Budget standoff between State House and Senate continues

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — The State House and Senate are fighting over the tax you pay and how those taxes will be spent.

The main points:

• The House and Governor Kevin Stitt want an income tax cut.
• Stitt himself said on Friday he believed the tax brackets could be flattened out.
• There is also a look at how much money agencies should get.
• Stitt wants flat budgets with maybe some small tweaks for inflation.
• The House and Senate are also at odds over education funding.
• There is also a massive ask of nearly $350 million in deferred maintenance to State Parks that has now gotten so bad that many lawmakers believe a large flux of state funds are needed to fix them back up.

The Tornado Watch outside was just part of the storm brewing at the State Capitol on Monday.

“We don’t anticipate walking out of here with a budget today. So, I know you suggested we may be able to do that. I don’t foresee any ability to do that because of our commitment to transparency,” said Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City.

House and Senate leadership met in Governor Kevin Stitt’s office about their sticking points on the next state budget.

The meeting comes after a month long standoff where the Senate accused the House of not being transparent with the people’s money.

“Those things that we have not found agreement on that are still very important to the House of Representatives, number one a tax cut,” said House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka.

The House said the Senate needs to see the State’s big budget surplus as an indicator that the people of Oklahoma are being overtaxed, and they are refusing to hear any additional education funding bills until some kind of tax cut is not only considered but passed by the State Senate.

“We’re focusing a lot of transparency, and that’s great, but the Senate has not taken a vote on a personal income tax,” McCall said.

Treat said the House and the Governor want to make the same mistakes that led to the teacher walkout and budget crisis of 2018, and they refuse to accept automatic tax cut triggers.

“You sent us a myriad of tax cuts last year. You sent us a smorgasbord of tax cuts. I don’t think it’s leadership to be able to say, ‘Hey here’s 85 different options you get to choose one.’ We chose grocery tax. We’re not interested in CPAC scores. We’re not interested in the next elections. We’re interested in making sure that we set a very prudent course for the State of Oklahoma going forward,” Treat said.

Stitt acted as a mediator for the most part, insisting only that the State doesn’t spend more than it brings in and he wants to see a new flat income tax rate for all Oklahomans while eliminating some income tax brackets for the working poor.

The budget summit will meet again Thursday and the clock is ticking as something must be agreed to by May 31.

For the first time in years, these budget meetings do not include Sen. Roger Thompson, R-Okemah, who was the longtime chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Thompson was suddenly removed as Senate Appropriations Chairman last week.

He was the main one in the Senate demanding fiscal transparency and was a large part of the Senate starting its work on the budget as far back as last Christmas.

When the House did not comply with the Senate Appropriations Committee’s request for spreadsheets that the public could see, the Senate at the beginning of April refused to hear any House budget bills and the process has been stalled ever since.