Orr to lead senate finance group

Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, (Back in yellow tie) is joined by other Legislators and Boy Scouts as former Gov. Bob Riley signed the seven-part anti-corruption legislation recently passed in a special session of the Alabama Legislature. Last week, Orr was named head of the Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee.

State Sen. Arthur Orr, R – Decatur, has been named the head of the powerful senate committee that oversees allocations to most state agencies.
Orr will lead the Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee, the panel charged with allocating more than $12 billion in state and federal funding to the state’s non-education agencies.
“I am humbled by the responsibility that has been entrusted to me and look forward to tackling the great challenges and difficult decisions that await us,” Orr said.  “My top priorities will be ensuring that basic government services are adequately funded without demanding new, broad-based taxes from the citizens of our state and reigning in waste, fraud and mismanagement where it exists.”
Orr said he plans to hold individual meetings with the directors of each of the major state agencies to discuss their priorities, funding needs and performance.  The Alabama Department of Corrections, the Department of Public Safety, the Alabama Medicaid Agency and others will be among his first meetings because of the demands they place on the General Fund budget.
“Government has no bigger responsibility than protecting the public’s safety, and while the Corrections Department does the best it can with the funding it receives, the penal system continues to deteriorate.  I’m committed to working with DOC officials to begin addressing their biggest needs,” Orr said.  “And with federal health care legislation soon placing added responsibilities and demands on Medicaid, we must prepare to meet them if Congressional Republicans are unsuccessful in repealing it.”