I, Mary Fallin, Governor of the State of Oklahoma, pursuant to
the authority vested in me by Sections
2 and
8 of Article VI of the Oklahoma
Constitution and Title 27A O.S. Section
2250
et seq., do hereby declare the following:
Due to the current, and persistent, Emergency Drought Conditions
in Texas, Harmon, Greer, Jackson, and Tillman Counties of Oklahoma, I hereby
invoke the provisions of Oklahoma law regarding the use of the Emergency
Drought Relief Fund.
It is hereby ordered:
1.
An Emergency Drought Commission is to be immediately formed and shall exist for
a period of one hundred and eighty (180) days. Upon expiration of its term, the
Emergency Drought Commission shall cease to exist subject only to extensions
granted by the Governor or a new declaration of Emergency Drought
Conditions.
2. The Emergency
Drought Commission shall consist of the Executive Director of the Oklahoma
Conservation Commission, the Secretary of Agriculture and the Executive
Director of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board.
3. The Emergency Drought Commission shall
have the authority to consider requests for use of Emergency Drought Relief
Funds only from public entities located, or operating, within one, or more, of
the following Oklahoma counties: Texas, Harmon, Greer, Jackson, or Tillman.
Further, the use of any Emergency Drought Commission funds pursuant to this
declaration must be expended solely on efforts to relieve drought conditions
within Texas, Harmon, Greer, Jackson, and/or Tillman Counties.
4. The Emergency Drought Commission shall
have full discretion to determine the amount and nature of the expenditures to
be made from the Emergency Drought Relief Fund, subject to written concurrence
by the Governor. Further, the Emergency Drought Commission shall establish such
procedures and requirements as it deems necessary. The Commission shall have
the sole power to determine the appropriate agency or entity to receive
Emergency Drought Relief Funds.
5.
The Chair of the Emergency Drought Commission shall be the Secretary of
Agriculture who will have the sole power to call meetings of the Commission, as
necessary. The Commission shall be provided support staff from the Oklahoma
Department of Agriculture. The Chair of the Emergency Drought Commission shall
also have the sole discretionary power to terminate the Commission.
This declaration may be amended as conditions warrant.
This Executive Order shall terminate at the end of one hundred
and eighty (180) days.
Copies of this Executive Order shall be distributed to the
Executive Director of the Oklahoma Conservation Commission, the Secretary of
Agriculture and the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board,
who shall cause the provisions of this order to be implemented by all
appropriate agencies of state government.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the
Great Seal of the State of Oklahoma to be affixed at Oklahoma City, this 15 day
of October, 2013.
BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA
Mary Fallin
ATTEST:
Chris Morriss
Assistant Secretary of State
