Latest news with #DepartmentofMentalHealthandSubstanceAbuseServices
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
$12.59 billion Oklahoma budget bill heads to governor's desk
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — Oklahoma's $12.59 billion state budget bill for Fiscal Year 2026, House Bill 2766, is headed to the governor's desk for final approval after securing Senate approval on Thursday afternoon. The latest budget bill, which passed in the Senate with a vote of 27 to 19, includes $312 million for the purchase of the Lawton Correction Facility from GEO Group and $27.4 million in supplemental funds for the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. Lawmakers agree on Oklahoma budget, could see income tax cut Here are some of the most notable budget changes listed in the FY26 appropriations summary: Department of Education: +$121.6 million (+3.15%) Oklahoma Educational Television Authority: -$2.9 million (-49.1%) Oklahoma Teacher's Retirement System: -$15.6 million (-3.21%) Oklahoma Tax Commission: -$51 million (-59.88%) Oklahoma Military Department: +$20.4 million (+89.91%) Department of Aerospace and Aeronautics: -$45.4 million (-63.06%) Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services: +$16.2 million (+4.18%) Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority: -$4.3 million (-10.19%) Department of Veterans Affairs: -$4.1 million (-9.21%) Department of Agriculture: -$16.1 million (-21.96%) A full appropriations summary of the FY26 budget can be found here. Several state lawmakers weighed in following the passing of the budget bill. This budget is a reflection of Oklahoma's values—responsible, conservative, and focused on real results. We're prioritizing core services like education, mental health, public safety and infrastructure, while maintaining strong fiscal discipline. I'm proud of the Senate's work and the collaboration with our House colleagues to deliver a budget that supports families, strengthens communities and keeps Oklahoma taxpayers in mind. Now we send it to the governor's desk to move Oklahoma forward. Senate Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton (R-Tuttle) This budget is a result of thoughtful collaboration between the House and Senate, and I am proud of the way we came together to put Oklahomans first. We've ensured strong investments in our students, state services and economic developments while keeping government spending restrained. This budget serves the needs of today while protecting the interests of future generations. House Speaker Kyle Hilbert (R-Bristow) Oklahoma Senate Democrats will always work the aisle to address real problems facing our state, ensuring all kids get a great education, access to health and mental health care, and great-paying jobs. But instead, we got a budget that prioritizes tax cuts that mostly benefit the very rich, more money for private school vouchers, and does nothing to address the everyday issues Oklahomans face. You deserve better. Senate Democratic Leader Julia Kirt (D-Oklahoma City) A thriving economy depends on a well-educated workforce, but once again, our public schools have been left behind while unaccountable voucher programs grow unchecked. When it comes to the budget, public education should be our highest priority. At a time when our schools continue to face a crisis in teacher shortages, we've not included so much as a cost-of-living increase while hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars continue to fund private schools. This budget fails our schools, our students, and our communities. Senator Carri Hicks (D-Oklahoma City) Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gov. Stitt, legislative leaders announce budget deal including tax cuts, tort reforms: What we know
Gov. Kevin Stitt has joined Oklahoma legislative leaders in announcing a sweeping agreement on a nearly $12.6 billion state budget for the next fiscal year, one that features an income tax cut Stitt long has hoped for during his six-plus years in office. The deal, which the governor said was designed to make Oklahoma more business friendly, will cut the state's highest income tax rate by a quarter of a percentage point, Stitt said. The agreement also covers tort reforms and the creation of specialized business courts, which have been a priority for Stitt. "We're signaling to the world and the country that Oklahoma is open for business," Stitt said at a news conference Wednesday, May 14. He was joined by House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, and Senate Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, as well as other Republican lawmakers. For years, Stitt has been a vocal advocate of reducing Oklahoma's income tax, which now stands at 4.75% for those earning more than $7,500. Before the current legislative session started, he rolled out his 'half and a path' plan to cut that tax by a half-percentage point and create a path toward a day when the state might completely eliminate income tax. In a year when projections show state revenues would be slightly down, and with most executive agencies asking for funding increases – not to mention the uncertainties regarding the state Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, which has an estimated financial shortfall of about $27.4 million for the current fiscal year – it was thought a tax cut would be unlikely. Budget questions at the Capitol: Will Oklahomans receive an income tax cut? Would a cut be wise? But that changed in recent days. On May 7, Stitt posted a video on X praising 17 senators — all Republicans on the more conservative side of the 39-person GOP caucus in that chamber — who had pledged to support a tax cut. The next day, Paxton said a tax cut remained a possibility. The day after that, Sen. Brian Guthrie, R-Bixby, filed Senate Concurrent Resolution 11, expressing the intent to enact a 0.25 percentage point income tax cut. While it's not the half-percentage point cut requested by Stitt, the governor seemed pleased with the deal, which he said gets Oklahoma closer to the tax rates of neighboring states. "We compete in a regional and also a national market, and we have to stay up with our competition," he said. According to an analysis by the Oklahoma Policy Institute, a Tulsa-based think tank, cutting income taxes by a quarter of a percentage point would reduce state revenues by $306 million. That analysis showed such a cut would save Oklahomans who make $79,700 or less between $9 and $95 annually, and would save those in the top 1% of incomes – making $683,500 or more – $2,936 annually. The tax cut deal has landed a year after the Legislature approved, and Stitt signed, a bill that eliminated the state grocery tax. Last year, thanks to a transparency initiative led by the Senate, most of the budget negotiations between House and Senate leaders – and sometimes the governor – were done in meetings that were open to the public. Paxton, however, has said those meetings often had a circus-like atmosphere, and didn't want to repeat that process this year. School tax credits: Report shows 40% of credits go to households earning $150K or more Instead, he promised that legislators would have ample time – multiple days, preferably – to consider any budget agreement before having to vote on it. The deal reached Wednesday seems to fit those parameters. Paxton said at the news conference that he was focused during budget negotiations on making sure economic opportunities would be available to young Oklahomans. "This budget gets us a long ways down the road to make sure that happens," he said. Hilbert said he thought budget talks between the House, Senate and governor's office went as smooth as he had seen in his seven years being involved in the process. "We've figured out ways without being disagreeable and really move the state forward," he said. As Republican legislative leaders touted their collaborative efforts to reach a budget deal, Senate Minority Leader Julie Kirt, D-Oklahoma City, said Democrats in her caucus were left out of final discussions. 'We did not get details about this budget before this announcement was made,' Kirt said during a news conference following Stitt's announcement. 'We actually still don't have details because nothing was handed out.' While she was awaiting full details on the budget, Kirt said what her caucus had seen so far leads her to believe it doesn't go far enough to address key issues for Oklahomans. 'It's not focused on working families,' she said. 'It's not about solving the real problems that we have for our public schools, and then we don't hear solutions around health care and mental health care and people having the access they need to those things.' (This story was updated to add new information.) This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Stitt, Oklahoma lawmakers reach budget deal with income tax cut, more
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
May is mental health awareness month, and one Oklahoma leader has made sure no one forgets that
Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Commissioner Allie Friesen attends a meeting April 17 at the state Capitol. (Photo by Emma Murphy/Oklahoma Voice) May is the annual month designed to raise awareness for mental health issues. But unfortunately Oklahoma's mental health agency is shining the wrong sort of spotlight on the issue. Instead of focusing on how to improve outcomes for the 1 in 4 Oklahomans who suffer from mental illness, all eyes are on the massive amounts of financial disarray at the state Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services jeopardizing both employees and patient care. Provider contracts have been cut or canceled. There's been revelations that officials can't figure out how to use their appropriated money to make payroll. The agency's interim chief financial officer couldn't answer basic questions about payroll costs or why the agency only needed $6.2 million to fill a $43 million shortfall. And, they haven't been able to produce a budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The list goes on and on. And it seems like every time our state mental health officials open their mouths, it exposes a new level of ineptitude. Last week, Mental Health Commissioner Allie Friesen practically begged lawmakers to figure out her own agency's budget woes when she's supposed to be able to discuss the nuances of its over $600 million budget. Is it any wonder that lawmakers are growing increasingly frustrated? Friesen, meanwhile, is pointing the finger at her predecessors. She's supposed to have been leading this agency since she was appointed by Gov. Kevin Stitt in January 2024. But in blaming her predecessor, Carrie Slatton-Hodges, Friesen is pointing her finger at Stitt, who appointed Slatton-Hodges and touted her as being a great fit. I could see blaming her predecessor if Friesen was hired last month, but she's been at the helm for over a year now. What has she been doingr? Earlier this month I found myself chuckling grimly. As lawmakers were scrambling on a Friday to address revelations that the agency couldn't pay its 2,000 employees, Friesen's team put out a press release celebrating the resurrection of its halted naloxone vending machine project. That's the same program that Friesen abruptly shuttered in September because she said it wasn't cost effective. Offering free medication that reverses drug overdoses in vending machines as a way to help save lives and reduce the stigma is definitely a worthwhile program, and might be critical to the agency's mission. But so is paying the employees who are core to meeting a state agency's goals. Maybe that's part of the issue. Perhaps Friesen doesn't know what the core functions of mental health are and how to prioritize programs. Or maybe hers is an agency that doesn't know how to live within the confines of a budget — or perhaps that it even has a budget. After all, Friesen didn't prioritize launching a search for a permanent, qualified CFO, until a day after lawmakers humiliated her interim one. During public hearings, lawmakers flagged that the agency hired 20 employees with salaries of at least $100,000. A dozen employees saw their salaries raised to that level. Lawmakers discovered that Skip Leonard, the agency's now former interim CFO, was making $165 an hour — or up to $343,000 a year — despite not being a certified public accountant and having no experience running finances for a state agency. At another hearing, Friesen brought with her an employee she hired just over a month ago to work in her 'operational excellence division.' There is no 'operational excellence' going on right now. It all gives the impression that Friesen is just creating random jobs or promoting people into high-paying jobs without an ounce of cents — literally. Hiring people at high salaries for state jobs might explain why the agency suddenly can't make payroll. Creating random divisions that seemingly go beyond the agency's core mission is a head scratcher. There's no excuse for this level of ineptitude. It seems like it might be time to go back to basics and get better at providing the core services before looking at adding in shiny objects that look pretty but aren't necessary to function. It boggles the mind that Stitt – who, like other Republicans, promises to run state government like a business – continues to defend Friesen. If anybody else ran a business in such a haphazard way, their governing board would fire them. So let's hope that Stitt knows something the rest of us don't and that he can get the wheels back on this clown car before it hurts the people who rely on it most — our mentally ill and the people that care for them. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
House Committee grills ODMHSAS Commissioner on missing $43 million
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – For the first time, lawmakers can get some answers from the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services on how much money is missing and why. Commissioner Allie Friesen sat before the House Committee on Thursday and started everything off by saying it has been chaotic and challenging times for their department. There is a $43 million hole in the budget for the department. Commissioner Friesen said that they found out about a $63 million hole near the end of February but were able to bring that down to $43 million about six weeks ago. OK House announces new investigation into Dept. of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services 'So the reality of our situation is that it's chaotic and it has been, and frankly, we are moving towards a much more stable, confident place as an organization. I respect and empathize, but that may not be the current sentiment that each of you holds. And I hope that we can get to a place where we at least mutually understand where one another is coming from. So it will not be an easy process. It has not been. It's been a very painful and arduous process for our entire leadership team,' said Commissioner Friesen in her introduction. Recently, there have been contract cuts to certain providers under their department that caused concern. Friesen on Thursday said that they didn't order the providers to make the cuts, but that the letters they sent out weren't worded properly. She said that now they are doing everything they can to get some of them back. A Request for Proposal was submitted Wednesday on behalf of the department that was asking for bids on providing services to people in the Tulsa area. 'We've got to get some answers before our constitutional deadline, the last Friday in May,' said House Speaker Kyle Hilbert (R-Bristow) ahead of the committee meeting Thursday. The room was packed with several lawmakers and several workers within the department, and those affected by the cuts. 'Personally, as a leader, it is my responsibility to call out my own mistakes and hold myself accountable for them,' said Commissioner Friesen at one point. The department is in the hole around $43 million and more than likely will be asking for a lot more in their budget request. This time around, they are asking for $6.2 million in a supplemental request. An ask that the commissioner said was needed to stop any more cuts. 'We have made mistakes, and we have tried to quickly own those mistakes as quickly as humanly possible. Some people are no longer with the organization, so the reality of our situation is that it's chaotic,' said Commissioner Friesen. Commissioner Friesen at one point said that to find the money to make up for the millions missing, she has laid off her staff. She then said that she was willing to cut from her salary. 'I'm happy to pull from my own salary to cover and ensure that people have patient care,' said the commissioner. There will more than likely be future cuts, but from where, we don't know. Commissioner Friesen made it clear that core services wouldn't take a hit. The meeting was put on hold after going on for three-and-a-half hours on Thursday. It is set to come back next week, where several others are expected to speak. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
