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As Oklahoma lawmakers start to consider this session’s budget bills, a Senate panel advanced a proposal Friday to institute a five-year waiting period for new state residents in need of comprehensive services for kids and adults with intellectual disabilities.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Roger Thompson (R-Okemah) said the waiting period is needed while the Department of Human Services reviews its 13-year waiting list for the programs, or roughly 6,000 applicants. Thompson said DHS has received $2 million a year for that study since he s been appropriations chair. He was named to that post in 2018.
Thompson said DHS will be able to make rules that say people filing taxes in Oklahoma are eligible, because he believes the issue is people crossing state lines Arkansans getting services in Stilwell, for example.
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Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has signed two bills to help utility customers avoid high bills because of winter storms.
Senate Bill 1049 and Senate Bill 1050 will establish bond-financed, pooled loan programs for unregulated and regulated utilities currently holding about $4.5 billion in debt.
Sen. James Leewright (R-Bristow) said without the measures, Oklahomans would have seen utility bills skyrocket. The impact on our economy, just as we are recovering from the pandemic, would have been devastating, Leewright said. These may be two of the most important bills of the session.
The increased cost comes from natural gas prices soaring due to a surge in demand during the deep freeze in February.
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