The end of the 2026 Oklahoma legislative session is on the horizon as lawmakers enter the last few weeks of work at the state Capitol.
With the sine die deadline just under a month away, bills are making their way through the legislative process on the opposite side of the rotunda from which they began.
After the last major committee deadline passed on Thursday, April 23, only bills that advanced from their opposite-chamber committee remain alive for consideration on the floor, and of the hundreds of bills Oklahoma Farm Bureau was tracking at the beginning of session, several remain viable.
One such bill is SB 2112 by Sen. Casey Murdock and Rep. Rande Worthen, which would modify the designation of open pasture roads. OKFB has kept a close eye on the bill throughout session, and it is open for consideration on the house floor after passing the House Judiciary and Public Safety Oversight Committee last week.
Similarly, SB 1944 by Sen. Casey Murdock, which deals with workers’ compensation for agricultural employees, is also available for consideration on the house floor after passing the same committee.
SB 2159, authored by Sen. Roland Pederson, is also awaiting a house vote. The measure would designate wheat as the official crop of the state of Oklahoma.
Conversely, HB 3405 by Rep. Kenton Patzkowsky and Sen. Roland Pederson will not advance any further after failing to be heard in the Senate Agriculture Committee before last week’s deadline. The bill would have labeled poison hemlock and kudzu as noxious weeds.
The trio of groundwater bills OKFB has been monitoring has been reduced to two as HB 4459 was not heard in the Senate Energy Committee before the deadline. However, SB 1928 and SB 259 both remain eligible to be heard on the house floor.
While these bills and others were making the dash to the finish line, Gov. Kevin Stitt saw several of his appointees to the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry board and the Oklahoma Conservation Commission board approved in their respective Senate committees. These nominees now move to the Senate floor for final confirmation.
To stay up to date on what OKFB is doing at the state Capitol during legislative session, be sure to tune in to OKFB’s weekly public policy update each Friday at noon via Zoom. Contact your field representative for more information on how to get connected.
