27 of the 33 tribes that issue their own tags currently share their information with the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, also known as OLETS.OKLAHOMA CITY — A handful of Oklahoma-based tribes are refusing to share their tag information with law enforcement amid ongoing anger and frustration over an abrupt change in how state law enforcement is enforcing license plate policies for Indigenous residents.The Department of Public Safety’s sudden decision to ticket Oklahoma drivers with tribal vehicle tags but reside outside their tribe’s official boundaries also helped derail negotiations with the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority, said Sharon Scott, president of the Oklahoma Intertribal Tax Association.Some tribal leaders are frustrated over a “combative” relationship with the Turnpike Authority, Scott said. The agency has struggled to bill some Indigenous motorists that have tribal tags because it cannot access vehicle registration information.Some smaller tribes, meanwhile, don’t view the one-size-fits-all model vehicle compacts being pushed by the governor as a solution to solve the information-sharing problem. The loss of tax commission revenue would be harmful to smaller tribes as it is one of the largest revenue streams.“Compacts aren’t a one-size fits all for all tribal nations,” said Scott, who also serves as executive director of the Seminole Nation Business and Corporate Regulatory Commission, which is essentially the tax commission for the tribe.Scott made the remarks at the Joint Committee on State-Tribal Relations meeting Monday where lawmakers approved new motor vehicle registration and license tag compacts with the Chickasaw and Choctaw nations.Trevor Pemberton, an attorney for Gov. Kevin Stitt, said the three tribes are the only ones to have motor vehicle compacts, though Stitt’s office has offered to enter into model compacts with a number of others. The Cherokee Nation’s existing compact is set to expire at the end of the year and is currently being renegotiated.Scott said 27 of the 33 tribes that issue their own tags currently share their information with the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, also known as OLETS. She did not name the six tribes that are not participating in the statewide system that facilitates a formal exchange of information between law enforcement agencies. It contains information like driving records and criminal histories.She said when news broke in November that DPS had started enforcing the plate violations, the six tribes no longer wanted to discuss participating in the statewide database. Scott said two tribes fundamentally do not want to share their ...
