Legislative resolution seeks the dismissal of Oklahoma mental health commissioner
On the final evening of the 2025 session of the Oklahoma Legislature, two lawmakers have filed a resolution to remove the embattled commissioner of the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.
Senate Concurrent Resolution 13 was filed by Sen. Paul Rosino, R-Oklahoma City, and Rep. Josh West, R-Tulsa. Copies of the resolution were distributed in the Senate chamber about 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 29. By law, the Legislature must adjourn its current session by 5 p.m. Friday.
Both chambers remained active Thursday night considering overrides of vetoes issued by Gov. Kevin Stitt. By 8:45 p.m., neither chamber had acted on the resolution to remove Friesen.
Stitt appointed Friesen in January 2024 and has defended her work, even as multiple financial issues have engulfed the state agency. The agency is the subject of multiple investigations, both executive and legislative. Legislators had to make a special appropriation for the agency to complete the current fiscal year. According to the resolution, the budget shortfall is about $30 million.
An audit conducted by State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd's office reported that department staff were made to sign non-disclosure agreements and were discouraged from cooperating with investigators who were trying to unravel the cause of the agency's financial crisis.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has called for Friesen to be removed, citing a 'financial meltdown' of her agency that showed 'nothing short of government malpractice.'
'The House and Senate have the legal authority to hold Friesen accountable for her ineptitude and mismanagement, and I urge every legislator to vote in favor of her removal,' Drummond said Thursday night.
Stitt said the controversy surrounding Friesen is "a politically motivated witch hunt.""I tasked Allie Friesen with bringing accountability and transparency to the agency," Stitt said. "She disturbed the status quo and questioned long held practices at the agency. An agency rife with sweetheart deals and criminal elements was disrupted, and now, elected officials are quickly working to set the apple cart right for those who seek to get rich off of Oklahoma taxpayers."
He said West and Rosino should ask themselves what they stand to gain by removing Frisen.
The resolution said Friesen 'has the duty to oversee the delivery of all prevention, treatment, and education of mental health and substance abuse in the state and to ensure that the agency performs those services while having a budgetary and expenditure methodology that serves not only those Oklahoma citizens in need, but the employees and providers that deliver them.'
It goes on to cite the budget shortfall and said, '(T)he Senate and the House of Representatives have lost confidence in Commissioner Friesen to identify, oversee, and manage the critical services delivered by the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.'
The resolution says the Legislature has a right, under law, to remove Friesen with a two-thirds vote of both legislative chambers.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Resolution calls for removal of mental health agency leader
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