Appropriations and Budget

OKLAHOMA CITY – House Speaker Pro Tempore Anthony Moore, R-Clinton, on Tuesday secured unanimous committee passage of a bill that would waive financial eligibility requirements for children of longtime public school teachers applying for the Oklahoma Promise Scholarship.  House Bill 1727 passed the House Appropriations & Budget Committee. The bill specifies the student's parent must be a full-time certified teacher who has taught for at least 10 years in Oklahoma public schools. The years do not have to be consecutive or in the same school. "This bill has so many positives," Moore told his fellow committee members. "It would incentivize those teachers who are not yet fully certified to get certified. It would increase retention of longtime certified teachers in our public school classrooms where their dedication and expertise is so desperately needed. "We also know that students of educators teach at a higher rate than other students. This would keep them in Oklahoma for college, making it more likely they will stay here to live, work and raise a family." The Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Program (OHLAP), better known as Oklahoma's Promise, allows students who meet certain income, academic and conduct requirements to earn a college or technology tuition scholarship. It was created in 1992 by the Legislature to help more Oklahoma families send their children to college. The program is administered by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. Moore said he hopes this measure would help address a teacher shortage, which is not just in Oklahoma but nationwide. And it's hoped it would cut down on the need for the record high number of alternative emergency certified teachers who now fill Oklahoma classrooms. "I'm grateful to all who are willing to step in to teach in our schools, particularly in rural areas where its often hard to find enough traditionally certified teachers," Moore said. "But study after study shows us that the No. 1 factor to a student's success in the classroom is a qualified teacher – one who has been trained in classroom management and has specific subject-matter expertise." House Bill 1727 passed 31-0 in the House Appropriations & Budget Committee and now is eligible for consideration on the House floor. 

The Oklahoma House Appropriations and Budget Committee today approved legislation that would reform the state’s administrative rulemaking process—the system through which state agencies draft regulations to implement laws passed by the Legislature. House Bill 2728 , authored by Rep. Gerrid Kendrix, would establish the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act of 2025, modeled after similar federal legislation. "This is a crucial first step toward increasing transparency and oversight over an unelected bureaucracy that has incredible influence on how laws are implemented," said Kendrix, R-Altus. "These rules carry the force of law and largely take effect by default, which does not always serve the Oklahoma taxpayers well. This bill will ensure those elected by Oklahomans have greater oversight of the regulations impacting our state." If HB2728 is enacted, all proposed rules would be submitted with an economic impact statement, while proposed rules with a projected fiscal impact of at least $1 million over the first five years would require separate proactive legislative approval. The bill would also establish the Legislative Economic Analysis Unit (LEAU) within the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT) to provide independent reviews of agencies' economic impact statements to ensure accuracy and completeness. This is modeled after many states that have put in place this third-party evaluation system for administrative rules, which has saved millions in cutting excess red tape and ensuring legislative intent is followed. "This simplifies the rulemaking process and ensures agency rules are given a third party thorough review before going into effect," said House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow. HB2728 passed the House A&B Committee unanimously and will next be heard on the House floor. 

 The House Appropriations and Budget Committee voted today to approve a consent decree between the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services and the plaintiffs who brought action against the state. The decree is a result of a 2023 lawsuit against ODMHSAS for violating the substantive due process rights of pretrial defendants in Oklahoma State Court proceedings who had been declared incompetent to stand trial and were awaiting competency restoration treatment. The Complaint alleges that the Department was allowing incompetent criminal defendants to endure unreasonable wait times beyond what is Constitutionally allowable for competency restoration treatment at the Oklahoma Forensic Center. The decree has been agreed to and negotiated by the Governor's office, the Office of the Attorney General and ODMHSAS. It now must be approved by the House and Senate to move forward. As part of this settlement, ODMHSAS is working with experts as well as community leadership to improve competency restoration services in the State of Oklahoma by: increased training of forensic health care professionals, reducing the number of individuals inaccurately declared incompetent, reducing the wait times to Constitutionally appropriate levels of competency restoration treatment, creating a Constitutionally appropriate, cutting edge in-jail restoration treatment program, and expanding the State’s resources including additional in-patient competency restoration beds. The agreed upon consent decree proposes a 16-month on-ramp for providing services. The state can ease into this plan under the decree, which proposes a strict five-year deadline for completion of services. "We would not choose to set policy through the courts in this way, but we feel like this consent decree is the best path forward so we can restore these competency services in a meaningful and timely way," said House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow. "This will ensure those who committed crimes are held accountable and victim families are allowed to see justice served, all while we are providing Oklahomans accused of a crime needed mental health services." It is anticipated implementing the decree could cost between $26-45 million, depending on how long it takes for the state to come into compliance with the requirements of the decree. "We have been assured by the Department of Mental Health that they have a plan for implementation of this decree and are hopeful it will not take the full five years to fulfill the terms needed for the department to come into compliance," said House Appropriations and Budget Chairman Trey Caldwell, R-Faxon. "In a year with declining revenue, this is not a price tag anyone in the state wants to pay, but we know this needs to get fixed quickly and we are all committed to getting this done this session." The Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services is statutorily obligated to provide competency evaluations and restoration treatment for persons found incompetent to stand trial in Oklahoma state court criminal proceedings. When an Oklahoma state court determines that a person is incompetent to stand trial because he or she is a "person requiring treatment", but is capable of achieving competency with treatment within a reasonable period of time, the state court must suspend the criminal proceedings and order the Department, or its designee, to provide treatment, therapy, or training calculated to allow the person to achieve competency. The Oklahoma Forensic Center is currently the only Department-operated hospital that provides secure, in-patient competency restoration treatment in Oklahoma. "This helps our state avoid the costs, uncertainties and risks of protracted litigation, likely saving the Department millions of dollars in legal fees and expenses if the case were litigated to a conclusion," said Caldwell. "This is the right thing to do and the House is committed to move this through quickly knowing time is of the essence." House Concurrent Resolution1004 passed the House Appropriations and Budget Committee unanimously and will next be considered on the House floor. -END-