Oklahoma Weather Tracking Licensure Legislation

[Warren Faidley]

Unfortunately I think the public will overwhelmingly support this bill. Most already view TV chasers as deserving of responder status and the "rest of us" as being in the way. Granting responder status to the media doesn't seem practical for the reasons Warren covered, I'd think that part of the bill might be removed. The part requiring credentials to get past roadblocks is more realistic, but won't affect us much unless LEOs start mass-closing roads on chase days. We've rehashed the dangers and impracticalities of that many times though.

There are already press credentials for allowing media to gain access. This is strictly written for emergency vehicle status. Again, who is sponsoring this bill?

 

[gdlewen]

Unfortunately I think the public will overwhelmingly support this. Most already view TV chasers as deserving of responder status and the rest of us as being in the way. Granting responder status to the media doesn't seem practical for the reasons Warren covered, I'd think that part of the bill might be removed. The part requiring credentials to get past roadblocks is more realistic and won't affect us much unless LEOs start mass-closing roads on chase days. We've rehashed the dangers and impracticalities of that many times though.

Someone would have to bring it to the public's attention. Watch for someone to force it into the public consciousness and that will tell you who asked for it.

But marshaling public support for this bill with all the other issues facing Oklahomans will be difficult.

 

[gdlewen]

Yikes: it IS aimed at storm chasers:

https://kfor.com/news/oklahoma-legislature/bill-targets-storm-chasers-with-licensure-requirements/

 

[Warren Faidley]

“There’s no mechanism for storm chasers to act as a first responder,” Sen. Mann said. “A storm chaser would either have to be employed or a part of a college or university that has a meteorological program with a meteorologist or a FCC licensed station that has a meteorology state on staff.”

What a load of crap. Total Gestapo tactics. I'd like to remind him that I've responded to multiple Oklahoma disasters and assisted as an EMT - like many chasers have done. I dare him to arrest me as a working journalist. We have something called the "First Amendment." Attempting to license the media for a $500.00 fee is insane.

 

[gdlewen]

The bill's sponsor, Mann, was just elected to the Senate for the first last November. In Oklahoma, bill titles are due by 12/6, which gave him less than a month to come up with bills to sponsor. The final text is due in early January. It just doesn't make sense this was his priority during the campaign, so my guess is someone requested the bill and probably wrote it for him.

 

[gdlewen]

The actual bill doesn't have any provisions to get non-responders (amateurs) off of the roads, though the bill's *author* says that's part of the goal? I guess that's politics for you.

I braved social media tonight to see if any tidbits could be gleaned from the chatter, and it appears that some clarifying language/edits are coming on Monday.

https://www.facebook.com/StormchaserAdamMcAdoo/posts/pfbid02zJ181mJ1hdpDieBeYY9exBrosCfTJ2GVymuHSiNfYmHffVt47BcphkjZDYa3L2Ppl

According to KFOR (see link above)

"Sen. Mann says safety is the focal point of this bill, aiming to get amateurs off the roads and allow professional storm chasers to act as emergency responders."

He may misunderstand his own bill (which is more common than you'd hope), or may have misspoke, or may have been misquoted. But I think it would be a mistake to assume this legislation could not be used, down the road, to restrict how non-licensed storm trackers view or study storms. As several in this thread have pointed out, local jurisdictions can use the legal definition of licensed storm tracker to restrict movement of the public in the vicinity of significant weather events. Once it's defined in the law, the definition can legally be used to differentiate between public and licensed trackers.

 

[Matt Zumbrunn]

Looks to me like a TV station was tired of getting scooped, so they asked this guy to float this bill so they can run "cherries and berries" storm to storm and cut through the amateur hoardes.

 

[JamesCaruso]

According to KFOR (see link above)

"Sen. Mann says safety is the focal point of this bill, aiming to get amateurs off the roads and allow professional storm chasers to act as emergency responders."

He may misunderstand his own bill (which is more common than you'd hope), or may have misspoke, or may have been misquoted.

Maybe (hopefully) by “off the roads” he just meant in the context of roads that have been closed off, not off the roads in general…

But I think it would be a mistake to assume this legislation could not be used, down the road, to restrict how non-licensed storm trackers view or study storms. As several in this thread have pointed out, local jurisdictions can use the legal definition of licensed storm tracker to restrict movement of the public in the vicinity of significant weather events. Once it's defined in the law, the definition can legally be used to differentiate between public and licensed trackers

True enough, but seems impractical for LEO to use it this way even if they wanted to. They can’t patrol huge areas and start pulling over every unmarked vehicle. I think they will have little incentive or ability to influence things outside of establishing roadblocks, which was already relatively rare and no reason to think the practice will increase. LEO can’t be everywhere, especially in the most rural areas, dirt road grids, etc.

 

[JamesCaruso]

If worst comes to worst, one solution is not chasing in OK anymore. It sucks anyway. The whole eastern half of the state has no better terrain than where I live in southeastern Pennsylvania. The best combination of roads and terrain is in the southwestern quadrant of the state and you have to worry about storms tracking northeast toward metro OKC, or southeast toward the Red River with its valley terrain and lack of river crossings. For me personally, OK is my least favorite place to chase. I put it behind Kansas, Colorado, Texas, probably even behind Nebraska and New Mexico.

 

[JamesCaruso]

One thing I haven’t seen mentioned - what about tour groups? I don’t see them as fitting into any of the categories for licensure as outlined in the current draft of the bill. ChatGPT agrees:

“The language of SB 158 specifically ties licensure to severe weather trackers employed by a “qualified media outlet.” The bill requires applicants to provide a letter from the chief meteorologist of their affiliated media organization.

Would Storm Chasing Tour Groups Qualify?


It appears unlikely that most storm chasing tour operators would qualify for this licensure unless they are directly affiliated with a media organization that meets the bill’us criteria. Most tour groups operate as independent businesses catering to paying customers, not as media personnel producing weather coverage for broadcast.


Key Barriers for Tour Operators Seeking Licensure:


1. Lack of Media Affiliation: Unless a tour operator is directly employed by a recognized news or weather outlet, they would not meet the bill’s requirement for a letter from a chief meteorologist.


2. Licensing Fees & Insurance Requirements: Tour operators already carry commercial insurance, but they would also have to meet the specific licensing and background check requirements outlined in the bill.


3. Emergency Vehicle Designation: Even if tour operators were licensed, it’sunclear whether their vehicles would qualify as emergency vehicles, given that their primary purpose is tourism rather than emergency response or media coverage.


What This Means for Tour Groups:


-Tour groups will likely continue operating as before, without the emergency vehicle designation or special road access that licensed chasers may receive.


-Unless Oklahoma amends the bill to include commercial tour operators, they will remain outside the scope of professional licensure under SB 158.


-Since roadblocks already applied to all non-emergency personnel (including tour operators), the practical impact of this bill on storm chasing tours should be minimal.


Conclusion:


As written, the bill does not extend licensure to storm chasing tour groups. If tour operators seek recognition under this law, they may need to lobby for an amendment or establish partnerships with media organizations to qualify. However, for now, their status remains unchanged: they can still chase storms but won’t receive the privileges granted to licensed professionals under this bill.

 

[Jesse Risley]

And who decides what is "media" or "research?"

The law attempts to define that in a manner that, as laws typically do, allows the state to create and enforce its own definition. I noticed that they broadened it to likely include people that would be broadcasting to large audiences on venues like YouTube.

 

[Sean Ramsey]

If something like this were to pass, however unlikely, it would sprout tentacles over time as issues arise. Could definitely be used as a gateway law to gain control over situations that nobody is able to do right now, e.g. Kingfisher 2010, Mangum 2019 and Hinton 2024 convergences.

 

[Warren Faidley]

It's very unlikely out of state interests would qualify for "licensing." This would trigger lawsuits, including one from me on day one. As Sean said, this bill would "sprout tentacles." Other states would emulate the legislation. I'm also concerned about Mann's comments that law enforcement would "interpret" and "enforce" the law on their own. Great. Every small town Barney Fife would be just itching to lock up any unlicensed chaser.

I have seen curious comments by some YouTube chasers noting that they would "not" be affected. I am wondering how they already know this? Is there insider information provided by the sponsors of this bill? Would YouTube chasers be considered "media" or "research?" I can just imagine some of the more aggressive live chasers running code-3 with light bars.

As for tour groups, they better get on the band wagon to defeat this bill. Under the law, they are not "media" or "research" qualified.

 

[Greg McLaughlin]

My guess is that this bill will die in committee, but who really knows. Apparently the author of the bill doesn't even know, as what he is on the record saying doesn't match the language of the bill. While I am a media chaser in Oklahoma, I am against this. First off, storm chasing doesn't pay a lot. and I don't want to fork out $500, then $250 annually just so I can chase spinning water vapor. Plus having a licensing number on my vehicle is really lame. It sounds like typical government overreach where the bill is ambiguous in what good it will actually serve while laying a foundation for more overreach in the future. To me, this bill would be the beginning of a slippery slope to "ban" storm chasing. Once they have established language defining what constitutes as a professional, then goodbye independent and amateur chasers. I still don't know how they would enforce a storm chasing ban, but there are plenty of LEO who would love to do so.

 

[William Monfredo]

one solution is not chasing in OK anymore. It sucks anyway.

Objection, inflammatory. Sustained.

As for tour groups, they are not "media" or "research" qualified.

Good point, probably not emergency, either.