Legislative Committee to Begin Zero-Based Budget Hearings Monday

(Oklahoma City) -- The newly created Legislative Oversight Committee on State Budget Performance will hold its first meeting Monday, August 25, Senate Appropriations Chairman Mike Morgan announced Wednesday.

“Zero-based budgeting was a major issue in Governor Henry’s campaign a year ago. We established this committee through legislation last spring to change the way the Legislature approaches writing the budget. We’re going to examine every dollar appropriated to every state agency,” Morgan said.

House Appropriations and Budget Committee Chairman Billy Mitchell, D-Lindsay, and Morgan, D-Stillwater, were the authors of House Bill 1256 that created the committee. The legislation was developed in cooperation with Republican leaders in both the Senate and the House.
Morgan will serve as the committee chairman. Mitchell will be vice chairman.

The committee is charged with the responsibility of reviewing each state agency’s budget from the bottom up once every four years.

It will begin its work next week with an examination of the overall budget process.
“Monday we’re going to start at the very heart of the budget process, by reviewing the documents the Office of State Finance uses for agency budget requests. That’s starting at ground zero,” Morgan said.

The agenda for Monday’s meeting also includes establishing the four-year schedule of agency evaluation review and setting meeting dates for agency budget evaluation hearings.

Under the new law, the committee will report its findings on each agency. The report must include a review of the agency’s programs, performance and management; whether the agency has demonstrated that there is a need for the services and programs which justifies the agency’s continued existence; and whether the agency is the most appropriate provider of the programs and services furnished by the agency.

In addition to Morgan and Mitchell, members of the bi-partisan committee are Senator Johnnie Crutchfield, D-Ardmore; Senator Ben Robinson, D-Muskogee; Senator Randy Brogdon, R-Owasso; Senator Mike Johnson, R-Kingfisher; Representative Jari Askins, D-Duncan; Representative Jack Bonny, D-Burns Flat; Representative Chris Benge, R-Tulsa; and Representative Kevin Calvey, R-Del City.

The committee meeting is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. Monday in Room 419C at the Oklahoma State Capitol.