Oklahoma 2025 Regular Session

Oklahoma House Bill HB1409 Latest Draft

Bill / Amended Version Filed 04/21/2025

                             
 
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SENATE FLOOR VERSION 
April 17, 2025 
AS AMENDED 
 
ENGROSSED HOUSE 
BILL NO. 1409 	By: Crosswhite Hader of the 
House 
 
  and 
 
  Sacchieri of the Senate 
 
 
 
 
 
[ notices by public bodies - email distribution 
systems - effective date ] 
 
 
 
 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOP LE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA: 
SECTION 1.     AMENDATORY     25 O.S. 2021, Section 311, as 
amended by Section 1, Chapter 60, O.S.L. 2024 (25 O.S. Supp. 2024, 
Section 311), is amended to read as follows: 
Section 311. A.  Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, 
all regularly scheduled, continued or reconvened, special or 
emergency meetings of public bodies shall be preceded by public 
notice as follows: 
1.  All public bodies shall give notice in writing by De cember 
15 of each calendar yea r of the schedule showing the date, time and 
place of the regularly scheduled meetings of such public bodies for 
the following calendar year;   
 
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2.  All state public bodies including, but not limited to, 
public trusts and other bodies with the state as benefi ciary, shall 
give such notice to the Secretary of State; 
3.  All county public bodies including, but not limited to, 
public trusts and any other bodies with the county as beneficiary, 
shall give such notice to the county clerk of the county wherein 
they are principally located; 
4.  All municipal public bodies including, but not limited to, 
public trusts and any other bodies with the municipality as 
beneficiary, shall give such notice to the municipal clerk of the 
municipality wherein they are principally lo cated; 
5.  All multicounty, regional, areawide or district public 
bodies including, but not limited to, district boards of education, 
shall give such notice to the county clerk of the county wherein 
they are principally locate d, or if no office exists, to the county 
clerk of the county or counties served by such public body; 
6.  All governing boards of state institutions of higher 
education, and committees and subcommittees thereof, shall give such 
notice to the Secretary of State.  All other public bodies covered 
by the provisions of the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act which exist under 
the auspices of a state institution of higher education, but a 
majority of whose members are not members of the institution 's 
governing board, shall give such notice to the county clerk of the 
county wherein the institution is principally located;   
 
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7.  The Secretary of State and each county clerk or municipal 
clerk shall keep a record of all notices received in a register open 
to the public for inspection during regular office hours , and, in 
addition, shall make known upon any request of any person the 
contents of the register; 
8.  If any change is to be made of the date, time or place of 
regularly scheduled meetings of public bodies, then notice in 
writing shall be given to the Secr etary of State or county clerk or 
municipal clerk, as required herein, not less than ten (10) days 
prior to the implementation of any such change; 
9. a. In addition to the advance public notice in writing 
required to be filed for regularly scheduled meetin gs, 
described in paragraph 1 of this subsection, all 
public bodies shall, at least twenty -four (24) hours 
prior to such regularly scheduled meetings, display 
public notice of the meeting by at least one of the 
following methods: 
(1) by posting information that includes date, time, 
place and agenda for the meeting in prominent 
public view at the principal office of the public 
body or at the location of the meeting if no 
office exists, or 
(2) by posting on the public body 's Internet website 
the date, time, place and agenda for the meeting   
 
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in accordance with Section 3106.2 of Title 74 of 
the Oklahoma Statutes.  Additionally, the public 
body shall offer and consistently maintain an 
email distribution system for distribution of 
such notice of a public meeting req uired by this 
subsection, and any person may request to be 
included without charge, and their request shall 
be accepted.  The emailed notice of a public 
meeting required by this subsection shall include 
in the body of the email or as an attachment to 
the email the date, time, place and agenda for 
the meeting and it shall be sent no less than 
twenty-four (24) hours prior to the meeting.  
Additionally, the public body shall make the 
notice of a public meeting required by this 
subsection available to the publi c in the 
principal office of the public body or at the 
location of the meeting during normal business 
hours at least twenty –four (24) hours prior to 
the meeting.  Public bodies may require persons 
participating in the email distribution system to 
annually confirm the request to be included in 
the email distribution system.  If the person 
does not confirm the request, public bodies may   
 
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remove that person from the email distribution 
system.  Nothing herein prohibits an individual 
from participating in an emai l distribution 
system from which that individual was previously 
removed. 
b. In addition to the notice requirements of this 
section, all state public bodies, as defined in 
paragraph 2 of this subsection, shall, at least 
twenty-four (24) hours prior to regul arly scheduled 
meetings, display public notice of the meeting by: 
(1) posting information that includes date, time, 
place and agenda for the meeting in prominent 
public view at the principal office of the public 
body or at the location of the meeting if no 
office exists, and 
(2) posting on the public body 's Internet website the 
date, time, place and agenda for the meeting in 
accordance with Section 3106.2 of Title 74 of the 
Oklahoma Statutes; 
10.  The twenty-four (24) hours required in paragraph 9 of this 
subsection shall exclude Saturdays, Sundays and holidays legally 
declared by the State of Oklahoma.  The posting or distribution of a 
notice of a public meeting as described in paragraph 9 of this 
subsection shall not preclude a public body from considering at its   
 
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regularly scheduled meeting any new business.  "New business", as 
used herein, shall mean any matter not known about or which could 
not have been reasonably foreseen prior to the time of the posting; 
11.  In the event any meeting is to be continued or reconvened, 
public notice of such action including date, time and place of the 
continued meeting, shall be given by announcement at the original 
meeting.  Only matters appearing on the agenda of the meeting which 
is continued may be discussed at the co ntinued or reconvened 
meeting; 
12.  Special meetings of public bodies shall not be held without 
public notice being given at least forty -eight (48) hours prior to 
the meetings.  Such public notice of date, time and place shall be 
given in writing, in perso n or by telephonic means to the Secretary 
of State or to the county clerk or to the municipal clerk by public 
bodies in the manner set forth in paragraphs 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 of 
this subsection.  The public body also shall cause written notice of 
the date, time and place of the meeting to be mailed or delivered to 
each person, newspaper, wire service, radio station and television 
station that has filed a written request for notice of meetings of 
the public body with the clerk or secretary of the public body or 
with some other person designated by the public body.  Such written 
notice shall be mailed or delivered at least forty -eight (48) hours 
prior to the special meeting.  The public body may charge a fee of 
up to Eighteen Dollars ($18.00) per year to persons or entities   
 
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filing a written request for notice of meetings, and may require 
such persons or entities to renew the request for notice annually.  
In addition, all public bodies shall, at least twenty -four (24) 
hours prior to such special meetings, display p ublic notice of the 
meeting, setting forth thereon the date, time, place and agenda for 
the meeting.  Only matters appearing on the posted agenda may be 
considered at the special meeting.  Such public notice shall be 
posted in prominent public view at the principal office of the 
public body or at the location of the meeting if no office exists.  
Twenty-four (24) hours prior public posting shall exclude Saturdays, 
Sundays and holidays legally declared by the State of Oklahoma.  In 
lieu of the public posting requirements of this paragraph, a public 
body may elect to follow the requirements found in division (2) of 
subparagraph a of paragraph 9 of this subsection, provided that 
forty-eight-hour notice is required for special meetin gs and that 
the forty-eight-hour requirement shall exclude Saturdays, Sundays 
and holidays legally declared by the State of Oklahoma; 
13.  In the event of an emergency, an emergency meeting of a 
public body may be held without the public notice heretofore 
required.  Should an emergency meeting of a public body be 
necessary, the person calling such a meeting shall give as much 
advance public notice as is reasonable and possible under the 
circumstances existing, in person or by telephonic or electronic 
means; and   
 
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14.  A public body that g ives public notice of a meeting for 
which there will be a videoconference option in accordance with 
Section 307.1 of this title shall not modify the method of meeting 
described in the notice prior to the meeting and shall conduct the 
meeting according to t he methods described in the notice.  If a code 
or password is required to access the videoconference meeting, the 
code or password shall be included in the public notice. 
B.  1.  All agendas required pursuant to the provisions of this 
section shall identif y all items of business to be transacted by a 
public body at a meeting including, but not limited to, any proposed 
executive session for the purpose of engaging in deliberations or 
rendering a final or intermediate decision in an individual 
proceeding prescribed by the Administrative Procedures Act. 
2.  If a public body proposes to conduct an executive session, 
the agenda shall: 
a. contain sufficient information for the public to 
ascertain that an executive session will be prop osed, 
b. identify the items of business and purposes of the 
executive session, and 
c. state specifically the provision of Section 307 of 
this title authorizing the executive session. 
SECTION 2.  This act shall become effective November 1, 2025. 
COMMITTEE REPORT BY: COMM ITTEE ON TECHNOLOGY AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS 
April 17, 2025 - DO PASS AS AMENDED