Oklahoma House Bill HB1945

Oklahoma 2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/3/25
• Refer: 2/4/25

Caption

Landlord and tenant; apartments and hotels; background checks; keys; hourly rates; effective date.

Summary

HB1945 would add new requirements for landlords, apartment operators, and hotel operators in Oklahoma. It requires all employees of apartments and hotels to undergo background screening as a condition of employment, with the screening performed by a consumer reporting agency under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. The screening must include criminal history and sex offender registry checks across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and employers may disqualify applicants with certain serious violent or safety-related convictions. The bill also requires apartment and hotel operators to maintain a log of all dwelling-unit keys issued and returned, and to adopt policies for key issuance, return, storage, and access to unissued keys. In addition, it prohibits hotels from offering hourly room rates, except that an hourly charge may still be used as a late checkout fee. The bill is set to take effect November 1, 2025.

Impact

If enacted, HB1945 would create new statutory duties in Title 41 for public lodging establishments, including apartments and hotels, and would expand employment screening obligations in that sector. It would also impose operational and security-related recordkeeping and key-control requirements, while restricting a hotel pricing practice by banning hourly accommodation rates except for late checkout fees. These provisions would affect landlords, property managers, hotel operators, employees, and job applicants in the lodging industry.

Sentiment

The available voting history suggests the bill was received favorably in committee, passing the House Civil Judiciary Committee 8-0 as amended by committee substitute. The committee action indicates broad support at that stage, and the bill was advanced for further consideration by the Judiciary and Public Safety Oversight committee. No committee transcript was provided, so there is no recorded debate language to indicate broader public or legislative sentiment beyond the unanimous committee vote.

Contention

The main points of potential contention are the scope and intrusiveness of the new employment screening requirements, especially the mandatory nationwide criminal and sex-offender registry checks and the ability to disqualify applicants based on certain convictions. Another possible issue is the operational burden on apartment and hotel operators to maintain key logs and formal key-control procedures. The ban on hourly hotel rates may also be controversial because it limits a pricing model some operators may use, even though the bill preserves an exception for late checkout fees.