Oklahoma governor to tribal leaders: Let's make a deal on license plates

Gov. Kevin Stitt told 35 tribal leaders Thursday he would immediately sign license plate compacts with them if they agreed to clear up his top concerns about tribal plates.

Under one of his proposed key terms, tribes would share drivers’ personal information with the state “to ensure public safety and resolve outstanding turnpike toll concerns.” The Oklahoman was provided a copy of Stitt's letter by a tribal official.

Stitt has incorrectly claimed police only have reliable information about drivers with Chickasaw Nation and Choctaw Nation plates and has faulted other tribal nations over Oklahoma’s inability to collect tolls from drivers with their license plates.

Tensions over tags have simmered since last fall and have fueled the latest fraught chapter in tribal relations during Stitt’s time in office. State troopers set off a wave of panic in November after they ticketed at least two drivers who had current plates issued by their tribes.

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

Stitt has urged tribal leaders to sign compacts to clear up any confusion over the validity of their plates. He reiterated his stance at a May 17 press conference, saying tribal citizens are racking up millions of dollars in unpaid tolls because turnpike officials lack their plate information.

The governor’s insistence on compacting doesn’t appear to be gaining much traction, however. Many tribal nations have issued tags to their citizens since the late 1990s without conflict and depend on plate revenues as a key funding stream.

In contrast to some of Stitt’s public remarks, the database used by police to run plates contains tag and registration information from at least 24 tribal nations that do not have plate compacts with Oklahoma, according to the Department of Public Safety. That leaves six tribes out of 34 that do not upload their citizens’ vehicle data into the state law enforcement database.

Tribal leaders have also pointed out that turnpike officials did not make sure Oklahoma’s new cashless tolling system had access to tribal plate data before it was powered on last year.

The governor addressed his new offer letter to every federally recognized tribe in Oklahoma except the Cherokee, Chickasaw and Choctaw nations, the three tribes that already have license plate compacts with the state.

Stitt proposed modeling any new plate agreements on Oklahoma’s recently renewed compacts with the Chickasaw and Choctaw nations, which allow state tag offices to issue plates on their behalf. Service Oklahoma stores tribal citizens’ plate information, which is shared with law enforcement and turnpike authorities. The state remits a portion of the fees paid by tribal citizens back to the tribes.

The governor set out similar terms in his letter to other tribal nations, saying the deal would cover all non-commercial plates issued to a tribe’s citizens for the next 10 years.

“If these terms meet your approval, my counsel stands ready to immediately finalize and circulate the agreed model compact for signatures,” Stitt wrote in the letter, which he apparently meant to address to the top elected officials of 35 tribes.

One of the listed recipients passed away in September, one was voted out of office and a few others represent tribal nations that do not issue plates.

More: Why the future of Oklahoma's car tag compact with the Cherokee Nation is in dispute

The governor’s letter arrived three days after a Seminole Nation tax official told state lawmakers that “one-size-fits-all” license plate compacts likely wouldn’t work for many tribes, including her own.

“We all have different needs,” said Sharon Scott, director of the tribe’s Business and Corporate Regulatory Commission. “We all have different jurisdictions.”

Trevor Pemberton, the governor’s general counsel, said at the same legislative hearing that Stitt’s office had previously sent license plate compact offers to tribes.

Abegail Cave, a spokesperson for the governor, did not respond to questions about the previous offers or clarify whether the letters sent Thursday actually represented the first round of offers.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Amid tensions over tribal tags, Oklahoma governor makes compact offer