—Education—Modifies appointments to the State Board of Education—OPPOSE

HB 1595—Provenzano

HB 1641—Humphrey

HB 1659—Brewer—Requires legislators to attend racial sensitivity training

HB 1677—Stark—Visitation at long-term care facilities

HB 1679—Stark—ID cards for Department of Corrections inmates upon release

HB 1751—Crosswhite Hader—Elections

HB 1752—Crosswhite Hader—Elections

HB 1766—Roberts—Elections

HB 1773—Conley—Education

HB 1795—Miller—Criminal Justice Reform—Makes it easier to obtain a provisional driver’s license, and restricts driver’s license revocations to crimes related to driving—SUPPORT

HB 1808—Bennett—Medicaid

HB 1809—Bennett

HB 1846—Fugate—School Choice—Restricting student eligibility for state’s Equal Opportunity Scholarship program—OPPOSE

HB 1851—Fugate

HB 1887—Williams—Religious gatherings

HB 1888—Williams

HB 1927—Martinez—$1,000 refund to any parent or guardian of a child enrolled in prekindergarten through 12th grade at a public school that shut down due to Covid

HB 1946—Munson—Elections

HB 1982—Lepak—School Choice—Adding provisions to state’s Equal Opportunity Scholarship program, allowing the program to serve more children and families around the state—SUPPORT

HB 1985—Lepak—Public Employee Unions—SUPPORT

HB 2074—McCall—Education

HB 2078—Hilbert—“Ghost students”—SUPPORT

HB 2089—McCall

HB 2105—Turner—Criminal Justice Reform—Requires courts to instruct juries of the full range of punishment before verdict is given—SUPPORT

HB 2176—Hilbert—School Choice—Improving the state’s Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship program—SUPPORT

HB 2119—McEntire

HB 2234—Hilbert

HB 2281—West

HB 2299—Roberts—Medicaid

HB 2416—Nichols—Income tax increase—OPPOSE

HB 2454—Virgin—School Choice—Restricts schools from participating in the state’s Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship program for children with special needs and foster children—OPPOSE

HB 2322—Frix—Health Care

HB 2460—Lepak—Public Employee Unions—Restricts school strikes or shutdowns—SUPPORT

HB 2550—Virgin

HB 2561—Virgin—Income tax increase—OPPOSE

HB 2637—Roberts

HB 2648—Hill—Places of worship

HB 2651—Echols—Broadening the Equal Opportunity Scholarship program—SUPPORT

HB 2655—Echols—School Board Accountability—Modifying dates of school board elections—SUPPORT

HB 2673—Echols

HB 2701—Hasenbeck—Education

HB 2718—Blancett—Taxation

HB 2840—Roberts

HB 2842—Roberts—Elections

HB 2844—Roberts—Taxation

HB 2873—Wallace—Licensing

HB 2876—Wallace—Taxation

HB 1561—Gann

HB 1562—Gann

HB 1563—Gann

HB 1567—Boatman

HB 1602—West—Data privacy

HB 1622—Mize

HB 1648—Humphrey

HB 1651—Humphrey

HB 1654—Brewer

HB 1679—Stark

HB 1757—Ranson

HB 1765—Roberts

HB 1811—Blancett

HB 1952—Cruz

HB 1981—Lepak—Universal licensing reform

HB 2007—Townley—Licensing reform

HB 2010—Townley—Modifying food truck regulations

HB 2192—Lowe

HB 2220—McDugle

HB 2320—Frix—Bifurcates jury trials and permits evidence of aggravating and mitigating circumstances for first-time offenders

HB 2514—Kannady

HB 2701—Hasenbeck—Education

HB 2773—Pfeiffer—Prohibits someone working for a nonprofit that serves individuals re-entering society after prison from serving on the Pardon and Parole Board

HB 2794—Pfeiffer—Provides a special docket for individuals with six months or less on their sentences

HB 2924—Goodwin