OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KOKH) — Lawmakers on a select committee are set to meet with the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Commissioner on Monday morning.
This comes as lawmakers were made aware on May 2 that the agency wasn’t going to be able to make payroll and was short $23 million.
Lawmakers have already been looking into the agency’s finances for the last several weeks as ODMHSAS faces a budget shortfall for FY25.
The agency’s legislative liaison informed the chairman of the select committee on Thursday that the agency now would not be able to make payroll. House Speaker Kyle Hilbert (R-Bristow) said lawmakers were previously told there would not be a cash flow issue before the end of session.
On Friday afternoon, ODMHSAS sent a statement saying the agency would be making payroll as scheduled. The statement did not detail how the agency is now going to be able to make payroll.
Hilbert said Commissioner Allie Friesen will be meeting with the select committee on Monday. Both Friesen and the agency’s interim Chief Financial Officer, Skip Leonard, have already testified in front of the committee, but lawmakers have expressed they don’t feel like they’ve received many answers so far.
State Representative Melissa Provenzano (D-Tulsa) is on the select committee.
“I hope on Monday that we see a spreadsheet with a balanced budget and here’s where the money went and here are the accounts. I mean because that’s what we’re charged to do in this situation,” Provenzano said. “If we need to help out, how much is that so people can keep their jobs, people can continue to get mental health services. That is paramount, and so we’ve got to have answers and we’ve got to have them now.”
Lawmakers are trying to figure out how much more the agency needs to finish out this fiscal year plus how much it needs appropriated for next fiscal year.
The legislature has until the end of May to pass a budget.
