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By Rep. Jason Murphey
Over the past two years, I have been taking note of the state government’s hidden spending.
Each year, the state government appropriates about 7 billion of your taxpayer dollars. The agencies that depend on this funding are more subject to legislative oversight because they know their appropriations must be approved on an ongoing basis. In theory, these agencies should be on their best behavior because they are supposed to be held accountable by the people’s Representatives.
However, the majority of Oklahoma’s agencies, boards and commissions (more than 500 in total, which appears to be more than double the size of comparable states) are not required to come before the Oklahoma Legislature each year for appropriations. These are the hidden government entities that thrive off fee-generated revenues or other ongoing funding sources that are not subject to the appropriations process.
As a result, they are operating with little legislative oversight while taking close to a billion dollars from the private sector each year.
What do you think the economic impact of 1 billion dollars would be on the state’s economy if it was kept in the hands of the people instead of being gulped up by state government? Read more…
Monday, January 12th, 2009 OK Legislator's Blog Trackback URL for this entry
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