Attorney General opinion, 2013-13, 08/29/2013

              OFFICE OF ATTORNEY GENERAL STATE OF OKLAHOMA
ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINION 2013-13
The Honorable Rob Johnson August 29, 2013
State Senator, District 22
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd., Room 413
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105
Dear Senator Johnson:
This office has received your request for an official Attorney General Opinion in which you ask, in effect, the following question:
For purposes of the creation of a metropolitan area planning commission in a county having no city with a population greater than 200,000 under 19 O.S.2011, § 866.1, does a city's population include only those persons living within the city's territory inside the county or does it include the city's total population?
In particular, your question involves the application of 19 O.S.2011, § 866.1 to Canadian County. Section 866.1 states in relevant part:
[T]here may be provided in any county of the State of Oklahoma in which there is no city having a population of more than two hundred thousand (200,000),
. . . one or more city and county planning and zoning commissions, . . . which shall be designated "Metropolitan Area Planning Commission."
Id. (emphasis added). You state that Oklahoma City has a population around 40,000 within Canadian County but that Oklahoma City has a population greater than 200,000 across all of its territory.1 Thus, it would appear that if Section 866.1 looks to a city's total population regardless of county, Canadian County would be unable to form a metropolitan area planning commission.
1 Letter from Rob Johnson, State Senator, to E. Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma Attorney General (June 17, 2013) (on file with the Office of the Attorney General).
313 N.E. 2,IST STREET • OKLAHOMA CITY, OK 73105 • (405) 521-3921 • FAX; (405) 521-6246
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