(The Center Square) - Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat said Gov. Kevin Stitt was "offensively inaccurate" in his veto message of Senate Bill 1130, which the Senate overrode on Wednesday.
Senate Bill 1130 would take $600 million of federal funds from the Oklahoma Health Care Authority's Disbursing Fund and include it in the authority's budget for fiscal year 2024.
Stitt accused lawmakers of punishing the authority because of its "wise stewardship of taxpayer dollars."
"Right now, the Health Care Authority is disenrolling more than 300,000 Oklahomans who were added to Medicaid during the COVID-19 pandemic, but who no longer qualify," Stitt said. "At the very least, then, decisions to pull this surplus from the Health Care Authority should be delayed until 2024, or after the unwinding period."
The Senate voted to override Stitt's veto by a vote of 45-2.
"The measure passed overwhelmingly in both the House and Senate," Treat said in a news release. "The list of projects that the Oklahoma Health Care Authority wants to appropriate these monies to is worthy of legislative consideration."
The bill allows lawmakers to help people in the districts instead of giving money to the Authority, said Sen. Mary Boren, D-Norman.
"My district desperately needs our governor and legislature to work together to make the most out of our state, local, tribal, and federal health care dollars," Boren said in a news release. "By working together, we can better serve Oklahomans who are on waiting lists to see specialists, are unable to afford necessary prescription drugs, and are going without preventive care and screenings."
The House must also agree to override the veto.
via Oklahoma's Center Square News