With the end of session in sight, Oklahoma lawmakers now appear poised to pass legislation making a voter-approved criminal justice reform retroactive.
A sticking point on making State Question 780 retroactive was how to resentence hundreds of people sent to prison when their drug and property crimes were felonies.House Bill 1269 would allow them to apply to the pardon and parole board for accelerated commutation.
The Department of Corrections would be responsible for sending the board a list of eligible inmates within 30 days of the law taking effect.
The bill now lays out a path for expungement as well.
"Which not only would allow people who were convicted of crimes that are now misdemeanors out of our jails, thus lowering our incarceration rate, it would also give them an easier path for expungement, giving them more opportunities to get out into the job force and go back to work," said Rep. Jon Echols.
Echols said the new version of HB1269 satisfies everyone, including courts and district attorneys.
"I don’t want to give the impression this was easy, because there were lots of people against it when we first started. But, especially through Rep. (Jason) Dunnington and myself and Sen. (Stephanie) Bice over there, we’ve really brought everybody on board for — I don’t know anybody who’s against it anymore," Echols said.
Echols was asked how likely it is Gov. Kevin Stitt will sign the bill into law.
"I think the chances are 100%. He has been very supportive of this bill. He wrote an op-ed with myself and (Sen.) Kim David where he was supportive of this," Echols said.
The House approved HB1269 on Thursday on a 78–14 vote.
