SB 1262: Education; providing certain tuition waivers for individuals who are victims of certain offenses. Effective date. Emergency. - Oklahoma

SB1262 (3-24-26) (DEEVERS) FA2.PDF → Floor (Senate) · 5 edits

MODERATE

This bill establishes a tuition waiver program for victims of human trafficking under 18 who are Oklahoma residents. It creates a new section in the Oklahoma Statutes to fund this waiver using the Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Trust Fund, ensuring the money is used strictly for student tuition and not administrative costs. The bill also amends existing trust fund laws to explicitly include these tuition waivers as an allowable expense.

Scope change

The bill expands the scope by creating a new statutory mechanism for funding tuition waivers specifically for human trafficking victims, whereas the original draft only proposed eligibility criteria without the detailed funding and codification structure.

ELIGIBILITY

Defines eligibility for a tuition waiver for individuals under 18 who were victims of human trafficking for commercial sex or labor and were residents of Oklahoma at the time of the offense.

FISCAL

Establishes that tuition waivers will be funded by the Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Trust Fund, covering undergraduate resident tuition at state institutions or technology center tuition.

REQUIREMENT

Limits the tuition waiver benefit to a maximum of five years and requires the State Regents and State Board of Career and Technology Education to create rules for applications and eligibility verification.

TECHNICAL

Adds a new section to the Oklahoma Statutes (Title 70, Section 3218.7-2) to codify the new law and amends the Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Trust Fund section to explicitly allow funds to be used for these tuition waivers.

TIMELINE

Sets the effective date of the act to July 1, 2026, and declares an emergency to allow immediate effect upon passage.

Engrossed → Committee Substitute · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was revised from an 'Engrossed' version to a 'Committee Substitute' version, primarily to correct formatting errors and standardize the bill's title and header information. The substantive policy content regarding tuition waivers for trafficking victims and the Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Trust Fund remains unchanged.

Scope change

The scope of the bill remains the same; no new eligibility criteria, funding amounts, or effective dates were added or removed.

TECHNICAL

The bill title was updated to remove the word 'certain' from the description of tuition waiver recipients, changing it from 'certain individuals' to 'individuals'.

The header information was restructured to replace the 'Engrossed Senate' label with 'Committee Substitute' and updated the page numbering and reference numbers to reflect the new version.

Minor formatting adjustments were made to the spacing and alignment of the bill text and section headers to conform to standard legislative formatting.

Introduced → Engrossed · 5 edits · Mar 26, 2026

MODERATE

The bill was updated from its original introduction to its final engrossed version, incorporating significant policy changes to how tuition waivers are funded and administered. The most critical change is the addition of a funding mechanism that allocates money from the Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Trust Fund to pay for the waivers, ensuring the program is financially sustainable. Additionally, the bill was expanded to include technology center schools alongside state universities and community colleges, broadening the scope of institutions eligible to participate.

Scope change

The bill's scope was expanded to include technology center schools under the State Board of Career and Technology Education, whereas the original version only mentioned institutions within the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education.

FISCAL

Added a new provision (Section 1C) directing that tuition waivers be paid using funds allocated from the Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Trust Fund, rather than relying on unspecified sources.

Added new restrictions (Section 2D and 2E) clarifying that Trust Fund income and principal cannot be used for administrative expenses and must only cover tuition for eligible students.

REQUIREMENT

Added a requirement for the State Board of Career and Technology Education to promulgate rules for verifying eligibility with the Office of the Attorney General, extending rule-making authority to cover technology centers.

Added a new subsection (Section 1D) to the amended statute allowing the State Regents to use Trust Fund principal for the purposes of the new tuition waiver act.

SCOPE

Updated the bill title and description to reflect that the act now directs funds to be awarded based on available funding and the number of eligible students.

Education; providing certain tuition waivers for individuals who are victims of certain offenses. Effective date. Emergency.

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