Lawmakers file 11 bills backed by coalition

State lawmakers filed 11 Step Up Oklahoma bills this week, giving Oklahomans their first detailed look at how they propose to carry out at a plan to resuscitate state government that is backed by a statewide coalition of Oklahoma business and civic leaders.

Votes by legislative committees on some of the special session measures could take place as early as Thursday.

Two of the most anticipated bills are House Bill 1030 and House Bill 1033.

HB 1030 is the bill that would provide teachers with $5,000 pay raises. Low teacher pay has been a political issue for years, with numerous complaints about teachers leaving the state for jobs in Texas and elsewhere, creating a teacher shortage.

HB 1033 calls for a number of tax increases to help pay for the teacher pay raises and core government services. It includes a proposed $1.50 per pack additional tax on cigarettes, 6 cents per gallon tax hike on gasoline and diesel fuel, a hike from 2 percent to 4 percent on the initial gross production tax on oil and natural gas wells, a $1 per megawatt hour tax on the production of wind energy, and tax hikes on little cigars and chewing tobacco.

This bill is considered the most crucial, because it would provide most of

the revenue to fill budget holes and pay for teacher raises. However, it also is considered the most difficult to pass, since it would require a three-fourths favorable vote from both houses of the Oklahoma Legislature.

Many Oklahomans have demanded government reforms before tax hikes, and House Bill 1029 was written to help address that issue.

It calls for a 15-person Office of Accountability to be created within the Legislative Services Bureau. Employees would serve at the pleasure of the House Speaker and President Pro Tem of the Senate. Their mission would include evaluating the extent to which each agency’s budget aligns with its primary responsibilities, forecasting revenue expected to be available to each agency, comparing current year budget information with prior year requests, investigating agency operations and evaluating how well agencies adhere to their constitutional and statutory duties.

Another measure, House Bill 1027, would give the governor the authority to appoint the heads of seven state agencies, while making their current governing boards advisory.

Boards that would be impacted by that proposed change include the State Board of Agriculture, Board of Juvenile Affairs, Board of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, State Board of Corrections, State Board of Health, Oklahoma Health Care Authority Board and Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Commission.

Two proposals that generated major controversy — even before they were put in bill form — are House Bill 1035 and House Bill 1037.

HB 1035 proposes to place an $18 million annual cap on the redemption of tax credits for power generation from zeroemission facilities like wind turbines. Supporters of the bill contend the Oklahoma Legislature was overly generous with the tax credits when it initially granted them and that without relief the state will be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars over the next decade.

Wind industry officials, however, contend that companies relied on the promise of the tax credits when they agreed to make their investments and that altering the deal will give the state a bad business reputation.

HB 1037 would make a long list of changes in how individual income tax liability is computed.

It would eliminate personal exemptions, decrease standard deduction amounts, and cap itemized deductions at $22,500, while excluding charitable contributions from that cap.

A partial list of the many deductions and tax breaks that would be eliminated include the Indian employment exclusion, taxpayer with physical disabilities deduction, exemption for contributions made to and interest received from medical savings accounts, deduction for nonrecurring adoption expenses, incentives for inventors and small business incubator sponsors and tenants, and a deduction for contributions made to accounts established under the Oklahoma College Savings Plan Act.

The bill has provisions designed to prevent Oklahoma’s poorest residents from having to pay higher taxes and the governor said in her State of the State address that 55 percent of Oklahoma filers would see no change or a decrease in their tax liability.

Democrats have publicly objected to provisions in that bill, contending more needs to be done to protect low-income Oklahomans.