Heads Up, Oklahoma — These 11 Laws Just Changed Today”

It’s law day in Oklahoma:  November 1 is the day that most of the laws passed and signed into Oklahoma law in the previous legislative session go into effect.

Below is a table showing some of the most interesting new Oklahoma laws, and if you want to see all the new laws, follow this link.

 

Short Title Summary
DUI Felony Upgrade A DUI can now be charged as a felony if it involves a crash, a minor in the vehicle, excessive speeding, eluding law enforcement, or a BAC ≥ 0.15.
“Orange Cone” Hand-Held Phone Ban Drivers are prohibited from holding a phone in active school or construction zones; violation is a $100 fine.
Motorcycle-Yield Penalty Increase (“Slow Law”) Failure to yield to a motorcyclist resulting in injury or death now carries fines up to $500, license suspension, or remedial courses.
Mammogram Coverage Expansion Health insurance must cover mammograms for broader groups to improve early breast-cancer detection.
Mental Competency Deadline Change When a criminal defendant refuses medication, that period no longer counts toward the two-year restoration-of-competency deadline.
Municipal Annexation Consent Law Cities must obtain majority landowner consent before annexing property (HB 1166).
Renewable Energy Eminent Domain Ban Prevents use of eminent domain for renewable-energy or transmission projects without specified landowner consent (HB 2752).
Solar & Wind Facility Setbacks Expands setback requirements for solar farms and wind facilities near schools, airports, and other protected areas (HB 1451).
Local Election Date Consolidation Reduces the number of local election dates to five per year to improve participation and reduce costs (SB 652).
Oil & Gas Well Bond Reform & Orphan Well Tax Incentive Updates bond requirements for producers and offers tax incentives for reclaiming orphaned wells (HB 1369 & HB 1372).
Wide-Ranging New Laws Package Roughly 280+ new statutes covering topics from agriculture and criminal justiceto elections and energy take effect statewide.

This blog post was created with the assistance of ChatGPT.

Posted by Shawn Roberts

On this blog, I write about and try to answer practical Oklahoma legal questions. My focus and most experience is in estate planning and business issues including Oklahoma non-compete law. I make a living as an attorney in the law firm I founded, Shawn J. Roberts, P.C. in Oklahoma City. I live in Edmond with my wife Amy and my two children, Sam (19) and David (11). We live precisely in the path of where the "wind comes sweeping down the plains."