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STATE OF OKLAHOMA
2nd Session of the 58th Legislature (2022)
HOUSE BILL 4210 By: Boatman
AS INTRODUCED
An Act relating to the Attorney General; amending 74
O.S. 2021, Section 18b, which relates to duties of
the Attorney General; requiring Attorney General to
maintain data relating to human trafficking and to
assist certain entities with certain tasks;
establishing the Human Trafficking Re sponse Unit;
stating duties of the Unit; providing for
codification; and providing an effective date .
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. AMENDATORY 74 O.S. 2021, Section 18b, is
amended to read as follows:
Section 18b. A. The duties of the Attorney General as the
chief law officer of the st ate shall be:
1. To appear for the state and prosecute and d efend all actions
and proceedings, civil or criminal, in the Supreme Court and Court
of Criminal Appeals in which the state is interested as a party;
2. To appear for the state and prosecute and defend all actions
and proceedings in any of the federal cou rts in which the state is
interested as a party;
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3. To initiate or appear in any action in which the interests
of the state or the people of the state are at issue, or to appear
at the request of the Governor, the Legislature, or either branch
thereof, and prosecute and defend in any court or before any
commission, board or officers any cause or proceeding, civil or
criminal, in which the state may be a party or interested; and when
so appearing in any such cause or proceeding, the Attorney General
may, if the Attorney General deems it advisable and to the best
interest of the state, take and assume control of the prosecution or
defense of the state's interest therein;
4. To consult with and advi se district attorneys, when
requested by them, in all matters pertaining to the duties of their
offices, when the district attorneys shall furnish the Attorney
General with a written opini on supported by citation of authorities
upon the matter submitted;
5. To give an opinion in writing upon all questions of law
submitted to the Attorney General by the Legislature or either
branch thereof, or by any state officer, board, commission or
department, provided, that the Attorney General shall not furnish
opinions to any but district attorneys, the Legislature or either
branch thereof, or any other state official, board, commission or
department, and to them only upon matters in which they are
officially interested;
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6. At the request of the Governor, State Audit or and Inspector,
State Treasurer, or either branch of the Le gislature, to prosecute
any official bond or any contract in which the state is interested,
upon a breach thereof, and to prose cute or defend for the state all
actions, civil or criminal, relatin g to any matter connected with
either of their Departments;
7. Whenever requested by any state officer, board or
commission, to prepare proper drafts for contracts, forms and other
writing which may be wanted for the use of the state;
8. To prepare drafts of bills and resolutions for individual
members of the Legislature upon their written request stating the
gist of the bill or resolution desired;
9. To enforce the proper application of monies appropriated by
the Legislature and to prosecute breaches of trust in the
administration of such funds;
10. To institute actions to recover state monies illegally
expended, to recover state property and to prevent the illegal use
of any state property, upon the request of the Governor or the
Legislature;
11. To pay into the State Treasury, immediately upon its
receipt, all monies received by the Attorney General belonging to
the state;
12. To settle, compromise and dispose of an action in which the
Attorney General represents the interests of the state, so long a s
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the consideration negotiated for such settlement, compromis e or
disposition is payable to the state or one of its agencies which is
a named party of the action and any monies, any prop erty or other
item of value is paid first to the State Treasury;
13. To keep and file copies of all opinions, contracts, forms
and letters of the office, and to keep an index of all opinions,
contracts and forms according to subject and section of the la w
construed or applied;
14. To keep a register or docket of all action s, demands and
investigations prosecuted, defended or conduct ed by the Attorney
General in behalf of the state . The register or docket shall give
the style of the case or investigatio n, where pending, court number,
office number, the gist of the matter, r esult and the names of the
assistants who handled the matter;
15. To keep a complete office file of all cases and
investigations handled by the Attorney General on behalf of the
state;
16. To report to the Legislature or either branch thereof
whenever requested upon any business relating to the duties of the
Attorney General's office;
17. To institute civil actions against members of any state
board or commission for failure of su ch members to perform their
duties as prescribed by the statutes and the Co nstitution and to
prosecute members of any state board or com mission for violation of
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the criminal laws of this state where such violations have occurred
in connection with the perf ormance of such members' official duties;
18. To respond to any request fo r an opinion of the Attorney
General's office, submitted by a member of the Legislature,
regardless of subject matter, by written opinion determinative of
the law regarding such su bject matter;
19. To convene multicounty grand juries in such manner and fo r
such purposes as provided by law; provided, such grand juri es are
composed of citizens from each of the counties on a pro rata basis
by county;
20. To investigate any report b y the State Auditor and
Inspector filed with the Attorney General pursuant to Section 223 of
this title and prosecute all actions, civil or criminal, relating to
such reports or any irregularities or derelictions in the management
of public funds or proper ty which are violations of the laws of this
state;
21. To represent and prote ct the collective interests of all
utility consumers of this state in rate-related proceedings before
the Corporation Commission or in any other state or federal judicial
or administrative proceeding;
22. To represent and protect the collective interests of
insurance consumers of this state in rate -related proceedings before
the Insurance Commissioner or in any other state or federal judicial
or administrative proceeding;
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23. To investigate and prosecute any criminal action relating
to insurance fraud, if in the opinion of the Attorney General a
criminal prosecution is warranted, or to refer such matters to the
appropriate district attorney ; and
24. To monitor and evaluate any action by the federal
government including, but not limited to, executive order s by the
President of the United States, rules or regulations promulgated by
an agency of the federal government or acts of Congress to determine
if such actions are in viol ation of the Tenth Amendment to the
Constitution of the United States ; and
25. To maintain data related to human traffic king and to assist
law enforcement, social service agencies, and private victim
advocacy programs in identifying and supporting victims of human
trafficking.
B. Nothing in this section shall be construed as requiring the
Attorney General to appear and defend or prosecute in any court any
cause or proceeding for or on behalf of the Oklahoma Tax Commission,
the Board of Managers of the State Insurance Fund , or the
Commissioners of the Land Office.
C. In all appeals from the Corporation Commission to the
Supreme Court of Oklahoma in which the state is a party, the
Attorney General shall have the right to designate counsel of the
Corporation Commission as th e Attorney General's legally appointed
representative in such appe als, and it shall be the duty of the
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Corporation Commission c ounsel to act when so designated and to
consult and advise wit h the Attorney General regarding such appeals
prior to taking actio n therein.
SECTION 2. NEW LAW A new sectio n of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 18r of Title 74, unless there is
created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
There is hereby created within the Office of the Attorney
General the Human Trafficking Response Unit, which shall:
1. Maintain data in a central location on human trafficking
victims that shall be shared with law enforcement, social service
agencies, and private victim advocacy programs and shall document
offenders, location, victims, type of trafficking, and e scalation of
trafficking techniques. Provided, however, that any personal
identifying information shall be de-identified using tokens or a
similar method prior to the sharing of data in order to protect
individuals' privacy rights;
2. Develop a training program that shall be available to all
agencies and that addresses current standards on identif ying and
assisting victims of human trafficking and supports employees in
identifying at-risk environments for human trafficking;
3. Review current agency policies to ensure they include
current standards to identify human trafficking victims and
encourage victim reporting;
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4. Create a financial incentive program to encourage state
agencies to have personnel attend the training program and review
policies;
5. Expand the eligibility of existing victim services fundi ng;
6. Appropriate targeted funding for victim service
organizations; and
7. Publish public service announ cements on various media
platforms to educate the public about the dangers of human
trafficking.
SECTION 3. This act shall become e ffective November 1, 2022.
58-2-9304 CMA 01/18/22