HB 2071 Oklahoma House · 2026 Regular Session

Waters and water rights; repealing section; effective date.

HB 2071 prohibits intentional weather modification within Oklahoma using chemicals, devices, or other means to alter temperature, weather patterns, or sunlight intensity. It directly affects individuals or entities attempting such activities, including commercial cloud-seeding operations or government projects. The bill establishes new enforcement mechanisms, authorizing the Governor to deploy the Oklahoma Air National Guard to investigate violations, intercept aircraft, collect evidence, and secure documentation. It repeals all prior weather modification statutes (including sections 1087.1-1087.20 and 1801.1-1801.4) and replaces them with these provisions. The law takes effect November 1, 2025.

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 3, 2025 Last action Feb 4, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced → Proposed Policy Committee Substitute 1 · 5 edits

MODERATE

The bill was substantially rewritten by the Policy Committee to expand its scope from a single repeal to a comprehensive ban on weather modification activities. The original version only repealed one section of the Weather Modification Act, while the new version repeals all related sections and adds new prohibitions on injecting chemicals into the atmosphere for weather alteration purposes. The bill also establishes new enforcement mechanisms allowing the Governor to direct the Oklahoma Air National Guard to intercept and investigate aircraft violating the ban.

Scope change

Expanded from a simple repeal of one statute to a comprehensive prohibition on weather modification activities, including new enforcement provisions for aircraft violations.

REQUIREMENT

New prohibition on intentional injection or release of chemicals into the atmosphere for weather modification purposes

ENFORCEMENT

Authority for Governor to direct Oklahoma Air National Guard to intercept, document, and investigate aircraft violating the weather modification ban

SCOPE

Original version only repealed Section 1801 of the Weather Modification Act

New version repeals all sections of the Weather Modification Act (Sections 1087.1-1087.20, 1801.1, 1801.2, and 1801.4)

TECHNICAL

Bill title changed from 'waters and water rights' to 'environment and natural resources'

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 4, 2025

Committee

Referred to Energy

lower

Feb 3, 2025

Introduced

First Reading

lower

2 primary · 0 co-sponsors