Senate Appropriations Chair Jolley says budget prioritizes growth revenues; applauds work by fellow members

Senate Appropriations Chairman Clark Jolley said the budget agreement announced Thursday by Gov. Mary Fallin and legislative leaders carefully prioritized the allocation of growth revenues for the FY 2014 budget. The agreement itself was reached earlier this session than in past years. Jolley attributed that accomplishment to the hard work of his subcommittee chairs.

“We have a remarkable group of intelligent and dedicated members who chair our subcommittees,” said Jolley, R-Edmond. “They’ve done an incredible job of evaluating and prioritizing the requests made by state agencies and continued working throughout the session to get us to this point. I am truly grateful for their efforts on behalf of the people of this state.”

Jolley extended his thanks to Appropriations Vice-Chair Ron Justice, R-Chickasha, who also serves as Chair of the Subcommittee on Natural Resources; Education Subcommittee Chair, Sen. Jim Halligan, R-Stillwater; General Government and Transportation Subcommittee Chair, Sen. Bryce Marlatt, R-Woodward; Health and Human Services Subcommittee Chair, Sen. Kim David, R-Porter; Public Safety and Judiciary Subcommittee Chair, Sen. Rob Johnson, R-Yukon; and Select Agencies Subcommittee Chair, Sen. Patrick Anderson, R-Enid.

“Our subcommittee chairs have done an outstanding job of working with us to create a balanced budget that placed our additional available resources in critical areas—education, health and mental health, caring for Oklahoma’s abused and neglected children, and helping repair and maintain our state Capitol,” Jolley said “I want to thank President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman for his leadership, and again, I want to express my gratitude to our appropriations subcommittee chairs and to our staff for their tremendous effort and dedication,” Jolley said.