State House Speaker urges state Senate to pass House spending bill

Monday, March 28th 2005, 12:18 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Republican House Speaker Todd Hiett called on the state Senate Monday to swiftly pass a GOP-supported $5.77 billion general appropriations bill to meet a legislative deadline for funding public schools.

Hinting at a possible budget impasse with the Democrat-controlled Senate, Hiett said the House will not take up a general appropriations bill the Senate passed on March 16. He said the measure is unconstitutional because it does not fund all state agencies.

"It's not a constitutional process," said Hiett of Kellyville. The Senate's $3.8 billion general appropriations bill for 2006 does not include $2.1 billion that the Senate appropriated for public education in a separate spending bill.

"The Constitution calls for it to be all inclusive of all state government," Hiett said of the general appropriations process.

The Senate's education bill also includes spending for new programs that have not been authorized by the Legislature, said Rep. Chris Benge, R-Tulsa, chairman of the powerful House Appropriations and Budget Committee.

Benge said the new programs includes additional funding for all-day kindergarten, part of Gov. Brad Henry's Senate-passed school funding and accountability initiative. The measure is pending in the House.

"There's a variety of excess spending in other programs," Benge said.

The Senate measure appropriates all but about $25 million in state revenue. The House measure sets aside more than $200 million to allow for GOP-proposed tax cuts and possible spending on other programs.

Hiett urged the Senate to pass the House's spending bill by Thursday, the deadline for funding public schools in legislation Henry signed into law in 2003.

"It's the responsible thing to do," he said. "It includes record levels of funding for education."

Local school districts face an April 10 deadline for notifying certified teachers if their contracts will be renewed. Early passage will give schools more flexibility in making personnel and budget decisions, Hiett said.

Without Senate action on a spending bill, "critical state services could be put in jeopardy," Hiett said. "We must make sure that no government agencies face a shutdown."

Henry scheduled a news conference Monday afternoon to discuss the budget process. A spokesman for Senate President Pro Tem Mike Morgan, D-Stillwater, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Morgan, elevated to the Senate's top position on Wednesday, is former chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which drafted the Senate's spending bills.

Hiett and Benge said the budget process has been slowed by turmoil in the Senate in which former President Pro Tem Cal Hobson, D-Lexington, resigned. Benge said meetings with Senate leaders on a spending bill were canceled twice during the past week.

"With the change in leadership in the state Senate, it can be understood that there would be some catching up to," Hiett said.