Gov. Brad Henry announced his first line-item veto of budget funding today, saying he will use his veto pen to strike down $1 million in supplemental funds earmarked for the Legislature’s Legislative Services Bureau. The governor said the appropriation duplicates the work of existing state authorities and contains no accountability measures to ensure it will be spent responsibly. Henry said it is critical for the state to conduct regular performance reviews of state agencies such as DOC, but state law assigns that duty to the State Auditor and Inspector, the Oklahoma Legislature and the Office of State Finance. Paying a private consultant an additional $1 million to do the same work assigned to other state authorities would be duplicative and a waste of taxpayer money, according to the governor. “We must hold agencies accountable for every dollar they spend so we can get the best bang for taxpayers’ bucks,” said Gov. Henry. “That’s why we fund a state auditor, a state finance office and legislative committees and staffs. That’s why we passed a zero-based budgeting law that charges the Legislature with doing an in-house, top-to-bottom financial review of every state agency on a regular basis. “If they’ve complied with the zero-based budgeting statute and done their regular oversight duties, legislative leaders should already have the information and data they need to determine an appropriate course of action for corrections and any other agency.” Gov. Henry noted that after he signed Oklahoma’s zero-based budgeting law in 2003, one of the first agencies audited by the Legislature’s zero-based budgeting committee was the Department of Corrections.

Labels: Brad Henry, Budget, OK Legislature

Posted at 3/27/2007 06:46:00 PM