Congratulations on being selected for Oklahoma Farm Bureau’s Capitol Camp! To ensure your Capitol Camp experience is as robust and realistic as possible, all students should submit a piece of mock legislation before arriving at camp. This is the legislation you will discuss, lobby for and vote upon throughout the two days.
All bills begin with an idea. Big or small, ideas range from naming official state symbols (such as the Scissortail Flycatcher) to large-scale reforms (ex. healthcare). Bills can create new laws or amend existing laws. Many ideas are reused, modified, or sometimes tossed entirely.
For the purposes of Capitol Camp, it is best to keep bills one to three pages in length in order to keep floor work moving in a timely manner. Amendatory bills may be an exception to this guideline, though it is recommended to explain what is being modified in the existing language rather than the original bill in its entirety.
Don’t sweat it.
What most people don’t know is that legislators have a whole team of bill writers at the Capitol. Legislators come to the bill writers with an idea to be written, filed, and approved before each legislative session begins.
In other words, don’t worry about your bill’s language being perfect. However, the way certain language is interpreted by those who read the bills does have an impact.
The easiest way to start your bill is by gaining familiarity with legislative “lingo.” The best way to do this is by reading existing legislation.
The Oklahoma State Legislature website is a great resource for bill research. To peruse existing legislation, go to the “Legislation” tab. If you have a bill number in mind, you can use the “Basic Bill Search.”
If you want to explore topics in general, go to the “Advanced Bill Search.” Here you can browse by subject, committees, or authors. “SB” stands for Senate Bill and “HB” stands for House Bill. Once you select a bill, under the “Versions” tab, you can see how the bill evolved over its legislative session.
Click on “Introduced” to view the original bill – these are what we will work with at Capitol Camp, and the template new bills should follow. Click on “Enrolled (final version)” to view the most recent bill version.
Sample Bill
SB2159 Sample BillNeed help?
If you have questions about your bill or just want to visit with a student who has attended Capitol Camp before, feel free to contact one of the mentor students listed in your acceptance email. All of these students are previous Capitol Camp attendees, and they would be happy to help you with any questions you have about bill ideas, formatting, etc.
There will also be a Zoom call on Wednesday, August 12, for any student wanting to get real-time questions answered about their bill or the submission process.
Legislation Development Zoom Meeting
Wednesday, August 12
8 p.m.
https://okfb.news/3S8Bxg4
Password: 2026
2026 Capitol Camp Legislation Submission
Use the form below to submit your bill for Capitol Camp. The information you submit will be formatted into a final bill for use during Capitol Camp.
A sample final bill format is shown below for your reference. Students only need to submit the information directly requested in the submission form. All other information and text will be added by OKFB staff.
Sample Bill Format
Bill Template With Fields