Oklahoma Turnpike Authority: Born in Broken Promises
The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority: Born in broken promises
- 1954: Oklahoma citizens voted to build turnpikes that would be free to drive once their bonds were paid off.
- 1955: The legislators and lobbyists (without citizen buy-in) changed the language to allow cross-pledging.
When the Oklahoma people voted in 1954 to approve SQ359 and SQ360 they never expected their grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren would still be paying tolls on those same turnpikes decades later. The state questions they voted on included a provision that the turnpikes would become part of the state highway system after the turnpike bonds were paid.
Note a 1954 newspaper encouraging people to vote “YES Turnpikes” which includes the promise in the lower-right corner of “When the road’s paid for it belongs to you!”
Section 9 of State Question 360 was codified after passage as 69 O.S. 1951, § 667, and included the following text (page 9):
When all bonds issued under the provisions of this article and the interest thereon shall have been paid or a sufficient amount for the payment of all such bonds and the interest thereon to the maturity thereof shall have been set aside in trust for the benefit of the bondholders, such projects, if then in good condition and repair to the satisfaction of the Commission, shall become part of the state highway system and shall thereafter be maintained by the Commission free of tolls.
But the “free of tolls” promise that the Oklahoma citizens voted for was removed one short year later. In 1955, the legislature passed HB 933* which introduced cross-pledging and created a method of revolving debt. This allows the OTA to continue to collect tolls in perpetuity.
Oklahoma citizens never voted for eternal tolls.
The turnpike authority propagates the myth that the Oklahoma people voted for eternal turnpike debt, but that is an inaccurate claim.
OTA’s website attempts to answer the question of “Why is the Turner Turnpike not free?” with the following imprecise response:
The financial structure of the turnpike system is based on cross-pledging. Revenues of all turnpikes are combined across the system. The total debt is based on the entire system and not on an individual turnpike within the system. Cross-pledging was approved by a referendum vote of the people in 1954 for the purpose of financing the construction of other key turnpikes.
Cross-pledging was never approved by a vote of the people.
Read more at:
Who is the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority Part 1 and Part 2.
*Important note: There was a HB933 in 1953 and a HB933 in 1955. These two house bills had different authors and despite the duplication in number were distinctly different bills.
The reason that two different bills (both relating to turnpikes) had the same number is lost to history. Coincidence? Maybe. Done intentionally with the intent to cause confusion? Very possible, especially when reflecting on the behavior of the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority in the intervening years.