A loophole which kept Oklahoma Higher Education entities from meeting a new transparency requirement has been closed down after the Gubernatorial signing of House Bill 2332.

State Representative Jason Murphey authored House Bill 1032 with state Senator Randy Brogdon in 2009, which required state entities to publish all purchases made with a state purchase card. The data was integrated with Oklahoma`s Open Books transparency site and went online last November.

Murphey said the intent of the law was to allow the citizens of Oklahoma to review each and every purchase made by a state employee with state issued purchase cards. However, when the law took effect, a reporter with Oklahoma Television Station News 9 discovered that Higher Education entities did not have to comply with the law and informed Murphey that Higher Education entities were not reporting their spending. Murphey informed the reporter that he would try to close the loophole during the 2010 legislative session.

Murphey attempted to close the loophole in House Bill 2318, authored by Murphey and state Senator Clark Jolley. The effort was temporarily halted in March when HB 2318 was defeated by a vote on the House floor.

"We were not going to give up on letting the citizens see where their money is being spent," Murphey stated. "We made it a priority to find other legislative vehicles for this language."

Murphey subsequently placed the statutory closure of the loophole in two other bills, both of which were approved by the House. House Bill 2332, also authored by Jolley, was just recently signed into law by Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry.

HB 2332 takes effect immediately.