State’s Rainy Day Fund empty

Oklahoma budget officials have borrowed more than $240 million from the Rainy Day Fund to pay for monthto-month expenses of state government, leaving the emergency fund temporarily empty.

The money has to be paid back with tax revenue before July 1.

The Rainy Day Fund, which is also called the Constitutional Reserve Fund, is designed to give lawmakers a stash of money to use during emergencies, but it’s usually tapped through the House and Senate appropriations process.

State law, however, lets Finance Secretary Preston Doerflinger move money between any state fund so Oklahoma doesn’t fall behind on its bills.

In recent years, the Rainy Day Fund has been used to fill Oklahoma’s budget shortfall. Lawmakers expect to use some of it again for the budget they’re negotiating now.

Senate Appropriations Chair Kim David said that the state has borrowed, or transferred, millions out of the Rainy Day Fund this year. She made the announcement Monday during a committee meeting where lawmakers were asked to vote on mid-year cash spending bills.

Doerflinger’s office said $240.7 million has been taken from the Rainy Day Fund, plus another $55 million from other funds to pay for state operations.

One of the spending bills called for a $4.2 million supplemental appropriation from the Rainy Day Fund to the Human Services Department. State Sen. John Sparks, D-Norman,

asked David how the money could be appropriated out of a depleted Rainy Day Fund.

“It seems like we’re borrowing $4 million from an account that somebody has already beat us to, and I’m just wondering if the money’s going to be there when the agency wants it,” Sparks said.

David said she expects that amount to be available by June 1. The money is earmarked to support developmentally disabled Oklahomans.

“Constitutionally, that money had better be there in June. It has to be,” said David, R-Porter.

Oklahoma City Democrat Kay Floyd asked what happens if the money doesn’t come back.

“Then, Senator, I would think we’re in bigger trouble than we are,” David replied.

House and Senate budget committees approved nearly $35 million in supplemental appropriations on Wednesday. If the bills advance and are signed by the governor, the money would be available to spend this budget year.

Oklahoma’s aging and developmental disability services will run out of money without its $34 million funding bill.

The mid-year funding boost will ensure those programs continue operating until July, which is when the next budget takes effect.

The money helps keep Oklahomans out of nursing homes and state-run institutions for the developmentally disabled.

With waiver programs, people on Medicaid can use a blend of federal and state money to pay for inhome and communitybased care.

Lawmakers have known since last year that the Human Services Department would need a supplemental appropriation to keep the Medicaid waiver programs alive.

The agency was also asked to keep the programs running without any cuts, which left only enough money for 10 months.

“The appropriation to DHS was not high enough to enable us to operate those Medicaid programs for a full year,” said Human Services spokeswoman Sheree Powell. “What they asked us to do at the end of the last legislative session was to continue operating them at the same level, not to cut them.”

Another bill approved in committee gives the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System more than $710,000 to finish the year.

The system provides attorneys for criminal defendants who can’t afford legal representation.