HB1628 would eliminate a “points” system used by the State Board of Agriculture for violations of the Oklahoma Swine Feeding Operations Act and for the Oklahoma Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations Act (also known as CAFO's). According to the statute that would be deleted, the points system “provides greater punishment for violations which are intentional and for violations which pose a greater threat to the environment.” Not only that, the Ag Board can revoke an operating license if the facility accumulates enough points.
Apparently, some entity that thinks they’re important ran afoul of this system and rather than comply with the law tried to change the law. HB1628 would have given outlaw operators of large-scale swine feeding and other CAFO's a free pass, with repeat and serious polluters treated no differently than anyone else.
HB1628 was a carryover bill from 2021. It passed the House by a vote of 82 – 13 in February of this year. Although it later cleared the Senate Agriculture and Wildlife Committee, it was never given a vote on the Senate floor and died. Sierra Club opposed HB1628.
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