Journalist: LIna Quinones (TCC)
On the house floor today was house bill SE-503 it was titled the “Survivor Protection” Act of 2026.
This bill introduces a new law in the acting of different state agencies with unclassified employees. They will give new and frequent addresses for domestic abuse survivors that are in hiding, and keep these addresses from any public record.
Oklahoma is one of the highest rated states in domestic violence. Specifically ranging from 8 to 2nd highest out of the entire country(Oklahoma Watch).
This violence that we are seeing is harming our citizens.
In Oklahoma we are seeing 49% of women and 41% of men, who are dealing with domestic violence.(Oklahoma.gov)
This is almost half percent of our state. This means half of our population that is experiencing sexual violence, physical violence and stalking.
According to the 19th annual domestic violence counts report, they saw that 80% of Emergency Shelters were used. While 20% of housing was used and another 20% for transitional housing.
Oklahoma is seeing that many victims are taking use of Housing and Emergency Shelters.
But this also comes at a risk, a lot of these addresses are on public record. This means that abusers can find these addresses and the victims.
Oklahoma knows what happens when these situations get worse. These victims die.
According to Oklahoma Voice, they saw an increase in 2023 of 16% in domestic violence fatalities. Their report state that “Oklahoma average 115 domestic violent homicide victims annually between 2019 and 2023”
With these high numbers there has to be some way that the state can protect Oklahomans from this violence.
And this is exactly what this bill does: it makes sure there is no public record of these addresses, that the employees working remain unnamed and that these addresses change frequently.
Oklahoma must protect domestic violence victims, and this bill does that.