Oklahoma may end charitable payroll deduction for state employees

“The extra work it will take and the inability to contribute via payroll deduction will most likely deter many state employees from contributing at their current level, and may keep them from contributing altogether,” Doug Stussi said.

“If the state charitable campaign does not remain intact, state employees will be responsible for seeking out nonprofit organizations to whom they'd like to contribute, and payroll deduction will not be an option.”

House Bill 2228, which would have extended the life of the Oversight Committee for State Employee Charitable Contributions through July 1, 2016, will not be heard, Rep. George Faught said Monday.

Faught, chairman of the House of Representatives Administrative Rules and Government Oversight Committee, said he won't bring the bill up because the charitable contributions committee isn't an essential state service.

Faught said some committee members supported allowing the charitable committee to end because they thought Planned Parenthood was a member agency of the United Way of Central Oklahoma. A United Way spokeswoman said Planned Parenthood is not a member agency and hasn't been for about 20 years.

The deadline for House committees to hear House bills is Thursday; if HB 2228 doesn't advance, the Oversight Committee for State Employee Charitable Contributions will expire this year. It would take about a year for the committee to end operations.

The Oversight Committee for State Employee Charitable Contributions is made up of seven state employees but gets staff support from the Office of Personnel Management, which last year was consolidated into the state finance office.

Faught said he and others on his committee are looking for ways to streamline state government and save money. State employees provide manpower to the charitable committee.

“Manpower time is calculated in dollars as well,” he said. “A majority of the members of the committee in their conversations with me who had an opinion didn't see it as a core function.”