Second and third special session underway at Capitol

I hope everyone’s enjoying their summer and staying safe in this extreme heat. Although the regular session adjourned a couple of weeks ago, we returned to the Capitol Monday to continue work on the second and third special sessions. 

Typically, special sessions are called by the governor, but the Legislature called the second special session to continue work on vetting proposals for how to best use the state’s $1.8 billion in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to help the state with ongoing pandemic recovery efforts.

Having a special session will allow the Legislature to get these funds distributed more quickly and efficiently.

Several ARPA projects were approved during the regular session, including $75 million in water infrastructure grants; $50 million to expand nursing programs at state colleges and universities; along with $634,000 for CareerTech nursing programs and $4.5 million for medical professional training.

Another $2 million was approved for rural broadband mapping; $365 million for a broadband technician training program; and $7.5 million for pediatric emergency room behavioral health needs. As you can see, our main focus is expanding broadband services statewide, improving behavioral health, and addressing workforce and water infrastructure needs statewide.

These are one-time funds for our state that are going to make a generational impact that will be felt for decades to come.

On Monday, we continued our work passing several bills advanced by the Joint Committee on Pandemic Relief Funding. Funds were approved to provide $15 million to complete the new Northeastern State University School of Optometry, adding to the $18 million already raised by the school.

Another $8.8 million in CareerTech projects advanced to further address Oklahoma’s nursing workforce shortage. This, along with previously approved funding, brings our total target investment to $64 million, which will help get 2,500 additional licensed and trained healthcare workers on the job within the next five years.

An additional $250,000 also moved on to the House for the Health Workforce Training Commission to administer nursing workforce programs. We also approved an additional $39.4 million to complete the Oklahoma Children’s Hospital Behavioral Health Center to help further address our state’s critical need for pediatric behavioral health services. 

We also passed another $500,000 to provide initial administrative support to open the State Broadband Office, which will be reimbursed by administrative allowances in other federal funds once accessed. Finally, we voted to help with recovery efforts among the nonprofit sector by approving a $25 million grant pool for eligible nonprofits, with an emphasis on those that applied for ARPA funds.

Even with all of these proposals, we still have well over $1 billion more to address critical needs. The pandemic committee has four working groups for vetting proposals, including economic development and workforce; health and human services; government transformation and collaboration; and transportation, infrastructure, and rural development.

These working groups will continue meeting throughout the summer and fall to examine the hundreds of remaining proposals in their specific area. Proposals advanced by the full committee will then be put into appropriations bills and presented to the Legislature in special session.

I’ve got to attend some great events recently, including the Stephens County GOP Fish Fry and I also toured the new Selah community outside of Goldsby with U.S. Rep. Tom Cole and several other area legislators. This major investment by the Adkins family is a housing development and economic driver that will help draw much-needed revenue to the area.

If you have any questions or concerns on legislative matters, please contact me at the Capitol. Please write to Senator Jessica Garvin, State Capitol, 2300 N. Lincoln Blvd. Room 237, Oklahoma City, OK, 73105, email me at Jessica.Garvin@oksenate.gov or call (405) 521-5522.