Oklahoma legislative panel makes ARPA spending recommendations

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OKLAHOMA CITY – Workforce development emerged as a priority of Oklahoma lawmakers who released recommendations this week on how the state should spend $1.87 billion in federal pandemic relief money.

Other primary goals for the massive infusion of funding should include making broadband internet much more accessible to Oklahomans, strengthening health care delivery, improving water infrastructure, driving economic development initiatives in urban and rural areas, and enhancing quality of life by providing for things like more options for child care and more access to dental care through mobile clinics, lawmakers on the Joint Committee on Pandemic Relief Funding said.

Specific recommendations made by the committee will be included in bills to be considered next week when the full Legislature reconvenes in an extraordinary session called for the purpose of planning spending of American Rescue Plan Act funds. Recommendations revealed this week, along with some previously made by the committee, relate to funding for more than 60 specific projects and initiatives, accounting for nearly all of the state government’s share of ARPA funding.

Some of the specific recommendations pertaining to workforce development included dedicating:

• $8.4 million for Oklahoma City’s Innovation District to pay for equipment and curriculum to be used in training the state’s pharmaceutical and “bio life science” workforce.

• $20 million for the Fires Innovation Science and Technology Accelerator in Lawton, to be used in development of advanced technology leveraged by the U.S. Army Futures Command.

• $8.1 million for the Central Oklahoma Manufacturers Association to create a Manufacturing Skills Academy.

• $20 million to help create an Oklahoma Aviation Academy.

• $12 million to expand a Cyber Innovation Institute at the University of Tulsa.

Other money would be dedicated to state colleges and career technology centers to increase their capacity for training nurses and to career techs to expand training for commercial truck drivers, among other things.

Related to the goal of improving broadband in the state, the lawmakers recommended dedicating:

• $382.1 million to be allocated as grants to build up the state’s broadband infrastructure. A goal, lawmakers have said, is to deliver high-speed internet capacity to 95% of Oklahomans within the next five years.

• $5 million to career tech to train the state’s broadband workforce.

Some of the recommendations related to water infrastructure include dedicating:

• $100 million to support a grant program of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board and $130.5 million to support other statewide water needs, including to benefit rural water districts and municipalities and to focus on “high-need” dams.

• $57 million to match tribal funds to advance collaborative projects.

• $35 million to improve water infrastructure shared by Oklahoma City and Tinker Air Force Base in anticipation of expansion of the base eastward.

• $50 million to address wastewater needs in a growing industrial use area in Tulsa.

• $4.24 million for the Burns Flat Spaceport to address water and broadband needs.

• $8 million for Oklahoma City to address infrastructure needs at an industrial site working with the Innovation District and Tinker to identify prospective new company tenants.

In the health care arena, lawmakers recommended, among other things, dedicating:

• $50 million to Oklahoma State University to advance research into opioids and how to minimize risks of abuse, addition, and overdose.

• $87 million to create a new Griffin Memorial Hospital in Norman with expanded capacity to treat patients.

• $38 million for the Tulsa Center for Behavioral Health to create a new facility with expanded capacity.

• $15 million for Northeastern State University to build a new optometry school, to be coupled with $18 million the university has already raised.

• $50 million for an OSU Nutrition Institute to research effects of nutrition and exercise on health outcomes.

• $20 million in seed money to create a Stephenson Cancer Center in Tulsa in partnership with a local hospital.

Lawmakers said more than 1,400 programs and initiatives for spending were initially proposed. Ultimately, the joint committee recommended proceeding with projects with spending amounting to about 10% of some $18 billion that had been requested.

“I am confident that the projects advanced by the joint committee will have an immediate impact in areas that need assistance, and we will see the dividends both now and in the future,” said state Rep. Kevin Wallace, R-Wellston, who co-chaired the joint committee with state Sen. Roger Thompson, R-Okemah.

“The joint committee has conducted itself in a transparent manner, in the best interest of the public,” Thompson said. “Whether it’s ensuring clean water for communities, undertaking the colossal broadband project, or assisting those in need of mental health services these are all areas that we have prioritized and funded. These are projects that will improve the lives of Oklahomans for decades to come.”

Democrats also welcomed the spending recommendations. Caucus Chair Cyndi Munson, D-Oklahoma City, noted plans for needed investments in rural parts of the state.

“Investments were made today for rural hospitals, to increase the reach of health and human services, and to ensure the vital infrastructure necessary to deliver clean water to our citizens,” Munson said. “This process highlights the successes we are able to accomplish for all Oklahomans when the state and federal government work together instead of against each other.”

State Rep. Meloyde Blancett, D-Tulsa, praised plans for investment in Oklahoma’s workforce.

“You can’t grow the economy, attract business or work toward a better Oklahoma without a strong, robust, skilled workforce,” she said. “The committee’s investment into Oklahoma’s workforce via the American Rescue Plan was directed specifically to support workforce training programs that invest in strategic industry areas such as 21st-century manufacturing, trucking, and aerospace.

“Moreover, we also chose to invest in out-of-school child care programs, which is a key workforce challenge that still needs our attention as well as shoring up our beleaguered arts and culture sector, which is central to talent attraction and retention. Oklahoma’s multifaceted workforce challenges must be addressed, and these long overdue resources are a great start to getting us on a better track, but there is still work to do.”