A week before they’re constitutionally required to adjourn for the year, Oklahoma lawmakers have passed a state budget.
The $8.8 billion appropriations bill cleared the Senate 38–9 Thursday night and now awaits Gov. Kevin Stitt's signature.
Republican Appropriations Chair Roger Thompson spoke highly of the bill, which comes a year after lawmakers had to cut $1.3 billion from the state budget.
"We’ve invested in education, we have invested in health, we have invested in security, we have invested in our county roads, we have invested in our challenged young people, we have invested in our schools, we have invested in those who are challenged because of 781. This budget is a budget of the people," Thompson said.
State Question 781 was a ballot measure voters passed in 2016 that dedicated state savings from reduced prison populations to addiction treatment and support programs. A companion measure, State Question 780, reclassified many nonviolent crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, and Oklahoma's prison populations have fallen, but a funding amount for SQ781 programs has yet to be determined.
Oklahoma's FY22 budget also boosts state savings while restoring pension funding used to weather this year's economic downturn. Thompson said it does everything without using one-time monies.
"There’s been some conversation along the lines of, 'Does this budget have to deal with the CARES Act or the American Rescue Plan?' It does not. All of these dollars are built on reoccurring dollars in the state of Oklahoma," Thompson said.
Democrats have not embraced the budget. Not one voted for it in the House or Senate. Sen. Julia Kirt (D-Oklahoma City) said she can’t accept the state giving up hundreds of millions in revenue through income tax cuts.
"This budget doesn’t yet meet the needs of Oklahoma. We’re not yet even at our regional average for public education spending. We know there’s more we could be doing to serve people’s health needs and help them turn a corner to gainful employment, to family stability," Kirt said.
Just one Republican lawmaker voted against the budget: Broken Arrow Sen. Nathan Dahm.
