Oklahoma hasn’t gone far enough to solve its compliance problems with the International Registration Plan, says the Illinois Secretary of State.

Illinois has been one of the most critical voices in a long-simmering battle over the way Oklahoma handles first-year registrants. According to IRP rules, a trucker registering for the first time is allowed to estimate mileage for the first year of operation, but some states say Oklahoma has looked the other way when those new truckers file estimates with high mileage in low-fee states and low mileage in high-fee states. Those filings are often handled by third party services that allow out-of-state truckers to use their Oklahoma addresses -- another practice IRP has said is against the rules.
In August an IRP review team found problems with the Oklahoma estimates and the IRP Board subsequently ordered the state to show compliance or face sanctions. Last week the Oklahoma Tax Commission proposed a new system that would allow first-year registrants to estimate mileage if they could document how they arrive at their estimates, or use a mileage chart based on DOT data.
Illinois responded with the following written statement to Truckinginfo.com:
"After two years of spearheading the efforts to bring Oklahoma into compliance with the rules of the International Registration Plan, Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White is gratified to see that a resolution to this problem may be on the horizon. However, a number of questions remain unanswered, including whether the use of the estimated mileage chart will be required of all new applicants, or just those who do not file a ‘business plan.’ An earlier proposal from Oklahoma calling for the use of an estimated mileage chart provided that new registrants who file a business plan would be excused from using the chart. This led to concerns that applicants may file falsified business plans in order to avoid using the estimated mileage chart.
"Other concerns relate to whether the proposed estimated mileage chart sets forth a fair and equitable distribution of estimated mileage for the IRP member jurisdictions. Moreover, in addition to the estimated mileage problems, Oklahoma was also ordered to remedy its violations of the established place of business provisions of the IRP. We have yet to see what steps Oklahoma intends to adopt to address this issue.”
State officials said they hope to resolve those issues when the IRP Board meets in early November.