Latest news with #TreyCaldwell
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Oklahoma lawmakers pushing to restructure TSET board in act of ‘retaliation,' Dem says
Budget chairs Rep. Trey Caldwell, R-Faxon, left, and Sen. Chuck Hall, R-Perry, right, speak with Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, on the Senate floor May 22, 2025 while lawmakers debate restructuring the TSET board. (Photo by Emma Murphy/Oklahoma Voice) OKLAHOMA CITY — Republicans are moving forward with legislation to restructure a voter-approved state board that oversees a multi-billion dollar trust after it didn't immediately allocate $50 million to pay for a new University of Oklahoma hospital, Democrat lawmakers said. Democrats said efforts to strip the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust of its independence follow a dustup between the agency, which oversees a $2 billion public trust, and Republican legislative leaders who became frustrated after the board did not promptly hand over funding to pay for OU's new pediatric heart hospital. House Bill 2783, which heads to Gov. Kevin Stitt's desk, would allow the TSET board of directors to be removed 'at the pleasure' of their appointing authority and would limit them to no more than a seven year term. Currently the seven board members, who decide how to spend the proceeds of Oklahoma's settlement with the tobacco industry, are appointed to a blanket, staggered seven year term. While debating the bill in the House on Tuesday, Rep. Meloyde Blancett, D-Tulsa, said the legislation was filed because Republican leadership wasn't happy that TSET hadn't funded the heart hospital. 'What we are doing here is we are using legislative power to extract retaliation,' she said. Blancett said the legislation places 'undue pressure' on the board and is 'antithetical' to how the TSET board was set up when voters added it to the state constitution. The seven board members are appointed by the governor, treasurer, state superintendent, attorney general, state auditor and the leaders of the House and Senate. Appointees are required to have experience in health care or programs benefitting children or seniors. No more than four appointees may come from one political party and at least one appointee must come from each congressional district, with no more than two from the same district. The bill would not alter who has appointing authority or the other qualification requirements. Senate President Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, who voted for the measure, said Thursday TSET is in the process of awarding $150 million in grants, and lawmakers requested a third of that be awarded to help pay for OU's hospital. He said there's been 'some frustration' with how the TSET board responded to the request. While he said he's satisfied with the current condition of TSET, Paxton said sometimes they need to listen to legislative funding needs. 'One of the things I get concerned about with some of these agencies is that when you separate them too far from the legislative branch, that sometimes they kind of become their own kingdom where they don't listen to the elected people,' he said. The Legislature is moving forward with funding $200 million without the grant. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX TSET, established by voters in 2000, oversees the proceeds from Oklahoma's portion of a multi-state settlement with the tobacco industry. The funds are used to invest in better health outcomes for Oklahomans. Thomas Larson, a spokesperson for TSET, said legislators asked the trust to consider funding for the heart center at OU Health. 'We have a process and will be evaluating all proposals,' he said in an email. 'We've had wide interest in this grant opportunity, with nearly 300 people attending a webinar about the grant. We will be considering this with all other requests.' In a second statement, Larson said the application from OU Health for the heart hospital is still pending. He said the grant application period closes June 16 and the funding won't be awarded until November, so no proposals have been awarded or denied. Sen. Mary Boren, D-Norman, said these changes to the TSET board would prevent it from being free of 'political manipulation.' She said she's concerned that the TSET board is being rearranged because somebody in political power didn't like their denial of a grant request. Rep. Trey Caldwell, R-Faxon, the House budget chair, denied that the bill was being run in retaliation for the OU heart hospital funding and said conversations on making changes to the TSET board have been happening for a 'long time.' 'I think the main reason is we just want them to be more accountable to the electorate, the people,' he said. 'And we're trying to make sure they're held accountable to the voters and the state of Oklahoma. We're not changing the makeup of the board.' Senate Minority Leader Julia Kirt, D-Oklahoma City, said voters in 2020 made it clear they don't want lawmakers to have greater access to TSET funds when nearly 59% voted against using the trust to pay for Medicaid expansion. 'They understand that TSET is an asset they don't want us making rash decisions about,' she said. 'This bill, I don't want it to come across as a simple change, because it will drastically change the independence of this board. … You could have special projects from any of those appointing authorities come forward, and they could get strong armed into making things happen. I'm deeply concerned about what this is going to do.' But Sen. David Bullard, R-Durant, said while TSET is a great program in Oklahoma, sometimes good things need to be 'tweaked.' 'There's always a need to go in and make changes and tweaks here and there, and accountability in government is never a bad thing,' he said. The bill passed the House 60-30 and the Senate 36-8. Reporter Barbara Hoberock contributed to this report. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Oklahoma House committee greenlights purchase of Lawton private prison, pledges no job cuts
House budget chair Rep. Trey Caldwell, R-Faxon, speaks at an announcement of a budget deal for the 2026 fiscal year on May 14. (Photo by Emma Murphy/Oklahoma Voice) OKLAHOMA CITY — A House budget committee on Monday voted to move forward with spending $312 million to purchase a private prison in Lawton that the state uses to house about 2,300 inmates. Rep. Trey Caldwell, R-Faxon, said The GEO Group, which operates the Lawton Correctional and Rehabilitation Facility in south Comanche County, no longer wants to continue its business relationship with the state. Caldwell, who chairs the House's appropriations committee and authored House Bill 2780, said legislators have made 'multiple overtures' to the company to avoid having to purchase the prison, which included offering increases in the amount the state pays in per diem rates to care for inmates. 'The company has stood steadfast now going back to January that they do not want to continue their business relationship with the state of Oklahoma,' Caldwell said. He said Gov. Kevin Stitt's office also requested the state purchase the prison. Caldwell said last year, lawmakers passed a per diem increase to keep up with cost of living increases, but it was vetoed by Stitt. At the time, Stitt wrote in his veto message that he rejected the $3 million increase because he did not want to put taxpayers on the hook for increasing salaries of private corporations that have state contracts. The GEO Group responded to the veto by announcing it was abruptly ending its contract with the state. The Department of Corrections, which at the time had over 2,600 inmates in the prison, responded, alleging that the Lawton facility was the 'most violent prison' in the state and lacked 'the standard of care expected.' Around the same time, two inmates were killed and 30 others were injured during a fight. The Department of Corrections and The GEO Group ultimately agreed to a one-year contract extension. Caldwell said both The GEO Group and the Department of Corrections have had legitimate frustrations. He said the Department of Corrections has been concerned about inmate safety and violence in the facility, and The GEO Group had concerns that the state agency was incorrectly reclassifying inmates to make sure they qualified for incarceration in Lawton. 'I think that in the past there are things that both sides could point to and say that they've done wrong,' Caldwell said. 'I think our job as a Legislature is looking at problems and trying to find solutions going forward. That's what this piece of legislation does. It gets Oklahoma out of the private prison business.' The Lawton facility is the state's last privately operated prison, though the state leases and runs one other that is owned by a private entity. The $312 million purchase is an 'all-in price.' He said in the past, the state has purchased private prisons where the company took everything within the parameters of the prison with them, which made it very hard to immediately take control. This time, the contract includes vehicles, refrigerators, furniture, utensils, security cameras, the computer system and the warden's house. It also includes private acreage next to the facility. He said estimates show it would cost the state between $1.3 billion and $2 billion to build a similar facility. The prison employs about 450 people, and every employee will be offered employment with pay that is at least equal to what they're receiving now as well as state benefits, Caldwell said. The Department of Corrections will continue to be allocated the $47 million appropriation that The GEO Group had received, but the agency instead will use it to maintain and pay those employees. Caldwell said the state has excess capacity to house minimum security inmates, but it doesn't have the same space availability to incarcerate offenders classified as medium security or who must be in protective custody. Rep. Meloyde Blancett, D-Tulsa, said lawmakers did not intend to purchase a prison from a strategy perspective, and questioned if all efforts had been made to reconcile the differences between The GEO Group and the state's executive branch 'at a time when we could be investing in other things that are of greater value.' Rep. Andy Fugate, D-Oklahoma City, who cast the sole dissenting vote against the purchase, said he had hoped this purchase would open up some additional capacity to help address issues with Oklahoma's aging prison infrastructure. He was told it would not. 'I was hoping to hear that we might have some capacity that we could shut down someplace else,' he said. 'We have a number of prisons that are desperately in need of renovation, ancient, and those are places, frankly, oftentimes our DOC folks are not safe,' he said. The measure, which passed by a 27-1 vote, next heads to the full House for consideration. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lawmakers agree on Oklahoma budget, could see income tax cut
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — Lawmakers quickly met Wednesday afternoon to announce they agreed on the upcoming budget. The big ticket item was the income tax cut proposal. Lawmakers announced that there will be an elimination of the bottom three brackets, and the rest see a .25% cut. 'We still have three-and-a-half billion dollars in savings,' said House Speaker Kyle Hilbert (R-Bristow). Below is a grid from the Tax Commission that displays the tax brackets. This isn't a .50% cut that the governor had been pushing for, but it is a path. 'You know, the Pro Tem had a great analogy of someone making $33,000 a year. With the flattening of those brackets, would save around $160 I think was his, was his number. And that's very meaningful for a working family in the state of Oklahoma,' said Governor Kevin Stitt. In total, the proposal for the new year's budget amounts to $12.59 billion. Things that weren't added included the Department of Education (Supt. Ryan Walters') request for $3 million in Trump Bibles to put in every classroom and the $500,000 for concealed carry training for employees. Agencies requested much more than was agreed upon. According to the budget transparency website, they had asked for $13.31 billion. Several new additions were announced that were included in this preliminary budget agreement. $250 million is to be spent on a new Veterinary Medicine school. $312 million will go to a prison purchase in Lawton. Even a new pediatric heart hospital was included in this budget agreement. Last year, the Tax Commission found that the biggest cost that hit Oklahoma revenue was the Private School Choice Tax Credit and the Grocery Sales Tax Cut. Oklahomans speak out, write letters against bill restricting statewide ballot initiatives Another question arose surrounding the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. There have been many questions around millions missing from the current budget and what will happen to their future budget. NonDoc reported this week that the budget shortfall for ODMHSAS was around $27 million, but when asked Wednesday, lawmakers said that number is closer to $30 million. That money will have to head their way soon. 'Underscoring Lawson's questions about creating certainty for a supplemental figure, House Appropriations and Budget Committee Chairman Trey Caldwell reported Wednesday that LOFT had conducted its own review and determined ODMHSAS would need closer to $30.6 million in funding to get through the rest of the fiscal year.' – from NonDoc. 'The tentative plan on the entirety of the mental health budget is to stop the bleeding,' said House Budget Chair Trey Caldwell. On Wednesday, Democrats reacted to this proposed budget agreement. 'Senate Democrats have consistently prioritized a bipartisan budget that solves real problems for Oklahomans – one that focuses on working families, not big companies and well-connected people. We've advocated for a budget that provides a great education for every student, not $50 million for vouchers with little to no oversight or accountability. We believe our budget should help make sure Oklahomans can see a doctor when they need one and not have to wait months for health care. We don't believe this budget prioritizes people,' said Senate Democrat Leader Julia Kirt. There are still several steps before this budget agreement reaches it's finalization stage but this is one of the earliest that lawmakers have come together on a preliminary budget agreement in years. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
On a quest to cut waste, Oklahoma House releases its list of ‘DOGE Ideas of Note'
Rep. Trey Caldwell, R-Faxon, chair of the House budget committee said some public claims of government waste are being considered in this year's budget talks. (Photo by Kyle Phillips/For Oklahoma Voice) OKLAHOMA CITY — Over 30 complaints of government waste and inefficiency in Oklahoma have been flagged as 'ideas of note' and considered by House lawmakers during budget discussions. House budget chair Trey Caldwell, R-Faxon, said the House's Government Efficiency Portal, which launched in December, received around 250 complaints, but many were 'spammy and junk.' The portal, which was modeled after President Donald Trump's federal Department of Government Efficiency, received about 75 actual submissions, about 20% of which are legitimate claims of waste, he said. Some of the submissions were used in budget hearings to inform questions lawmakers asked of agency directors, he said. Some of the 'spam' was as simple as what people receive in their email inboxes, Caldwell said, but many were filled with 'vitriol against a specific statewide elected officer.' Caldwell said he did not want to name that person. House leaders voluntarily provided a list of 35 submissions, which they've identified as 'DOGE Ideas of Note' in response to a request by Oklahoma Voice. Ideas on the list ranged from consolidating within state agencies to reducing the number of traffic signs on Oklahoma highways. Three submissions recommended reducing the number of school districts to consolidate administrative staff and share resources, while another recommended doing the same with the state's 25 public institutions for higher education. Consolidation of state storage and warehouse facilities, state vehicle fleets, and printing services were also recommended. Other submissions noted inefficiencies when working with state agencies to obtain car tags, medical assessments, food stamps, childcare, health care and 'vital records.' One submission said the 'over abundance' of unnecessary traffic signs 'numbs drivers' and 'litter' highways. An example included 'speed limit signs increasing over a short distance' because 'people know how to speed up.' A couple of submissions questioned the need for Oklahoma Turnpike Authority to air television and radio advertisements. Someone else questioned why the OTA and the state Department of Transportation were separate agencies and if there was overlap in services. Another recommended comparing job titles of state employees to consolidate duplicative tasks and re-evaluating the salaries of highly paid public servants. The submissions provided to Oklahoma Voice only included the submitted idea and not any identifying information about the person using the portal. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
House eyes Oklahoma mental health hospital alternative amid soaring price tag
An artist rendering of the Donahue Behavioral Health Campus. (Courtesy image) OKLAHOMA CITY — The construction of a new inpatient mental health hospital is $124 million over budget, and House budget leaders do not want taxpayers to pick up the tab. The Donahue Behavioral Health Campus, located in Oklahoma City, was budgeted for $147 million and broke ground in March 2024. It would serve adults and adolescents with 330 beds when completed, an increase in capacity by 100 beds from the Griffin Memorial Hospital, in Norman, it is intended to replace. But in its budget request to the Legislature for the 2026 fiscal year, the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services asked for another $124 million to cover overrun costs. The House recommended not fulfilling this request. Rep. Trey Caldwell, R-Faxon, chair of the House Appropriations and Budget Committee, said House leaders believe the Donahue project is too costly and a cheaper alternative must be found. 'The House position is we want to do something transformational when it comes to shortening that waitlist, especially when it comes to mental health issues,' he said. 'The Donahue build-out, as it stands right now, not only has come in over budget, but also had hiccups along the lines of, they forgot to put bathrooms in. … There's a facility out there that I think we can purchase for about 15% of what it would cost to build the Donahue, and we want to get that done.' He said there's no 'firm commitment' from the governor, the Senate or the Mental Health Department on this recommendation, but the House is working to see this plan come to fruition. In December, Oklahoma Watch reported the budget shortfall and that the opening of the hospital could potentially be pushed to 2028, rather than the scheduled 2026 date, due to unexpected costs, changes in the layout and number of bathrooms, and inflation. Kelsey Davis, a spokesperson for the Mental Health Department, said there are no updates from the agency on their next steps or the reason for the cost overrun. The agency is actively working through what the future of the project will look like if the Legislature opts not to provide the extra funding, she said. Lawmakers committed $87 million in pandemic relief funds to the project. Oklahoma City leaders and county commissioners also contributed funding, with additional dollars expected to come from the sale of the Griffin Memorial Hospital land. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
