Things are getting more confusing at the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. After saying under oath that this year’s perplexing budget gap was much less than they had originally thought, agency officials reversed course this week and reported a pending payroll problem — before walking that back late Friday amid chaotic communications from state politicians.
Drawing cartoons about these issues for long enough, few financial scandals shock me anymore. Still, I can imagine how unsettling Friday’s news cycle must have been for the state employees at hand.
With ODMHSAS issues inflaming this year’s legislative session, our old buddies from the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency have been brought back on the scene, although the topic is less tasty than the tourism burger brouhaha of 2022. Still, the special House committee digging into the issue is set to meet again Monday, perhaps with even more tension than the first time Commissioner of Mental Health Allie Friesen testified that she could not answer certain questions owing to multiple ongoing investigations.
Of course, part of the tragedy with this year’s situation is that mental health care matters immensely, and Oklahomans deserve reliable, effective and quality access provided by responsible organizations. If you find yourself wondering how to find mental health care in Oklahoma, I hope you feel supported in that endeavor — all cartoons aside.
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