Senate Works to End Public Safety Crisis Despite Continuous Road Blocks from Republicans

After working closely all summer with corrections officials, and even convening a special session to deal with Oklahoma’s public safety crisis, the Oklahoma State Senate passed a $24 million supplemental appropriation for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections (DOC) today. The Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Public Safety and Judiciary, Senator Kenneth Corn, said after it became apparent that House budget framers were more interested in political grandstanding than actually ending the public safety crisis in Oklahoma, he presented Senate Bill 1264 for approval on the Senate floor this afternoon.

“It was clear to me that Republicans were more interested in digging their heels in the sand with their ‘my way or the highway’ approach to governing than actually sitting down at the table to come up with a comprehensive corrections funding plan,” Corn, (D-Poteau) said.

“Sometimes you just have to decide what is more important, creating a safer Oklahoma or allowing politics to drive the debate. Obviously the Democratic majority in the Senate made the responsible decision to create a safer Oklahoma by passing this critical funding plan for Oklahoma prisons.”

Corn said the measure that passed off the senate floor today will immediately allow DOC to hire additional correctional officers and probation and parole officers as well as increase salaries of most all DOC employees. The provisions of SB 1264 include:

A $3,200 pay raise for correctional officers, probation and parole officers, and other employees at state prisons;
DOC’s private prison and county jail contracts;
Medical services;
Increased fuel and utilities costs;
And $1.48 million to cover the cost of hiring and training of 50 additional corrections officers and 30 probation and parole officers.

“Families deserve to feel safe in their own homes and in their own communities,” Corn said. “Our bill allows all Oklahoma families to have a sense of security as they allow their children to play outside in school and church playgrounds across this state.”

Corn said he is particularly pleased with the provision in the bill that allows DOC to immediately hire 50 correctional officers and 30 probation and parole officers.

“After visiting with probation and parole officers we discovered that there wasn’t enough manpower to track all of Oklahoma’s sex offenders who live in our communities, often times just down the road from places children play.” Corn said. “Our plan will give public safety officials the manpower they need to keep these convicted child molesters away from our children.”

Corn said the Senate plan is not a knee jerk reaction to Oklahoma’s growing public safety crisis, rather it is a thoughtful and planned approach to create a safer Oklahoma that has been months in the making.

“Members of my subcommittee and me have personally walked the yard at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, we visited with officials that the Oklahoma State Reformatory in Granite and we toured facilities in Stringtown,” Corn said. “All the while, House Republicans did nothing but make false accusations and use smoke and mirror tactics to hide their ‘do-nothing’ approach to public safety.”

Corn said today’s passage of SB 1264 is a huge step forward for public safety in Oklahoma. He encouraged House leadership to take the bill up immediately in order to fast track funding to an agency that is literally broke.

“We should not allow politics to stand in the way of creating a safer Oklahoma for our children and families that call Oklahoma home,” Corn said. “I urge House Republicans to show true leadership and immediately bring this bill to the House floor in order to give DOC the tools necessary to keep the bad guys locked up away from Oklahoma families. As lawmakers we have no greater responsibility than to keep our citizens safe, and to allow politics to get in the way of this task is simply immoral, reckless and downright irresponsible.”