A bill to increase Water Resources Board grants to small towns and cities across the state was among those mired down in the slow-walking actions Tuesday of Democrats in the Oklahoma Senate.
SB1438, originally filed to create the Waters and Water Rights Modernization Act of 2025 was authored by Rep. Kenton Patzkowsky and Sen. Spencer Kern. The bill was designed to increase caps on the amount of water project grants made to the small towns. It was Kern who was caught on the hot seat by Tulsa Sen. Regina Goodwin, who peppered him with questions about what she found to be confusing information in the bill.
As Sen. Goodwin pointed out, page 5 of the bill increased the grants from the Water Resources Board from $150,000 to $350,000 for any 12-month period. But on page 6 of the bill, it stated the grants for a fiscal year would not exceed $300,000.
“Can you explain how that makes sense?” asked Sen. Goodwin, who wanted to know which amount was correct.
Continually searching his own bill in front of him, Sen. Kern finally admitted, “I’m not sure I understand the math—I just understand we’re trying to raise the cap on the federal grants.”
Goodwin pressed him further before he admitted the measure was a request bill from the Water Resources Board.
“Can you walk us through how we got from $350,000 to $300,000 with the turn of a page? I don’t think you’re able to answer that? Or maybe with a little more time, you’ll be able to answer it.”
Another Senator on the floor approached Kern and pointed to the legislation that claimed on page 7 the $300,000 cap was meant for emergency water projects. It only prompted Sen. Goodwin to wonder why if it were an emergency, the amount would be less. She also wanted to know where such language of an emergency was connected to the grant caps of $300,000 and $350,000.
As the bill entered debate, Goodwin called it “great confusion” and wondered how “you lose $50,000 by the turn of a page.”
“I don’t know how this math is math—we have a bill before us that we can’t really adequately explain—I do hope the author, in his debate, will explain and we’re not just guessing—we are left with more questions than we have answers.”
Sen. Goodwin did not get the answers she expected from Sen. Kerwin because he waved his debate and the Senate quickly approved the measure 44-1 with Goodwin the only opponent. Not even her fellow Democrats, who also participated in the slow-walking of bills in the legislature in protest over a lack of action on academic standards involving Education Secretary Ryan Walters, voted in support of her.
On April 30, the bill was sent to the Governor.
