Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Disability Employment Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee sends to floor task force to study transition off subminimum wage certificates for workers with disabilities
Summary
House Bill 1833 would create a task force to plan for the possible end of Section 14(c) certificates; the committee approved an untimely amendment to extend the task force's sunset and forwarded the bill to the floor 15–1.
Representative Hefner, sponsor of House Bill 1833, explained that the measure would create a task force to prepare Oklahoma agencies and providers for the potential removal of Section 14(c) certificates that allow employers to pay some workers with disabilities subminimum wages. "If these have been in place since 1938 ... it's subminimum pay for people with disabilities," Hefner told the committee, adding that the task force would bring together self-advocates, families, sheltered-workshop operators and agency representatives to examine funding, support and employment pathways.
The committee considered an untimely amendment, offered and explained by Representative Hefner, that would change the task force sunset date from 05/31/2026 to 11/01/2027 to create a two-year task force. Hefner said the longer date gives agencies time to "blend, braid, sequence" funding and prepare service providers and families if the federal Department of Labor sets a date to end certificates. The sponsor said Oklahoma currently has 43 sheltered-workshop providers and that the task force would study how to maintain settings while changing pay structures.
Members asked about unintended consequences, federal funding and timelines. The sponsor said the Department of Labor has discussed phasing out the certificates but had not set a date; she said a three-year lead time could be available if the federal government sets a timeline. Representative Maynard and others asked about the bill's report timeline; the transcript records that a final report deadline previously appears on page five as 01/01/2026, and committee discussion referenced that date during questioning.
The committee approved the PCR and the untimely amendment and forwarded the bill with a recorded vote of 15 ayes and 1 nay. The transcript records Representative Hefner answering multiple substantive questions and offering the amendment; the hearing did not include testimony from sheltered-workshop providers or federal agencies.
