OKLAHOMA CITY -- Wrecker operators asked state lawmakers Wednesday for a 25 percent across-the-board increase in the fees, hourly rates and mileage they are paid when called to the scene of a collision or other incident by a law enforcement agency.

More than a dozen operators jammed into a Senate hearing as colleagues from across the state testified on legislation that would increase towing and recovery rates for the first time since 2004.

Sen. Don Barrington, R-Lawton, who called the hearing, filed the legislation last spring. The bill is pending in the Senate and can be heard on the Senate floor next year, said Barrington, chairman of the Senate Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee.

"Many wrecker operators are in dire straits," said Chris Puckett of Puckett's, Inc., Body Shop of Oklahoma City.

The costs of wrecker equipment, fuel and salaries have raised by close to 10 percent annually since their last increase five years ago, Lindy Johnson with Johnson's wrecker in Chickasha.

Jimmy Robertson of Lenox Wrecker Service, Inc., of Owasso said his costs have risen 36.8 percent since lawmakers last authorized an increase in wrecker rates. The cost of a wrecker now ranges from $72,000 for light-duty trucks to well over $500,000 for larger ones, Robertson said.

Insurance costs alone for one operator, Tommy Burrows of Liberal Area Radiator & Towing of Turpin, rose almost 29 percent between 2004 and 2008, from $37,244 to about $48,000.

Figures provided by the Oklahoma Wrecker Owners Association indicate Oklahoma has some of the lowest wrecker rates in the region and that only New Mexico has lower rats.

Wrecker operators can charge $65 for light-duty hookups in Oklahoma, but the rate for the same service is $150 in Arkansas, $85 in Kansas and up to $202 in Texas, according to the association's figures. In New Mexico, a light-duty hookup costs $55.

Although wrecker operators set their own fees for service calls requested by motorists whose vehicles breaks down or have a flat tire, rates for service calls ordered by law enforcement authorities are regulated by the Legislature.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol and local sheriff's and police departments routinely call wrecker services to haul away vehicles involved in collisions or cases in which the driver is arrested for driving under the influence or some other offense.

While the state sets the minimum performance requirements for towing services, it does not pay wrecker operators, said Bryan Albrecht of Cavin Wrecker Service in El Reno. Most vehicle insurers offer coverage for towing services.

The proposed increase would raise the light-duty hookup charge — the maximum authorized rate for hooking up wreckers to vehicles 8,000 pounds or less, the size of most vehicles — to $80. The rate would be up to $120 for heavier vehicles.

Mileage rates would increase from $3 per mile to $3.75 per mile for vehicles 8,000 pounds or less and up to $8.45 a mile for heavier vehicles. An operator's hourly rates would rise from $60 to $75 for lighter vehicles and up to $270 an hour for heavier ones.

Wrecker operators proposed a 50 percent increase in hourly rates for vehicles weighing between 26,001 and 44,000 pounds, such as trucks and tractor-trailers, from $120 an hour to $180. They also proposed increases in daily outside storage rates for vehicles, the first since 1998, inside storage rates and labor costs for cleaning up accident scenes.