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Committee advances bill to shift motor-carrier enforcement to DPS; $20 million in fee revenue cited
Summary
House Bill 2603, a task-force product, would move motor-carrier enforcement duties from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to the Department of Public Safety and redirect fee revenue; the committee passed the measure 9-2.
The House Transportation Committee passed House Bill 2603, a measure carried at committee by Representative Parris that stems from a 2023 legislative task force examining motor-carrier enforcement. The committee recorded the bill as passed by a vote of 9-2.
Representative Parris described the bill as the task force’s recommendation to consolidate inspection and enforcement of commercial motor carriers — primarily semi trucks — under the Department of Public Safety (DPS). "This bill is the result of a, task force that the legislature created in 2023 to study, motor carrier enforcement," Parris said, and noted the task force concluded the current process duplicates effort across agencies.
Parris said "currently there's about $20,000,000 that comes into the General Revenue Fund," and the bill would redirect how size-and-weight fee revenues are distributed between the Oklahoma Department of Transportation and DPS during a planned two-year transition. He described the transition period as intended to avoid the implementation problems experienced in other agency transfers.
Committee members questioned fiscal details and procedural changes. Representative Wilt asked if the bill’s shift would change how fines are processed; Parris answered that district attorneys would handle prosecution after the transfer, replacing the current process where Oklahoma Corporation Commission inspectors issue tickets and administrative law judges within OCC hear appeals. "District attorneys would be the ones responsible for prosecuting these cases," Parris said.
The committee recorded a do-pass recommendation and passed the bill on a recorded vote of 9 ayes and 2 nays. The sponsor acknowledged that the bill’s exact fiscal impact was not fully known at the hearing and that the redirection of existing fee revenue would be implemented through the two-year transition.
Speakers who addressed the bill included Representative Parris (sponsor/presenter), and members who asked questions such as Representative Wilt. Committee members Cantrell and Stairs registered votes during the roll call. No amendment was adopted in committee testimony.
