Strengths

• Repealed multiple good moral character requirements for its licenses, though it did not enact an overarching ban.
• Created a petition process for applicants with criminal records.

Areas of Improvement

• Impose a time limit for considering old convictions.
• Enact an overarching ban on blanket bans.

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A 2019 reform strengthened Oklahoma’s licensing laws for people with criminal records. However, a mediocre Due Process grade and a weak Exclusion score lower the state’s final grade to a C.

Rather confusingly, Oklahoma defines its “substantially related” standard as “the nature of the criminal conduct, for which the person was convicted” that has “a direct bearing on the fitness or ability to perform one or more of the duties or responsibilities necessarily related.” As the law was enacted in 2019, there has yet to be caselaw to elaborate on the “direct bearing” aspect. For the purposes of this report, Oklahoma will be graded as having a “substantially related” standard.

Statute: Okla. Stat. tit. 59, § 4000.1 (2019)