Count Senate Democratic Leader John Sparks among those who are against calling a special session to redistribute $140.8 million in funds left over from emergency cuts last fiscal year. A lawsuit has been filed against Governor Fallin calling for the money to go back to the agencies from which it was cut and not to be used for a teacher pay raise.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—we don’t have to pass a new law to determine how and where these funds should be spent. We passed a budget in May of 2015 which directed how these funds were to be spent. The governor and her staff are over-stepping their authority by continuing to withhold these funds. The governor’s finance team needs to simply distribute these funds to the agencies for which they were originally appropriated. This is not a difficult problem to solve—just follow the law, and distribute the funds to the agencies who suffered unlawful and unauthorized cuts,” said Senator Sparks.
He said the Governor and Republican leaders are creeping toward lawlessness.
“This is another example of the Republicans at the state Capitol not following even their own laws. Instead, the burden is on hard working Oklahomans to hold the governor, her fiscal staff, and the Republican leadership at the Capitol accountable,” said Sparks.
“Thousands of Oklahomans across our state are suffering under the weight of the massive budget cuts forced on our state agencies, from foster families and guardians who need the most basic health and safety services which no longer have funding; to teachers who received pink slips; to corrections staff working in unsafe, understaffed conditions.”
