OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A $25 million plan to complete the long-unfinished American Indian Cultural Center and Museum and get the state out of operating the facility passed its first legislative hurdle Wednesday.
Without debate, the House Joint Committee on Appropriations and Budget voted 21-5 for the plan to issue bonds to finally complete the museum that has sat dormant since 2012, when the project ran out of money and the Republican-controlled Legislature refused to allocate new funds.
Construction on the 173,000-square-foot structure began in 2006, and the state has already spent about $90 million on it.
"Hopefully, it's the last chapter," the author of the measure, House Speaker Jeff Hickman, R-Fairview, said as he laid out details of the complicated proposal. "We have explored every avenue available. I don't know of another alternative."
It's the second bond issue for a proposed museum in Oklahoma to win preliminary approval in as many days.
On Tuesday, the Senate Joint Committee on Appropriations and Budget voted 27-13 for a proposal by Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, to issue $25 million in bonds to build the Oklahoma Museum of Popular Culture in Tulsa. State lawmakers have rejected funding for the project in previous years.
Hickman's bill would authorize another $25 million in bonds to finish the American Indian museum, which is situated on 67 acres along the banks of the Oklahoma River near downtown Oklahoma City. All new state dollars dedicated to the project will be matched dollar for dollar by private sources, he said.
Under the plan, Hickman said, another 143 acres that surround the museum will be transferred to the city of Oklahoma City for economic development and all lease revenue would be used to operate the museum. Once all state bond payments have been made, Hickman said the museum could be transferred to the city. Transferring the title before then could seriously damage the state's credit rating, he said.
"Under this plan, we would never operate the museum," Hickman said. The state is already spending $7 million a year on the incomplete structure, $5 million for payments on bonds previously authorized for its construction and $2 million for security and maintenance of the structure.
Last month, the House began advertising a legal notice of proposed plans to complete the unfinished museum and a possible transfer of ownership to the city. Hickman cautioned that the city hasn't yet agreed to the plan.
The proposal gives city officials until Jan. 15, 2016, to reach an agreement with the state, Hickman said. If no agreement is reach by then, the plan will not be put in place, he said.
"This is a check that says 'final payment' on it. But I also think this is a plan that gets it open," Hickman said. Once construction resumes, officials estimate it will open for business in two to three years.
A lawmaker who voted against the plan, Rep. John Bennett, R-Sallisaw, said the unfinished structure has already been too costly for the state.
"We've spent enough money on it, and I just don't think it's a good idea to have another $25 million bond," Bennett said.
