Oklahoma Association of REALTORS®
REMOVING DISCRIMINATORY COVENANTS/PLATS
SENATE AUTHOR: SENATOR KRISTEN THOMPSON
HOUSE SPONSOR: REPRESENTATIVE JOHN PFEIFFER
ENSURING EQUALITY AND MODERNITY IN LAND DOCUMENTS
Like House Bill 2288 did for deeds last year, Senate Bill 1617 allows groups of Oklahomans to file an addendum to their plats that acknowledges that outdated racially restrictive covenants in those plats are null and void. The Oklahoma Association of REALTORS® worked with the City of Edmond and Rep. John Pfeiffer and Sen. Kristen Thompson to ensure that SB 1617 passed the legislature.
– As many REALTORS® know, the history of America and Oklahoma is fraught with racial strife, and previous laws and policies on the books fought to keep racial segregation a reality. In many areas of Oklahoma, those policies were literally embedded as covenants to deeds and plats which meant that homeowners agreed not to sell to people of a particular race.
– A plat, or plot of land drawn on a cadastral map, shows who owns the areas of land in each plot and often outlines covenants, conditions, and restrictions for the plot of land by which landowners have agreed to abide.
– Senate Bill 1617 came out of a previous effort to rid deeds of racially restrictive covenants that had been there, in many cases, for decades. HB 2288 was a bill that allowed homeowners to file an addendum that declared those racially restrictive covenants null and void. SB 1617 offers the same mechanism for racially restrictive covenants in the plats where those deeds are contained.
DOWNLOAD SB 1617 INFO SHEET HERE
VIEW THE SB 1617 VIDEO HERE:
