Oklahoma Governor Signs Anti-Protest Law Imposing Huge Fines on Conspirator Organizations
A statute aimed at suppressing protests against oil and gas pipelines has been signed into law in Oklahoma, as a related bill advances through the state legislature. The two bills are part of a nationwide trend in anti-protest laws meant to significantly increase legal penalties for civil disobedience. The Oklahoma law signed this week is unique, however, in its broad targeting of groups conspiring with protesters accused of trespassing. It takes aim at environmental organizations Republicans have blamed for anti-pipeline protests that have become costly for local governments.
The statute Oklahoma governor Mary Fallin approved Wednesday was rushed into immediate effect under a provision that declared the situation an emergency. It will dramatically increase penalties against protesters who trespass on property containing a critical infrastructure facility.
Under the newly signed trespassing law individuals will face a felony and a minimum $10,000 fine if a court determines they entered property intending to damage, vandalize, deface, impede or inhibit operations of the facility. Should the trespasser actually succeed in tampering with the infrastructure, they face a $100,000 fine or ten years of imprisonment.
Significantly, the statute also implicates any organization found to be a conspirator with the trespasser, threatening collaborator groups with a fine ten times that imposed on the intruder as much as $1 million in cases involving damage.
https://theintercept.com/2017/05/06/oklahoma-governor-signs-anti-protest-law-imposing-huge-fines-on-conspirator-organizations/
shraby
(21,946 posts)redstatebluegirl
(12,265 posts)5X
(3,972 posts)Runningdawg
(4,514 posts)As I am sure you know, this legislation was aimed directly at the Native people of OK. I'm not going to cut and run just because the shit is getting deeper.