---
type: "Bill"
title: "Water and water rights; establishing procedures for permitting, monitoring, and reporting of groundwater use. Effective date."
description: "Water and water rights; establishing procedures for permitting, monitoring, and reporting of groundwater use. Effective date."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ok"
legislature: "Oklahoma Legislature"
session: "2026"
identifier: "SB 259"
citation: "Oklahoma SB 259 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Howard", "Newton"]
version_count: 14
action_count: 38
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2025-02-03"
last_action: "2026-05-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5af18c62-8d73-4494-a1ae-3232001baeb0"
source_url: "http://www.oklegislature.gov/BillInfo.aspx?Bill=SB259&session=2600"
source_hash: "f1d3390a8914a5fba3c51dfebfe3aecad200a4764d3103f215cc826b8e2c77b9"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ok"]
---

# Oklahoma SB 259 (2026) — Water and water rights; establishing procedures for permitting, monitoring, and reporting of groundwater use. Effective date.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://www.oklegislature.gov/cf_pdf/2025-26 INT/SB/SB259 INT.PDF)
2. **1 Floor Amendment by NEWTON** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.oklegislature.gov/cf_pdf/2025-26 FLOOR AMENDMENTS/House/SB259 FA1 NEWTONCA-JBH.PDF)
3. **2 Floor Amendment by NEWTON (UNTIMELY FILED)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.oklegislature.gov/cf_pdf/2025-26 FLOOR AMENDMENTS/House/SB259 FA2 NEWTONCA-JBH(UNTIMELY FILED).PDF)
4. **Amended And Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.oklegislature.gov/cf_pdf/2025-26 AMENDMENTS/Amendment and Engr/SB259 HASB AND ENGR.PDF)
5. **Committee Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.oklegislature.gov/cf_pdf/2025-26 COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS/Senate/SB259 PCS.PDF)
6. **Committee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.oklegislature.gov/cf_pdf/2025-26 COMMITTEE SUBS/SCS/SB259 CS.PDF)
7. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.oklegislature.gov/cf_pdf/2025-26 ENGR/SB/SB259 ENGR.PDF)
8. **Enrolled (final version)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.oklegislature.gov/cf_pdf/2025-26 ENR/SB/SB259 ENR.PDF)
9. **Floor (House)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.oklegislature.gov/cf_pdf/2025-26 FLR/HFLR/SB259 HFLR.PDF)
10. **Floor (Senate)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.oklegislature.gov/cf_pdf/2025-26 FLR/SFLR/SB259 SFLR.PDF)
11. **House Committee Substitute for Senate Bill** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.oklegislature.gov/cf_pdf/2025-26 COMMITTEE SUBS/HCSS/SB259 HCS.PDF)
12. **Policy Committee Recommendation** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.oklegislature.gov/cf_pdf/2025-26 COMMITTEE SUBS/HCSS/SB259 POLREC.PDF)
13. **Proposed Policy Committee Amendment 1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.oklegislature.gov/cf_pdf/2025-26 COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS/House/SB259 POLAMD1 NICK ARCHER-JBH.PDF)
14. **SB259 (3-23-26) (HOWARD) RT FA1.PDF** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.oklegislature.gov/cf_pdf/2025-26 FLOOR AMENDMENTS/Senate/SB259 (3-23-26) (HOWARD) RT FA1.PDF)

## Votes

- Third Reading — **88–1** (pass) · lower
- Advance — **34–8** (pass) · upper
- Do Pass Amended Cs — **7–1** (pass) · upper
- Energy Committee: Do Pass As Amended By Cs — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Energy And Natural Resources Oversight Committee: Do Pass As Amended By Cs — **8–6** (pass) · lower
- Third Reading — **36–10** (pass) · upper
- Fourth Reading — **38–10** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Howard — primary (person)
- Newton — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2025-02-03** First Reading `introduction, reading-1`
- **2025-02-03** Authored by Senator Howard
- **2025-02-04** Second Reading referred to Energy Committee then to Appropriations Committee `reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2025-02-24** Coauthored by Representative Newton (principal House author)
- **2026-03-05** Withdrawn from Appropriations committee
- **2026-03-05** Referred to Energy `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-05** Reported Do Pass, amended by committee substitute Energy committee; CR filed `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-05** Title stricken
- **2026-03-10** Placed on General Order
- **2026-03-25** General Order, Amended
- **2026-03-25** Title restored
- **2026-03-25** Advanced to Third Reading
- **2026-03-25** Ayes: 34 Nays: 8
- **2026-03-25** Measure passed: Ayes: 36 Nays: 11 `passage`
- **2026-03-25** Referred for engrossment
- **2026-03-26** Engrossed to House `passage`
- **2026-03-26** First Reading `introduction, reading-1`
- **2026-03-30** Second Reading referred to Energy and Natural Resources Oversight `reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2026-03-30** Referred to Agriculture `referral-committee`
- **2026-04-06** Withdrawn from Agriculture Committee
- **2026-04-06** Referred to Energy `referral-committee`
- **2026-04-08** Policy recommendation to the Energy and Natural Resources Oversight committee; Do Pass, amended by committee substitute Energy `committee-passage`
- **2026-04-08** Coauthored by Senator(s) Burns
- **2026-04-14** CR; Do Pass, amended by committee substitute Energy and Natural Resources Oversight Committee `committee-passage`
- **2026-05-06** General Order
- **2026-05-06** Amended `amendment-passage`
- **2026-05-06** Third Reading, Measure passed: Ayes: 88 Nays: 1 `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-05-06** Referred for engrossment
- **2026-05-07** Engrossed, signed, to Senate `passage`
- **2026-05-14** HAs read
- **2026-05-14** Coauthored by Representative Boles
- **2026-05-14** HAs adopted
- **2026-05-14** Measure passed: Ayes: 38 Nays: 10 `passage`
- **2026-05-14** Referred for enrollment
- **2026-05-14** Enrolled, to House
- **2026-05-14** Signed, returned to Senate
- **2026-05-14** Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2026-05-29** Approved by Governor 05/20/2026 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/5af18c62-8d73-4494-a1ae-3232001baeb0`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Oklahoma legislature records).