A group of Oklahoma legislators, led by Sen. Kendal Sacchieri (R-Blanchard), has filed an emergency petition with the Oklahoma Supreme Court seeking an immediate stay and temporary injunction to prevent Service Oklahoma from transferring Oklahoma driver license and identification card data to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators’ (AAMVA) State-to-State/SPEXS system, currently scheduled for mid-February 2026.

The petitioners argue that transferring sensitive identity data without explicit legislative approval could expose Oklahomans to heightened privacy and security risks and undermine public confidence in state institutions according to a media release today.

The petition asserts that the planned data transfer exceeds the agency’s statutory authority and raises separation-of-powers concerns under Oklahoma law.

“This is fundamentally a separation-of-powers issue,” Sacchieri said. “An executive agency does not have the authority to unilaterally decide to place Oklahomans’ identity data into an interstate data-exchange system. Decisions of this magnitude must be made by the Legislature and grounded in clear statutory authority.”

Key Issues Raised in the Filing

The petition argues that Oklahoma law strictly limits the sharing of personal and biometric information collected through driver license and REAL ID applications.

Key issues cited in the filing include:

• State law restrictions: Title 47 O.S. § 6-110.3 limits the disclosure of personal and biometric information obtained from REAL ID and non-REAL ID applicants, except where expressly required by federal law.
• Scope of federal law: The REAL ID Act of 2005 establishes minimum identification standards and verification requirements but does not mandate the transfer of applicant data or biometrics to interstate databases operated by third-party organizations.
• Legislative intent: Oklahoma lawmakers deliberately limited data sharing to only what federal law explicitly requires. The petition contends that agency policy, contracts, or vendor arrangements cannot expand those limits.

“The Legislature drew clear boundaries around how identity data may be shared,” Sacchieri said. “Statutory silence is not permission, and administrative convenience is not legal authority.

“Oklahomans entrust the state with some of their most sensitive personal information. Protecting that trust is not optional. If the state is going to change how identity data is handled, that decision must be made openly, lawfully, and through the people’s elected representatives,” Sacchieri added.

The legislators have asked the Oklahoma Supreme Court to act on an expedited basis given the impending data transfer.

The petition and list of signatories are publicly available by clicking here.