Oklahoma State Budget

The State Board of Equalization on Monday gave one final confirmation of Oklahoma’s fiscal year 2021 budget amount.

Lawmakers officially had $6.65 billion to spend as general revenue estimates declined about $3.6 million and their appropriations authority fell $3.4 million in the board’s latest certification. John Gilbert with the state Office of Management and Enterprise Services said considering the economic circumstances, FY2021 general revenue projections are not far off from FY2020.

A bill setting spending limits for the Oklahoma State Department of Education on Monday cruised through a House committee but got a bit more scrutiny from the Senate counterpart.

Sen. J.J. Dossett (D-Owasso) took issue with House Bill 4153 carving out more than $3 million for specific companies providing online math tutoring and a mobile panic button, products schools in his district say they do not use.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said Monday he will veto budget bills taking dollars apportioned to the state’s teacher, law enforcement and firefighter pension systems next year.

House Bills 2741 and 2742 use the apportioned dollars to provide $112 million for public schools, a move that helps hold the State Department of Education's budget cut to 2.5% as other agencies take cuts of up to 4%.

In lawmakers’ package of 12 budget bills is one that would require daily reports on Oklahoma’s spending of federal coronavirus relief funds.

House Appropriations and Budget Chair Kevin Wallace said Monday it appears the state has $800 million to spend once distributions are made to local governments from Oklahoma's roughly $1.2 billion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act allocation, and lawmakers want input.

Oklahoma House and Senate Republican leaders presented on Monday a $7.8 billion budget agreement.

Their spending plan is only about $400 million than the current fiscal year's after the State Board of Equalization estimated a $1.3 billion shortfall last month.

House Speaker Charles McCall said lawmakers turned to one-time spending, reserve funds and off-the-top dollars to close the gap, and they plan to cut most agency budgets 4%.

The Oklahoma State Board of Equalization made official on Monday a $416.9 million revenue shortfall this fiscal year.

While oil prices plunged  into negative territory, that did not worsen the situation.

"We’ve already collected approximately 90% of those revenues with three months remaining, and only two of those months are going to be significantly impacted by this drastic change in pricing," said Oklahoma Tax Commission Executive Director Jay Doyle.

As Oklahoma responds to the COVID-19 pandemic, residents and businesses across the state have been affected by executive orders from Gov. Kevin Stitt.

Attorney General Mike Hunter told lawmakers on Thursday that could create a lot of work for his office in the near future.

"We’re getting a lot of demand letters that we’re trying to handle in a diplomatic fashion, but our assessment is those demand letters are in the nature of laying the groundwork for future litigation," Hunter said.

On this edition of StudioTulsa, we're discussing court fees, court fines, collection costs, and other court-related expenses, which, all told, make up somewhere between 80 and 90 percent of the budget for the State of Oklahoma's court system. Therefore, and quite regrettably, our state's jails are by now brimming with people whose only "crime" is being unable to pay such costs.

In the immediate wake of Governor Stitt's State of the State Address, and as the 2019 legislative session gets underway in OKC, we welcome back to StudioTulsa our longtime colleague David Blatt, who's been the Executive Director of the non-partisan, non-profit OK Policy think tank since 2010. Blatt chats with us in detail about what lawmakers at the State Capitol might attempt or accomplish regarding education, criminal justice, health, economic opportunity, taxes, and the state's budget.

Recently, a University of Central Oklahoma professor drew much attention when he pointed out that our state could save $27 million in education spending if we consolidated our school districts. In a report called "Right-Sizing Oklahoma Districts: Examining District Size, Enrollment, and Superintendent Compensation in Oklahoma School Districts," Dr. James Machell points that the Sooner State has approximately 600 school districts -- yet in states with student populations similar to our own -- Louisiana, Alabama, and Kentucky, for example -- the average is about 200 districts.

The 2018 Session of the Oklahoma State Legislature recently adjourned, and what a session it was. For the first time since State Question 640 passed in 1992, the Legislature was able to raise revenues by green-lighting an increase in the Gross Production Tax rate as well as increases in fuel and cigarette taxes (with all of these increases passing the 75% threshold, as required by the State Constitution).

On this installment of StudioTulsa, with the Oklahoma State Legislature set to begin its new session on Monday of next week, we check in with David Blatt, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Policy Institute. This non-profit public-policy think tank recently posted a detailed list of legislative priorities for the new year at its website. Blatt reviews several of these goals with us today: from Budget and Taxes to Economic Opportunity and Security, and from Education and Criminal Justice to Health Care.

How will this state's very serious budget problems get solved? And when? What, in the end, is it going to take? On this edition of StudioTulsa, we learn about Step Up Oklahoma, which is, per its website, a "nonpartisan group of business, civic, and community leaders [who have come] together to work with lawmakers to...stabilize state revenue, reform government to increase efficiency and cut abuse, and raise teacher pay by $5,000 a year." Our guest is OKC businessman and attorney, Glenn Coffee, who is a vocal member of the Step Up Oklahoma outfit.

On this broadcast of ST Medical Monday, our guest is Chris Bernard, the executive director of Hunger Free Oklahoma. This nonprofit, per its website, "works to bring a unified, statewide voice to the issue and solutions surrounding hunger, with a goal to ensure all Oklahomans have access to affordable, nutritious food. Hunger Free Oklahoma holds the core belief that hunger is solvable, unnecessary, and unjust, and it impacts everyone living in Oklahoma.

Last week's Oklahoma Supreme Court decision invalidating the State Legislature's cigarette cessation fee means that there's now a $214 million budget deficit in this year's budget. This gives Oklahoma lawmakers two options: go back into special session to fix the state budget, or else three state agencies -- the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, the Department of Human Services, and the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services -- will have to rewrite their budgets to account for a roughly $70 million cut to each agency. So, what will state lawmakers do?