Treat announces Senate Appropriations subcommittee chairs for next session; Also returns Finance to standing committee and names chair

Senator Greg Treat, president pro tempore-designate of the Oklahoma Senate, announced his selections of Senate appropriations subcommittee chairs for the next legislative session that convenes in February. Treat also named the vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and named the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, which will return to a standing committee during the next session.

“Work on the budget never ceases at the state Capitol, even during the interim. I am naming the next set of appropriations subcommittee chairs in the Senate right now, so they can officially get to work on their specific areas of the Fiscal Year 2020 budget,” said Treat, R-Oklahoma City. “Tax policy is a high priority of the Senate, and the Finance Committee will return to standing committee status to focus on tax reform and banking issues.”

“This is a talented group of senators with a wide variety of experience and skills sets. I know they are up to the challenge I have extended to them to carefully scrutinize the budget so that we can ensure our tax dollars are being used wisely and efficiently, and so that we can root out waste and duplication,” Treat said.
Treat announced Senator Dave Rader, R-Tulsa, will serve as vice-chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He also said Senator Stephanie Bice, R-Oklahoma City, will serve as chair of the Senate Finance Committee.

Senator Roger Thompson, incoming Senate Appropriations Committee chair, said he looked forward to working with the new subcommittee chairs on digging deep into the state budget.

“As the incoming chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I’ve been meeting with various agencies on the FY’20 budget and I look forward to the new subcommittee chairs joining the effort,” said Thompson, R-Okemah. “We’re going to pore over each agency budget and ask tough, meaningful questions so that we can gather information that will help us in crafting the budget and setting spending priorities to support core government services.”

The appropriations subcommittee chairs for the 2019 session:
Subcommittee on Education: Senator Dewayne Pemberton, R-Muskogee
Subcommittee on General Government and Transportation: Senator Gary Stanislawski, R-Tulsa
Subcommittee on Health & Human Services: Senator Frank Simpson, R-Springer
Subcommittee on Natural Resources and Regulatory Services: Senator Darcy Jech, R-Kingfisher
Subcommittee on Public Safety and Judiciary: Senator Adam Pugh, R-Edmond
Subcommittee on Select Agencies: Senator Tom Dugger, R-Stillwater