OKLAHOMA CITY — Gov. Mary Fallin on Thursday signed a bill to give a supplemental appropriation to the Department of Human Services.
House Bill 2342 taps the state’s Unclaimed Property Fund for nearly $30 million and the currently empty Rainy Day Fund for $4.2 million.
The Rainy Day Fund is empty because state officials borrowed $240 million from it to cover cash flow issues.
The state is experiencing a revenue failure, requiring cuts to state-appropriated agencies. In addition, lawmakers expect to have nearly $900 million less to spend in crafting a fiscal year 2018 budget.
Fallin and Finance Secretary Preston Doerflinger have said borrowing from the Rainy Day Fund was legal. They also say the fund will be replenished before the money is dispersed to the agency.
Doerflinger said in a release Thursday his office is confident it worked within statutory and constitutional guidelines in tapping the fund, but it is seeking an opinion by Attorney General Mike Hunter “simply to clear up any confusion others may have on the matter for this administration and future administrations and to counter any false information being spread by special interest groups who are attempting to advance their own agenda.”
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Earlier this week, State Treasurer Ken Miller was asked about the viability of continuing to take money from the Unclaimed Property Fund and borrowing from the Rainy Day Fund.
He said Doerflinger clearly has the ability to borrow from the fund.
Miller said it is his duty to make sure the state is not in a position where it can’t pay claims from the Unclaimed Property Fund back to the rightful owners.
“But clearly the giving tree has given almost as much as it can and we are going to have to get away from tapping that source,” Miller said.
Miller said he has discussed the issue with the chairs of the Senate and House appropriations committees. They understand they need not take any more out of the fund, he said.
“There has been a substantial amount of money in this fiscal year taken out,” Miller said. “It is close to $80 million in one fiscal year, which is the most ever removed from that fund in one fiscal year.”
DHS was given a 10-month budget with the understanding that lawmakers would provide a supplemental, officials have said.
“To me, that gets around the spirit of the balanced budget requirement in our constitution,” Miller said. “If you knowingly only appropriate 10 months of someone’s budget, as was done for DHS, and in the past has done with the Department of Corrections, you are at best getting around the spirit of the balanced budget requirement because agencies should be funded for 12 months not 10.
“If you can’t build a 12-month budget, that underscores a revenue problem.”
