Sen. Ron Sharp filed three bills in response to the multi-county grand jury’s findings in May concerning the State Department of Health’s financial deception in recent years.

The grand jury’s six month investigation found that the agency had been withholding financial information, including a $30 million “slush” fund, from the legislature for several years. The Shawnee Republican said his bills would put into action some of the grand jury’s seven recommendations in order to improve financial transparency among state agencies.

“Given that Oklahoma just recently recovered from a decade-long financial crisis and many vital state agencies experienced deep budget cuts, it’s disheartening that agency leaders would have done such a deplorable thing. They unnecessarily cut nearly 200 employees, cut vital health services around the state and took $30 million in emergency funds from the legislature that could have been used for other agencies like the Department of Education,” said Sharp. “

SB 176 requires the State Auditor and Inspector to audit the state Department of Health annually.  It would also require the Health Department, within six months of each audit, to submit findings from an internal audit of all local, state and federal funds to the Auditor and public on its agency website.