Turnpikes; removing authority to revise toll rates; requiring legislative approval for toll increases; effective date.

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STATE OF OKLAHOMA

1st Session of the 60th Legislature (2025)

HOUSE BILL 2097 By: Menz

AS INTRODUCED

An Act relating to turnpikes; amending 69 O.S. 2021,
Section 1711, which relates to tolls; removing
authority to revise toll rates; requiring legislative
approval for toll increases; stating process of
approval or disapproval for toll increases; providing
for codification; and providing an effective date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. AMENDATORY 69 O.S. 2021, Section 1711, is
amended to read as follows:
Section 1711. The Authority, subject to the provisions hereof,
and to Section 2 of this act, is hereby authorized to fix, revise,
charge and collect tolls for the use of each turnpike project and
the different parts or sections thereof, except for use by law
enforcement officers responsible for enforcing the traffic laws and
the general laws of the state and federal governments on turnpikes,
who shall be entitled to free use of every such project in the
performance of official duties connected with such turnpike project,
and to contract with any person, partnership, association or
corporation desiring the use of any part thereof, including the

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right-of-way adjoining the paved portion, for placing thereon
telephone, telegraph, electric light or power lines, gas stations,
garages, stores, hotels, restaurants and advertising signs, or for
any other purpose except for tracks for railroad or railway use, and
to fix the terms, conditions, rents and rates of charges for such
use. Such tolls, subject to the other restrictions hereof, shall be
so fixed and adjusted in respect of the aggregate of tolls from the
turnpike project or projects in connection with which the bonds of
any issue shall have been issued pursuant to Section 2 of this act
as to provide a fund sufficient with other revenues, if any, to pay
(a) the cost of maintaining, repairing, and operating such turnpike
project or projects, and (b) the principal of and the interest of
such bonds as the same shall become due and payable, and to create
reserves for such purposes. The tolls and all other revenues
derived from the turnpike project or projects in connection with
which the bonds of any issue shall have been issued, except such
part thereof as may be necessary to pay such cost of maintenance,
repair, and operation and to provide such reserves therefor as may
be provided for in the resolution authorizing the issuance of such
bonds or in the trust agreement securing the same shall be set aside
at such regular intervals as may be provided in such resolution or
such trust agreement in a sinking fund which is hereby pledged to,
and charged with, the payment of (a) the interest upon such bonds as
such interest shall fall due, (b) the principal of such bonds as the

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same shall fall due, (c) the necessary charges of paying agents for
paying principal and interest, and (d) the redemption price or the
purchase price of bonds retired by call or purchase as therein
provided, which are a charge against such fund. The use and
disposition of monies to the credit of such sinking fund shall be
subject to the provisions of the resolution authorizing the issuance
of such bonds or of such trust agreement. Except as may otherwise
be provided in such resolution or such trust agreement, such sinking
fund shall be a fund for all such bonds without distinction or
priority of one over another. The monies in the sinking fund, less
such reserve as may be provided in such resolution or trust
agreement, if not used within a reasonable time for the purchase of
bonds for cancellation as above provided, shall be applied to the
redemption of bonds at the redemption price then applicable. Any
person who leases, rents, or acquires control of any gas station,
garage, store, hotel, or restaurant must have been a resident of, or
been doing business in, Oklahoma for the past five (5) years.
Notwithstanding anything else herein contained to the contrary, the
Corporation Commission of the State of Oklahoma shall exercise the
jurisdiction now or hereafter vested in it to regulate and control
the operation of motor carriers of passengers and freight, using or
desiring to use any turnpike project, in the manner and to the
extent that it regulates or controls such carriers using the
highways of the state. The Authority shall not discriminate against

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any group or class or individual member thereof in fixing the amount
of toll, rents, or charge for the use of the turnpike project.
SECTION 2. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 1711.1 of Title 69, unless there
is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority shall be required to obtain
legislative approval before increasing toll rates on any turnpikes
in this state. The Legislature shall provide such approval by joint
resolution.
SECTION 3. This act shall become effective November 1, 2025.

60-1-12222 JBH 01/16/25