Legislative Update:

Gov. Henry calls special session to finish budget.

On Thursday May 25th, 2006 Gov. Henry called a special session of the Oklahoma Legislature to ensure that lawmakers complete state appropriations work before the new fiscal year begins in July.

The governor's special session call limits lawmakers' agenda to unsettled budget issues, including tax relief, agency appropriations and investment initiatives.

In an effort to reduce the cost of an emergency meeting, Gov. Henry asked that the special session run concurrently with the final two days of session. The session officially ended Friday May 26th at 5 p.m. This set the stage for a very brief meeting in June to pass remaining budget bills. Under Oklahoma Constitution, it takes five days to pass a bill into law.

Lawmakers have been locked in a budget stalemate since April. Agency budgets must be renewed before the new fiscal year begins on July 1.

Next Steps:

All bills containing budget requests for state agencies are now dead. That includes the budget request contained in HB2232 from the Oklahoma Health Care Authority for "OB High Risk Care." A whole new set of appropriations bills will be introduced in the special session. We will keep you posted on the new numbers and any actions that need to take place from advocates. It is important that child advocates stay active and work very hard during this special session to ensure the populations they care about are not lost in the shuffle.