Okla. Senate OKs 8-year infrastructure plan
Okla. Senate approves speaker's 8-year, 'pay-as-you-go' state infrastructure improvement plan
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The Senate has approved Oklahoma House Speaker T.W. Shannon's bill that would create an eight-year plan to improve state buildings and properties without issuing bonds to pay for the work.
Shannon has pushed for the "pay-as-you-go" plan in part because the increasingly conservative House has been resistant to the idea of issuing bonds to pay for state projects.
Shannon is a former chairman of the House Transportation Committee and sees the plan being similar to the Oklahoma Department of Transportation's eight-year plan for repairing the state's roads and bridges. The bill creates a commission to develop a prioritized list of state properties in need of repair and state assets that could be liquidated to help pay for projects.
The bill now returns to the House.
