HB 1965: Children; Children's Code; term; procedure if jury trial is waived; individualized service plan; termination of parental rights; district attorney; exceptions; informal adjustments; Office of Juvenile Affairs; effective date. - Oklahoma

Floor (House) → Floor (Senate) · 6 edits

MODERATE

This bill updates the Oklahoma Children's Code definitions to clarify what constitutes abandonment, abuse, and sexual exploitation, while adding protections for parental discipline and defining new terms for child advocacy centers and assessments. The changes aim to provide clearer legal standards for child welfare cases and protect parents from criminal charges for using ordinary force as discipline.

Scope change

The bill expands the scope of child welfare definitions and adds new categories for child advocacy center classification based on district population size.

DEFINITION

Abandonment definition now includes failure to respond to notice of deprived proceedings as a specific circumstance.

New definition clarifies that parents cannot be prohibited from using ordinary force as discipline, explicitly mentioning spanking, switching, or paddling.

Sexual exploitation definition expanded to include photographing, filming, or depicting children in lewd acts by persons responsible for their welfare.

New definition for 'Assessment' clarifies it applies to non-emergency child abuse referrals that do not allege immediate safety threats.

Child advocacy centers are now classified into three categories (nonurban, midlevel nonurban, and urban) based on district child population size.

New term 'Child with a disability' added to align with federal disability definitions.

House Committee Substitute → HB1965 (4-30-25) (BULLARD) FS FA1.PDF · 6 edits

MODERATE

This bill amends the Oklahoma Children's Code to update legal definitions related to child welfare, including clarifying what constitutes abandonment, abuse, and sexual exploitation. It also modifies how child advocacy centers are classified based on district population and includes language protecting state educational autonomy from federal mandates.

Scope change

The bill applies to the Oklahoma Children's Code and Juvenile Code, affecting how child welfare cases are defined and processed across the state.

DEFINITION

Updated definition of 'Abandonment' to include failure to maintain a significant parental relationship through visitation or communication, and failure to respond to notice of deprived proceedings.

Modified definition of 'Abuse' to explicitly state that ordinary force as a means of discipline (including spanking, switching, or paddling) is not prohibited under the Oklahoma Children's Code.

Added new definition for 'Sexual exploitation' to include allowing, permitting, encouraging, or forcing a child to engage in prostitution or lewd, obscene, or pornographic acts by a person responsible for the child's welfare.

Reorganized and clarified definitions for 'Adjudication', 'Adjudicatory hearing', 'Age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate', 'Assessment', 'Behavioral health', 'Child', 'Child advocacy center', 'Child with a disability', 'Child-placing agency', and 'Children's emergency resource center'.

Updated 'Child advocacy center' classification to distinguish between nonurban centers (less than 60,000 child population) and midlevel nonurban centers (60,000 or more), excluding Oklahoma and Tulsa Counties from midlevel classification.

REQUIREMENT

Added provision stating that age-related activities with implications for academic curriculum cannot be used to authorize federal government mandates over state or local educational agencies.

Proposed Policy Committee Substitute 1 → House Committee Substitute · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was amended to remove the 'Proposed Policy Committee Substitute' designation and update the page reference numbers. The most significant substantive change is the expansion of the definition of 'child advocacy center' to include centers completing their sixth year of reaccreditation, and the addition of a classification system for these centers based on district child population sizes.

Scope change

The bill's scope remains focused on children's code definitions, but the applicability of 'child advocacy center' definitions has been expanded to include centers in their sixth year of reaccreditation.

DEFINITION

The definition of 'child advocacy center' was expanded to include centers that are completing their sixth year of reaccreditation, in addition to those accredited by the National Children's Alliance.

A new classification system was added for child advocacy centers, categorizing them as nonurban centers or midlevel nonurban centers based on the child population of the district attorney's district.

TECHNICAL

The bill header was changed from 'Proposed Policy Committee Substitute' to 'Committee Substitute' and page reference numbers were updated from 12418 to 13273.

Enrolled (final version) → Proposed Policy Committee Substitute 1 · 5 edits

MODERATE

The bill was completely rewritten and reformatted from its enrolled version to a committee substitute version. The substantive policy content remains largely the same, but the formatting, page numbering, and some statutory references were updated. The committee version includes proper amendment headers and maintains the same definitions and requirements for the Oklahoma Children's Code.

Scope change

The bill's scope remains unchanged as it still relates to children's code amendments, but the document structure was converted from an enrolled bill format to a committee substitute format with proper amendment documentation.

TECHNICAL

The entire bill text was reformatted from enrolled bill format to a committee substitute format with proper amendment headers, page numbers, and reading clerk information.

Statutory references were updated to reflect current amendments, including specific chapter and section numbers from O.S.L. 2023 and O.S. Supp. 2024.

Page numbers and formatting markers were replaced with proper committee substitute headers and amendment submission information.

DEFINITION

The definition of 'Abuse' was slightly modified to change 'health, safety, or welfare' to 'health, safety, or welfare' formatting and removed a comma after 'health' in the introductory clause.

The definition of 'Sexual exploitation' was reformatted with consistent indentation and line breaks while maintaining the same substantive meaning.

Engrossed → Enrolled (final version) · 3 edits · May 21, 2025

MINOR

The bill was finalized and enrolled for passage, with minor formatting corrections to the sponsor list and title. The substantive policy content of the Oklahoma Children's Code amendments remains unchanged from the engrossed version.

TECHNICAL

Corrected the Senate sponsors' names from 'Bullard of the Senate' to 'Bullard and Pederson of the Senate' in the enrolled version.

Updated the bill title to reflect 'ENROLLED HOUSE' instead of 'ENGROSSED HOUSE', indicating the final version ready for signature.

Minor formatting cleanup in the definitions section, including correcting 'midlevel mid-level nonurban centers' to 'midlevel nonurban centers' and adjusting punctuation in the 'Abuse' definition.

Amended And Engrossed → Engrossed · 6 edits · May 7, 2025

MODERATE

This amendment clarifies and expands definitions within the Oklahoma Children's Code, particularly around abandonment, abuse, and assessment procedures. The changes refine how parental abandonment is defined to include failure to respond to deprived proceedings, and clarify that ordinary parental discipline (like spanking) does not constitute abuse. Additionally, new definitions are added for terms like 'assessment' and 'child advocacy center' to improve consistency in how child welfare cases are handled.

Scope change

The bill's scope remains focused on child welfare procedures, but the amendment clarifies applicability by adding specific definitions and refining existing ones to reduce ambiguity in legal proceedings.

DEFINITION

Definition of 'Abandonment' was modified to include failure to respond to notice of deprived proceedings as a form of abandonment.

Definition of 'Abuse' was modified to clarify that ordinary parental discipline including spanking, switching, or paddling does not constitute abuse.

New definition added for 'Assessment' to specify it is conducted only when no serious and immediate safety threat is alleged.

New definition added for 'Child advocacy center' to clarify accreditation requirements and classification based on district child population.

New definition added for 'Children's emergency resource center' to describe services provided by these community-based programs.

Definition of 'Age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate' was modified to include specific language about federal government authority over educational content.

Introduced → Amended And Engrossed · 4 edits · May 7, 2025

MODERATE

The bill was amended to add a Senate coauthor and significantly update the bill's title and scope to include new provisions about diversion services, recidivism reporting, and guardian appointments. The substantive text of the definitions section remains largely unchanged, though some formatting and line breaks were adjusted.

Scope change

The bill's scope was expanded to include diversion services, recidivism rate reporting, and guardian appointment preferences in addition to the original focus on children's code definitions and termination of parental rights procedures.

SCOPE

Added Senate coauthor Pederson to the bill's authorship.

Updated the bill title to include new provisions about diversion services, recidivism rate publication, and guardian appointments that were not in the original version.

DEFINITION

Minor formatting changes to the definitions section, including renumbering and slight rewording of some terms like 'Abandonment' and 'Abuse', though the core legal meaning appears unchanged.

TECHNICAL

Changed the bill status from 'AS INTRODUCED' to 'ENGROSSED SENATE AMENDMENT' reflecting its legislative progress.

Children; Children's Code; term; procedure if jury trial is waived; individualized service plan; termination of parental rights; district attorney; exceptions; informal adjustments; Office of Juvenile Affairs; effective date.

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