The civic record
Read. Follow. Verify.Oklahoma requires groundwater measurement systems and creates a five-year flex allocation for water permits
Last action · May 22, 2025: Enacting clause restored
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What This Bill Would Do
Groundwater permit holders must install approved measurement systems like pump telemetry to report usage, and the state will offer a system starting January 1, 2026. The law prohibits permit holders from exceeding their annual allocation by more than 200 percent in any single year while maintaining the cumulative limit over five years. Domestic wells are exempt from these requirements, which take effect on November 1, 2025.
Groundwater permit holders gain the flexibility to use more water in dry years provided they stay within a cumulative five-year limit, but face new equipment installation mandates and reporting requirements.
Who It Would Affect
Groups the bill's text would affect if enacted, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Groundwater permit holders
Must install approved measurement telemetry, report annual usage, and become eligible for five-year flex allocations starting January 1, 2026.
Domestic well owners
Exempt from all new metering and measurement system requirements.
Oklahoma Water Resources Board
Authorized to establish measurement system standards, administer flex allocations, and collect annual usage reports.
Key Facts
You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to install a meter on my residential domestic well?
What is a five-year flex allocation?
What kind of water measuring devices are accepted?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
Currently passed both. The next step in the legislative lifecycle is Law.
Procedural history
31 actions- May 22, 2025HouseEnacting clause restored
- May 22, 2025HouseTitle restored
- May 22, 2025HouseCCR submitted
- May 15, 2025SenateConference granted, SCs named Jech, Green, Frix, Kern, Rader, Dossett
- May 15, 2025HouseCommitteeHC's named: Conference Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Oversight
- May 14, 2025HouseSA's rejected, conference requested, conferees to be named later
Show 25 earlier actions
- May 8, 2025HouseSA's received
- May 8, 2025SenateEngrossed to House
- May 7, 2025SenateCommitteeReferred for engrossment
- May 7, 2025SenateFloorMeasure passed: Ayes: 31 Nays: 15
- May 7, 2025SenateGeneral Order, Amended by Floor Substitute
- Apr 29, 2025SenatePlaced on General Order
- Apr 29, 2025SenateCommitteeWithdrawn from Appropriations committee
- Apr 17, 2025SenateCommitteeReferred to Appropriations
- Apr 17, 2025SenateEnacting clause stricken
- Apr 17, 2025SenateFloorReported Do Pass as amended Energy committee; CR filed
- Apr 1, 2025SenateCommitteeSecond Reading referred to Energy Committee then to Appropriations Committee
- Mar 13, 2025SenateIntroducedFirst Reading
- Mar 13, 2025HouseEngrossed, signed, to Senate
- Mar 12, 2025HouseCommitteeReferred for engrossment
- Mar 12, 2025HouseFloorThird Reading, Measure passed: Ayes: 73 Nays: 16
- Mar 12, 2025HouseTitle stricken
- Mar 12, 2025HouseAmended
- Mar 12, 2025HouseGeneral Order
- Mar 4, 2025HouseAuthored by Senator Jech (principal Senate author)
- Mar 4, 2025HouseFloorCR; Do Pass, amended by committee substitute Energy and Natural Resources Oversight Committee
- Feb 13, 2025HouseFloorPolicy recommendation to the Energy and Natural Resources Oversight committee; Do Pass Energy
- Feb 4, 2025HouseCommitteeReferred to Energy
- Feb 4, 2025HouseCommitteeSecond Reading referred to Energy and Natural Resources Oversight
- Feb 3, 2025HouseAuthored by Representative Newton
- Feb 3, 2025HouseIntroducedFirst Reading
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Transition to Mandatory Statewide Water Metering
Shifts policy from requiring well metering only upon petition of a majority of landowners within a basin to mandatory measuring systems for all groundwater permit holders.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.oklegislature.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance75How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy35Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz25Current news / social attention level
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