State Agencies Study Impact Of Looming Government Shutdown

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- There's still no word on when legislators may resume budget negotiations.<br/><br/>If they don't reach agreement on a spending plan by July 1st, the state would be looking

Friday, June 9th 2006, 6:10 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- There's still no word on when legislators may resume budget negotiations.

If they don't reach agreement on a spending plan by July 1st, the state would be looking at a governmental shutdown.

Such a shutdown has never occurred in Oklahoma, and officials are hopeful it won't happen this time, but some contingency planning is going on.

One possibility is that the National Guard might have to be activated to watch prison inmates.

Director Claudia San Pedro of the Office of State Finance says that at the very least lawmakers could approve a standstill budget authorizing funding at the previous year's levels to assure state agencies can continue operating.