Corporation Commission Dealing with $500,000 Budget Cut

It’s apparently too soon for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to determine the impact of the latest cut by the legislature in the 2018 budget.

“Still assessing,” was the email response from Matt Skinner, a spokesman for the agency when asked by OK Energy Today about the impact of the loss of nearly $500,000.

When the State Legislature adjourned sine die last Friday afternoon, the budget bill, known as SB 860, gave the Corporation Commission a budget of $9,686,724. The 2017 budget was $10,182,682 but with the nearly $1 billion budget shortfall, legislators had to trim most state agencies again. It resulted in the Corporation Commission of being handed a cut of 4.87% or $495,958.

The budget bill included a direct appropriation of $7,786,724 as listed in Section 104 of SB 860.

Section 105 of the bill approved a well-plugging fund of $300,000. Section 106 approved a public utility regulation revolving fund of $1.1 million. Section 107 was the approval of a trucking one-stop shop fund of $500,000,