As Oklahomans wait on the state House to come up with a plan to fill a $215 million budget hole, the Senate is also looking for ways to give the state more money.
The Senate Rules Committee passed a bill Thursday to cut the refundable portion of coal tax credits starting Jan. 1, 2018. The credit is for the purchase of Oklahoma-mined coal to use in utility or industrial purposes, or for coal-mining companies. Sen. Josh Brecheen said while the change won’t have an impact for awhile, it needs to be addressed in special session.
"If you delay and you run this in a regular session, you will have no fiscal impact in 2019, because you have to be prospective with tax credits to avoid a legal challenge, put you on that good, solid legal footing," Brecheen said.
By not refunding coal tax credit owners any portion that exceeds their tax liability, the state could bring in an additional $4.3 million in fiscal year 2019.
The committee passed a similar bill about income tax credits for zero-emission power plants. The move won’t increase tax collections until fiscal year 2019, and then only by $5.5 million. Brecheen said it will help Oklahoma in a bigger way, though.
"We have as much as a $1 billion liability facing us over the next 10 years, and a big portion can be adjusted through this aspect of changing the issue of refundability," Brecheen said.
The zero-emission facility and coal credits are among several the state refunds at a percentage of its original value when they exceed the owner’s tax liability.
The Senate Rules Committee also picked back up and passed a bill to limit state agencies handing out promotional freebies. Senate Bill 17 prohibits entities within the state’s executive branch from spending any money on swag for the rest of this fiscal year.
"Instead of giving up core services and employees and furloughs and all those other things that we're hearing about, give up a little swag. That's all I'm asking," said Sen. Rob Standridge, who is running the bill in special session.
Standridge didn’t get everything he wanted in the bill, however, as members of the Senate Rules Committee pointed out how important promotional giveaway items are to the Department of Tourism. That led to a swag spending limit of $10 million next fiscal year.