Oklahoma Bankers Association We make bankers better!
The calendar has finally hit May and that means we are in the home stretch of the legislative session.
This is nor
mally when we know we have three to four weeks left to get everything done before the legislature goes home. As I say every year, no two legislative sessions are ever the same, and this year didn’t disappoint.
We usually can expect to start hearing rumors in the first week of May they are getting close to a budget agreement and THEN we know the end is near. Once leadership rolls out the budget agreement, everything speeds up because once it is agreed upon, all they have to do is pass the necessary legislation and wait to see if the governor will sign the budget into law.
Word started to spread this year that the House and Senate had reached a budget agreement on April 1. We’d been hearing people mention the legislature wanted to adjourn earlier this year than previous years, but the “old folks” in the building seem to hear that every year and don’t pay much attention to it. Now that an agreement had been reached, it was up to the House and Senate to pass the necessary funding measures, which they did in record time. Governor Stitt signed the budget into law on April 16.
Now we know when the legislators say we are going to adjourn early this year, they mean business. In all my years at the state Capitol, I never had a problem with them leaving early, which usually meant they leave about one-week early. The thought of them leaving several weeks early causes a person to have a bit of a panic attack, however.
As I’ve mentioned on numerous occasions, the only thing the legislature HAS to do is pass a budget. Well, here it is in early May and the budget is already law, but we still have a lot to do before they leave. When this “controlled” panic attack went away, we had to prioritize what’s most important and put the pedal to the metal for as long as they remain in session.
There are two bills we need to get across the finish line. Below is a description of each bill and why they are important. We can get these done – it’s just going to be really close.
SB 2067 (Sen. Alvord & Rep. Lepak)
This bill was introduced by the OBA as an effort to slow down some of the fraud and scams taking place and typically directed at the elderly. We’ve heard so many stories from bankers about how a good customer comes into the bank to make a large withdrawal or transfer completely out of character for that individual. They have more than enough money in their account for the transaction, but it just doesn’t feel right to the banker.
Below are the changes we hope to accomplish with this bill that will give bankers additional tools to help protect some of their most vulnerable customers.
SB 2067 establishes a framework for financial institutions to intervene when they suspect a “protected adult” is being targeted for financial exploitation and fraud. It mandates reporting while providing legal immunity to the institutions and their respective employees for acting in good faith to protect vulnerable customers.
Substantive provisions:
Definition of “protected adult”:
Any person 62 years of age or older.
“Incapacitated persons” or “vulnerable adults” as defined by existing Oklahoma protective services laws.
Mandatory reporting requirements:
If a financial institution employee reasonably believes exploitation is occurring or being attempted, they must notify the institution.
The institution is then required to report the suspected exploitation to DHS, the local district attorney or law enforcement as required by the existing Protective Services for Vulnerable Adults Act.
Temporary transaction holds:
Financial institutions are authorized to place a temporary hold of up to 10 business days on suspicious transactions or disbursements.
The hold may be extended if an investigation by the bank, a court order, or a request by a state agency or law enforcement confirms the necessity to do.
“Trusted contact” notification:
Institutions may notify a “trusted contact” previously designated by the account holder. Notification is prohibited if the trusted contact is the person suspected of the exploitation.
Immunity from liability:
The bill provides civil and administrative immunity to financial institutions and their employees for actions taken in good faith, such as reporting concerns or freezing accounts to prevent fraud.
Information sharing with agencies:
Amends the Financial Privacy Act to allow institutions to disclose relevant financial records to investigating agencies without violating privacy laws, provided the agency certifies an active investigation.
HB 3244 (Rep. Bashore & Sen. Hall)
Fraud and identity theft is a national crisis. The FTC received approximately 3.5 million reports of fraud in 2019. By 2025, that number had skyrocketed to 6.5 million with an estimated $12.5 billion in losses. Data from the first three quarters of 2025 show the U.S. is on pace for a record-breaking year.
We worked closely with the AG’s office on crafting legislation that would make life very difficult for those individuals who are looking to commit a scam or identity theft. This bill modernizes Oklahoma’s criminal fraud and identity theft statutes in three important ways.
First, it expands the definition of pattern of criminal offenses to better encapsulate modern fraud techniques.
Section 425 of Title 21, increases penalties for anyone engaging in a pattern of criminal offenses. Current law requires the person to have engaged in criminal offenses in two or more counties in this state. The revised statute will better fit with modern criminal techniques by including criminal offenses committed:
In two or more municipalities in this state.
In a municipality and an unincorporated portion of the same county.
Within the state and outside the state.
Within the state and an act committed online.
Second, it closes a potential charging loophole whereby the criminal exploits a vulnerable or elderly adult or a minor into committing a crime.
Criminals often use coercion, deception, intimidation or other means to exploit vulnerable adults, the elderly or minors into committing crimes on their behalf. This bill makes it a crime to do so. This allows prosecutors to charge criminals for their actions in causing the crime to be committed by a vulnerable or elderly adult or a minor, even though the criminal did not commit the crime directly.
The bill also enhances the fines and penalties for criminals who engage in a pattern of such exploitation.
Third, it greatly enhances Oklahoma’s identity theft laws.
The bill greatly increases the list of items of other persons, the possession of which with fraudulent intent, is unlawful. Current law lists only a few basic items such as drivers license numbers, social security numbers or account numbers. The amended law would expand that list to include items used by modern criminals, such as:
Security codes, PIN numbers, bank logos, peer-to-peer payment login, usernames and passwords, answers to account security questions, digital credit cards, digital wallet keys, credit history, tribal cards, IMEI phone information, DNA, fingerprints and many other items used by modern criminals to commit identity theft.
The bill prohibits the use of a stolen or synthetic identity or to falsely portray oneself as a business, financial institution or government entity, in order to obtain money, credit or anything of value.
The bill enhances penalties for identify theft, aggravated identity theft and multiple convictions.
The bill increases cooperation among law enforcement agencies, fraud investigators and similarly acting employees at banks, credit unions and other financial institutions.
Both of these bills have passed the House and the Senate and are waiting on the governor for his signature to make them law.