Criminal Justice Reform A Theme Of Oklahoma's Legislative Session

We are now at the halfway point in this year's legislative session.

About 600 bills will move forward, heading to the opposite chamber from where they originated.

This year, criminal justice reform is a big push from state lawmakers as legislators work on bills to keep Oklahomans safe.

Legislation sparked by tragedy.

"Recently, we had some pretty disastrous situations in Mustang and Owasso when we had teens committing suicide due to cyberbullying," said Sen. Paul Rosino (R-OKC).

Those situations led Senator Paul Rosino to write Senate Bill 1100, modifying the penalties for any person willfully aiding somebody attempting to their own life - expanding anti-bullying laws to include online platforms.

"It's a bill I wish I never had to run," Sen. Rosino said.

Over in the state house, Representative Scott Fetgatter has written Knights law after the tragedy in Henryetta last May

"While I can't go back and change anything for these families and I can't bring their family members back, what I can do is help them with closure by stopping these things from happening in the future," said Rep. Fetgatter (R-Okmulgee).

The legislation would create stricter laws for sex offenders by requiring anybody convicted of first-degree rape or child sex crimes to serve 100% of their sentence.

A bill that sparked debate from House Democrats, was House Bill 3098 from Representative Toni Hasenbeck.

"To protect Oklahomans who have been knowingly and willfully infected with a transexual disease," Rep. Hasenbeck (R-Elgin) said.

The bill adds to the list of diseases for which a person may be criminally charged for intentionally spreading.

"We have a hole in our statute that I am trying to repair for fellow Oklahomans," Rep. Hasenbeck said.