PERSPECTIVE June 27, 2025
Oklahoma Farm Bureau 2025 legislative review he halls of the Oklahoma state Capitol are once again empty after a busy 2025 legislative session. Of the thousands of bills filed at the first of the year, Oklahoma Farm Bureau closely monitored nearly 400 pieces of legislation over the course of the fourmonth session. Private Property Rights
The protection of private property rights has been a top priority for Farm Bureau members since the organization’s inception in 1942, and OKFB secured passage of three of the organization’s priority bills during the 2025 legislative session, each of which dealt with private property rights. OKFB priority bill HB 1166 by Rep. Mike Kelley and Sen. Brent Howard requires a majority of landowners to consent before a municipality can annex property. It also includes a provision for forced annexation via a court action when the municipality can prove the landowners would be better off in the municipal limit, and it prohibits adding property taxes for a sinking fund because of a lawsuit settlement or ruling if the property was not part of the municipality at the time of the settlement. OKFB members have traditionally opposed municipal annexation as it often comes with additional restrictions that could ultimately limit what farmers and ranchers can produce on their land. OKFB also saw the passage of another priority bill for the organization, HB 2752, which prohibits the use of eminent domain for renewable energy projects and facilities. The legislation, authored by Rep. Trey Caldwell and Sen. Todd Gollihare, provides another level of protection to Oklahoma’s landowners from losing their land through eminent domain.
The final OKFB priority bill passed into law for 2025 was HB 2756 by Rep. Trey Caldwell and Sen. Grant Green. HB 2756 requires utilities to obtain a certificate of authority from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission before the construction of high voltage transmission lines. This will require energy companies to declare the proposed location of the lines, notify the affected county commissioners, host a public meeting and assemble a financial impact report. OKFB strongly supported this legislation to ensure improved transparency between energy companies and landowners. Conversely, OKFB opposed the passage of HB 2036 by Rep. Nick Archer and Sen. Casey Murdock, which eases the process by which the state or a business can take property via eminent domain without paying attorney fees and court costs. OKFB actively opposed the bill throughout session, but it ultimately was approved by the governor in late May. Lawmakers also passed HB 1103 by Rep. Tom Gann and Sen. Ally Seifried, which requires the Oklahoma Department of Transportation to notify the previous owner of real property taken via eminent domain if it is going to be offered for sale. The previous owner would be offered the real property for no more than the original price, so long as the previous owner did not use federal funds to purchase the property. This OKFB-supported legislation amends existing law that originally applied only to property within five years of the initial taking.
were discussing new renewable energy installations. Throughout this process, OKFB gathered feedback from both Farm Bureau members and non-member rural residents that helped set the stage for both OKFB’s grassroots policy development season and the 2025 Oklahoma legislative session where numerous renewable energy-related bills were heard. One such bill was HB 1373 by Rep. Brad Boles and Sen. Grant Green, which creates the Commercial Solar Facility Decommissioning Act. This bill requires solar leases to include a provision guaranteeing the removal of the solar equipment from the landowner’s property and requires the solar facility to maintain financial assurance to cover the removal costs. Farm Bureau was pleased to see the passage of a handful of bills concerning wind energy, including HB 1205 by Rep. Cody Maynard and Sen. David Bullard, which repeals the tax credit for small wind turbine manufacturers. Sen. Darcy Jech and Rep. Carl Newton authored SB 713, which requires wind facilities built after Jan. 1, 2026, to apply to the Federal Aviation Administration for approval of the installation of lightmitigating technology on wind turbines that only illuminates turbine-mounted beacon lights when an aircraft is approaching. Water
The unresolved groundwater metering issues of 2024 did not gain any more traction during the 2025 legislative session, but the legislature did pass several additional water measures, including HB 1588 by Rep. David Hardin
Energy
OKFB hosted numerous town halls last fall in areas where communities
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