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STATE OF OKLAHOMA
2nd Session of the 60th Legislature (2026)
HOUSE BILL 4109 By: Ford
AS INTRODUCED
An Act relating to crimes and punishments; directing
certain persons to report wound, injuries, illnesses,
and burns to law enforcement; providing guidelines
for making reports; stating time limits for making
reports; providing for the submission of videos with
reports; directing persons who rendered treatment to
certain crime victims to submit reports to law
enforcement; providing procedures for preserving
potential evidence; prohibiting relief from reporting
requirements; providing immunity from civil
liability; providing for the confidentiality of
reports; authorizing two or more persons to jointly
submit reports; providing guidelines for joint
reporting; prohibiting the interference with
submitting reports; providing for damages, costs, and
attorney fees for discriminatory or retaliatory
actions against employees; making certain acts
unlawful; providing penalties; providing exceptions
to reporting requirements; directing keepers of
certain property to report damaged motor vehicles to
law enforcement; making certain acts unlawful;
providing penalties; providing for codification; and
providing an effective date.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 540E of Title 21, unless there
is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
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A. Any pharmacist, physician, nurse, medical provider, midwife,
dentist, veterinarian, paramedical personnel, or provider of first
aid or emergency medical services, or any employee of a hospital,
clinic, nursing home, psychiatric hospital, or person associated
with any other medical institution or office where patients
regularly receive care, who tends or treats, or any person who is
requested to examine, tend or treat, at any location, any individual
suffering from a wound, injury, or illness and who has reason to
believe or ought to know that said wound, injury, or illness:
1. Was caused by or appears to arise from a bullet wound, a
gunshot wound, a powder burn, or any other injury arising from the
discharge of a firearm; or
2. Was caused by or appears to arise from a knife, an ice pick,
or any other sharp or pointed instrument or deadly weapon believed
to have been intentionally inflicted upon a person; or
3. Was caused by or appears to arise from poisoning; or
4. Was caused by or appears to arise from an incendiary or
explosive device or is a burn injury or wound if the victim has
sustained:
a. second-degree or third-degree burns to five percent
(5%) or more of the body,
b. burns to the upper respiratory tract,
c. laryngeal edema from inhaling superheated air, or
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d. a burn injury or wound that may result in the death of
the victim.
Subsequent to receiving a report under the provisions of this
paragraph, the law enforcement agency shall notify the relevant fire
marshal for the jurisdiction; or
5. Is a wound, injury or illness that would seriously maim,
produce death, or render the injured person unconscious, and was
caused by the use of violence or was sustained in a suspicious or
unusual manner or in the commission of a crime, shall report the
same immediately to the municipal police department of the
municipality in which such treatment is administered or the request
for such treatment is received, or if the facility is located
outside the limits of the municipality, then the report shall be
made to the county sheriff. The report shall contain the name,
address, race, sex, current whereabouts, and age of the patient, and
shall state the nature and extent of the injury, wound, illness, or
burn, any other information which might be helpful in establishing
the cause of the injury, wound, illness, or burn and the identity of
the person who caused the injury, wound, illness, or burn, if known,
and any facts that might assist in the investigation of the alleged
crime including, but not limited to, providing any video maintained
by the reporting facility where the patient is depicted even if such
video includes depictions of other patients. Such reports shall be
made immediately by telephone. Video and any other physical record
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shall be provided within seventy-two (72) hours of a request by law
enforcement investigating the report. A facility providing video
under the provisions of this section may blur the images of any
individuals who are not the patient about whom a report is made and
who are not individuals associated with or assisting the patient
about whom a report is made.
B. 1. A person who has rendered treatment or assistance to a
victim for a crime pursuant to the provisions of Section 58 of Title
22 of the Oklahoma Statutes shall report injuries, wounds, or
illnesses which fall within paragraphs 1 through 4 of this
subsection even if the criminal offenses listed within Section 58 of
Title 22 of the Oklahoma Statutes are not reported to law
enforcement.
2. A person who has rendered treatment or assistance for a
crime, the reporting of which is addressed in Section 40.3A of Title
22 of the Oklahoma Statutes, shall report injuries, wounds, or
illnesses which fall within subsection A of this section even if the
criminal offenses listed in Section 40.3A of Title 22 of the
Oklahoma statutes are not reported to law enforcement.
C. A person who renders treatment for any reportable injury,
wound, illness, or burn shall ensure that any bullet, foreign
object, clothing showing damage potentially related to the
reportable injury, wound, illness, or burn, or any other item which
may be potential evidence related to the report which is removed
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from any such patient, shall be identified as coming from such
patient and kept in a manner that preserves the integrity of the
item, until an employee of such entity surrenders the item to the
law enforcement agency to whom the report is made.
D. No privilege or contract shall relieve any person from the
requirement of reporting pursuant to the provisions of this section
or prevent any person from testifying regarding information acquired
from a patient treated for a reportable injury, wound, illness, or
burn if such testimony is otherwise admissible. Any provision of
law or rule of evidence relating to confidentiality of such
treatment is abrogated for and does not apply to communications and
testimony under the provisions of this section.
E. Any person making a report as required by the provisions of
this section shall be immune from civil liability for the making of
said report and shall have immunity with respect to any good-faith
participation in any judicial proceeding or any other proceeding
resulting from the report of the injury, wound, illness, or burn.
F. Any report of an injury, wound, illness, or burn required to
be reported by the provisions of this section shall not become a
public record. In reports required by the provisions of this
section, law enforcement shall keep confidential and redact any
information identifying the reporter unless otherwise ordered by a
court. Other employees of a facility with knowledge of a report
required by the provisions of this section shall not disclose
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information identifying the reporter unless otherwise ordered by the
court or as part of an investigation by law enforcement.
G. The reporting obligations under the provisions of this
section are individual except that when two (2) or more persons who
are required to report are present and jointly have knowledge of a
known or suspected injury, wound, illness, or burn that is required
to be reported pursuant to the provisions of this section, and when
there is an agreement among these persons to report as a team, the
team may select by mutual agreement a member of the team to make a
report by telephone and a single written report, as required by the
provisions of subsection A of this section. The written report
shall be signed by the selected member of the reporting team. Any
member who has knowledge that the member designated to report has
failed to do so shall thereafter make the report.
H. No employer, supervisor, administrator, governing body, or
entity shall interfere with the reporting obligations of any
employee or other person or in any manner discriminate or retaliate
against an employee or other person who in good faith files a report
under the provisions of this section. Any employer, supervisor,
administrator, governing body, or entity who discharges,
discriminates, or retaliates against an employee or other person for
making a report or providing information or testimony for
proceedings related to a reportable injury, wound, illness, or burn
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under the provisions of this section shall be liable for damages,
costs and attorney fees.
I. 1. Any person who knowingly and willfully fails to file a
report under the provisions of this section or who interferes with
prompt reporting required by the provisions of this section shall,
upon conviction, be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of
not more than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), or by imprisonment in
the county jail for a term not exceeding six (6) months, or by both
such fine and imprisonment.
2. Any person who knowingly and willfully makes a report under
the provisions of this section when the person knows the report
lacks factual foundation shall, upon conviction, be guilty of a
misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than Five Hundred
Dollars ($500.00), or by imprisonment in the county jail for a term
not to exceed six (6) months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
J. The provisions of this section shall not apply to such
wounds, injuries, burns, or illnesses received by any member of the
Armed Forces of the United States or of the State of Oklahoma while
engaged in the actual performance of duty.
K. The provisions of this section do not affect any requirement
that a person shall report child abuse or neglect pursuant to the
provisions of Section 1-2-101 of Title 10A of the Oklahoma Statutes
except that when making a report of child abuse or child neglect
pursuant to Section 1-2-101 of Title 10A of the Oklahoma Statute,
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the reporting facility is required to provide any video maintained
by the reporting facility where the child is depicted even if such
video includes depictions of other persons. Such video and any other
physical record is to be provided within seventy-two (72) hours of a
request by law enforcement investigating the report.
SECTION 2. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 540F of Title 21, unless there
is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. The keeper of a garage, parking lot, or other place where
motor vehicles of any kind are stored, left for repair, or for any
other purpose, or any employee of any such person, who knows or
becomes aware of the fact that any motor vehicle so stored or left
has upon it, or in it, bullet marks, gunshot marks, blood stains, or
marks or evidence of any crime, shall immediately report said
information to the municipal law enforcement agency, the sheriff of
the county, or a state trooper of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
B. Whoever fails to report said information as required by
subsection A of this section shall, upon conviction, be guilty of a
misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than Five Hundred
Dollars ($500.00), or by imprisonment in the county jail for a term
not to exceed six (6) months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
SECTION 3. This act shall become effective November 1, 2026.
60-2-15470 GRS 01/06/26