Oklahoma lawmakers on Wednesday handed nearly $323 million in water infrastructure, behavioral well being and digital medical information initiatives funded by federal pandemic aid {dollars} on to an upcoming particular session of the Legislature.
The House and Senate are anticipated to take up the most recent pandemic aid spending payments by late September, however legislative leaders haven’t but settled on the precise dates.
Meanwhile, some lawmakers expressed frustration with what they referred to as the manager department’s continued sluggish tempo of sending cash to initiatives already authorized. The state has $1.87 billion to spend beneath the American Rescue Plan Act. Some initiatives authorized final December have but to obtain funding, stated Sen. Chuck Hall, R-Perry.
“I don’t understand how when the Legislature directs an appropriation, it doesn’t get done immediately,” Hall stated. “We are all concerned about mishandling or clawbacks related to these ARPA funds, but we have done our due diligence. These projects have gone through the (online) portal, through working groups, to the joint committee, to the floor of the House and Senate and to the governor and are ready to deploy.”
The governor’s workplace stated no person from the manager department is holding up federal aid funds. Some of the beforehand authorized initiatives have enactment dates of Sept. 1, whereas others went into impact 90 days after they grew to become regulation in the event that they didn’t have an emergency clause, stated Carly Atchison, Stitt’s communications director.
Atchison stated the Office of Management and Enterprise Services has been working with state companies to get grant agreements in place to make sure the state complies with federal tips.
“The Stitt administration is committed to following all federal guidelines,” Atchison stated.
The Legislature in May modified its approval course of for pandemic aid initiatives and arrange a brand new fund to seize the federal aid {dollars}. That meant aid initiatives authorized late final yr didn’t have a funding supply and wanted to be a part of the brand new legislative appropriations course of by authorized particular session payments, stated Caden Cleveland, a spokesman with the Office of Management and Enterprise Services.
Behavioral Health, Water Projects Approved
In Wednesday’s Joint Committee on Pandemic Relief Funding, lawmakers in separate votes unanimously authorized 10 initiatives totaling $323 million. The Legislature earlier authorized greater than $200 million in numerous initiatives funded by the federal aid {dollars}.
House Speaker Pro Tempore Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, stated lawmakers want to get the “lion’s share” of federal pandemic aid funds authorized in the second particular session, which is dedicated to pandemic aid funding. That particular session would finish mechanically in mid-November if lawmakers don’t dissolve it earlier.
“With inflation, things are getting more expensive, so we need to get these projects out the door,” Hilbert stated.
He stated lawmakers and legislative workers have been working for the reason that finish of the common session in May on pandemic aid initiatives. Ideally, he’d wish to see their work accomplished on a giant chunk of the initiatives earlier than the subsequent common session begins in February.
The initiatives authorized Wednesday have been:
* $87 million to interchange Griffin Memorial Hospital in Norman, which dates to the Nineties and is the state’s largest psychiatric hospital. The substitute would add one other 100 beds, bringing the overall staffed beds to 275 for adults and 55 for adolescents.
* $38 million so as to add 50 beds to the 56 current beds on the Tulsa Center for Behavioral Health. That renovation and enlargement venture already has $26 million in funding commitments from different donors.
* $50 million to the Oklahoma Water Resources Board for a grant program for water infrastructure initiatives. This is the second a part of a $100 million grant program. The Legislature earlier authorized the opposite $50 million because the water board labored on the necessities for the grant program.
* $44 million to the University Hospitals Authority for an digital well being information system for OU Health.
* $35 million to Oklahoma City to relocate a 60-inch water transmission line that serves greater than 400,000 metropolis residents. If not relocated, the water line can be inside a pending enlargement of Tinker Air Force Base, inflicting safety and security points for ongoing upkeep and repairs. The metropolis is utilizing its personal cash for a close-by highway enlargement associated to Tinker’s development.
* $26 million to the Oklahoma State Department of Health for an digital well being information system to interchange the paper information and faxes used at county well being departments throughout the state.
* $22.15 million to the Oklahoma National Guard for a holistic well being middle that might serve the bodily and psychological wants of the National Guard and state first responders. Once constructed, it could be staffed utilizing federal funds and likewise present household providers and sexual harassment and assault providers.
* $12 million for an identical program for regional tribal water infrastructure initiatives. The Legislature earlier authorized $20 million in matching funds for tribal water initiatives.
* $6.23 million to the Administrative Office of the Courts for a number of initiatives, together with electronic case filing, disaster recovery information know-how providers and video-conferencing systems and tools. It additionally consists of cash for court interpreters and translators.
* $2.52 million to the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety for 2 cell response models to assist first responders like troopers, firefighters and EMS personnel take care of work-related trauma. The cell models would enable for a safe place to debrief first responders at catastrophe websites and supply trauma counseling.
Additional initiatives shall be taken up in working teams in the subsequent few weeks, and lawmakers plan to convene one other joint pandemic aid committee on Sept. 20, Hilbert stated. The House and Senate will put these initiatives into “shell” payments already deep into the legislative course of in the course of the particular session anticipated on the finish of September. That means the total House and Senate simply have to approve the payments earlier than sending them to the governor for approval.
The state has till the tip of 2024 to allocate the pandemic aid funding, and the cash have to be spent by the tip of 2026. More than 1,400 functions have been made to the state for the aid funds, totaling nearly $18 billion. Oklahoma Watch has compiled a database of the functions, which could be searched here.
Paul Monies has been a reporter with Oklahoma Watch since 2017 and covers state companies and public well being. Contact him at (571) 319-3289 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @pmonies.
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