OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma House of Representative Republican leaders expressed satisfaction after the Governor signed a key piece of the House of Representatives Republican leadership's government modernization agenda.

House Bill 3325 was one of several bills introduced because of an interim study led by Representatives Ken Miller and Lance Cargill. The study focused on finding ways to make government more efficient.

The bill, authored by State Representative Jason W. Murphey, will modernize the state's invoicing process to allow for vendors to be paid electronically. Murphey said the Representatives heard testimony about countless numbers of state checks being issued at a massive cost to taxpayers. One vendor testified that the price of processing hundreds of checks was being factored into his cost of doing business with the state, essentially costing the taxpayers at both ends of the payment process.

Another important reform provided for by House Bill 3325 will be to allow the Department of Central Services to receive electronic returns on requests for services provided to the state. During the interim study, the Director of the Department of Central Services described to the Representatives how massive amounts of paperwork had to be processed, standardized, and electronically formatted by state employees after being received from vendors. Allowing for the electronic submission of bids should result in a significant savings to the Department of Central Services Budget.

"Hopefully, this will be the first in a series of bills that will make government more efficient," Murphey said.