Sept. 1, 2022 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Speaker Pro Tempore Kyle Hilbert Of f ice: (405) 557-7353 Contact: Sen. Chuck Hall Capitol: (405) 521-5628
Joint committee sends nine ARPA projects to full Legislature OKLAHOMA CITY – The Joint Committee on Pandemic Relief Funding on Tuesday advanced the second slate of projects for consideration in the Legislature's upcoming special session on American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) f unding. The nine ARPA requests that will now be considered by the f ull Legislature are:
Mental Health Services - $87 million f or a state of the art mental health f acility that will add an additional 100 beds compared to the current Grif f in Memorial Hospital f acility, ensure timely access for those seeking treatment f or mental health issues and grow the behavioral health workforce. Behavioral Health - $38 million f or additional capacity and expanded behavioral health services at the already in process new hospital to replace the Tulsa Center f or Behavioral Health. Military & First Responder Healthcare - $22,150,000 f or a Holistic Health and Fitness center to provide both mental and physical health services f or soldiers, airmen and f irst responders. Healthcare IT Modernization - $44 million f or the University Hospital Authority (UHA), OU Health (OUH) and the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC) to implement a new electronic record system and modernize the technology inf rastructure of OUH in order to provide Oklahomans with cutting-edge therapies they cannot currently receive. State Department of Health IT - $26 million to modernize IT capabilities at the Oklahoma State Department of Health to provide electronic health records that would improve communication with clients, staf f and external providers. Administrative Of fice of the Courts IT - $6,226,250 to provide e-f iling, video conf erencing, language access and case tracking capabilities to the Administrative Of f ice of the Courts. Rural Water Projects - $12 million in f unds matching tribal contributions to create new water infrastructure in rural Oklahoma communities in need of system upgrades to provide saf e and reliable drinking water and wastewater systems.