BLACKJACK HENRY DID THE RIGHT THING!

Governor Blackjack Henry today vetoed Senate Bill 1865, by Senate Co-President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee- R, OKC, that would have created an Office of Accountability and Innovation at the Legislative Service Bureau.

In vetoing the bill, Governor Blackjack said, "While it is critical for the state to conduct regular performance reviews of state agencies and programs, state law already assigns those responsibilities to the Oklahoma Legislature, the Office of State Finance and the State Auditor and Inspector. Creating a new layer of bureaucracy to perform the same duties is duplicative and unnecessarily increases the size and cost of government. In 2003, the Legislature established a joint zero-based budgeting committee, also known as the Legislative Oversight Committee on State Budget and Performance, to conduct state performance reviews. State law specifically charged it with reviewing a specified number of agencies and programs each year. Rather than establish a new state entity, the Legislature should use the existing zero-based budgeting committee to conduct performance reviews and accountability assessments not already duplicated by other state entities." Read more at http://wwwtmrcom.blogspot.com/

I wrote an article that was posted May 26th entitled CREATION OF A NEW STATE AGENCY A MISTAKE. It addressed the foolishness of our creating a new state agency to police the agency charged with policing other government agencies. I seldom agree with Blackjack, but in this case, he was right.- Steve