An area lawmaker has launched a invoice to create a task force charged with scrutinizing the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority amid ongoing lawsuits towards the company.
State Sen. Rob Standridge, R-Norman, authored Senate Bill 199, which would look at the capabilities of OTA’s “policies, procedures, functions, and expenditures” and “any related issues the task force deems appropriate.”
OTA intends to construct a brand new toll highway alongside Indian Hills Road and one other within the Lake Thunderbird watershed.
Standridge mentioned it was time to arrange a task force as a result of Norman residents face modifications to transportation that overburdens their tax obligations.
“If the turnpikes in Cleveland County go forward, citizens will have to pay a toll any direction they want to go in Cleveland County, which concerns me not just for my district but for the state,” Standridge mentioned. “This is not Delaware, and with our taxes, most importantly our property taxes, constantly rising, I do not think it is necessary to begin charging citizens to drive on our roads.”
Standridge pointed to rising prices of housing and transportation that Oklahomans already face as causes to check what OTA is doing.
“Coming from a humble background, I know challenges of saving to buy a car or a home, and with inflation making car ownership more and more difficult, property taxes quickly becoming equal to a house payment a few years ago — making home ownership a more difficult dream — and now we want to make citizens pay even more tax when they drive on our roads,” Standridge mentioned. “It seems we are going the wrong direction on several fronts.”
If shaped, the task force will consist of 5 members every of the House and Senate as appointed by each the Speaker of the House and Senate Pro Tem.
Amy Cerato, board member of the opposition group, Pike Off OTA, mentioned she was happy to listen to of the proposed invoice.
“We are in favor of any activity that will shed light on the OTA’s questionable operations,” Cerato mentioned. “I have been waiting months to receive information requested through Oklahoma’s Open Record Act. If it takes a legislative task force to wring that information out of them, I’m all for it. It’s time to hold this renegade agency accountable and force them to follow the law.”
Local lawyer Stan Ward, who has mentioned he has been involved with lawmakers for proposed restrictions on OTA’s powers, additionally mentioned he hopes the task force will examine the cash carefully.
He has been important of state legal guidelines that preclude OTA from the Oklahoma Bidding Act and that the company’s proposed bond of $5 billion would whole half the state’s finances at round $10 million.
“The irresponsibility of not having competitive bidding … it doesn’t save money and we have to pay it off,” Ward mentioned.
Why a task force?
The task force invoice follows interim research achieved final 12 months on the request of state Rep. Danny Sterling (R-Tecumseh) and Standridge.
Standridge mentioned the task force is an enormous step up from an interim examine.
“An interim study is often quite political and although sometimes results in legislation being passed it is clearly biased in favor of something and is not an independent, lengthy study such as a task force, which is intended to give serious, thoughtful recommendations that are often heeded and not pushed aside as just a political ploy or the desires of a special interest group,” he mentioned.
Task forces have been efficient earlier than, Standridge mentioned; this one will probably be modeled after the Grand River Dam Authority Task Force.
“It is ongoing for the time of the task force and has the obligation to study the processes of the OTA and give its findings and recommendations to the legislature that they might take action,” Standridge mentioned. “The GRDA task force was quite effective and shows that when the legislature is given recommendations from a task force such as opioid abuse, services for the disabled, etc, that they themselves create, they often listen and follow the recommendations.
“This was the case in the GRDA task force and the two I mention above, and I’m certain many others over the years. These are just three that come to mind during my time.”
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