APPROPRIATIONS
SB 1202 (Passed out of Senate), SB 1203 (Passed out of Senate), SB 1357 (Passed out of Senate), HB 2257 (Passed out of House), HB 2296 (Passed out of House), Shell Higher Education appropriation bills
SB 1352 (Passed out of Senate), SB 1353 (Passed out of Senate), HB 2276 (Passed out of House), HB 2277 (Passed out of House) Shell General Appropriation bills
ENDOWED CHAIRS
HB 3396 (Cargill) Program from $100 million to $125 million. The bill also lengthens the maximum maturity of the bonds from 10 years to 25 years (Passed out of House)
OKLAHOMA 'S PROMISE
SB 1931 (Paddack) Provides eligibility for students with parents who are certified teachers with a minimum of six years experience employed with a public school in this state. The students are not eligible if at the time they apply for participation in the Program, their parent's income exceeds $100,000.00 per year. The parent who is a certified teacher must continue to teach in a public school in this State for the duration of the award to the student ((Passed out of Senate)
SB 1988 (Laughlin) Authorizes benefit awards for a student's first semester or other academic unit of postsecondary enrollment taken more than 3 years after the student graduates from high school or completes an educational program equivalent to high school graduation as authorized in law if the student is a member of the US Armed Forces, the Reserve Corps of the US Armed Forces, or the Oklahoma National Guard, and is ordered to active duty or active duty for special work or training and due to the duty commitment the student is unable to enroll prior to the end of the three-year period. The three-year period shall be extended by the length of the term of duty (Passed out of Senate)
SB 2164 (Bass) Creates “OHLAP Enhancement Awards”. The awards are to cover the costs of books and fees of Oklahoma 's Promise students. The awards to cover book costs are capped at $1,000 per student per academic year. The awards are to be made from the OHLAP Trust Fund (Passed out of Senate)
HB 2446 (Braddock) Exempts from the financial need eligibility requirements children who were adopted while in the permanent custody of the Department of Human Services, in the court-ordered custody of a licensed private nonprofit child-placing agency, or federally recognized Indian tribe, as defined by the federal Indian Child Welfare Act (referred to House Education sent to Higher Ed sub: returned to full committee; to be heard 2/20 @ 9 am in Room 432A)
HB 3102 (Banz) Prohibits awards for remedial non credit courses (referred to House Education sent to Higher Ed sub; to be heard 2/18 @ 9 am in Room 512A)
ACADEMIC SCHOLARS
HB 3120 (Jones) Increases the non-resident student limitation from 25% t0 30% (Passed out of House)
SCHOLARSHIPS
SB1687 (Paddack) Creates Oklahoma Healthcare Workers and Educators Assistance Program. The program seeks to provide scholarships for those seeking advanced degrees in nursing in order to become faculty, those seeking degrees or certification in nursing or other allied health cares fields in order to join the workforce and grant monies to improve nursing and allied health learning environments. (Passed out of Senate)
TUITION
HB 2485 (Proctor) States Legislative intent that the State Regents adopt a state residency policy that allows the dependents of employees of the federal government who are transferred out-of-state but have retained Oklahoma residency to be charged resident tuition and have the opportunity to participate in all state scholarship and financial aid programs as residents. (Passed out of House)
HB 3397 (Cargill) Amends Guaranteed tuition statutes by removing the two year schools, exempting the guaranteed rate from the legislative limit on tuition and mandatory fees and clarifies the provisions for students forced to withdraw due to military service. (Passed out of House)
TUITION WAIVERS
HB 2658 (Lamons) Creates a resident tuition waiver for students who were recipient The Congressional Medal of Honor, Silver Star, Bronze Star, or Purple Heart as a result of serving in any branch of the US Armed Forces of the United States in Operation Global War on Terror, a Veteran classified as a Prisoner of War during Operation Global War on Terror; or another military service. (Passed out of House)
LOTTERY
SB 1795 (M. Johnson) Provides for monthly lottery allocations to Higher Education (Passed out of Senate)
TEXTBOOKS
SB 1738 (Shulz) Relates to cost of textbooks. Requires certain boards of regents to include certain procedures in institutional materials (Passed out of Senate)
ADMINISTRATION
SB 1168 (Myers) Allows Institutions to hire a former Governing Board members six months after the expiration of their term or resignation from the Board. Existing law requires a one-year waiting period. (Passed out of Senate)
SB 1585 (Jolley) Establishes audit due date at October 31 of each year (Passed out of Senate)
HB 2242 Ingmire Allows State Regents to enter into contracts and agreements for the payment of food, lodging, and other authorized expenses as may be necessary to host, conduct, sponsor, or participate in conferences, meetings, or training sessions. (Passed out of House)
HB 2243 (Ingmire) Abolishes two obsolete revolving funds (Osteopathy Education Assistance Fund and Dentistry Assistance) (Passed out of House)
HB 2244 (Ingmire) Requires audited financial statement of certain bond proceeds (Passed out of House)
FINANCE
SB 1398 ( Anderson ) Limits the transactions financed under both master lease programs to $15 million in a fiscal year. Requires Legislative approval via a concurrent resolution for a higher amount of financed transactions. (Passed out of Senate)
CAMPUS SECURITY
SB 1941 (Lamb) Amends School Safety Act. Requires written plans for protecting students, faculty, administrators and visitors from natural and man-made disasters and emergencies be reviewed and updated annually as appropriate. Authorizes the Office of Homeland Security to make available grants to improve such plans. And adds a representative of higher education to each regional advisory council for homeland security. (Passed out of Senate)
ARDMORE HIGHER ED CENTER
HB 2889 (Piatt) Transfers governance, and supervision of the Ardmore Higher Education Center to another governing board within the system (Passed out of House)
FACILITIES
SB 1505 (Rabon) Modifies construction bidding statutes to assert that prequalification to bid on a project does not constitute possession of a license that may otherwise be required by law (Passed out of Senate)
SB 1618 (Aldridge) Allows agencies who have received appropriations for debt service to pay the funds in advance of the bond issuance to cover costs of issuance, reduce the size of the issuance, etc. The bill also requires agencies to use the Department of Central Services for predesign services for project intended to be funded through OCIA. (Passed out of Senate)
SB 1850 (Coates) Modifies the criteria for use of design-build/construction management to be allowable only in cases of the need for uninterrupted phased construction. (Passed out of Senate)
SB 1851 (Jolley) Requires state agencies to pay the fee of the construction manager or consultant that provides the services in place of the current law which authorizes reimbursement to the Department of Central Services. (Passed out of Senate)
HB 3123 (Jones) Repeals statutes that establish the criteria restricting the use of Design-build construction methods. (Passed out of House)
HB 3394 (Cargill) Creates the High Performance Green Buildings Act, requiring new building construction to meet the ‘LEED Silver Standard' for energy and environmental design. The Department of Central Services is made responsible for implementation and review of compliance. (Passed out of House)
HB 3325 (Miller) Amendments to the Central Purchasing Act (Passed out of House)
MISCELLANEOUS
SB 1390 (Adelson) Exempts college savings funds from the asset determination for TANF Eligibility (Passed out of Senate)
SB 1807 (Coffee) Creates the Information technology Consolidation Task Force to studies issues of State agency data processing/information technology duplication, efficiency and costs (Passed out of Senate)
SB 2071 (Jolley) Requires the RUSO Board to create an autism training program at UCO for post-graduate and post baccalaureate behavior therapists (Passed out of Senate)
HB 2221 (Shoemake) Expands eligibility for personalized car tag indicating one as a member of a police force to include university police officers (Passed out of House)
HB 2447 (Shoemake) at Okmulgee to Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology-Okmulgee (Passed out of House)
HB 2462 (Ingmire) Changing the membership of the Quartz Mountain board of trustees to be constituted of representatives of a consortium of Western Oklahoma State College, Cameron University , Southwest Oklahoma State University , OSU and OU. (Passed out of House)
HB 2784 ( Jackson ) Creates incentives to foster the aerospace industry in the State including tuition rebates from the Aeronautics Commission. The bill also requires the State Regents create a policy whereby college juniors, seniors or graduate students pursuing degrees in physics, chemistry, mathematics, computer science, etc may receive college credit for hours worked in internships within the aerospace industry. (Passed out of House)
HB 3145 ( Derby ) Creates the Office of Information Services and provides for the appointment of the Chief Information Director. (Passed out of House)