Members of the Oklahoma State Board of Health heard reports Tuesday on the 2015 legislative and budget priorities for the state health department.
Deputy Secretary for Health and Human Services and Senior Deputy Commissioner Julie Cox-Kain said they will be requesting $18,523,641 to add to their base appropriations for fiscal year 2016.
The health department, she said, has four main budget requests, more than they have had in recent years. These requests are for the public health laboratory, vaccine purchasing, adolescent and children’s health and reducing hospitalizations.
Addressing the state’s public health laboratory, which has gone through some flooding recently and is in need of repair and updating is a top priority, Cox-Kain said. The facility is about 40 years old, and while they have been repairing it “piecemeal,” a large scale restoration effort is also needed.
Cox-Kain says total cost of the proposed laboratory is about $49 million and that the agency will seek an appropriation of $5.8 million for the first payment on a 10-year bond issue that would finance the project.
The agency will seek $2.7 million to purchase and distribute vaccines and administer the vaccine program.
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