Legislature Could Fund County Mental Health, Diversion Programs

State Question 780 is perhaps the most significant criminal justice reform measure in Oklahoma’s history.

Enacted by voters in 2016, the ballot initiative reclassified several drug and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. Lawmakers made the measure retroactive in 2019, prompting the largest single-day mass commutation in U.S. history.

Oklahoma’s prison population has dropped 25% since State Question 780 took effect in July 2017. The state Department of Corrections, once in desperate need of bed space, announced it would close a minimum-security men’s prison in Fort Supply last summer due to reduced admissions.

A related ballot initiative, State Question 781, proposed allocating funds saved from incarcerating fewer people to county-level mental health and substance abuse programs. It passed with 55% of the vote and triggered the creation of a County Community Safety Investment Fund.

The legislature has never sent any money to the fund, citing difficulties coming up with a funding formula.

Lawmakers say they’ve followed the people’s will by increasing appropriations to the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. But justice reform advocates argue the state must commit long term to make mental health and substance abuse treatment accessible to all.

Last year the Office of Management and Enterprise Services, working with the Department of Corrections and left-leaning Oklahoma Policy Institute, nailed down a funding formula that calculated the state’s savings in Fiscal Year 2020 at $10.6 million.

House Bill 3294, sponsored by Rep. Justin Humphrey, R-Lane, and Sen. Zack Taylor, R-Seminole, would require the state to utilize the funding formula and allocate funds to county justice systems annually. It cleared the House without objection in late March and is eligible to be heard in the Senate.

In an interview with the Stillwater News-Press last week, Humphrey said he plans to amend the bill to specify how the funds should be spent and how they should be distributed.

The money could be particularly beneficial to rural jail administrators, who often struggle to finance repairs and hire qualified mental health professionals.

Have thoughts or questions about the proposal? Send me a DM on Twitter or email me at Kross@Oklahomawatch.org.

In Focus

Razor-wire fence surrounds the Davis Correctional Facility, a medium-security private prison in Holdenville. Oklahoma’s imprisonment rate has dropped 25% over the past five years, moving the state from first to third nationally in incarceration. Justice reform advocates say sentencing reform could help Oklahoma continue to reduce its prison population. (Whitney Bryen/Oklahoma Watch file)

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Anti-Death Penalty Advocate Weds Man on Oklahoma Death Row: Lea Rodger, a 32-year-old paralegal from Florida, is keenly aware Richard Glossip could soon be executed. She married him anyway. [The Associated Press]
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