Tulsa Personal Injury Lawyer: Oklahoma Injury Law:  Senate Bill 131: How Does It Affect Oklahoma?

I handle all the personal injury work along with our team, but we have a one-stop shop here. There are many types of legal services we can offer to assist. One of the things that we do to set us apart is we don’t just work with the law as it exists in an individual’s case. We stay on it from the very beginning and watch it evolve, so we’re ready for it when it hits. And we also try to contribute information from time to time when asked by members of the legislature who may want our opinion on something. What do you think about this passage? What do you think about this passage?

Having said that, Oklahoma has focused on four primary areas of legislation so far this year. Guns are a favorite, as always. The parental Bill of Rights is a big one. A lot of bills talk about that in some shape, form, or fashion. Transgender, the hottest topic out there. We will have a bill or two that probably will be followed nationally and discussed nationally, just like the abortion bill was last year. Then we get down to sovereign immunity, where we are proposing laws that say to the federal government, “If you try to do X, Y, and Z, contrary to laws of the state of Oklahoma, you’re subject to arrest. We’ll talk about that one later because it’s extremely complex and I’m still working my way through some redrafts and revisions of the proposed bill.

Let’s talk about this one. This is Senate Bill 131. Now, if you’re interested in this like I am, you can go online to a site called Legi, L-E-G-I, scan, S-C-A-N, and then you look for the Oklahoma database and you can read any of the laws that have been proposed. Granted, you may want to have an interpreter because a lot of them are just… Some of the bills that get proposed are somewhat confusing. I’ll put it that way.

Now, having said all that, let’s read this. “As introduced in the 59th legislature…” Which is now. “… an act relating to schools, which relate to the Parent’s Bill of Rights, allowing a parent to file certain civil action, clarification right to direct the education of a certain child, requiring written consent for certain decisions, prohibiting the withholding of certain information, modifying certain rights regarding consent for sex education instruction, and certain other instruction, providing for the withdrawal of a certain child from certain clubs or activities, requiring certain consent to dispense prescription drugs to a certain minor, which relates to sex education, curriculum, and materials, requiring certainly written consent for a child to participate in certain instruction or activities.”

Now, let’s get to the meat of this, and this particular paragraph makes it very, very, very, very clear. This is paragraph one of the bill under section two. “The right to direct the education of the minor child, including the right to choose public-private, religious, or other means of education, and the right to make a reasonable choice when the public schools for the education of his or her child is an absolute right possessed by the parent.” It continues, “The right to direct the upbringing of the minor child, the right to direct the moral or religious training of the child, the right to make and consent and right to all physical and mental healthcare decisions for the minor child unless otherwise prohibited by law.” That belongs to the parent, not the school.

Now, here’s one of the things that this does. It also touches upon the issue of transgender. Healthcare decisions for the child, there’s been a lot of discussions nationally about educators, without telling the parents, have been counseling and educating children, by children, I mean children, we’re talking 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, about transgender issues. This bill also is attacking what some of the other bills are doing. They’re getting the parents back in the classroom and getting the teachers away from socially mechanically programming children, which is the accusation. I’m sure it’s true some of the time. I’m not sure it’s true all of the time. But things like that happen. It’s not right.

We’re going to be watching this bill very closely. I encourage you to go online to LegiScan and look at this thing for yourself because it’s going to be talked about heavily. As a matter of fact, there’s another law that’s been introduced that’s going to be very similar in impact in a different way, perhaps. That is Senate Bill 968. And as per the title, this is a Law that’s being proposed. It says, “Schools, allowing a School District Board of Education to contract with a chaplain to perform school counselor duties…” I have not had a chance to read the body of that bill yet. I just saw that today because a lot of new bills were introduced at the end of last week in a flurry. But we certainly will watch it.

Let’s get back to the basics of what we do. We’re a one-stop shop. If you have anything in the law that you need to talk about, call us first. You’re worth a call, Wirth Law Firm. We’ll answer your questions. We’ll help you the best we can. It doesn’t cost you anything. Just call and say, “Hey, can I bounce this off you? I may have an issue, I may not.” We’ll talk to you. I’m Mike Ashworth, a legislation lawyer in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Please go to tulsapersonalinjurylawyer.pro and give us a shout.