Crimes and punishments; relating to animal cruelty; creating misdemeanor and felony offenses; modifying scope and penalty of certain felony offense. Effective date.
SB 945 proposes changes to animal cruelty laws by creating new misdemeanor and felony offenses for specific acts of animal abuse. The bill modifies the scope and penalties of existing felony offenses to address different levels of severity in animal cruelty cases. These changes directly affect individuals who commit animal abuse and law enforcement officials who enforce animal protection laws. The legislation aims to provide clearer legal definitions and more appropriate penalties for various forms of animal cruelty.
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
→
SB945 (3-11-25) (GUTHRIE) FS FA1.PDF
·
4 edits
MODERATE
This bill was revised from its original introduction to a floor substitute version, updating the document header to reflect it as a floor substitute and changing the request number from 1026 to 1818. The core animal cruelty provisions remain largely the same, though some text appears slightly reorganized in the felony sections. A new subsection D was added requiring a determination by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry or a licensed veterinarian before prosecuting livestock neglect cases.
Scope change
Added a new requirement that prosecutions involving livestock must first be reviewed by state agricultural officials or a veterinarian to determine if the alleged neglect violates accepted livestock management practices.
TECHNICAL
Document header changed from 'AS INTRODUCED' to 'FLOOR SUBSTITUTE' to reflect the bill's current legislative status.
Request number updated from 1026 to 1818 in the document footer.
Minor text reorganization and formatting changes in the felony offense sections, including some inconsistent punctuation and spacing adjustments.
ENFORCEMENT
New subsection D requires a determination by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry or a licensed veterinarian that alleged livestock neglect violates accepted management practices before prosecution can proceed.
Floor votes
How they voted
No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
7
Key actions
1
Committee
1
Feb 19, 2025
Upper · Passed
Reported Do Pass as amended Public Safety committee; CR filed
upper
Feb 3, 2025
Introduced
First Reading
upper
2 primary · 0 co-sponsors
Sponsors
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