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STATE OF OKLAHOMA
1st Session of the 60th Legislature (2025)
HOUSE BILL 2196 By: Wolfley
AS INTRODUCED
An Act relating to flexible benefit allowance;
amending 70 O.S. 2021, Sections 26 -103, 26-104, as
amended by Section 2, Chapter 245, O.S .L. 2024 (70
O.S. Supp. 2024, Section 26 -104), and 26-105, as
amended by Section 3, Chapter 245, O.S.L. 2024 (70
O.S. Supp. 2024, Section 26 -105), which relate to the
Larry Dickerson Education Flexible Benefits Allowance
Act; clarifying definition; adding definition for
dependent; providing appropriation for flexible
benefit allowance to include school district employee
dependents; modifying calculation for appropriation
amount; providing for disbursement of funds;
modifying benefit election procedure; pres cribing
additional monthly amount of flexible benefit
allowance for health care coverage for dependents;
providing an effective date ; and declaring an
emergency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. AMENDATORY 70 O.S. 2021, Section 26 -103, is
amended to read as follow s:
Section 26-103. The following words and phrases as used in
Section 26-101 et seq. of this title, unless a different meaning is
clearly required by the context, shall have the following meanings:
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1. "Benefit" means any of the benefits which may be purchased
or are required to be purchased under the cafeteria plan;
2. "Cafeteria plan" means a benefit plan established pursuant
to 26 U.S.C. Section 125;
3. "Flexible benefit all owance" means amounts credited by the
school district for each school district employee for the purchase
of benefits under the cafeteria plan;
4. "Support personnel" means full-time employees of a school
district as determined by the standard period of la bor which is
customarily understood to constitute full -time employment for the
type of services performed by the employees who are employed a
minimum of six (6) hours per day for a minimum of one hundred
seventy-two (172) days or a minimum of six (6) hours per day for a
minimum of one thousand thirty -two (1,032) hours per year and w ho
provide services not performed by certified personnel, which is
necessary for the efficient and satisfactory functioning of a school
district, and shall include cooks, janitor s, maintenance personnel,
bus drivers, noncertified or nonregistered nurses, noncertified
librarians, and clerical employees of a school district but shall
not include adult education instructors or adult coordinators
employed by technology center school d istricts;
5. "Plan year" means the twelve-month period established by the
school district for the cafeteria plan;
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6. "School district" means the public school districts and
technology center school districts of this state;
7. "School district employee " means certified or support
personnel as defined in Section 26 -101 et seq. of this title.
Employees of an educational service provider contracted with a
school district pursuant to subsection G of Section 5 -117 of this
title who perform functions that woul d otherwise be performed by a
school district employee shall be considered emp loyees of a school
district for purposes of the Larry Dickerson Education Flexible
Benefits Allowance Act unless otherwise provided for in the contract
between the educational se rvice provider and the contracting school
district;
8. "Certified personnel" means a certified person employed on a
full-time basis to serve as a teacher, principal, supervisor,
administrator, counselor, librarian, or certified or registered
nurse, but shall not mean a superintendent of a school district; and
9. "Self-insured" means a health care program in which the
school district funds the benefit plans from its own resources
without purchasing insurance and which may be administered by the
school district or by an outside administrator under contract with
the school district for administrative services. The State Board of
Education shall prepare by May 1st of each year a list of each
school district in the state that is self -insured and the number of
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support personnel and the number of certified personnel that are
participating in each self-insured school district plan ; and
10. "Dependent" means a spouse, an unmarried child under
eighteen (18) years of age, an unmarried child who is under twenty -
six (26) years of age and who is financially dependent upon the
parent, and an unmarried child of any age who is medically certified
as disabled and dependent upon the parent. A person shall only be
considered a dependent if he or she does not have subsidized
coverage available from another source .
SECTION 2. AMENDATORY 70 O.S. 2021, Section 26 -104, as
amended by Section 2, Chapter 245, O.S.L. 2024 (70 O.S. Supp. 2024,
Section 26-104), is amended to read as follows:
Section 26-104. A. Each fiscal year, the Legislature shall
appropriate adequate funding to the State Board of Education and the
State Board of Career and Technology Education for the purpose of
providing a flexible benefit allowance to school district employees
and their dependents pursuant to this act. Unless the Legislature
appropriates adequate funding specifically for the purpose of
providing a flexible benefit allowance to school district employees
and their dependents , the Oklahoma State Board of Education shall
allocate from the funds appropriated to the Oklahoma State Board of
Education for the support of public school activities an amount to
fully fund the flexible benefit allowance, which shall occur first
prior to allocating the funds for any other purpose. The amount
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appropriated for funding and disbursed to school districts shall be
calculated by multiplying the number of eligible school district
employees employed by school districts which are participating in
the health insurance plan offered by the Oklahoma Employees
Insurance and Benefits Board or are self -insured as counted in
February of each year and their dependents by the amount of the
flexible benefit allowance credited to the eligible school employees
as established in pursuant to Section 26-105 of this title. Each
Board shall disburse the total amount appropriated for funding the
flexible benefit allowance to school districts during the fiscal
year. From the total amount appropriated, each Board shall disburse
the appropriate amounts, based on the n umber of eligible school
district employees employed by that school district and their
respective dependents , to each school district.
B. Every school district shall establish or make available to
school district employees a cafeteria plan pursuant to 26 U.S.C.
Section 125 of the United States Code. The plan shall offer, as a
benefit, major medical health care plan coverage.
C. The flexible benefit allowance amount established pursuant
to Section 26-105 of this title shall be credited to each eligible
school district employee. School district employees shall elect
whether to use the flexible benefit allowance to pay for coverage
for themselves and their dependents in the health insurance plan
offered by the Oklahoma Employees Insurance and Benefits Board or
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the self-insured plan offered by the school district and may receive
the excess flexible benefit allowance as taxable compensation as
provided in Section 26 -105 of this title.
D. The administrator of the cafeteria plan shall maintain a
separate account for each participating school district employee.
School districts shall forward the school district employee flexible
benefit allowance amounts to the administrator for elected purchases
of cafeteria plan benefits.
E. Expenses included in an employee 's salary adjustment
agreement pursuant to the cafeteria plan shall be limited t o
expenses for:
1. Premiums for any health insurance, health maintenance
organization, life insurance, long term disability insurance, dental
insurance or high deductible health benefit plan offered to
employees and their dependents; and
2. All other eligible benefit programs offered under 26 U.S.C.
Section 125 of the United States Code.
F. The flexible benefit allowance amount established in Section
26-105 of this title shall not be included as income in computation
of state retirement contributions and benefits or as part of the
Minimum Salary Schedule for teachers established in Section 18-
114.12 18-114.15 of this title. School districts shall not consider
the flexible benefit allowance amount as income for eligible support
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employees and thereby shall not reduce the salary of an eligible
support employee.
SECTION 3. AMENDATORY 70 O.S. 2021, Section 26 -105, as
amended by Section 3, Chapter 245, O.S.L. 2024 (70 O.S. Supp. 2024,
Section 26-105), is amended to read as follows:
Section 26-105. A. The flexible benefit allowance shall be
used by a school district employee who is participating in the
cafeteria plan to purchase major medical health care plan coverage
offered by the school district through a cafeteria plan. Any excess
flexible benefit allowance over the cost of the major medical
coverage purchased by the employee who is participating in the
cafeteria plan may be used to purchase any of the ad ditional
benefits offered by the school district or may be taken as taxable
compensation as provided in subsection C of this section. Certified
personnel who choose not to participate in the school -district-
sponsored cafeteria plan shall receive Sixty -nine Dollars and
seventy-one cents ($69.71) per month as taxable compensation in lieu
of the flexible benefit allowance amount provided in subsection B of
this section. Support personnel who choose not to participate in
the school-district-sponsored cafeteria plan shall receive One
Hundred Eighty-nine Dollars and sixty -nine cents ($189.69) per month
as taxable compensation in lieu of the flexible benefit allowance
amount provided in subsection B of this section.
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B. Each eligible school district employee shal l be credited
annually with a specified amount as a flexible benefit allowance
which shall be available for the purchase of benefits. Each
eligible school district employee, who has dependents and elects to
enroll the dependents in the cafeteria plan offe red by the school
district, shall be credited Eight y-three Dollars and thirty -three
cents ($83.33) per month as an additional flexible benefit allowance
for the purchase of major medical health care coverage through the
cafeteria plan for his or her depend ents. The amount of the
flexible benefit allowance credited to each eligible school district
employee shall be communicated to the employee prior to the
enrollment period for each plan year.
1. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2002, the flexible
benefit allowance amount for certified personnel shall be no less
than Sixty-nine Dollars and seventy-one cents ($69.71) per month.
For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2002, the flexible benefit
allowance amount for support personnel shall be no less than One
Hundred Eighty-nine Dollars and sixty -nine cents ($189.69) per
month.
2. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2004, the flexible
benefit allowance amount for certified personnel shall be no less
than fifty-eight percent (58%) of the premium amount for the
HealthChoice (Hi) option plan for an individual offered by the
Oklahoma Employees Insurance and Benefits Board. For the fiscal
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year ending June 30, 2003, and each fiscal year thereafter, the
flexible benefit allowance amount for support personnel shall be no
less than one hundred percent (100%) of the premium amount for the
HealthChoice (Hi) option plan for an individual offered by the
Oklahoma Employees Insurance and Benefits Board.
3. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2005, and each fiscal
year thereafter, the flexible benefit allowance amount for certified
personnel shall be n o less than one hundred percent (100%) of the
premium amount for the HealthChoice (Hi) option plan for an
individual offered by the Oklahoma Employees Insurance and Benefits
Board.
C. If a school district employee who is participating in the
cafeteria plan elects benefits whose sum total is less than the
flexible benefit allowance, the employee shall receive any excess
flexible benefit allowance as taxable compensation. Such tax able
compensation shall be paid in substantially equal amounts each pay
period over the plan year. Except as otherwise provided for in
subsection D of this section, on termination during a plan year, a
participating school district employee shall have no right to
receive any taxable cash compensation allocated to the portion of
the plan year after the termination of the employee.
D. In cases where the employee of a school district fulfills
the terms of their contract and terminates employment for the
subsequent year, the employee shall be entitled to the flexible
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benefit allowance for the remainder of the current benefit term.
For purposes of this subsection, "benefit term" shall mean the
twelve-month period after the initiation of benefits for the
position held by the employee.
E. Each school district employee shall make an annual election
of benefits under the plan during an enrollment period to be held
prior to the beginning of each plan year. The enrollment period
dates will be determined annually an d will be announced by the
school district, providing the enrollment period sh all end no later
than thirty (30) days before the beginning of the plan year. Each
school district employee shall make an irrevocable advance election
for the plan year or the r emainder of the plan year pursuant to
procedures the school district shall prescribe.
F. The school district shall prescribe the forms that school
district employees shall be required to use in making their
elections, and may prescribe deadlines and other procedures for
filing the elections.
G. School district employees hired afte r the closing of the
enrollment period shall be allowed to make an election as provided
in this act.
H. A district board of education shall have the option of
providing a flexible benefit allowance to the superintendent of the
school district in an amount not more than the amount of the
flexible benefit allowance established for certified personnel in
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subsection B of this section. Funding for the flexible benefit
allowance for a superintendent shall be provided through local
revenue.
SECTION 4. This act shall become effective July 1, 2025.
SECTION 5. It being immediately necessary for the preservation
of the public peace, health or safety, an eme rgency is hereby
declared to exist, by reason whereof this act shall take effect and
be in full force from and after its passage and approval.
60-1-11061 AQH 12/18/24