OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma lawmakers on Wednesday advanced legislation that would allow law enforcement to immediately remove squatters at the request of a property owner.
Supporters said Senate Bill 1994 will ensure property rights are protected and avoid protracted litigation to remove trespassers, but critics argued that it is another legislative attempt to further criminalize homelessness.
The bill requires that for a sheriff to immediately boot an unlawful occupant, a property owner must have first asked the person to leave the property.
Also, property owners cannot ask a sheriff to remove current or former tenants, anyone who used the property as their address of record within the past year, family members or if litigation is pending.
A person who damages a property while unlawfully occupying it could be sentenced up to three years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
Rep. Ross Ford, R-Broken Arrow, who authored the legislation, said the bill has nothing to do with homelessness, but “everything to do with property rights.” It ensures that people who legally own a property have a say in what goes on.
He said just because a home or property is vacant doesn’t mean someone can move in without permission and live there.
Rep. Rande Worthen, R-Lawton, said there have been incidents in rural Oklahoma where people are illegally pulling up trailers and refusing to leave.
He said it could take longer than a month to formally go through the legal process to evict.
But Rep. Forrest Bennett, D-Oklahoma City, said the bill seems aimed at criminalizing homelessness.
He said lawmakers are doing very little to address the root causes of the problem by investing in programs that could help solve the crisis.
But he said legislation like SB 1994 looks great on campaign mailers.
“Here’s the reality,” Bennett said. “This won’t fix the problem.”
He said unhoused people live across the drainage ditch from his home. Every time they get swept away, they come back, he said.
The bill’s provision making it a felony adds another financial burden that unhoused people cannot afford, Bennett said.
Republished in partnership with Oklahoma Voice under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Oklahoma Voice is a part of States Newsroom which is a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janelle Stecklein for questions: [email protected]. Follow Oklahoma Voice on Facebook and Twitter.
Janelle Stecklein is editor of Oklahoma Voice. An award-winning journalist, Stecklein has been covering Oklahoma government and politics since moving to the state in 2014. Oklahoma Voice is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
