The 2025 Regular Session of the Oklahoma Legislature was a breakthrough session for VOID. In the previous two years, only one of our bills was passed into law. In 2025, we were able to get four bills passed. Senator Darrell Weaver, Representative John George, Representative Emily Gise, Senator Jerry Alvord, Representative Kevin West, Representative Danny Sterling and Senator Lonnie Paxton authored our legislation.
SB54 was the “Aggravated DUI” bill. The bill redefined aggravated DUI to consider six new criteria for identifying the most dangerous forms of DUI. The definition of Aggravated DUI was expanded from only those with a BAC of 0.15 or higher, to also include DUI while driving recklessly, wrong way driving, excessively speeding, eluding police, causing a crash and endangering a minor. Impaired driving while meeting one of these criteria is now a felony in Oklahoma and will require some jail time that is not subject to deferral or suspension. This bill became law on November 1, 2025.
Another bill that passed in 2025 was our “Bond” Bill. This requires anyone arrested for their second or subsequent DUI to go before a judge to set the conditions of bond. The intent is for judges to assess the danger posed to the public (based on an offender’s prior DUI history) and assign their bond requirements accordingly. This bill also removed the two-hour arrest to test requirement for criminal adjudication for DUI. This bill went into effect on November 1, 2025.
The “Warning Label” bill (SB518) requires every marijuana product sold in Oklahoma to carry a warning label not to drive impaired by marijuana. This was a recommendation of the NTSB following a terrible crash in 2022 that killed six high school students in Tishomingo. This bill became law November 1st, 2025.
Finally, the “Marissa Murrow Act” (HB2369) requires all alcohol served at event venues to be served by a caterer, mixed beverage licensee, or licensed event bartender. Currently special events in Oklahoma allow the service of approximately 15 million alcoholic beverages per year without any oversight or accountability for safety when guests leave these events after drinking. This bill goes into effect July 1, 2026 and requires new a new license and training for bar tenders serving at venues.