Oklahoma 2025 2025 Regular Session

Oklahoma Senate Bill SB356 Introduced / Bill

Filed 01/03/2025

                     
 
 
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STATE OF OKLAHOMA 
 
1st Session of the 60th Legislature (2025) 
 
SENATE BILL 356 	By: Boren 
 
 
 
 
 
AS INTRODUCED 
 
An Act relating to the operation of railroads; 
defining terms; prohibiting operation of trains 
exceeding a certain length; creating a civi l penalty; 
providing for certain fine for certain violations; 
allowing for Transportation Commission to request 
Attorney General take certain action; directing 
deposit of certain monies; providing for 
codification; and providing an effective date. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA: 
SECTION 1.     NEW LAW     A new section of law to be codified 
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 104 of Title 66, unless there is 
created a duplication in numbering, reads as fol lows: 
As used in this act: 
1.  “Branch line” means a secondary railroad track that branches 
off from a main line; 
2.  “Main line” means a Class I railroad as documented in 
current timetables filed by the Class I railroad with the Federal 
Railroad Administration under 49 C.F.R. , Section 217.7 when the   
 
 
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railroad has five million (5,000 ,000) or more gross tons of railroad 
traffic transported annually; 
3.  “Railroad” means any form of non -highway ground 
transportation that runs on rails or electromagnetic guidew ays; 
4.  “Train” means one or more locomotives, coupled with or 
without cars, that require an air brake test in accordance with 49 
C.F.R., Part 232 or 238; and 
5.  “Siding or passing track ” means a sidetrack with switches at 
both ends. 
SECTION 2.     NEW LAW     A new section of law to be codified 
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 105 of Title 66, unless there is 
created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows: 
A.  No railroad company operating in this state shall run or 
permit to be run any train that exceeds eight thousand five hundred 
(8,500) feet in length or exceeds the length of the shortest siding 
or passing track on which it travels on any main line or branch 
line, or that routinely or repeatedly blocks any intersection for 
periods exceeding ten (10) minutes at one time. 
B.  Except as provided in subsect ion C of this section, if any 
railroad company has been determined by the Transportation 
Commission as willfully violating subsection A of this section, the 
company shall be liab le for a civil penalty not less than Five 
Hundred Dollars ($500.00) per foot nor more than One Thousand   
 
 
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Dollars ($1,000.00) per foot of the length of a train exceeding the 
limitation set forth in subsection A of this section. 
C.  Any railroad company that commits a grossly negligent 
violation or that has a pattern of repeated violat ions, which the 
Transportation Commission has determined caused an imminent threat 
of death or injury to another person or that caused death or injury 
to another person, shall be subject to a fine not to exceed Two 
Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($250,000.00). 
D.  In determining the amount of a civil penalty under this 
section, the Transportation Commission shall consider the: 
1.  Nature, circumstances, extent, and seriousness of the 
violation; and 
2.  Degree of culpability, history of violations, ability t o 
pay, and any effect on the violator ’s ability to continue to do 
business. 
E.  At the request of the Transportation Commission, the 
Attorney General may initiate a civil action in any court of 
competent jurisdiction to collect any civil penalty imposed pursuant 
to this section.  A civil action under this section shall be 
commenced within three (3) years of the date of the violation or 
within three (3) years of the latest violatio n if a repeated offense 
is alleged.   
 
 
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F.  Any civil penalty received under this section shall be 
deposited in the State Transportation Fund created under Section 
1501.1 of Title 69 of the Oklahoma Statutes. 
SECTION 3.  This act shall become e ffective November 1, 2025. 
 
60-1-1067 MSBB 1/3/2025 4:25:46 PM