SB 842 Oklahoma Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Schools; requiring school district and charter school governing bodies to request a national criminal history record check for volunteers. Effective date. Emergency.

SB 842 requires all Oklahoma public school districts, charter schools, and private schools to obtain a national criminal history record check for volunteers before they begin working at school sites. Starting July 1, 2025, school boards must arrange for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) to conduct these checks, with volunteers paying up to $50 (or the actual cost) for the service. Schools may choose to reimburse volunteers for this fee and must post on their websites whether a check is required and if reimbursement is offered. The law exempts volunteers who already meet criteria under existing state law (Section 5-142 of Title 70).

Issues: ✓ Education

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 3, 2025 Last action Feb 27, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

SB842 (2-27-25) (MURDOCK) FS FA1.PDF → Floor (Senate) · 4 edits

MODERATE

This bill requires school districts and charter schools in Oklahoma to request national criminal history record checks for volunteers starting in the 2025-2026 school year. The version submitted to the Senate floor includes formatting updates and clarifies that private school boards are included in the definition of 'board of education' for this purpose, while charter school governing bodies are now explicitly named alongside school districts. The substantive policy requirements remain consistent with the previous version.

Scope change

The bill's scope was clarified to explicitly include charter school governing bodies alongside school district boards of education, and private school boards are included in the definition of 'board of education' for this specific section.

DEFINITION

Added explicit reference to charter school governing bodies in the definition of who must request criminal history checks.

Clarified that 'board of education' includes private school boards of education for the purposes of this section.

TECHNICAL

Added Senate floor version header and formatting updates including date and committee report information.

Reorganized section numbering and formatting to match Senate floor version standards.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 25, 2025

Upper · Passed

Reported Do Pass Education committee; CR filed

upper

Feb 3, 2025

Introduced

First Reading

upper

2 primary · 0 co-sponsors