Without deal, House advances bills with $200M in revenue

House lawmakers have begun to advance revenue in a piecemeal fashion absent a deal on filling Oklahoma’s budget shortfall.

The House budget committees originally were scheduled to meet in the early afternoon Monday, but leadership pushed back the meetings several times. The latest meeting time, for which there was no agenda, was scheduled at 10 p.m. as of press time.

A special session call from Gov. Mary Fallin, although expected, had not yet materialized. As day turned to night, Fallin tweeted a graph showing that lawmakers have only sent her $53.2 million in new revenue against an estimated $878 million budget shortfall.

In its afternoon session Monday, the Oklahoma House of Representatives voted to cap itemized income tax deductions

for the next three tax seasons at $17,000. House Bill 2403 is compromise legislation that doesn’t count charitable giving toward the cap.

However, mortgage interest and medical bills that are itemized will be limited.

Adoption of the bill would raise nearly $102 million. It now has to gain final approval from the Senate before heading to the governor’s desk.

The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs said that if the bill is signed into law, it would be challenged in court.

“House Bill 2403 is designed to raise revenue for state government, but it passed the state House of Representatives with far less than a three-fourths vote,” President Jonathan Small wrote in a news release. “This makes it a blatant violation of Oklahoma’s Constitution, suggesting our state’s highest Court would strike it down.”

State law requires that in the House, revenueraising measures need 76 votes to pass. The court has traditionally limited that designation to tax increases.

The conservative think tank also said it would consider challenging the elimination of Oklahoma’s “double deduction” that passed last year, plus another bill the governor signed this year that freezes the standard tax deduction. Those two bills combined contribute another $100 million or so to state revenue.

The House also advanced an estimated $506,000 fee increase on electric cars. House Bill 1449 would levy a $100 fee upon every electric drive motor vehicle registered in Oklahoma, and a $30 registration fee upon every hybrid-drive motor vehicle.

The fees would go into effect in January. Once fully implemented, the fees would generate more than $1 million each year, according to House staff.

There is no indication yet whether the Senate will agree to the bills, but both have earned Senate approval already this session.