SB 44(4) (Long/Toure): Drafted to legalize and license tattooing in Oklahoma, the bill passed the Senate but did not get out of the Public Health Committee of the House. Thus it is still illegal to perform tattooing in this state.

SB 72(1) (Shurden/Leist): Relieves funeral establishments and their employees from liability for following orders of a public official to remove a body. Effective 5-21-99

SB 86(1) (Weedn/Hilliard): Makes several "clean-up" amendments to the Funeral Services Licensing Act. Among other changes, SB 86:

• Conforms the definition of what constitutes "funeral service merchandise or funeral services" to items listed as such by the Federal Trade Commission;
  
  
• Replaces specific course requirements for applicants to be licensed as embalmers or funeral directors with "a program of mortuary science . . . prescribed by the State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors in accordance with the American Board of Funeral Service Education";
  
  
• Makes several additions to the list of grounds for revoking a license or refusing to issue or renew a license;
  
  
• Clarifies authority of the State Board to include payment of costs of investigation and prosecution in the orders the Board issues in response to violations of the act; and
  
  
• Prohibits the State Board from employing a Board member within three years of the expiration of the member's term of office.

  Effective 7-1-99

SB 296(1) (Morgan/Stanley): Amends the State Dental Act. Most of the amendments update or clarify terms and provisions. However, the bill also provides for filling of vacancies on the Board of Dentistry, expands upon identification and record-keeping requirements relating to dental laboratory work, and establishes the authority of the Board to make related inspections. Further, the bill adds a jurisprudence examination to the testing required of applicants to practice dentistry or dental hygiene, and statutory language setting the application and examination fees is replaced with authorization for the Board to set fees by rule. Effective 11-1-99

SB 324(1) (Williams/Ostrander): Relates to the Licensed Dietician Act. Clarifies requirements for renewal of licenses, directs State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision to promulgate rules on fees, and authorizes Board to specify that renewals be made in a specified month. Effective 4-19-99

SB 380(1) (Stipe/Gray): Creates the Licensed Behavioral Practitioner Act. LBP's are master's level psychologists who apply "the scientific components of psychological and mental health principles", including perception, motivation, biological psychology, social psychology, experimental psychology, psychometric and quantification methodologies.

SB 380 also:

• Creates a seven-member Licensed Behavioral Practitioners Advisory Board, appointed by the Commissioner of Health, to advise the State Department of Health as to LBP professional conduct, examination and licensure, and the enforcement of the act. Five members are to be professionals and two are to be lay members.
  
  
• Sets educational requirements. Persons applying for licensure will need to have a master's degree in psychology or another behavioral science field with 45 graduate semester hours of board-recognized behavioral-science-related course work (60 hours effective January 1, 2005). They must have three years of supervised full-time experience, two of which can be substituted by additional education.
  
  
• Also addresses several matters of client confidentiality.

  Effective 11-1-99

SB 513(4) (Shurden/Gray): Drafted to make extensive although mostly minor changes to the Oklahoma Cosmetology Act, the bill passed the Senate but did not get out of the Public Health Committee of the House. During the last week of the session, the authors submitted the measure, with some changes, as the 1st Conference Committee Substitute/Report for SB 379. That report was pulled back, however, prior to consideration by the Senate, and SB 379 was subsequently used for a different purpose.

SB 737(1) (Snyder/Thornbrugh): States that a licensed plumber need not have a waterworks or wastewater operator certificate to make connections to public water systems or lines or sewer systems or lines. Effective 5-24-99

SB 752(1) (Hobson/Miller): Excludes agents of purchasers of land surveying services from licensure and regulation by the State Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors. Effective 11-1-99

HB 1178(1) (Bryant/Long): Clarifies and reiterates that real estate brokers must disclose to buyers and sellers which party or parties the brokers are working for and what the broker's duties and responsibilities are, including confidentiality responsibilities. Basically the act differentiates single-party brokers, who enter into a written agreement to work for either the buyer or the seller, from transaction brokers, who provide services without being an advocate for either party unless there is an agreement to the contrary. The act relieves buyers and sellers from vicarious liability for the acts or omissions of transaction brokers. Single-party brokers must advise the party they are working for that the party could be vicariously liable for the acts or omissions of the single-party broker. The act also requires that broker associates, sales associates, and provisional sales associates be associated with a real estate broker, for whom they may act if authorized by the real estate broker. Effective 11-1-00

HB 1189(1) (Thornbrugh/Cain): Allows the State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision, where unprofessional conduct is alleged, to accept surrender of a license in lieu of prosecution. The licensee must submit a sworn statement that, among other requirements, includes a specific description of the misconduct. Acceptance of the surrender is considered a disciplinary action by the Board to be reported as such by the Board to the public or in other reports the Board makes. The Board is authorized to recover from the licensee such legal fees and other costs as it may have incurred. The act also clarifies that the practice of medicine and surgery includes service rendered by an unlicensed but trained physician's assistant if given under the supervision and control of a licensed physician and according to rules of the State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision. Effective 11-1-99

HB 1344(1) (Leist/Shurden): Makes a few significant changes and a number of minor changes to the Veterinary Practice Act, which has not had a thorough updating in many years.

Most significantly, HB 1344:

• Conforms a prescription definition in Oklahoma law to the federal Food and Drug Administration language;
  
  
• Adds a lay person to the State Board of Veterinary Medicine;
  
  
• Sets minimum standards of practice to be enforced by the Board;
  
  
• Allows an applicant for licensure who has 5,000 or more hours of practice during the immediately preceding five years and is licensed in another jurisdiction to qualify without national examination by passing an examination on Oklahoma law; and
  
  
• Establishes a procedure for the use of field citations, orders of abatement, and administrative assessments in response to violations of the Oklahoma Veterinary Practice Act.

  Effective 11-1-99

HB 1809(1) (Plunk/Shurden): Adds two items to the list of acts that the Board of Chiropractic Examiners can penalize a chiropractic physician for committing:

• Violating any provision of the Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Act or any rule promulgated pursuant thereto, and
  
  
• Willfully assisting an insurer to wrongfully deny a claim for medically necessary covered services.

  Effective 11-1-99