Committee advances bill letting state use NIST‑certified labs instead of NIST itself to certify testing equipment

House Bill 1542, a departmental-request bill from the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry (ODAFF), passed the Agriculture Committee and would change statute to let the department use a qualified laboratory — rather than the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) directly — to certify testing equipment used in the state’s weights and measures program.

The sponsor said the statutory text currently requires ODAFF to use NIST to certify equipment. Jan Lee Rowlett of ODAFF told the committee the state has relied on NIST certification but that NIST has increasingly preferred not to perform this specific certification work. Rowlett said NIST’s fees had grown “upwards of $50,000” for certifying the state’s equipment; she added the department identified a Colorado laboratory that can provide the same certification at far lower cost — citing roughly $1,600 in an earlier comment and later saying the Colorado lab’s quote was “around a thousand dollars.”

Members asked whether the bill needs a statutory definition of "qualified laboratory." Rowlett said there is not an existing statutory definition and that, practically, ODAFF would require a laboratory certified by NIST to preserve the department’s own certifications. The sponsor and members agreed they could add clarifying statutory language in subsequent drafting if desired.

The committee recorded a 7–0 vote to pass the bill out of committee. The department said it would like to explore building in-state capacity over time but needs a NIST-certified laboratory to maintain current certifications.