One of the bills signed into law this week by Governor Mary Fallin will allow Oklahomans to see how federal environmental money is being spent in Oklahoma, whether it’s EPA funds into the Department of Environmental Quality or federal money into the State Transportation Department.
Sen. Greg Treat is authority of Senate bill 1342 which he says will also help legislators be able to better gauge the financial needs of agencies when crafting the state’s annual budget.
“State government consumes over $24 billion annually,” said Sen. Treat, R-Oklahoma City. “The federal pass through monies account for nearly $7 billion of this total. When legislators are crafting a budget that tries to balance priorities, it is extremely important that we now the true and total revenue picture of state agencies and, more importantly, it’s critical that taxpayers who foot the bill for federal and state revenue know the real story.”
The new law requires the Office of Management and Enterprise Services to make modifications to the website required by the Taxpayer Transparency Act to give users the ability to track expenditures of federal funds by state agencies.
Senate Pro Tem President Brian Bingman said it will also help in the budget process.
“Greater transparency in the amount of federal funds flowing into the state each year allows lawmakers to hold agencies accountable for how they spend our tax dollars,” said the Senator. “It also gives lawmakers a more complete picture of state spending as they craft a balanced budget.”
The new law will go into effect January 1, 2017.
