Gov. Kevin Stitt wants Oklahoma to print tribal license plates. Some aren't buying it

Gov. Kevin Stitt and some Oklahoma legislative leaders want more tribes to let the state issue their license plates to gain direct access to tribal citizens’ car tag and registration information.

But a Seminole Nation tax official cautioned the Legislature’s Joint State Tribal Relations Committee that such arrangements aren’t realistic for every tribe.

“Compacts aren’t a one-size-fits-all for all tribal nations,” said Sharon Scott, who directs the tribe’s Business and Corporate Regulatory Commission. “We all have different needs. We all have different jurisdictions.”

Monday’s hearing was the first time the tribal relations committee had met since Stitt ramped up his criticism of tribal tags, which he has framed as public safety nightmares. The governor has repeatedly claimed, as recently as Friday, that officers only have access to information about vehicles with Chickasaw Nation and Choctaw Nation plates, because the state issues those tags under the terms of current compacts.

But Scott told lawmakers that Oklahoma police have access to most tribes’ plate information, even though the state does not print their plates or have active car tag compacts with them. Twenty-seven of the 33 tribes that issue plates share vehicle information every day with a statewide law enforcement database, said Scott, who also chairs a statewide intertribal tax group. At least two of the six tribes that aren’t part of the database make their vehicle information available to police in other ways, she said.

Moving to a system where the state takes over issuing plates would not work for the Seminole Nation, Scott said. The rural tribe and many others rely on motor-vehicle revenues to provide programs and services for their citizens, including road improvements and school grants that help everyone in the community, she said.

More: An Oklahoma trooper ticketed a driver over her tribal license plate. What happened next?

Two tickets over Oklahoma tribal tags ignited controversy in November

Stitt has mounted a public campaign for tribal officials to sign on to such arrangements since November, when he backed state troopers who had ticketed at least two drivers with tribal tags. Officers claimed the drivers lived outside of their tribes’ jurisdiction and should have had state plates.

While those tickets were eventually dropped, they set off a whirlwind of controversy. Stitt has said compacts would be an easy way to clear up the confusion. He has also described tribal tags as revenue drains because the state’s toll pass readers can only read Chickasaw Nation and Choctaw Nation plates.

Under the state’s agreements with those tribes, Chickasaw and Choctaw citizens purchase their plates and renew their registration through state tag offices, and Oklahoma eventually remits a portion of the fees back to the tribes. The Turnpike Authority can use tribal citizens’ plate information to collect tolls.

Stitt agreed to renew the Chickasaw and Choctaw compacts earlier this year. The state tribal relations committee voted to formally approve the agreements Monday.

Trevor Pemberton, Stitt’s general counsel, said at the hearing that the governor’s office had offered similar terms to other tribes but did not go into specifics.

More: Oklahoma tribes need more money for policing, Cherokee, Muscogee officials tell Congress

“We like the compacts so much with the Chickasaw and Choctaw nations that we believe that these would make good model compacts for others moving forward,” Pemberton said.

Abegail Cave, a spokesperson for Stitt, did not respond to questions about when the offers were made or how the offers had been received.

Sen. Brent Howard, R-Altus, who chairs the joint committee, said he believed similar agreements would benefit both the state and other tribes.

“I do somewhat agree that they are compacts that we would like to see all other nations enter into with the state, or at least some form or fashion of these,” he said.

The only other car tag compact Oklahoma currently has on the books is an agreement with the Cherokee Nation. That deal is set to expire at the end of the year. Pemberton said Monday that negotiations are ongoing.

The Cherokee Nation operates its own tag agencies, and Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. has described retaining the current structure as essential to any future compact.

Drivers with Cherokee plates have millions in unpaid tolls, Gov. Stitt says

Stitt said during a press conference Friday that he wanted to reach an agreement, in large part because he wants to ensure the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority can begin charging drivers with Cherokee plates. Those drivers have racked up more than $5 million in unpaid tolls in the last eight months, he said.

Scott said state and tribal officials met last fall to begin working through the toll reader issue. She said many tribal leaders supported sharing plate information in exchange for some portion of toll revenues, similar to deals that already exist between Oklahoma and other states, she said.

However, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority said Tuesday that no such revenue-share deals exist.

"OTA has direct agreements with some states to provide their vehicle registration information to the agency for the governmental purpose of collecting a toll," Lisa Shearer-Salim said in an email. "OTA also uses third-party vendors to gather this information from states."

Talks between tribal leaders and turnpike officials broke down after state police began issuing tickets tied to tribal tags and have not resumed, Scott said.

House Floor Leader Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City, said he was disheartened to hear that no progress had been made in recent months and warned that lawmakers may consider a legislative fix next year if necessary. Echols terms out of office at the end of this year.

The legislative hearing was the second discussion about state-tribal relations in the Capitol on Monday. The governor's One Oklahoma Task Force — formed to improve public safety on tribal reservations — met briefly to approve its final report. Public Safety Secretary Tricia Everest, who chairs the task force, declined to release a draft copy of the report after the meeting and said the final version would be released before the June 1 deadline handed down by the governor.

It's unclear how much traction the recommendations outlined in the report will gain. No representative of a tribal nation has been involved in the task force, which met several times this spring.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to add comments from the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority.

Molly Young covers Indigenous affairs. Reach her at mollyyoung@gannett.com or 405-347-3534.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Controversy over tribal tags flares at Oklahoma legislative hearing