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STATE OF OKLAHOMA
1st Session of the 60th Legislature (2025)
SENATE BILL 639 By: Bergstrom
AS INTRODUCED
An Act relating to the Administrative Procedures Act;
requiring a court or an administrative hearing
officer to provide de novo interp retation of statute,
rule, or other document; establishing guidelines for
court interpretation of statute, rule, or other
document in certain actions; 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 sectio n of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 318.1 of Title 75, unless there
is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
In the interpretation of a st ate statute, administrative rule,
or other subregulatory document, a court of this state or an officer
hearing an administrative action shall not defer to the
interpretation of a state agency and shall interpret the meaning and
effect de novo. In an actio n brought by or against a state agency,
after applying all customary tools of interpretation, the court or
hearing officer shall exercise any remaining doubt in favor of a
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reasonable interpretation which limits agency power and maximizes
individual liberty.
SECTION 2. This act shall become effective November 1, 2025.
60-1-365 TEK 1/14/2025 1:25:49 PM