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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES - FLOOR VERSION
STATE OF OKLAHOMA
1st Session of the 60th Legislature (2025)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
HOUSE BILL NO. 1709 By: Bennett, Deck, and
Schreiber of the House
and
Reinhardt of the Senate
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
An Act relating to debtors and creditors; defining
terms; prohibiting creditors and debt collectors from
reporting certain debt; prohibiting consumer
reporting agencies from including certain debt on
consumer reports; providing for codification; and
providing an effective date.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 181 of Title 24, unless there is
created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. As used in this section:
1. "Consumer" means an individual who is a resident of this
state;
2. "Consumer report" has the meaning ascribed to it in 15
U.S.C., Section 1681a(d);
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3. "Consumer reporting agency" means any consumer reporting
agency, credit bureau, or similar agency which furnishes a credit
report or rating as well as any agency within the meaning ascribed
to it in 15 U.S.C., Section 1681a(f);
4. "Creditor" means one in whose favor an obligation exists, by
reason of which he or she is, or may become, entitled to the payment
of money;
5. "Debt collector" means any person who regularly collects, or
attempts to collect, consumer debts for another person or
institution or uses some name other than its own when collecting its
own medical debts;
6. "Medical debt" means a debt owed by a consumer to a person
whose primary business is providing medical services, products, or
devices, or to that person's agent or assignee, for the provision of
medical services, products, or devices. Medical debt includes, but
is not limited to, debt owed to an Oklahoma medical facility;
7 "Lifesaving and emergency care services" means the necessary
medical or surgical care servi ces rendered to treat a potentially
life-threatening condition or symptom; and
8. "Oklahoma medical facility" includes, but is not limited to,
any hospital or related institution licensed pursuant to Section 1 -
702 of Title 63 of the Oklahoma Statutes, nur sing facilities
licensed pursuant to Section 1 -1903 of Title 63 of the Oklahoma
Statutes, and medical offices operated by or employing physicians,
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physical therapists, physician assistants, pharmacists, nurses, and
home health care providers within this st ate.
B. Creditors and debt collectors are prohibited from reporting
to any consumer reporting agency medical debt obtained from
lifesaving and emergency care services rendered at an Oklahoma
medical facility.
C. Consumer reporting agencies are prohibited from including
consumer debt obtained from lifesaving and emergency care services
rendered at an Oklahoma medical facility on a consumer report.
SECTION 2. This act shall become effective November 1, 2025.
COMMITTEE REPORT BY: COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY AND PUBLIC SAFETY
OVERSIGHT, dated 03/06/2025 - DO PASS, As Amended and Coauthored.