New law in Oklahoma eases restrictions on occupational licenses for convicts.
HB 3002
A new law makes it easier for convicts in Oklahoma to get an occupational license. I’m Tulsa Attorney James Wirth, and we’re talking about some new laws that have recently gone into effect. This one is HB 3002, and it deals with occupational licenses in the state of Oklahoma.
Previously, for certain types of occupational licenses, if you were a convicted felon, you were prohibited from getting licensed. If you had a misdemeanor conviction that involved a crime of moral turpitude, which basically means a crime involving dishonesty, then you could not get an occupational license. Those rules have been relaxed pursuant to this new bill that has gone into effect.
It provides that for certain licenses, you can have a misdemeanor, any misdemeanor practically, whether it involves moral turpitude or not, and you can have a felony conviction, so long as the felony is not substantially related to the work that one is being licensed for and does not pose a reasonable threat to public safety. So we’re going from kind of a black-and-white rule to kind of more of a nuanced, open-to-interpretation, but either way, it does roll back some of those. It should make it easier for people who are getting out of custody or have probation sentences with felony convictions to get certain types of work.
Benefits of the New Law
The idea is having those people employed allows them to pay back their fines and costs, be productive members of society, rather than perhaps running into financial problems that could force them to have to make the bad decisions, again, that caused them to be there in the first place. That’s the idea, but regardless, that’s what it does. It lightens up the requirements there.
So what type of licenses are we talking about? So for a scrap metal dealer, for an automobile dealer, for a medical micro-pigmentation, which is basically just medical tattooing. Also, it changes some of the rules regarding the Able Commission for licensing for alcohol wholesalers. It notes that they can no longer be denied based on a lack of good moral character. However, they can still be denied for having a habit of using alcoholic beverages to excess or being mentally incapacitated.
Take Advantage of the New Law – Schedule a Strategy Session
That is HB 3002, pulls back some of those requirements, and allows people that have felony convictions to get certain occupational licenses in the state of Oklahoma they couldn’t before as long as that conviction in that person does not pose a threat to their health and safety, and as long as it’s not related to the occupation that they’re going to be licensed for. If you’ve got any questions about this or any other legal issue in the state of Oklahoma, you’re gonna wanna talk to an attorney about that privately and confidentially.
To get that scheduled with an Oklahoma criminal defense lawyer at my office, go online to MakeLawEasy.com for an initial strategy session.
