Oklahoma bill that would increase the fine for littering heads to Senate floor

TULSA - Attention Oklahomans: a bill on its way to the Senate floor could soon double littering fines.

The Senate General Government voted 8-0 on Monday for the bill.

The legislation, authored by Okmulgee Sen. Roger Ballenger, would raise the fine to $400.

"Any person who deliberately places, throws, drops, dumps, deposits, or discards any garbage, trash, waste, rubbish, refuse, debris, or other deleterious substance on any public property or on any private property of another without consent of the property owner shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor," the bill reads. 

Ballenger says the increase was needed to make the fine more meaningful. The bill further states that the fine would be in addition to any court costs imposed on violators.

Under current law, littering fines are divided equally into county-operated reward funds aimed at targeting littering and to a special fund operated by the county sheriff.