Counties and county officers; county clerks; credit card; forms; notary; effective date.
HB1767 would require all county offices and county courts in Oklahoma to offer credit card payment options for all transactions, except cash-only real estate sales governed by existing law. Counties and courts could pass the credit card service fee on to the person making the payment. The bill also requires county offices and courts to provide necessary forms to citizens, prohibits charging for those forms, and requires counties to make the forms available on their websites.
The measure further mandates that every county office, including the county clerk, treasurer, assessor, and courthouse, have a notary available during business hours, and it bars notaries from charging a fee for their services in that setting. In addition, the Attorney General would be required to standardize all forms used for county business or legal proceedings, and counties would have to implement those standardized forms by January 1, 2027. The act would take effect November 1, 2025.
If enacted, HB1767 would add new duties to county offices and county courts under Title 19 of the Oklahoma Statutes, creating statewide requirements for payment processing, form availability, notary access, and form standardization. It would affect county clerks, treasurers, assessors, courthouses, and other county offices by requiring online access to forms, free provision of forms, and on-site notary services during business hours. It would also give counties authority to recoup credit card processing fees from users, while shifting administrative responsibility for form standardization to the Attorney General.
The bill appears to have had generally favorable support in the House, passing committee and third reading by wide margins, including a 85-6 House floor vote. However, it faced resistance in the Senate Local & County Government Committee, where it failed 4-5 on April 8, 2025. Overall, the discussion history suggests broad support for improving county service access, but not enough consensus in the Senate committee to advance the measure.
The main points of contention likely centered on the operational and financial burdens placed on counties, including the cost of providing credit card payment systems, maintaining free forms and website access, and ensuring notary availability during business hours. Another possible concern was the mandate that the Attorney General standardize forms and that counties adopt them by a fixed deadline, which could raise implementation and administrative issues. Supporters likely viewed the bill as a customer-service and modernization measure, while opponents in committee may have objected to the unfunded or prescriptive nature of the requirements.