SB 254 Oklahoma Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Paid family and medical leave; authorizing the Department of Labor to contract with a qualified third-party actuary for certain purpose. Effective date.

SB 254 requires Oklahoma's Department of Labor to hire a qualified actuary by January 2027 to study the design and costs of a potential state-run paid family and medical leave program. The study must analyze key program details like coverage for all workers (including self-employed), premium costs shared between workers and employers, wage replacement rates for low-income workers, benefit limits, and administrative expenses. It specifically mandates the actuary to compare different program models using data from other states and federal programs. The resulting public report will inform future decisions about implementing such a program, but does not create the leave benefits itself.

Issues: ✓ Labor & Employment

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 3, 2025 Last action Mar 6, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced → Floor (Senate) · 6 edits

MODERATE

The bill was amended to expand coverage to self-employed workers and public subdivision employees, clarify premium contribution limits based on federal Social Security Administration standards, and add specific administrative cost categories. These changes broaden who can participate in the paid family and medical leave program and provide clearer financial guidelines for the actuarial study.

Scope change

Expanded from covering only public, private, and nonprofit sector employees to also include self-employed workers (at their option) and employees of public subdivisions within the state.

ELIGIBILITY

Added coverage for self-employed workers who opt into the program and employees of public subdivisions.

FISCAL

Clarified that premium contributions are limited to wages not exceeding the federal Social Security Administration's contribution and benefit base limit.

REQUIREMENT

Added specific administrative cost categories including outreach, education, enforcement, and data collection to the actuarial study requirements.

Added requirement for the actuary to model and compare at least two different program models based on policy parameters.

Added specific reserve calculation requirements requiring reserves to be approximately 135% of benefits paid plus 100% of administration costs.

DEFINITION

Added definition for 'qualified third-party actuary' requiring they not be employed by the state and meet American Academy of Actuaries standards.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 4, 2025

Upper · Passed

Reported Do Pass as amended Economic Development, Workforce and Tourism committee; CR filed

upper

Feb 3, 2025

Introduced

First Reading

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors