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UPDATE: Stealth Move Would Close SORC

 

The latest news from OPEA's team at the Capitol is that HB 2456, which would close SORC, has been bottled up in the House and may not be heard.  OPEA members should continue to make calls opposing HB 2456.

 

In a behind the scenes move on Friday evening, legislators amended HB 2456 in House General Conference Committee on Appropriations (GCCA) to include language that would close the Southern Oklahoma Resource Center at Pauls Valley. The embattled center has been through both a voluntary-buy-out (VOBO) and reduction-in-force (RIF) process recently and lost a large portion of staff.

 

“The facility has been through a lot with downsizing and privatization threats in the past decade,” said OPEA SORC Chapter President Brent Gilbert. “Many of us have taken jobs at lower pay to be able to continue serving our clients. The only clients left at SORC have faced challenges in community settings or their parents have adamantly opposed their loved ones being removed from their home at SORC.”

 

Both Senator Susan Paddack and Representative Lisa Billy have been working tirelessly with OPEA members to save the facility. OPEA has been working with the Parent Guardian Association and both legislators to stop the bill.

 

HB 2456 encountered rough sledding in the Senate General Conference Committee on Appropriations (GCCA), barely passing. Senator Paddack spoke passionately about the facility in GCCA, telling legislators of her repeated trips to the SORC and visits with the patients and guardians.

 

“I am extremely disappointed in those pushing to close SORC and am strongly opposed to the proposal,” said Billy in a press release. “To suddenly and arbitrarily close SORC without any notification to residents or their families is inhumane and could ultimately waste taxpayer resources. Some of these patients have lived at SORC for close to 40 years and could not survive independently.”

 

Senator Brian Crain, who is carrying the bill in the Senate, revealed the motivation behind the closure in debate telling members of the GCCA that private vendors had come to him and said they wanted the contract if SORC were closed. In addition, a consultant with connections to another for profit vendor is being called in to discuss the closure with legislators this week.

 

“State employees should call House members and tell them to vote no on HB 2456,” said OPEA Executive Director Sterling Zearley. “The dedicated state workers at SORC need our support against this power grab by private profiteers. Your job could be next.”

Posted on Mon, May 24, 2010 by Trish Frazier

5 comments (Add your own)

1. concerened wrote:
Please OPEA members call and request the no vote on HB2456. This could be your agency next as the for profit vendors sweep in. Some members of the legislature are calling DHS-SORC an institution without full knowledge of the facility. SORC does not call this an institution, it is the home and only home many of the SORC clients have known.

Mon, May 24, 2010 @ 8:13 PM

2. Optimistic wrote:
I think some of our legislature, not L. Billy or S. Paddack, but others could care less about the clients. They are just seeing dollar signs. The article is correct that some of our clients have lived here for over 40 years. This is their home. One representative mentioned the cost of repairs to some buildings at S.O.R.C. and how much money it would take to keep them open. The buildings that need repair didn't get in this shape over night.

Tue, May 25, 2010 @ 8:44 AM

3. Pat wrote:
My daughter has lived at SORC for 30 years. It is a blessing to have such a place for physically and mentally challenged children and adults. The staff and all concerned are caring and compassionate people. They work long hard hours to take care of out loved ones. It is a sad time in our state when our leaders cannot manage our State's finances well enough to keep this sort of thing from happening. The clients at SORC deserve better. Please vote NO on this bill.

Tue, May 25, 2010 @ 2:37 PM

4. Upset wrote:
Please vote NO on this bill. My daughter has lived at SORC for 30 years and it is a blessing to have such a facility.

Tue, May 25, 2010 @ 2:40 PM

5. Aggravated wrote:
The most vulnerable are expendable. My brother receives services through the Developmental Disability Division, after 9 years they want to change his casemanager supposedly because of budget cuts travel, etc. However, she drives by the town he lives in everynight on her way home from work, and he lives closer to her office than other clients whom she serves but the powers that be wants to remove her. I think the persons first and formost that should be served by OKDHS is the Developmentally Disabled, the elderly, and persons who are disabled. It is not sad but a disgrace that they are wanting to close SORC. This is home to these individuals.

Tue, May 25, 2010 @ 2:50 PM

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