OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma lawmaker's personal experience has led to a new law that prohibits covert use of a GPS tracker.
The law signed Tuesday comes after Rep. Mark McBride, R-Moore, found a tracking device on his vehicle in December, The Oklahoman reported. It doesn't apply to auto dealers or lenders who have a buyer's consent to have a GPS tracker installed so the vehicle can be more easily repossessed if payments aren't made.
McBride, who introduced the measure in January, has said he suspects the tracker was put there because the wind industry wanted to discredit him for working on legislation that would tax wind-energy companies.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is looking into McBride's suspicions. The president of The Wind Coalition has called McBride reckless for making the accusation.
"They felt that placing a tracking device on a vehicle in a circumstance like mine was a gray area in the law," McBride wrote in a state budget analysis for a report to Gov. Mary Fallin.
McBride filed a lawsuit in March after the OSBI determined that Austin-based Democratic political consultant George C. Shipley hired investigators to check out McBride. The bureau is still trying to determine who hired Shipley.
The lawsuit alleges damaging information was sought on McBride "through unlawful means" to control or extort him or harm his reputation.
Attorneys for Shipley are seeking to have the case dismissed.