The Oklahoma Department of Transportation will be playing primarily defense and little offense next legislative session, said Executive Director Mike Patterson Monday. The department’s legislative game plan, he said, came after discussions last session that threatened to reduce funding to the state agency.
The potential reduction came in the form of a bill introduced in the House by Rep. Lee Denney, R-Cushing, aimed to fund common education from the top of the state’s General Revenue Fund until funding reached $600 million.
The measure called for the apportionment of $57.5 million from the top of General Revenue Fund starting in fiscal year 2014 and called for an increase in the amounts thereafter. The bill would have topped out at the first $575 million by fiscal year 2023.
The measure was changed by the Senate when it was put before the Senate Appropriations Committee. The bill, in its second form, was criticized because it diverted money from the Department of Transportation’s Rebuilding Oklahoma Access and Driver Safety Fund and allocated it to the State Department of Education.
