Turnpike toll bill to tax all motorists with tribal plates fails to pass in state legislature

Written By: Braden Harper

(OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.) An Oklahoma State Senate bill that would have imposed turnpike tolls on motorists who operate vehicles with tribal tags failed to pass through the public safety committee on Wednesday, March 15. Senate Bill 675 was originally introduced in the senate on Jan. 15 and was engrossed in the house on March 26. The bill includes language that would have given the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority the ability to access vehicle owner registration from the Department of Safety if that information was not already provided by another sovereign jurisdiction. The state claims it has lost millions of dollars in unpaid tolls by tribal citizens who are enrolled in tribes who are not compacted with the state. 

Read this story on Mvskoke Media here. 

Section F of SB 675 states:

Unless vehicle owner registration information is made available to the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority through a registering agency of this state or any other state, territory, district, province, nation, or other jurisdiction that permits access to such information upon request or by agreement, the Department of Public Safety may provide the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority with vehicle owner registration information within this state that is available through the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Telecommunication Systems network. This provision shall only apply for the purpose of toll collection for vehicles identified by the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority’s video toll collection system.

This comes just nine days after the state’s tobacco compact extension with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation expired on March 31. According to Press Secretary Jason Salsman, the Nation is still in talks to reach an agreement. The state already has a license tag agreement with Cherokee Nation, Chickasaw Nation and Choctaw Nation.

During a press conference, Governor Kevin Stitt expressed his concerns over the bill. According to Stitt, he believes all residents of the state should be required to pay tolls.

“The fact that you have the Muscogee Creeks that have killed this bill, because they want to drive on the turnpikes for free, I think Oklahomans find that disgusting, I think Oklahomans find that ridiculous,” Governor Stitt said. “We have a compact with the Cherokees, with the Choctaws, with the Chickasaws, we know who the tags belong to, they’re just like Oklahomans, it’s the same billing process. Listen, nobody likes paying turnpike fees, let’s make them free for everybody. But I can’t be a fair governor to say ‘you’re going to pay a fee to drive on the turnpike, but theirs is free’.”

MCN Principal Chief David Hill released a public response to Governor Stitt’s comments. According to Chief Hill, the turnpikes that run through the Mvskoke Reservation should have never been constructed in the first place without consultation from the Nation:

More divisive and ignorant rhetoric from the Governor. It’s not the first time we’ve heard this, trust me.
‘Indians get everything for free! Indians don’t pay taxes! They get free college!’ And now, it seems the new one ‘The Creeks want to drive on the turnpikes for free!’ The same turnpikes that were built on our Reservations? That bear our names? That we were never consulted during their concept or construction? Never mind that we receive zero percentage on the collection of tolls.
If we wanted to drive the turnpikes for free, we wouldn’t have an entire fleet of tribal vehicles, that get their Pike Pass first thing. We wouldn’t have thousands of tribal citizens with Pike Passes. The killing of SB 675 is a win for tribal consultation, and a loss for authoritarian, one-size-fits-all state and tribal governance. We’re thrilled that there are many who see the value of this and want to work together on real issues and not be divided by false narratives and politics.

Governor Stitt claimed that the matter of unpaid turnpike tolls was a racial issue that is unfair to fellow Oklahomans who do not drive vehicles with tribal tags.

“I think this is a 95, or 98 or 99 percent issue with Oklahomans. The turnpike should not be based on race, it shouldn’t be based on where you live in the state, it shouldn’t be based on what tag you have on your car. Everyone that drives the turnpike should pay the same amount.”

To read SB 675 in its entirety, visit the Oklahoma State legislature’s website, oklegislature.gov.