Oklahoma Departments Not Merging
An Oklahoma Senate budget committee on Wednesday derailed a plan to seek a statewide vote on merging the Pardon and Parole Board with the Department of Corrections. Reported in Business Week.
The House Appropriations Committee voted 12-9 against Senate President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee’s joint resolution, which called for a public vote on an amendment to the state constitution.
Another state agency merger bill that would consolidate the Scenic Rivers Commission with the Oklahoma Department of Tourism narrowly passed the committee.
Lawmakers are considering merging several state agencies as they grapple with a $1.2 billion shortfall in next year’s budget.
In other legislative action Wednesday, the full Senate approved a bill to exempt animal husbandry, or livestock breeding, along with horseshoeing and teeth filing from the Oklahoma Veterinary Practices Act.
The proposal to merge the Pardon and Parole Board ran into trouble when several senators voiced concern it could create a conflict of interest for DOC personnel to decide which inmates should be paroled. Currently, that function is performed by investigators with the Pardon and Parole Board.
“I could see the department being under pressure to release inmates to get the numbers down to make budget,” said Sen. Kenneth Corn, D-Poteau. “I think we’re better served with an independent Pardon and Parole board.”
Sen. Anthony Sykes, who carried the bill, said the proposal eliminates a duplication of services performed by employees at the two agencies and would save the state about $500,000 each year. Sykes says the merge would eliminate the need for a director and general counsel at the Pardon and Parole Board.
“It’s efficiency of government that we’re looking for,” said Sykes, R-Moore. “I think they’re both performing the same function.”
The practice of filing horses’ teeth, or teeth floating, has been a source of controversy at the Legislature since rodeo star Bobby Griswold was arrested last year and charged with a felony count of practicing veterinary medicine without a license.
Griswold, who has lobbied for a change in state law, later pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of possession of a dangerous drug without a prescription and received a deferred sentence.
“They obviously wanted to make an example out of me because I was high-profile,” said Griswold, who was in the Senate gallery when the bill passed. It now heads to the House.
Sen. Mike Schulz, who authored the bill, said Griswold’s prosecution made it clear the law should be changed.
“That sent shock waves across Oklahoma among livestock producers who were doing something they’ve always done,” said Schulz, R-Altus.
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