Oklahoma Weather Tracking Licensure Legislation

[Warren Faidley]

The main reason the bill failed was the language allowing selected media, researchers and eventually "favorites" to run as emergency vehicles. DOT and OHP wanted no part of that. I don't want to supply a blueprint, but there are more creative ways to thin the herds, if that is their true intentions. It will be interesting to see if other states take action.

 

[Ken Perrin]

Chase tour operators are also more likely to take less-risky chances than "extreme" chasers and there are far fewer of them than non-tour chasers, so why would the OK pols single-out that particular class of storm chaser? T

Maybe because the Chase Tour operators are easy to identify and single out? And are less likely to claim 1st Amendment free press rights than streamers and eMedia extreme chasers? Just a couple of "off the top of my head" thoughts.

My "dog in this hunt", is that I am a "local spotter/observer", affiliated with and in contact with both my county OEM, and WFO, I mostly sit in one place with good views, and multiple escape routes. My objective is to give the earliest warning possible to my neighbors, I'm not worried about getting photos/videos (though if I can get a barely focused cellphone shot, after sounding the alarm, and making sure that I am safe, great and wonderful).
I'm in the western Ozarks where our terrain, trees, and non-grid road network are not conducive to most chasers' styles and techniques, though I worry about them clogging up the area roads and getting underfoot. I am more concerned about TV media people being given the authority to shutdown and block roads.

 

[Warren Faidley]

The original argument for the bill was to "reduce the number of amateur chasers," as stated by one of the Senators. Everyone except for selected, in-state media, researchers and a few popular chasers would be considered as "amateurs." Yes, targeting vans full of tourists would be an easy way to argue the bill would be effective.

Looking back, I'm even more convinced this bill would have been a total disaster. The roads are already filled with insanity. Altering traffic flow would have forced people into serious, unplanned situations, with escape routes cut off and enraged chasers driving even crazier to keep up with storms.

 

[Hannah.Taylor]

lol.... was just going to post this myself, thanks.

What a load of poop. This is the ultimate Gestapo attempt to stop storm chasing. First of all, I do not believe you can "license" or limit access to news events under the First Amendment. What are they going to do? Block roads and check for your chasing license? Arrest you and haul your ass to prison if you don't have a chasing license?

This topic is obviously going to ignite a fire storm.

View attachment 26705

They're gonna have their hands full with 1A legal challenges on this one.

Anyone documents an event is a journalist. Whether for pay or not. Any person with a camera is a photojournalist. Especially if they have a blog, website or social media page dedicated to it.

The Press "publishes" things. If you post a photo of a tornado and a description/paragraph/article/blog on the internet or in a newspaper...by definition that is an event that has been "published". Therefore anyone with the means (internet, camera, laptop) can be the press, a journalist or a photojournalist.

Who Is a 'Journalist?' An Evolving Definition

The First Amendment protects freedom of the press but doesn’t specify who exactly "the press" is. What makes a journalist a journalist?

www.freedomforum.org

 

[gdlewen]

They're gonna have their hands full with 1A legal challenges on this one.

Anyone documents an event is a journalist. Whether for pay or not. Any person with a camera is a photojournalist. Especially if they have a blog, website or social media page dedicated to it.

The Press "publishes" things. If you post a photo of a tornado and a description/paragraph/article/blog on the internet or in a newspaper...by definition that is an event that has been "published". Therefore anyone with the means (internet, camera, laptop) can be the press, a journalist or a photojournalist.

Who Is a 'Journalist?' An Evolving Definition

The First Amendment protects freedom of the press but doesn’t specify who exactly "the press" is. What makes a journalist a journalist?

www.freedomforum.org

None this matters to Fetgatter. He was asked during a hearing on the bill about legal challenges based on this sort of argument and replied with words to the effect that such questions would be sorted out later, because "that's what the courts are for".

I remember reading an interview with a well-known OH US Representative (it has since been scrubbed so I can't post a link), who was asked why Congress passes laws it knows are unconstitutional. His response was that they know it takes years to settle those questions, if the laws are even challenged.

It's best to stop these things on the "way in".

 

[Hannah.Taylor]

None this matters to Fetgatter. He was asked during a hearing on the bill about legal challenges based on this sort of argument and replied with words to the effect that such questions would be sorted out later, because "that's what the courts are for".

I remember reading an interview with a well-known OH US Representative (it has since been scrubbed so I can't post a link), who was asked why Congress passes laws it knows are unconstitutional. His response was that they know it takes years to settle those questions, if the laws are even challenged.

It's best to stop these things on the "way in".

This is the whole problem with our system. Politicians who have a blatant disregard for our Constitution and the Constitutional Rights of citizens should be removed from office and permanently barred from holding ANY office ever again.

 

[gdlewen]

This is the whole problem with our system. Politicians who have a blatant disregard for our Constitution and the Constitutional Rights of citizens should be removed from office and permanently barred from holding ANY office ever again.

We're supposed to vote them out.... But since most people don't vote, our only real safeguard against bad government is rarely employed. (Jefferson and Hamilton were both wrong, it turns out.)

 

[Warren Faidley]

His attitude became one of the arguments people used to explain the aggressive, even reckless, way he pushed this bill forward. It often felt as though he was under pressure from outside forces—possibly the local news media. One could argue that having the media on your side during an election is advantageous.

I’ve also come to believe that certain research organizations acted as silent partners in advancing the bill, motivated by a desire to have the roads—and the spotlight—to themselves. Research groups can be highly aggressive, and they often prefer to keep their lobbying efforts and influence out of the mainstream media’s and chasing world's view. Then again, their silence also contributed to the "fake it until you make it," success of some chasers.

Years ago, I was quietly targeted by members of the research community out of jealousy over the attention I received as a journalist rather than as a credentialed researcher. I didn’t learn the full extent of this until years later, when a now-retired individual from TWC revealed that specific researchers had refused to appear at events if I—or other chasers—were present, fearing we would draw too much public attention over them.