Tom Walls was surprised last year when state lawmakers didn't renew his citizen advisory panel on disability issues.

Walls served as vice chairman on the five-member committee. It was formed in the wake of a statewide vote in 2012 that disbanded the commission overseeing the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. His panel was one of four tasked with giving advice and recommendations to the department

Legislators only authorized the panels to meet until 2016.

“We felt like we were actually having good input,” Walls said. “Now on the other side of it, I understand it did take up a certain amount of DHS time to deal with us, to staff us, as it were.”