Governor Brad Henry's 2007 Legislative Agenda
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Education
- Dedicated funding source for Oklahoma’s Promise-OHLAP
- Expand early childhood education to three-year olds, provide funds for Educare
- Reduce dropout rates through new law, remediation and alternative schools
- Raise teacher pay in third year of four year effort to raise to regional avg. (Avg. raise $1,100)
- Eliminate the backlog of endowed chairs, attracting private matching dollars
- Deposit $25 million in OTRS, enact long-term funding solution to unfunded liability
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Research and Job Creation
- Create Biofuels Research Initiative to make Oklahoma a national leader in this field
- Deposit an additional $50 million in EDGE endowment
- Deposit $25 million in Opportunity Fund and provide bonding authority to $200 million
- Increase funding for OCAST ($2 million increase)
- Improve workforce development by providing better skills training to employees
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Health Care
- Expand Insure Oklahoma program to allow more small businesses to buy insurance for employees
- Expand Medicaid eligibility so all children will have health insurance
- Allow reimportation of prescription drugs from Canada and other industrialized countries to make medicine more affordable
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Public Safety
- Increase corrections department budget and expand prison facilities to address immediate overcrowding problems
- Implement Smart on Crime strategy emphasizing alternative sentencing through drug courts and mental health courts and substance abuse treatment programs to reduce recidivism among inmates and improve public safety. The goal is to make non-violent offenders work off their sentences and provide restitution to victims.
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Government Accountability
- Create state website so taxpayers can closely monitor expenditure of funds
- Expand Rainy Day Fund from 10 to 15 percent of general appropriations