Cool wind at the Capitol
Republican leaders at the state Capitol have produced a budget plan for fiscal year 2021 that they say creatively addresses having $1.3 billion less to spend than expected. What the deal lacks, tellingly, is clear buy-in from Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt.
The comity evident last year, when the state's coffers were flush and led to a record budget, is hard to find in 2020. Stitt and GOP legislative leaders got sideways earlier in the session over how to fill a $400 millionplus shortfall this fiscal year. Lawmakers angered Stitt by not appropriating funds for one of his priorities, the Digital Transformation Revolving Fund. He accused House leadership of playing “Washington, D.C., politics.”
The cool wind remains, it seems.
Sen. Roger Thompson, R-Okemah, chairman of the Senate appropriations committee, said Monday that Stitt's office had “walked out of negotiations” in March and that lawmakers, charged with writing a budget, “have done our duty constitutionally.” Stitt's spokesman said the governor “categorically denies” ever walking out of a budget meeting.
Stitt had warned that agency cuts of 7.5% were likely in FY 2021. Thompson and Rep. Kevin Wallace, R-Wellston, the chief budget writer in the House, said that math never added up. Under their proposal, cuts to most state agencies are about 4%.
The proposal includes a recommended cut of $6.5 million to the Digital Transformation Fund, although leaders cited similar cuts to a number of revolving funds. “We don't want you to think that we're picking on them (the governor's office) individually,” Thompson said. “We needed money.”
The proposed budget is for $7.7 billion, which is $238 million, or 3%, less than this year's budget. It includes revenue from the state's revenue stabilization fund and Rainy Day Fund, and from reducing the direct contributions made to the state's retirement systems and using bonds for some transportation projects.
A few agencies, such as the attorney general's office (12%) and the Department of Transportation (1%), would see increases in their state appropriation. The Oklahoma Health Care Authority's budget would remain the same. Other agencies would see cuts, the largest being 15% at the Oklahoma Historical Society.
The appropriation to the state Department of Education would be 2.5% lower, but leaders said the agency would be made whole and then some through federal COVID-19 relief funds.
“We wanted to make sure we maintained core services for Oklahoma,” led by education, Thompson said.
The pandemic has upended this legislative session, which must adjourn by the last Friday in May (this year, May 29). Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, said he hopes to finish work in “two to three weeks.”
GOP leaders are confident they have the votes to override a potential veto, which means the budget could happen with or without Stitt. What a difference a year makes.