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STATE OF OKLAHOMA
1st Session of the 59th Legislature (2023)
HOUSE BILL 2253 By: Burns
AS INTRODUCED
An Act relating to motor vehicles; amending 47 O.S.
2021, Section 156, which relates to automobiles owned
by the state; authorizing the purchase of certain
trucks; and providing an effective da te.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. AMENDATORY 47 O.S. 2021, Section 156, is
amended to read as follows:
Section 156. A. Unless otherwise provided for by law, no state
board, commission, department, institution, official, or employee,
except the following, shall purchase any pa ssenger automobile or bus
with public funds:
1. The Department of P ublic Safety;
2. The Department of Hum an Services;
3. The State Department of Rehabilitation Services;
4. The Department of Wildlife Conservation;
5. The Department of Corrections;
6. The State Department of Education;
7. The Oklahoma School of Scien ce and Mathematics;
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8. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs
Control;
9. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation;
10. The Transportation Commission;
11. The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry;
12. The State Department of Health;
13. The Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse
Services;
14. The J.D. McCarty Center for Children with Developmental
Disabilities;
15. The Military Depart ment of the State of Oklahoma;
16. The Oklahoma Tourism and Recreat ion Department;
17. The Oklahoma Conse rvation Commission;
18. The Oklahoma Water Resources B oard;
19. The Department of Mines;
20. The Office of Juvenile Affairs;
21. The Oklahoma Dep artment of Veteran Veterans Affairs;
22. The Oklahoma Supreme Court;
23. The District Attorneys Council a nd Oklahoma district
attorneys, provided adequate fundi ng exists;
24. The Oklahoma Boll Weevil Eradication Organization; and
25. The Oklahoma Horse Racing C ommission.
B. 1. The Oklahoma School for the Deaf at Sulphur, the
Oklahoma School for the Blind at Muskogee, and any state institution
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of higher education may purchase, own, or keep if now owned, or
acquire by lease or gift, and use and maintain such sta tion wagons,
automobiles, trucks, or buses as are reasonably necessa ry for the
implementation of the educational programs of said institutions.
2. No bus operated, owned, or used by such educational
institutions shall be permitted to carry any person othe r than
students, faculty members, employees, or volunteers of such
institutions. The provisions o f this section shall not be construed
to prohibit:
a. the operation of intracampus buses or buses routed
directly between portions of the campus of any
institution not adjacent to each other, nor to
prohibit the collection of fares from such students,
faculty members, or employees of such institutions,
sufficient in amount to cover the reasonable cost of
such transportation, or
b. the Oklahoma School for the Bl ind or the Oklahoma
School for the Deaf from entering into agreement s with
local public school dis tricts pursuant to the
Interlocal Cooperation Act for t he mutual use of the
schools' and the districts' vehicles. Such use may
include, but is not limited to , the transportation of
students from local school districts with st udents
from the Oklahoma Schoo l for the Blind or the Oklahoma
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School for the Deaf in vehicles owned by the Oklahoma
School for the Blind or the Oklahoma School for the
Deaf when traveling to school-related activities.
C. The J.D. McCarty Center for Childr en with Developmental
Disabilities, the Oklahoma Department of Libraries, the Oklahom a
Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Oklahoma Veterans Centers
may own and maintain such passenger vehicles as those institutions
have acquired prior to May 1, 1981.
D. The Oklahoma Historical So ciety may purchase light -duty
trucks weighing eight tho usand five hundred (8,500) pounds or less
to use at state facilities in order to equip vehicles as necessary
to maintain historic properties and sites. Such use may include,
but is not limited to, the transportation of livestock and hauling
of heavy equipment.
E. The use of station wagons, automobiles, and buses, other
than as provided for in this section, shall be permitted only upon
written request for such use by heads of departments of the
institution, approved in writing by the president of sai d
institution or by some administrative official of said institution
authorized by the president to grant said approval. Such use shall
be permitted only for o fficial institutional business or activi ties
connected therewith. Such use shall be subject to the provisions of
Section 156.1 of this title forbidding personal use of such
vehicles, and to the penalties therein declared.
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E. F. Any person convicted of vio lating the provisions of this
section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by
fine or imprisonment, or both, as provided for in Section 156.1 of
this title.
F. G. For the purpose of this section and Section 156.3 of this
title, a station wagon is classified as a passenger automobil e and
may not be purchased solely for the use of t ransporting property.
Such vehicles shall include, but not be limited to, all vehicles
which have no separate luggage compartment or trunk , but which do
not have open beds, whether the same are called stati on wagons,
vans, suburbans, town and country, blaz ers, or any other names. All
state boards, commissions, departments, and institutions may own and
maintain station wagons purchased solely for the purpose of
transporting property if acquired prior to July 1, 1985.
G. H. The provisions of this section an d Section 156.1 of this
title shall not apply to public officials who are statewide elected
commissioners.
SECTION 2. This act shall become effec tive November 1, 2023.
59-1-7029 LRB 01/05/23