House GA bill slashes Corrections, DPS Budgets

Two key members of the Senate budget team said Wednesday that the General Appropriations bill passed by the Oklahoma House of Representatives last week would lead to another severe funding shortfall at the Oklahoma Department of Corrections and the furloughing of Oklahoma Highway Patrol Troopers.

The amended version of Senate Bill 2165 cuts the Department of Corrections budget by $24 million when compared to Fiscal Year 2006 and is $43.4 million less than is necessary for the department to meet the obligations approved by the Legislature in a supplemental appropriation in February.

The measure also falls nearly $11 million short of meeting the Department of Public Safety’s obligations. Two weeks ago, lawmakers agreed to a $3.6 million supplemental appropriation for DPS to help offset rising fuel and utility costs. Fully annualizing that supplemental appropriation will cost $10.8 million. Without that money DPS could be facing furloughs for Highway Patrol troopers again next year.

“In their rush to set money aside to provide tax cuts for their wealthy friends, House Republicans are shortchanging the public safety of all Oklahomans,” Appropriations Chairman Johnnie Crutchfield said. “House budget leaders called this bill an insurance policy. All that it ensures is that there will be budget shortfalls at two important public safety agencies.”

House leaders have said that the GA bill funds agencies at their FY 2006 level, but Crutchfield said that’s simply just not true. The final FY 2006 appropriation for DOC was $433.4 million. The House GA bill appropriates just $409 to the agency.

“Throughout the eight months of the interim, the Senate worked to craft a comprehensive plan to adequately fund the Department of Corrections the first time around and end the cycle of budget supplementals that have been needed to keep the department afloat in the last decade,” said Corn, chairman of the Appropriations Sub-Committee on Public Safety and Judiciary. “First House leaders risked the safety of Oklahoma families by refusing to answer the call for the special session. Now in their GA bill, the House Republicans have doomed DOC to once again come begging.”

In negotiating a $2,800 pay raise for corrections officers and giving DOC the authority to hire additional corrections and probations officers in the $24 million supplemental in February, House leaders agreed to annualize the pay raise and funding for the additional personnel, Corn said.

“Their General Appropriations bill turns the $24 million supplemental, basically, into a series of unfunded mandates. It takes away the pay raise given to the hard-working corrections officers and other DOC facility employees and doesn’t provide money to pay the new hires,” Corn said.

Department of Corrections officials say that under the budget included in the House GA bill, it would have to stop receiving new prisoners at the Lexington Assessment and Reception Center and shift 4,000 prisoners from private prisons into “non-traditional bed space” in existing state facilities.

In addition to decreases in the budgets of the Departments of Corrections and Public Safety, the House general appropriations bill cuts the budget of the Department of Commerce by $5 million; reduces the Oklahoma Historical Society’s budget by nearly $1.2 million; cuts the budget of the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture by $950,000; and slashes the budget of the Oklahoma Department of Tourism and Recreation by $700,000.

Senator Corn's Office - (405) 521-5576 Senator Crutchfield's Office - (405) 521-5607