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The Oklahoma Senate approved a series of criminal justice reform bills on Tuesday.

The measures continue an effort by the Oklahoma Senate to examine and modify the state’s criminal justice system in order to address the state’s prison population and provide treatment for those in the justice system who need mental health or substance abuse services.

Majority Floor Leader Greg Treat, who served on a task force created by Gov. Mary Fallin to study criminal justice reform, authored several of the reform measures that passed the Senate.


The bills that passed the Senate were:

    Senate Bill 603 (Treat) requires the Department of Corrections to administer a risk and needs assessment for each prisoner. The agency must develop a plan of action based on said assessment.
    SB 604 (Treat) requires the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training to include personal safety planning necessary at the pretrial stages of a potential criminal case.
    SB 609 (Treat) requires the Office of the Attorney General to adopt standards for certification of victim assistance professionals based on guidelines from the National Advocate Credentialing Program Consortium.
    SB 649 (Treat) exempts elderly citizens from escalating punishment for committing a felony (with certain exceptions).
    SB 689 (Treat) allows a nonviolent offender sentenced to life in prison to have his or her sentence modified after 10 years of imprisonment. The measure allows the courts to waive fees for service.
    SB 793 (Treat) creates the Corrections and Criminal Justice Oversight Task Force to track implementation of criminal justice reform recommendations.
    SB 650 (Shaw) reduces the time by half in which a convicted offender can expunge their records provided no other crime is committed.
    SB 786 (Shaw) reduces charges associated with burglary if no person is present in the home

Other measures dealing with the criminal justice system that passed the Senate were:

    SB 38 (Sen. Roger Thompson, R-Okemah) increases the Forensic Science Improvement Assessment fee from $5 to $10 to support the upkeep of state forensic lab equipment.
    SB 247 (Sen. Kevin Matthews, D-Tulsa, and Thompson) requires the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to investigate all law-enforcement related shootings in jurisdictions of 150,000 or less, and allows the OSBI to review law-enforcement related shootings in jurisdictions of 150,000 or more.
    SB 303 (Sen. Jason Smalley, R-Stroud) authorizes the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to submit fingerprints to the FBI Rap Back System.
    SB 377 (Sen. Josh Brecheen, R-Coalgate) provides framework for a nonviolent offender to be sentenced to electronically confined conditions.
    SB 657 (Brecheen) creates the Protection Against Sexual Exploitation by a Mental Health Services Provider Act.