The Senate Subcommittee on Natural Resources and Regulatory Services voted by voice to adopt budget recommendations and one-time increases for a range of state agencies and institutions and forwarded those recommendations to the full Appropriations Committee.

Committee presenters recommended flat budgets in some cases and one-time or recurring increases in others. The subcommittee adopted the recommendations by voice vote for the Department of Agriculture, the Conservation Commission, the Department of Environmental Quality, the Oklahoma Historical Society, JM Davis Arms and History Museum, the Department of Labor, the Department of Mines, the Oklahoma State University Veterinary Medicine Authority, the Department of Tourism and Recreation, and the Oklahoma Water Resources Board.

Key recommendations recorded in committee minutes included: a hold on adding new FTEs for the Department of Agriculture at the request of agency leadership; a recommendation for $3,000,000 one-time for upstream plate control repairs and a $2,000,000 one-time invasive species eradication equipment appropriation for the Conservation Commission (recurring technician funding for invasive species eradication of $355,000); a $404,935 increase for federal implementation of lead and copper inspections included in a $21,609,650 recommendation for the Department of Environmental Quality; a $3,500,000 increase to cover new heating and air-conditioning systems at the Oklahoma Historical Society for a total recommendation of $19,281,058; a flat $500,000 recommendation for the JM Davis Arms and History Museum; a flat recommendation of $3,578,213 for the Department of Labor; a $100,000 increase for the Department of Mines to a total of $1,248,683; a $4,429,532 increase (including a $2,133,532 third-year commitment and increases to tuition support and scholarships) for the Oklahoma State University Veterinary Medicine Authority to a total of $23,701,532; a flat $26,436,011 recommendation for the Department of Tourism and Recreation; and a proposed $4,500,000 increase (including $500,000 one-time for water information and technology and a contingent $4,000,000 one-time if Senate Bill 92 does not pass) for the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, for a total recommendation of $15,714,075.

Each recommendation in the transcript was moved by the presenting senator and seconded (frequently "second from the chair" or "second from the vice chair"). Committee minutes record voice votes with the clerk announcing "ayes have it" following each second; no roll-call tallies were recorded in the transcript.

Why it matters: The subcommittee’s recommendations set funding priorities that will be considered by the full Appropriations Committee; several items include one-time investments intended for infrastructure and program support.

What’s next: Committee members said the RFP review and some program-level details will be finalized and presented at later hearings or to the full committee.