Oklahoma Indigent Defense System struggles to survive cuts

What some agencies have done

State Education Department

→Reduced administrative budget.

→Left 53 positions vacant.

→Reduced state aid to 539 school districts

across the state.

Department of Corrections

→Ended a contract for sex offender treatment.

→Reduced private prison and halfway house

contracts.

→Reduced pay to inmates by 15 percent.

→Used profits from the canteen and offender phone use to offset budget cuts.

→Instituted a voluntary buyout plan.

Oklahoma Health Care Authority, which

administers the Medicare and Medicaid program

→Reduced funding for adult emergency

dental care.

→Reduced funding for medical equipment such as oxygen, children’s nebulizers. Cut funding for diabetic supplies. Ended funding for adult nebulizers.

→Limited the number of prescription drugs an adult can receive.

→Cut provider reimbursement rate by 3.25

percent for hospitals, doctors and nursing homes.

Oklahoma Historical Society

→Instituted employee furloughs.

→Closed Oklahoma History Center on Sundays.

→Increased admission to the history center

from $5 to $7.

Department of Human Services

→Closed 26 senior nutrition sites.

→Set up $25 annual fee for child support

recipients who use DHS’s system.

Office of Juvenile Affairs

→Closed Thunderbird Youth Academy in Pryor.

→Reduced contracts for group homes, gang

intervention services, therapeutic foster care.

→Reduced community-based services for juveniles.

→Implemented a voluntary buyout program.

→Set a second voluntary buyout program and layoffs, which are expected to begin June 30.

→Instituted employee furloughs.

Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services

→Eliminated 28 inpatient beds at Griffin

Memorial Hospital.

→Eliminated 24 beds at the Tulsa Center for

Behavioral Health.

→Closed a residential service program at Central Oklahoma Community Mental Health Center.

→Eliminated 65 adult beds at Norman Alcohol and Drug Treatment Center.

→Eliminated 35 children’s mental health beds at the Children’s Recovery Center of Oklahoma.

→Eliminated 20 adult male residential treatment beds at the Bill Willis Community Mental Health Center in Tahlequah.

→Reduced contracts for mental health and

substance abuse services statewide.

SOURCES: STATE AGENCIES