Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt commented for the first time late Monday on his three new agreements with tribal nations, saying the most about one deal in particular: a car tag compact with the Chickasaw Nation.
The compact “ensures Oklahoma law enforcement can confidently identify vehicles on the road and guarantees that our turnpikes can read tribal tags,” the governor said in a statement.
In fact, Oklahoma officials have had information about Chickasaw car tags for a decade. The state issues license plates directly to Chickasaw citizens under the terms of a 2014 agreement. The new compact keeps that arrangement in place.
Still, in his remarks about the new compact, the governor repeated concerns about the state lacking tribal plate data .
“For the safety of all law enforcement, and for tag compacts to be workable, the state must have uninhibited, up-to-date access to driver registration information,” Stitt said, “and this agreement ensures that.”
Abegail Cave, a spokeswoman for the governor, said Stitt was not implying Oklahoma didn’t have the registration information before, “but was highlighting the importance of that provision in the compacts.”