By Chancen Flick
The deadline for legislation to be filed for the 2023 legislative session has passed. Currently, elected officials, state agencies, businesses, advocates, and other interested parties are reviewing the slate of bills that have been filed and seeing which policy areas will impact them directly. OPEA requested numerous bills with several legislators to enact the platforms adopted by the OPEA membership after the 2022 Annual Convention. Below is the first list of the OPEA Priority Legislation for 2023 with the correct bill numbers. Links are available in this list to the bills themselves as well as the primary authors.
Some bills may be added as the Legislative Session progresses. This will be due to other bills being amended or substituted to include language that would impact state employment. OPEA members will receive regular weekly updates on the status of our Priority Bills via the Advocate and advocacy emails. If there are other pieces of legislation that are of concern to you directly, please contact Chancen Flick at the OPEA office at 405-524-6764 or via email at chancenf@opea.org
| HB 1407 | Culver, Bob Ed(R) | Provides for two one-time increases to state employee flexible benefit allowances in 2024 and 2025.
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| HB 1790 | Williams, Danny(R) | Permits state employees to donate up to twelve hours of time per year for volunteer administrative leave at certain charitable organizations or public schools.
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| HB 1794 | Osburn, Mike(R) | Specifies the responsibilities of the Human Capital Management Administrator within the Civil Service and Human Capital Modernization Act.
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| HB 1796 | Osburn, Mike(R) | Authorizes the Dept. of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services to enter into agreements to serve as a vendor with public sector employers wishing to offer employment assistance programs and services.
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| HB 1798 | Osburn, Mike(R) | Creates the Market Based Pay Act of 2023.
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| HB 1805 | Osburn, Mike(R) | Creates the Pay for Performance Act of 2023.
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| HB 2013 | Ranson, Trish(D) | Adds Juneteenth to state recognized holidays and authorizes certain personal holiday leave for state employees.
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| HB 2020 | Wolfley, Max(R) | Increases certain retirement benefits adjustment for the 2024 tax year. |
| Wolfley, Max(R) | Requires the Office of Management and Enterprise Services to provide an association representing state employees with a monthly reconciliation report with information related to opted in members.
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| HB 2171 | Ford, Ross(R) | Public retirement systems; Allows for a one time retirement benefit distribution to all retirees that have been retired 2 or more years; emergency. |
| HB 2279 | Echols, Jon(R) | Public retirement systems; Oklahoma Pension Systems Benefit Adjustment Authorization Act of 2023; effective date.
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| HB 2376 | Kannady, Chris(R) | State government; Annual Leave Adjustment; effective date.
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| HB 2596 | Humphrey, Justin J.J.(R) | Tourism and Recreation Department; expanding park ranger jurisdiction; effective date.
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| HB 2749 | Miller, Nicole(R) | State government; Oklahoma Tourism, Parks and Recreation Enhancement Act; authorizing to create a state employee information and promotion program
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| HB 2770 | Munson, Cyndi(D) | State government; State Employee Child Care Subsidy program; effective date.
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| HB 2834 | Deck, Jared (F)(D) | State government; providing for rates of compensation for on-call state employees; effective date.
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| HB 2854 | Wallace, Kevin(R) | Public retirement systems; OPERS return to Defined Benefit Retirement; effective dates.
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| SB 4 | Thompson, Roger(R) | Reinstates certain powers of the Tourism and Recreation Commission which were ceded to the Executive Director and the Governor and requires cause for the Governor to remove members of the Commission.
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| SB 65 | Stanley, Brenda(R) | Provides for one additional personal holiday each year for permanent state employees to be taken on one of several selected holidays or on the employee’s birthday.
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| SB 87 | Garvin, Jessica (F)(R) | Beginning in FY-24, provides one-half of the flexible benefit allowance amount as taxable compensation to state employees opting out of the state basic health and dental plan options; EMERGENCY.
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| SB 193 | Garvin, Jessica (F)(R) | Provides for six weeks of paid leave to state employees for the birth or adoption of a child.
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| SB 302 | Thompson, Roger(R) | Directs all state agencies to convert to a payroll system that provides employee payment every two weeks by July 31, 2028 under OMES supervision and establishes a fund for related costs; EMERGENCY.
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| SB 417 | Kirt, Julia(D) | Directs the Director of the Human Capital Management Division of OMES to develop and promulgate rules for “Hazardous Duty Pay” for job duties assigned to positions which can be considered high-risk.
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| SB 676 | Hicks, Carri(D) | State employees; directing the Office of Management and Enterprise Services to develop a differential bonus for certain state employees with advanced degrees and certifications. Effective date. |
