$500 million bond plan advances

Thursday, Feb. 10, 2005 | 9:33 a.m.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A $500 million capital improvement bond package for colleges began moving through the legislative process Wednesday, despite Republican grumblings over using lottery proceeds to fund the bonds.

The vote was 13-0 in the Senate appropriations education subcommittee for what Sen. Johnnie Crutchfield, D-Ardmore, called the "the biggest economic development program Oklahoma has seen in a decade."

The bill is scheduled to be heard by the full appropriations committee on Tuesday and will be considered on the floor the week of Feb. 21, said Senate President Pro Tem Cal Hobson.

Sen. Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City, tried to amend the bill to eliminate lottery proceeds as the only source for paying debt service. Coffee and most GOP members of the House and Senate opposed the lottery plan, which was approved by a vote of the people in November.

House Speaker Todd Hiett, R-Kellyville, has said he is unconvinced of the reliability of lottery funding and is working on an alternative plan.

One Coffee amendment would make revenues from the Indian gaming regulation measure serve as backup funds in case lottery funds are insufficient.

The gaming plan, also approved by voters, now earmarks 88 percent of those funds to public schools and 12 percent for college scholarships.

The amendment was rejected on a 7-6 party line vote, as was another Coffee proposal to make the budget of the Legislative Service Bureau as a backup funding source for the bonds.