TULSA, Okla. — A new year means a new batch of laws in Oklahoma.
As of Jan. 1, there are a wide array of bills enacted now impacting areas ranging from dead voters and medical marijuana.
Here's an outline of some new state laws on the books:
- House Bill 1029 creates a family caregiver tax credit. This covers eligible expenses related to caring for an eligible loved one, according to criteria that the law specifies.
- Senate Bill 513 requires any health benefit plan offered, issued, or renewed in Oklahoma on or after New Year's Day to provide coverage for biomarker testing. That includes the Oklahoma Employees Insurance Plan. Biomarker testing is a way of looking for genes, proteins, and other substances that provide information about potential cancer.
- House Bill 1008 gives an additional homestead exemption of $1,000 for qualifying residents whose gross household income last year was no more than $30,000.
- House Bill 1950 deals with voter registration and death records, which came after fraud claims arose surrounding the 2020 presidential election.
It orders the state Department of Health to amass a list of all deaths across the state, and the DOH must then send those numbers in each month to the Secretary of the State Election Board.
A new swath of laws also cover medical marijuana.
These are mostly tied to regulations and powers that the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority can wield.
House Bill 3971 paves the way for the OMMA to send undercover shoppers to licensed medical marijuana dispensaries. These shoppers will check if dispensaries are complying with regulations and send product samples to testing labs – among other things.
Under Senate Bill 1704, employees at licensed businesses must apply for and receive credentials from the OMMA in order to keep their jobs and still work in Oklahoma's medical marijuana industry.
- Previous coverage >>> OMMA requiring cannabis employees to be credentialed starting Jan. 1
House Bill 3929 deals with product quality at medical marijuana testing labs. It lays out standards and rules about process validation for the OMMA to follow and deems process validation as optional. Going further, the law enshrines punishments for breaching those requirements.
Finally, House Bill 4056 makes room for feedback about regulations, telling certain entities to offer recommendations, standards, and operating procedures to the OMMA. The law also tells the Authority to advocate for rules, requiring testing labs to follow them.
Oklahoma's next legislative session, the 60th, will begin in February.
To browse a full list of bills from past legislative sessions, the Oklahoma Secretary of State provides a database at sos.ok.gov.
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