State lawmakers push to make government more efficient, eliminate obsolete boards

What is Senate Bill 676?

Senate Bill 676 repeals various statutory provisions establishing commissions that are no longer active or necessary. It was authored by Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle.

“One thing I noticed when I became the pro tem of the senate is how many appointments there are to boards and commissions, and I think that number is 128,” said Pro Tem Paxton. “We started looking at boards and commissions that just haven't met in a long time.”

How many boards or commissions will be eliminated?

The repealed commissions under Senate Bill 676 include:

1. Advisory Committee of the South-Central Interstate Forest Fire Protection Compact.
2. The 1953 multi-state compact is no longer necessary and redundant on duties undertaken by the Oklahoma State Fire Marshal’s Office and other agencies.
3. The Oklahoma Suicide Prevention Council.
4. The council’s sunset date was effective in 2020 and it stopped meeting. Removing this council from statute does not impact how the state provides funding or resources for suicide prevention.
5. The Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Advisory Council.
6. Created in 2004, the EITA is duplicative of federal law and other state statutes that have been enacted since its inception. The council’s sunset date was July 1, 2020.
7. The Oklahoma School for the Visual and Performing Arts.
8. The purview of the Oklahoma School for the Visual and Performing Arts is under the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma and no longer necessary in statute.  
9. The Permanent Legislative Liaison Committee.
10. This committee is duplicative of the Oklahoma Capitol Improvement Authority, the Office of Management and Enterprise Services and other positions within the legislature. No meetings or agendas are posted.  
11. The Staff Review Committee of the Senate.
12. This committee is unnecessary as internal policies have been implemented for annual staff reviews by division directors. The committee does not currently meet.  

How do lawmakers determine if a board or commission needs to be eliminated? 

Paxton says they took a deep dive into what the board was created for and what they were doing before they started making deep cuts.

“We found that most of them are either sunsetted but they're still in statute or their duties have already been absorbed somewhere else,” said Pro Tem Paxton. 

He says they’re working closely with the boards and agencies, ensuring they’re not cutting core services. 

“If there was a board that was going to be helpful, that was going to be doing things we needed done in the state, we didn't want to include those in that list, so we pulled those back,” said Pro Tem Paxton.

What’s next for the bill?

The bill passed 9-0 out of the Senate's Retirement and Government Resources Committee. It will now head to the full Senate for consideration.