Fewer Members, More Accountability: New Law Changes Long Term Facility Advisory Board Rules

In November a new law will alleviate the problems which have kept the Oklahoma Long Term Facility Advisory Board from meeting for more than a year. 

Senate Bill 571 makes several changes, but the most notable is reducing the size of the group from 27 members to 13. The change also turns it into a council, instead of a board. 

“Their biggest struggle was meeting the 14 member count to comply with the open meeting requirement,” said Erica Rankin-Riley, a spokesperson for the State Department of Health. 

The board’s most recent meeting was supposed to be July 5, but it was also canceled. 

But the board’s chair, Wendell Short, points out many of its members have been faced with challenges still lingering from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Being able to give up that kind of time when you’re dealing with staffing issues, you’re dealing with regulations, infection control, and just perception,” Short said. “It’s just changed all we do.” 

In his two decades on the board, Short said it has accomplished many things: legislative changes, assisted living rules, Nursing Home Care Act changes, background checks, and Ad-Hoc committees. 

“Senate Bill 571, I think, by reducing the size of the committee should have an impact on that,” he said. “Obviously, when you have fewer people you have more accountability, you don’t get quite lost like you do in a group of 27. So I am hoping in that group they create a bit of stability and regularity.” 

The current iteration of the group is scheduled for one more meeting in October before the new changes go into effect.