Senate Democrats Reject Back-Up Funding Streams for Higher Ed Bond Issue

Coffee: Votes Show Dems Don’t Trust Henry’s Lottery Predictions

Senate Democrats on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Education defeated a pair of GOP amendments that would have provided a back-up funding source for the proposed $500 million higher education bond issue.

Senate Republican Leader Glenn Coffee, who authored the two Republican amendments, said , “The votes today show that despite their rhetoric, the Democrats have doubts about Gov. Henry’s projections for lottery revenues. If they really believe the lottery money is going to be there, they would have joined us in supporting our amendments to provide a back-up funding source.”

Senate Bill 745 currently provides that the bond debt would be backed by lottery revenues, which remain unpredictable at this time. Any deficit would be required to be made up by future legislatures with general revenues. The GOP amendments provided for secondary funding sources in case lottery funds were insufficient to make the entire annual debt payments.

“This bond issue is critical for higher education in our state,” stated Coffee, R-Oklahoma City. “That’s why it is important that we have a solid source of future funding for the bond debt, and that we avoid obligating future legislatures to spend general revenues to make up the difference if the lottery funds fail to materialize in the amounts the governor has promised.”

Coffee’s first amendment would have made the state’s share of revenues from new card games at Indian casinos the back-up source to make payments on the bond debt in the event that lottery revenues fell short. The second amendment would have made funds otherwise intended for the Legislative Service Bureau – a support agency for the state Legislature – as the back-up funding source.

Coffee said the 7 to 6 party-line votes show that Democrats intend to make the bond issue a “partisan” issue, when it should be a bipartisan effort to help higher education.