OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt said all tribes must adhere to a single model compact if they want their license plate compacts to be renewed and recognized by the State of Oklahoma.

Stitt sent a letter to the heads of all tribal nations earlier this month telling them the state will only agree to the terms the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations already agreed to when they finalized their tribal tag compacts earlier this year. He said there will be little to no leeway in allowing a tribal nation to carve out their own terms and conditions in a unique agreement.

“What we’re talking about here is so common sense,” Stitt told FOX23 on Monday. “I don’t know how you could argue with me. If you’re going to be driving in our roads that the Oklahoma taxpayers build, shouldn’t we have one set of rules?”

Stitt said the compact policy change is not so much “one size fits all,” but it is a model compact to level the playing field for all tribes. He said in addition to a ten year term on any new agreement, there must also be money for roads, bridges and turnpike tolls he said are currently not being paid by people driving on Oklahoma roads when they go through a PlatePay system scanner.

“Shouldn’t some of that revenue go to the roads and bridges that those cars are driving on? That’s where my tag money goes. That’s where your tag money goes. Why should an Indian tribe or a certain race be any different?” he said.

Stitt also said the new compact must allow for all tribal plates a nation issues to be registered in the same database law enforcement like the Oklahoma Highway Patrol currently uses. He said currently many tribal tags are not finable in Department of Public Safety systems.

“We just have to know they’re in our database,” he said. “So when law enforcement pulls someone over we know who it is. That’s a public safety issue, and we said we have to have some of that revenue for our roads and bridges. It’s that simple.”

The announcement will likely heighten tension further between the Cherokee Nation and Stitt’s office. In addition to many other compact scuffles, Cherokee Nation Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. previously said on FOX23 that Stitt’s terms are not doable because the tribe does annual giving with its tribal tag revenues to public schools, law enforcement organizations, and more.

“We’re talking millions of dollars every year going into local schools. We just gave checks out totaling $7.9 million to 17 school districts. Those are real dollars making a real difference,” Hoskin said about donations to just public schools within the Cherokee Nation back in April.

Hoskin said the Cherokee Nation will fight to protect its current level of donations and charitable giving that it does every year with license plate sales.

“This is a compact that works. It is the sovereignty of the Cherokee Nation, but it is an example of working together and it needs to continue,” Hoskin said on FOX23 in April.

Stitt said the State of Oklahoma spends millions of dollars on public school districts and equated the donations to “buying a jungle gym” and other things like gym and playground equipment as opposed to those donations being vital to public school operations. He said those charitable donations should be converted into payments to the Oklahoma Department of Transportation and the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority to help pay for infrastructure used by tribal tag drivers.

The change in policy comes at a critical time in talks between the state and the Cherokee Nation. The state’s tribal tag compact with the Cherokees is set to expire at the end of the year. Should that happen, people with Cherokee tags could face the possibility of getting what has lately been known as “double tickets” when they are pulled over for traffic violations.

Last year, tribal citizens whose tribe did not compact with the state reported to FOX23 and others they were being cited for their original traffic violation, and then they also received a second ticket for “unpaid taxes” for allegedly driving on a road they didn’t pay taxes to build or maintain.

Stitt said he didn’t know how local law enforcement would handle Cherokee tags that were not compacted with the state, but he said that practice of double tickets could very well be possibility. Those tickets are only issued on tags that are off of their original tribal lands. For example, if the Cherokee compact expires, and someone with a Cherokee tag drives off the reservation and gets a ticket for a traffic violation, that is when a double ticket would also be issued.

In a new statement, Cherokee Nation Attorney General Chad Harsha said about the model compact:

“The governor’s insistence on forcing a one-size-fits-all tribal car tag agreement is both offensive to the principles of tribal sovereignty and dangerously ignorant of the numerous benefits generated by decades of successful tribal compacting that brings millions to public schools, roads and bridges, and law enforcement partners each year. Oklahoman values mean recognizing the need to work collaboratively in a manner that respects rather than overrides tribal rights, and we hope that someday the governor can see the value in that partnership and put the needs of all Oklahomans before his political fights against tribes.”