‘Generational’ investments: Legislators send ARPA projects to governor

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The Oklahoma Legislature appropriated more than $1 billion in American Rescue Plan Act funding Thursday, sending a series of big-ticket bills to the desk of Gov. Kevin Stitt, who has through Wednesday to decide whether to sign or veto the spending measures.

“You know me well enough that if there is bad legislation, I will veto it and make sure that Oklahomans know my opinion on it,” Stitt said during a Tuesday press conference where he called on lawmakers to eliminate the state share of the sales tax on groceries. “I’ll review all of [the bills], but I just don’t think it’s the right time to spend [more than $1 billion] when we won’t at least cut grocery taxes for Oklahomans. Think about it. Spending $2 billion for different special interests, different groups around the state, different projects, that doesn’t help a mom or dad going to the grocery store. (…) It sends a poor message.”

Friday, Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat (R-OKC) told reporters that his body’s tax policy “working group” is taking a more “global” look at state taxes and should have a broader proposal on revenue reforms for the Legislature to consider during the 2023 session, which starts in February.

“The grocery tax, the group looked at that and didn’t think that was going to provide the most relief to individuals,” Treat said. “I’m a believer in trying to do something on the grocery tax. We can also look at a credit next year. So nothing is off the table. But to maximize the benefit to Oklahomans, the income tax is where we see competitive disadvantage for Oklahoma at times. But they haven’t concluded that. They are still looking at all of the above.”

Whether Treat is still serving as leader of the Oklahoma State Senate in 2023 remains to be seen. Sen. Rob Standridge (R-Norman) sent personalized letters to his colleagues over the last week announcing his campaign to unseat Treat in the GOP Caucus’ internal election, which is expected to occur following the Nov. 8 general election.

Treat declined to discuss Standridge’s challenge, except to say “he’s running against me every time.” Standridge declined to comment on his campaign to become Senate president pro tempore.

Asked his thoughts about potential vetos from Stitt, House Speaker Pro Tempore Kyle Hilbert (R-Depew) said he and Sen. Chuck Hall (R-Perry) went through the likely ARPA projects with Stitt “line by line” in his conference room about a month ago.

“I’m hopeful that the governor will allow these bills to come into law,” Hilbert said. “Ultimately, all these projects — while we legislate where the money goes — it’s the executive branch that executes them. So I’m hopeful these bills become law and that will be that.”

The Senate and House adjourned their special session effective Oct. 14, leaving them time to return to the State Capitol and attempt overrides of any Stitt vetos.

House, Senate disagreement stalls DHS projects

During his 30-minute press availability Friday, Treat said many of the projects approved to receive ARPA funding by the Legislature will make “generational” investments for the state.

“This week really was a culmination of thousands of hours of work — a lot of input from Oklahomans across all 77 counties submitting to the portal $18 billion in submissions,” Treat said. “Obviously we were able to only allocate $1.87 billion. We didn’t do the full (amount). We still have some back in reserve to be able to make decisions next session or a later date (before the Dec. 31, 2024, deadline).”

Among the ARPA money not appropriated Thursday was $95 million of funding intended for the Department of Human Services to contract with statewide and local nonprofits for a variety of projects. Neither SB 12XX nor HB 1020XX received a hearing owing to disagreement between the House and Senate over whether $2.8 million should be dedicated to the YWCA in Oklahoma City or a statewide network representing at least 25 organizations whose purpose is to prevent and eliminate sexual and domestic violence.

Treat said his preference was to dedicate the funding in the manner approved by the Joint Committee on Pandemic Relief Funding, which recommended the YWCA to receive the funds. House leaders, however, sought to send the money to multiple organizations across the state. The disagreement stemmed from how other funding for the organizations was divided earlier this year.

“We’re going to work through it. I’m not nervous about it,” said Treat, who dismissed Capitol rumblings about whether his wife, Maressa, influenced the YWCA funding decision owing to her seat on the OKC-based organization’s board. “People try to make it an issue, but this came through the portal (…) and went through the normal process. I’m completely comfortable having that conversation.”

House Speaker Charles McCall (R-Atoka) provided a statement in response to Treat’s press conference.

“The House wants domestic violence shelters statewide to benefit equitably from available funds,” McCall said. “We are working through it so every part of the state can have equitable, enhanced services for victims.”

GOP ties OU Health funding to prohibition of trans care

The bill that garnered the most attention, discussion and debate Thursday was SB 3, an appropriation of more than $108 million to support projects at OU Health, including a new pediatric behavioral health wing, expansion of cancer treatment services to Tulsa and electronic health records.

But in recent weeks, the Legislature’s most conservative members began expressing frustration with a program at OU Health’s Children’s Hospital called Roy G. Biv. The seven-year-old program offers “gender-affirming treatment and services” to LGBTQ community members, in particular those who identify as transgender or who are transitioning.

OU Health officials reportedly told the House Republican Caucus that five elective mastectomies had been performed on youth under age 18 in recent years, and that revelation — combined with advocacy from far-right organizations — led legislative leaders to include a provision in SB 3 prohibiting the hospital from performing “gender reassignment medical treatment,” even though OU Health had not performed any surgeries below the waistline.

A few dozen Oklahomans — including trans youth and health care professionals — spent Thursday asking legislators to oppose the prohibition of such treatment, which the bill defines as interventions to suppress the development of endogenous secondary sex characteristics, interventions to align the patient’s appearance or physical body with the patient’s gender identity, and medical therapies and medical intervention used to treat gender dysphoria.

The bill specifically exempts behavioral health care services, mental health counseling and medications used to treat depression or anxiety from the prohibition. In addition, the bill allows for:

services provided to individuals born with ambiguous genitalia, incomplete genitalia, or both male and female anatomy, or biochemically verifiable disorder of sex development (DSD), including but not limited to: 46,XX DSD; 46, XY DSD; sex chromosomes DSDs; XX or XY sex reversal; and ovotesticular disorder.

SB 3 passed the Senate and the House with only Republican votes, although the GOP lawmakers most vocal in their opposition to gender-affirming care voted against the bill out of frustration that it did not go far enough. Meanwhile, some of the Republicans who voted in favor of the bill — including its explicit approval of services for the chromosome conditions generically referred to as “intersex” — have previously made statements that only two genders exist: male and female.

Asked whether it was ironic that Oklahoma lawmakers had finally acknowledged the existence of intersex people by passing the exemption in SB 3, Treat said he has “never denied that there are people who have legitimate chromosomal issues.”

“Every human life deserves dignity. I think that law codified something that we all knew to be true,” Treat said. “Now, male and female and the blurring of lines, people are frustrated often times with the cultural discussion and the political discussion on it, but the science of people sometimes having genetic abnormalities is not new news to anyone in this building.”

Democratic lawmakers questioned and debated heavily against the bill owing to its provision prohibiting gender-affirming care at OU Health:

The GOP doesn’t trust women or parents to make their own personal & private health care decisions. They talk a lot about “parental choice”, but not today… now they think there should be “parental limits” (said on the House floor today). They want all the control over all of us.

— Cyndi Munson (@CyndiMunson85) September 29, 2022

The first nonbinary legislator in Oklahoma history, Rep. Mauree Turner (D-OKC) debated against the bill, saying they hoped other lawmakers would come to “understand maybe a little bit of what it’s like to be born into a body that isn’t yours.”

“Community leaders, registered nurses, pharmacists, public educators, grandpas, uncles, aunts — they sit on this floor, and they might pass this legislation, which creates a generation of isolation,” Turner said. “This is from personal experience.”

‘The biggest achievements’

Despite concerns about how three rounds of major federal relief appropriations have contributed to economic inflation, Oklahoma’s legislative leaders praised the projects funded Thursday as transformational and much needed.

“I felt like the investment in children’s behavioral health is something that is going to be one of the biggest achievements that we have been able to do in my legislative career,” Treat said.

Treat also praised the slate of water projects that will be funded with ARPA dollars. Decades worth of neglected infrastructure have caused significant water access and quality issues across the state.

All told, the appropriations made Thursday combined with prior ARPA appropriations mean the Legislature has pushed forward:

• More than $310 million for water projects;
• More than $247 million for behavior health care, including $125 million for a new Griffin Hospital with expanded bed capacity and a new Tulsa mental health hospital with expanded bed capacity;
• More than $170 million for public health programs;
• More than $212 million for workforce development;
• More than $385 million for broadband internet;
• More than $6 million to upgrade IT capabilities for state court systems

Hilbert, who helped lead the Joint Committee on Pandemic Relief Funding for the House, said allocating ARPA money became a “big project” that will continue even now that money has been allocated.

“We’ve got to continue the most important piece of that, which is oversight and accountability in making sure that each of these project submitters that were granted ARPA dollars do what they said they were going to do and then follow up to make sure progress is continuing to be made in all of their areas.”

PREPping for economic development

Also on Thursday, lawmakers approved details on how to spend $250 million they allocated in the spring to a new program they created called the Progressing Rural Economic Prosperity (PREP) Fund. The program is intended to provide one-time support for economic development assets, such as industrial parks, air parks and manufacturing centers.

“The PREP projects will be transformational for rural communities and a boon for economic development,” said Hall, the vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations and Budget Committee. “By building out the infrastructure, or making improvements to existing structures, we will attract more investments, which means jobs and prosperity for Oklahomans.”

A list of the approved projects was distributed by the Legislature in a press release, and it appears below:

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