STATE OF OKLAHOMA

1st Session of the 53rd Legislature (2011)

HOUSE BILL 1036	By:	Sears

AS INTRODUCED

An Act relating to roads, bridges and ferries; amending 69 O.S. 2001, Section 1711, which relates to turnpikes; exempting the funeral processions of certain active duty military personnel from paying tolls; providing for codification; and declaring an emergency.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1.     AMENDATORY     69 O.S. 2001, Section 1711, is amended to read as follows:
Section 1711.  The Except as provided in Section 2 of this act, the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority, subject to the provisions hereof, 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 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 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 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 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:
A.  The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority shall not charge tolls for the use of any turnpike by the following:
1.  Law enforcement officers responsible for enforcing the traffic laws and the general laws of the state and federal governments on turnpikes who use the turnpike in the performance of official duties connected with such turnpike project; or
2.  Funeral processions for a funeral of a member of the Armed Forces of the United States who has been killed in action in a United States Department of Defense designated combat zone.
B.  The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority shall promulgate any rules necessary to administer the purposes of this section.
SECTION 3.  It being immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an emergency is hereby declared to exist, by reason whereof this act shall take effect and be in full force from and after its passage and approval.

53-1-5091	CJB	12/07/10