Gov. Mary Fallin has signed a bill barring local governments from forcing property owners to pay a fee to register their vacant land.
House Bill 2620 was filed in response to a move by the Oklahoma City Council to create a registry of vacant property. Presented as a way to address abandoned and neglected property, the city’s registry was viewed as overreaching. HB 2620 was vigorously supported by NFIB/Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Association of Realtors, the Oklahoma Farm Bureau and other business groups.
“On behalf of our small-business members, I want to thank Governor Fallin for signing HB 2620 into law,” said Jerrod Shouse, state director of NFIB/Oklahoma.
“Other cities were considering their own versions of the Oklahoma City property registry, which would have accomplished little for small business owners besides creating additional paperwork for property owners and generating unearned fees for local governments,” he said.
PHOTO: Daniel Mayer/Wikimedia Commons
