Legislative studies eliminated because of cuts

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Not even interim legislative studies can escape the budget axe. <br><br>Oklahoma House Speaker Larry Adair announced Tuesday that he has ordered the elimination of traditional pre-session

Wednesday, October 2nd 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Not even interim legislative studies can escape the budget axe.

Oklahoma House Speaker Larry Adair announced Tuesday that he has ordered the elimination of traditional pre-session committee meetings as a way to cut costs.

Adair, D-Stilwell, also issued a hiring freeze for open House positions, eliminated all but the most essential out-of-state travel for House members and their staffs, and limited how often legislative committees can meet during non-session periods.

The speaker said he wasn't sure how much it would save, but he said the restrictions needed to be made.

``We had been paying per diem for our House members to come up here for those pre-session meetings. I am sure there were other additional costs because of those meetings as well,'' Adair said.

The changes were discussed during a Democratic caucus meeting held Tuesday, he said.

During that meeting, members of the House's majority party discussed pending budget cuts for various state services, including education and prisons.

The group also discussed a continuing need to require agencies to use ``zero-based budgeting,'' which means that during the budgeting process, agencies must justify the use of every dollar they receive annually.

Adair said this process hasn't been used with all state agencies but suggested the practice should be expanded, if possible.

``When you have a problem with a shortage in the budget, sometimes you have to do extraordinary things you haven't done before,'' he said. ``You have to be a little more serious about your work.''