OKLAHOMA CITY — A senate committee passed two bills aimed at transgender care on Wednesday.
Senate Bill 613, by Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville, would prohibit the provision of transgender health care to minors.
Violation of the act would be a felony with a fine of up to $100,000 and a prison sentence not to exceed 10 years. Violators would have their license revoked and could also face civil action.
Daniels said the measure was needed to prevent irreversible medical transitions in minors who might regret the decision when they get older.
Senate Minority Leader Kay Floyd, D-Oklahoma City, said lawmakers are taking away a parent’s right to determine medical treatment for a child. She said the Legislature is also interfering with rights of doctors.
Daniels said she knows how divisive the issue is.
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The Senate Rules Committee was packed with people who support the rights of transgender individuals.
“This bill is government intervention in the worst way,” said Sen. Julia Kirt, D-Oklahoma City.
Daniels said there is nothing in the bill that targets anyone, which drew laughter from the crowd followed by an admonishment by the committee’s vice chairman about the need to keep order.
The Rules Committee also passed SB 129, by Sen. David Bullard, R-Durant, which would prohibit public funds from being used for transgender care.
“Public funds shall not be directly or indirectly used, granted, paid, or distributed to any entity, organization, or individual that provides gender transition procedures,” the bill says.
Both measures passed along party lines, 12-2, with Democrats voting against them.
Willa Marlowe, 20, who is in the process of transitioning to male, attended the meeting.
“We lost the battle, but we will try again tomorrow,” said Marlowe, of Oklahoma City. “It is important that we keep trying.”
While some lawmakers claim that such legislation protects children, it actually puts them at risk and in danger, Marlowe said.
“I myself have struggled with gender dysphoria, anxiety and depression for a vast majority of my life,” Marlowe said. “And I have seen people who have taken their own lives because of the same thing.”
Feb. 6, 2023 video. The Oklahoma governor delivered his State of the State address to open the legislative session. Video via okhouse.gov
Gallery: Highlights from bills filed for Oklahoma’s 2023 legislative session
Changing the state question process
Senate Joint Resolution 5, filed by Sen. Warren Hamilton, R-McCurtain, would ask voters to amend the Oklahoma Constitution to allow state questions to be on ballots in only odd numbered years. Also, a state question or constitutional amendment that would remove any rights of state residents would be required to pass by a majority of electors in the state as well as by a majority of electors in at least two-thirds of the state’s 77 counties.
House Joint Resolution 1018 by Rep. Tammy Townley, R-Ardmore. Raises the required signature threshold for citizen-led constitutional amendments from 15 to 20% of registered voters. Also requires an equal distribution of signature collection in the state’s five congressional districts. Would require majority approval among Oklahoma voters to take effect.
School choice proposal
Senate Bill 822 by Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville, would allow for education savings accounts in which taxpayer funds could be used for private school tuition or other education expenses in lieu of a student attending public school.
Senate Bill 943 by Sen. Shane Jett, R-Shawnee
Senate Bill 943 by Sen. Shane Jett, R-Shawnee, stipulates students in counties with fewer than 10,000 residents could only qualify for educational vouchers if they attend a “trigger” school district: those that teach about climate change, promote animal rights activism, encourage the defunding of police, promote Marxist ideology, disparage the Second Amendment, own books that contain obscene material, teach banned concepts on race or gender and those that violate school bathroom laws or teach about gender identity in a way that promotes “gender confusion.”
Slate of bills from Senate Education Committee chair
Sen. Adam Pugh, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, filed 13 bills aiming to recruit, retain and reward teachers, in addition to other education reforms. He requests $241 million to increase starting teacher pay and boost state minimum educator salaries across the board. His plan also includes $50 million for school safety grants, $25 million for paid maternity leave, and $15 million to incentivize Oklahomans to spend at least four years in an Oklahoma classroom after graduating from a teaching college.
Senate Bill 656 by Sen. David Bullard
Senate Bill 656 by Sen. David Bullard would make “the father or second parent of an unborn child” liable for necessary and appropriate medical costs during pregnancy.
Putting abortion to a vote
House Joint Resolutions from Rep. Charles McCall and Rep. Cyndi Munson propose a constitutional amendment that would let Oklahoma voters decide to legalize abortion. It would not require the governor’s signature if passed by both houses of the Legislature.
Race Massacre reparations
House Bill 1627, by Rep. Regina Goodwin, D-Tulsa, would appropriate $300 million “to implement a program of reparations for damages to persons and property” in Tulsa’s 1921 Race Massacre.
In May 2022, an Oklahoma judge allowed a lawsuit by the survivors of the incident seeking reparations for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre to proceed. Reparations are also being sought out for descendants of those affected by the destructive rampage, which also left close to 10,000 people homeless.
Addressing problems at the polls
Senate Bill 266, by Sen. Dave Rader, R-Tulsa, would allow limited sharing of election day poll workers at locations hosting more than one precinct.
Senate Bill 481 by Rader makes threatening or intimidating an election official a felony offense.
Second Amendment protection
House Bill 1002, by Rep. Jim Olsen, R-Roland, would let any county sheriff detain or arrest any federal employee while enforcing a buy-back, confiscation or surrender of firearms, accessories and ammunition in the sheriff’s jurisdiction.
Transgender health care
House Bill 1101 by Rep. Jim Olsen, R-Roland, would prohibit health care professionals from providing, attempting to provide or making referrals for puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and gender-reassignment surgeries.
Clarifying Oklahoma’s abortion ban
Senate Bill 834 from Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville, adds rape and incest exemptions to the state’s abortion ban. The bill also clarifies that the state’s abortion ban does not apply to ectopic pregnancies or fertility treatments and does not prohibit the sale or use of any type of contraception.
Prohibiting sex ed
House Bill 1780 from Rep. Danny Williams, R-Seminole, would ban sex education programs in schools.
Psilocybin research
House Bill 2107 by Rep. Daniel Pae, R-Lawton, would allow Oklahoma colleges and universities to study the use of psychedelic mushrooms to treat conditions such as depression, PTSD and traumatic brain injuries.
Defining criminal lewdness
Kymber Sage performs at the 2022 Tulsa Pride Festival.
House Bill 2186 from Rep. Kevin West, R-Moore, makes it illegal to host drag queen story hour on public property or in places where a minor could see the event. The bill also makes it illegal for anyone to stage on public property an “adult cabaret performance,” which includes drag queens, strippers, topless dancers or go-go dancers.
Senate Bill 503, by Sen. David Bullard, R-Durant, would allow municipalities to deny a permit for any “public display of lewd acts or obscene material” in public places or where children could see them. The law would cover parades, shows, concerts, plays and any other activity where a minor could witness lewd acts or obscene material or any person could unwillingly see them.
Minimum age to carry firearms
House Bill 1001, by Rep. Jim Olsen, R-Roland, reduces the minimum age at which a person is allowed to carry or transport a concealed or unconcealed weapon to 18 years of age from 21 years of age by reference to the Oklahoma Constitution’s provisions regarding the minimum age to vote.
Continued work on medical marijuana oversight
House Bill 1347 by Rep. Scott Fetgatter, R-Okmulgee, would force the OMMA to rebid a contract for the state’s seed-to-sale marijuana tracking system. The agency would have 30 days to ask for proposals and pick a winning bid.
Senate Bill 177 by Sen. Cody Rogers, R-Catoosa, would give cannabis businesses a choice of inventory tracking services to use from three to five vendors.
Senate Bill 440 would let the OMMA set limits on the potency of THC, the primary psychoactive compound found in marijuana.
House Bill 1014 prohibits new medical marijuana dispensaries from being established within 900 feet of most places of worship. Another bill filed in the Senate includes the same limits at 1,000 feet.
House Bill 1616 requires any elected or appointed official serving in state, county or city government who has ownership in a medical marijuana business, or conflict of interest, to notify OMMA.
Sen. Jessica Garvin, R-Duncan, has several marijuana-related proposals, including a bill that would require doctors who recommend medical marijuana to see patients in person unless the patient is homebound.
House Bill 2012 by Trish Ranson, D-Stillwater
The Stillwater Democrat is trying again to eliminate the straight-party voting option.
020323-tul-nws-cockfighting-p1
Despite a voter-approved ban on cockfighting on Nov. 5, 2002, the practice remains widespread in Oklahoma, said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and Center for a Humane Economy.
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