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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES - FLOOR VERSION
STATE OF OKLAHOMA
1st Session of the 58th Legislature (2021)
ENGROSSED SENATE
BILL NO. 361 By: David, Weaver and Floyd of
the Senate
and
Wallace of the House
An Act relating to the Oklahoma Evidence C ode;
amending 12 O.S. 2011, Section 2506.2, which relates
to peer support counseling confidentiality; modifying
definition; and providing an effective date .
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. AMENDATORY 12 O.S. 2011, Section 2506.2, is
amended to read as follows:
Section 2506.2. A. For purposes of this section:
1. “Emergency services provider ” means any public employer that
employs persons to provide firefighting services;
2. “Emergency services personnel” means any employee of an
emergency services provider who is engaged in providing firefighting
services;
3. “Employee assistance program ” means a program established by
a law enforcement agency or emergency services provider to provide
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counseling or support services to employees of the law enforcement
agency or emergency services provider;
4. “Law enforcement agency ” means any county sheriff, municipal
police department, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol , and any state or
local public body that empl oys public safety personnel;
5. “Public safety personnel ” means a sheriff, deputy sheriff,
municipal police officer, state police officer, parole and probation
officer, corrections employee, certified reserve officer,
telecommunicator, or emergency medical dispatcher; and
6. “Peer support counseling sessions ” means critical incident
stress management sessions for public safety or emergency services
personnel who have been involved in emotionally traumatic incidents
by reason of their employment . The sessions may include
participation of the immediate family of the public safety or
emergency services personnel .
B. Any communication made by a participant or counselor in a
peer support counseling session conducted by a law enforcement
agency or by an emerge ncy services provider for public safety
personnel or emergency services personnel, and any oral or written
information conveyed in the peer support counseling session, is
confidential and may not be disclosed by any person participating in
the peer support counseling session.
C. Any communication relating to a peer support counseling
session made confidential under subsection B of this section that is
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made between counselors, between counselors and the supervisors or
staff of an employee assistance program , or between the supervisors
or staff of an employee assistance program, is confidential and may
not be disclosed.
D. The provisions of this section apply only to peer support
counseling sessions conducted by an employee or other person who:
1. Has been designated by a law enforcement agency or emergency
services provider, or by an employee assistance program, to act as a
counselor; and
2. Has received training in counseling and in providing
emotional and moral support to public safety personnel or emerg ency
services personnel who have been involved in emotionally traumatic
incidents by reason of their employment.
E. The provisions of this section apply to all oral
communications, notes, records and reports arising out of a peer
support counseling sessio n. Any notes, records or reports arising
out of a peer support counseling session are not public records for
the purposes of Sections 24A.1 through 24A.29 of Title 51 of the
Oklahoma Statutes.
F. Any communication made by a participant or counselor in a
peer support counseling session subject to this section, and any
oral or written information conveyed in a peer support counseling
session subject to this section, is not admissible in any judicial
proceeding, administrative proceeding, arbitration proceed ing, or
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other adjudicatory proceeding. Communications and information made
confidential under this section shall not be disclosed by the
participants in any judicial proceeding, administrative proceeding,
arbitration proceeding, or other adjudicatory proc eeding. The
limitations on disclosure imposed by this subsection include
disclosure during any discovery conducted as part of an adjudicatory
proceeding.
G. Nothing in this section limits the discovery or introduction
in evidence of knowledge acquired by any public safety personnel or
emergency services personnel from observation made during the course
of employment, or material or information acquired during the course
of employment, that is otherwise subject to discovery or
introduction in evidence.
H. This section does not apply to:
1. Any threat of suicide or homicide made by a participant in a
peer support counseling session, or any information conveyed in a
peer support counseling session relating to a threat of suicide or
homicide;
2. Any information relating to abuse of children or of the
elderly, or other information that is required to be reported by
law;
3. Any admission of criminal conduct; or
4. Any admission of a plan to commit a crime.
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I. This section shall not prohibit any communicatio ns between
counselors who conduct peer support counseling sessions, or any
communications between counselors and the supervisors or staff of an
employee assistance program.
SECTION 2. This act shall become effective November 1, 2021.
COMMITTEE REPORT BY: COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY - CIVIL, dated
03/30/2021 - DO PASS, As Coauthored.