|
|
| |
| Wed, Dec. 3, 2008 |  |
 |
|
||
| |
Towing conflicts with border states escalate Thursday, Mar 8, 2007 By Doug Thompson Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - A Senate committee Wednesday endorsed legislation that would authorize the state to fine out-of-state tow truck operators for pickups in Arkansas if their home state bans Arkansas towers from operating there. The Senate Transportation, Technology and Legislative Affairs Committee advanced Senate Bill 967 by Sen. Denny Altes, R-Fort Smith. The bill would direct the state Towing and Recovery Board to write rules for a proposed new law that would make it a misdemeanor punishable by fines of $100 to $1,000 for out-of-state towers to perform operations in Arkansas that Arkansas operators would not be allowed to perform in their home state. For instance, Oklahoma law requires that towing in that state be done by an Oklahoma towing operation owned by an Oklahoma resident, the committee was told. The law prohibits a Fort Smith resident whose vehicle breaks down near his home, but on the Oklahoma side of the border, to call an Arkansas towing company to deliver the vehicle to a garage in Arkansas, said Donald D. Jackson of Jacksonville, executive director of the Professional Towing and Recovery Association of Arkansas. However, an Oklahoma resident in a similar situation in Arkansas could call an Oklahoma-based tower, Jackson said. Arkansas towers do not want rigid restrictions on people from Oklahoma and other states, but do want leverage to convince bordering states to drop their restrictions on Arkansas towers, Jackson said. He said Arkansas does have reciprocity agreements with bordering states such as Tennessee that are supposed to prevent discrimination, but those agreements do not action by cities. Memphis, for instance, has passed ordinances similar to Oklahoma's measures, Jackson said. |
