Oklahoma Budget Agreement

"Four months is, feels like it's been a long time," says Representative Charles McCall, Republican, Atoka, OK.

Especially when education funding held up the process for nearly a month. However, this record budget for the next fiscal year has House Speaker McCall calling it a success.

"It's been a really good session though. I'm really proud of the members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives. They've really worked extra hard. We've put some really big topics on the table to try to find solutions for,” says Rep. McCall.

McCall’s counterpart across the rotunda, Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat has a similar opinion of this year's session.

"I just think this session has been very successful all in, obviously there were some controversy and some friction, but that's part of the process. Excited what we've been able to accomplish this year,” says Senator Greg Treat, Republican, Oklahoma City.

Starting on Tuesday legislators put their shoulders to the grindstone and began the committee work necessary to get the final appropriations bills to chamber floors.

While the budget is recording breaking, lawmakers still took a cautious approach to spending.

"Also the question about how come we didn't appropriate our full authority and there's still money left over for appropriations. Another conservative move is to make sure that when the next downturn comes, the agencies don't have to take cuts. So, we are looking ahead. We are trying to plan ahead. We know there will be another downturn,” says Representative Kevin Wallace, Republican, Wellston, OK.

At nearly four billion dollars it was the education funding piece which was the biggest single part of the budget.

"You know, this will be the largest appropriation, the common education of all time. There's a teacher pay raise, there's $200 million in increased funding to transportation and more money towards mental health. I mean, you name it. This is an opportunity for Oklahoma to fund all these agencies in a great way,” says Representative Ryan Martinez, Republican, Edmond, OK.

Legislative leaders say the education budget is the crown jewel for this session.

“Largest funding package in state's history moves us to the highest level in state history of funding. Education in the state opens some options for parents that want to pursue private education or education by alternative means,” says Rep. McCall.

"We've got to stop having this conversation. Is it in a private setting? Is it a public setting? What's best for the kid? And this year we put aside those things that divide us and said, let's just invest in kids. And we did so both on the public side and the private side. So, I’m very proud of that work,” says Sen. Treat.

Two issues that were talked about long before this session began in February are a personal income tax cut and the phasing out of the state's portion of grocery sales taxes. In fact, Governor Stitt called a special session for that very reason last summer, which was unsuccessful.

Those tax breaks didn't make it out of this session, either. While they didn't make it there are some tax reforms coming.

"We tried to look at balancing recurring revenue and those tax cuts that we could afford through the franchise and the marriage penalty we were ready to accept. We thought those were good policy and good measures financially,” says Sen. Treat.

"In the area of tax reform, we're eliminating the franchise tax this year. That's kind of come late in the session. We're also eliminating the marriage penalty, which will help married couples in the state of Oklahoma when they file their state income tax,” says Rep. McCall.

Oklahomans can expect the income tax and grocery tax cuts to remain attractive ideas for lawmakers.

"Just because this session closes out the discussion and action on an income tax for the people of the state of Oklahoma tax reform to move to a flat, flat tax rate in the state of Oklahoma, those things we're still going to press for very hard,” says Rep. McCall

During the house floor consideration of the budget bills, House Minority Leader Representative Cyndi Munson asked if state employees might be getting a raise.

"I know we obviously are given a pay raise to our teachers and we're doing paid maternity leave for state employees. Are there any pay raises or pay increases for state employees in this budget?" says Rep. Munson.

"There are some additional funds for operations and a few of the agencies, which I do believe part of them will probably be used for increases in certain agency's pay. Yes, there will be some state employees that get pay raises. Not every state employee's going to get a pay raise,” says Rep. Wallace.

Within this spending plan, there were investments to attract businesses to expand in Oklahoma like Enel Energy building a billion-dollar solar panel factory at the port of Inola.

"We've made more investments in bringing jobs and industry to this state. We are talking about companies and industries that make multi-billion-dollar investments, facilities that are multi-billion employ over in excess of a thousand people,” says Rep. McCall.

There is an investment of past savings into a special fund to help state agencies catch up on deferred maintenance on buildings.

"For example, we started the legacy cap capital fund this year, something we just voted on a committee. It's an opportunity to use the dollars that we have in order to make sure that this maybe once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, hopefully not, is an opportunity to actually make sure Oklahoma is set up for the future,” says Rep. Martinez.

As far as the possibility that the budget will be well received by Governor Stitt.

"I hope he'll be enthusiastic and signs it as soon as he gets it," says Sen. Treat.