Corporation Commissioners urge legislators to vote down two bills

 

With a unanimous vote this week, Oklahoma Corporation Commissioners launched a campaign to urge state legislators to vote down two bills the commissioners say would be harmful to the agency, the state’s infrastructure and the motoring public.

The vote was 3-0 and not 2-1 by commissioners as OK Energy Today originally reported, a vote taken against SB691 and SB617.

Letters were sent immediately to all legislators urging them to vote down the two measures. Both bills were authored by Sen. Mark Allen, Spiro and Rep. Avery Frix, Muskogee and would strip the commission of its entire motor carrier enforcement program.

Senate Bill 617, according to a spokesman for the Corporation Commission is “a takeover by DPS of the entire motor carrier program.” Senate Bill 691 would defund the enforcement program starting July, 2021.

Letters signed by all three corporation commissioners included bold lettered headlines with one stating “Please VOTE NO on SB691” and “Please VOTE NO on SB617.”

“After careful review of SB 691 and knowledge of the program in question, the Commissioners determined serious action is
warranted,” stated the letter referencing SB691.

The letter claimed the bill would have “unintended consequences” hampering enforcement and increasing risk for infrastructure damage and driving public. It charged the bill would also remove more than $5 million a year in money generated and used by the OCC’s enforcement.

Commissioners explained the bill would transfer funding to the Oklahoma Department of Transportation’s Weigh State Improvement Fund but would resulted in less money for the ODOT program.
“If programs were to continue at current operation, enforcement funding would have to come from the Oklahoma taxpayer, rather than the motor carrier industry,” stated the letter.

The second letter, one pertaining to SB617 urged a no vote to protect the state’s multi-billion dollar investment in its infrastructure.

Commissioners told legislators the measure would force taxpayers to pay for what is a now a self-funded enforcement program by eliminating the system using fine revenue from violators to fund enforcement.

They also complained that the measure, if allowed to become law would enable motor carriers to ignore weigh station inspections by “removing weigh station officers’ ability to stop trucks that fail to pull into weigh stations.”

The letter also charged that SB617 would end all road-side enforcement by weigh station officers and result in $7.7 million in one-time costs to the state, $5.1 million in added costs to the Department of Public Safety and $856,000 in added costs to ODOT.