To make sure the Legislature and Governor Kevin Stitt continue to work together to spend $1.8 billion in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, the legislative leaders announced lawmakers would call themselves into a special session to be concurrent with the regular session and into the interim. The move allows the Legislature to continue to be involved in planning the use of the money.
Starting on Wednesday, the Legislature plans to enact an ARPA spending plan as agreed to by the Joint Committee on Pandemic Relief Funding. The committee was established to work with the executive branch to determine how best to spend the funds. So far, $17.8 million in requests have been received by the committee making up approximately 1,400 projects.
“Ensuring the joint committee’s public-driven process can run its full course is in Oklahoma’s best interest. A concurrent session allows for a comprehensive, strategic plan to be enacted through appropriations after a full vetting of submissions and public discussion of how to best deploy these resources,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat.
The idea is to set up a series of bills now and when Stitt and the Joint Committee decide which projects to fund, the Legislature can then appropriate the money and the Governor can approve or veto them.
The Oklahoma Legislature is following the pattern of many other state lawmakers around the country of using its appropriation process to distribute the ARPA funds.
“Oklahoma established a strong process, driven by the public, to place the legislative and executive branches in a partnership to listen to the public’s wishes for ARPA dollars. This action simply keeps that train on track,” said House Speaker Charles McCall.
The special session also addresses the aftermath of “Project Ocean.” That is the nearly 700-million dollar incentive package passed by the Legislature and approved by Governor Stitt to attract a mega-factory to Pryor. While those involved with the negotiations with the potential business entity are under a non-disclosure agreement and haven’t named the entity, it is pretty well known that Panasonic is looking for a North American site for its battery manufacturing facility. Kansas and Oklahoma seem to be high on the list.
Additionally, the Legislature will deal with the $250 million Progressing Rural Economic Prosperity Fund (PREP) to help retrofit areas of Oklahoma to compete for large projects like the Panasonic factory or another similar large-scale operations. There is a push to on-shore manufacturing of critical components due to the continuing supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian war on Ukraine, worker shortages, and other issues.
House Democrats are supporting the move, while taking a shot at Governor Stitt because of recent controversies concerning executive branch oversight of contracts and spending, i.e. Swadley’s state park restaurant contract and lack of control of the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund money given to parents during the pandemic.
“House Democrats have consistently warned against giving the executive branch excessive authority. Today, legislative Republicans listened and are now calling for a special session to reclaim Governor Stitt’s unchecked authority.
“Throughout the last month, media reports have shown that the Stitt Administration is not up to the task of ensuring taxpayer money is spent properly. It is apparent that the governor’s own safeguards have not been effective enough to ensure his cabinet members and appointees do their job to protect tax dollars.
“I appreciate Speaker McCall and Senate Pro Tem Treat for acknowledging the shortcomings of the governor and committing to a transparent, open process to disburse these funds,” said House Minority Leader Emily Virgin.
