Reactions to Stitt speech fall along party lines

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  • Legislative Service Bureau Photography House Speaker Charles McCall, center, speaks to members of the Oklahoma Legislature before Gov. Kevin Stitt's State of the State address Monday at the Oklahoma Capitol in Oklahoma City.
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OKLAHOMA CITY – Depending on who you asked, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt’s State of the State speech Monday was either a strong success or a cause for concern. Monday afternoon, Republicans praised the speech and said they appreciated Stitt’s acknowledgment of their work.

Democrats, however, expressed concern about Stitt’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and his plan for Medicaid expansion.

House Speaker Charles McCall, a Republican from Atoka, said he appreciated Stitt’s pledge to work together with lawmakers. In a media statement issued shortly after the Stitt’s speech, McCall said Stitt’s leadership has Oklahoma positioned for big success this session.

“The governor will find strong support in the House for keeping the economy open, resuming in-person school, empowering parents and improving school finances,” McCall said. “On those and all other issues, we appreciate and will reciprocate the governor’s pledge to work together and have a productive session for all Oklahomans.”

Senate Pro Tempore Greg Treat said he appreciated the optimism of the governor’s speech.

“Senate Republicans are ready to work with the governor and our House colleagues to help Oklahoma rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, grow and diversify our economy, help the state government deliver services more efficiently to taxpayers, and invest in the people of Oklahoma,” Treat, an Oklahoma City Republican, said. “I appreciate the governor’s acknowledgment of the constitutional authority of each branch of government and look forward to working with him as the session progresses.”

The Senate’s Democratic Leader, Kay Floyd of Oklahoma City, said the State of the State Address makes clear what the Senate Democrats have long been advocating: fighting COVID-19 remains our state’s most urgent priority.

“This is critical to the health and safety of all Oklahomans and to jumpstart our state’s economy,” Floyd said. “The governor and the Legislature must ensure our state agencies have all necessary resources to defeat the pandemic. We need to continue funding personal protective equipment testing and vaccine distribution. Oklahomans are doing their part, but there is still much work to be done to get our positive test rate under control and to reduce the number of hospitalizations.”

But Democrats, Floyd said, continue to be concerned by some of the governor’s other policies, including the way the governor is implementing a managed care system for the state’s Medicaid program.

“Converting Medicaid delivery to managed care is a $2.2 billion endeavor, yet there has been very little input from the Legislature and from the medical community,” she said. “It is especially troubling. This process, which is a major change to our state’s health care system, is being rushed through as our state’s hospitals and medical providers are on the front lines treating Oklahomans with COVID-19.”

Floyd said Democrats were concerned by a lack of collaboration between the governor’s office and the legislature over health policy. “As we predicted when state agency management was consolidated under control of the governor, this structure leads to less collaboration with the Legislature, which is a co-equal branch of government, and less input from subject matter experts when major policy decisions are made. The managed care implementation is just one of several examples of this,” she said.

State Representative Kyle Hilbert, a Republican from Bristow, endorsed Stitt’s call for changes in the school funding formula.

Every year our schools receive less money per student because our formula sends out money for ghost students, students that do not actually exist,” Hilbert said. “We must end this practice of watering down school finances by funding schools based on the number of students they actually have in their classrooms.”

Hilbert’s colleague, Rep. Mike Osburn, R-Edmond, said it was encouraging to hear the governor prioritize civil service reform. “Having worked on this issue for years, I am pleased Governor Stitt is at the table with all stakeholders this session to help get this to the finish line,” he said.

The leader of Oklahoma’s largest public employees’ association issued a statement saying his organization was pleased that Stitt wanted to make changes to allow for more promotional opportunities for state employees. But the Oklahoma Public Employees Association, its leader said, was disappointed that the governor excluded bringing Oklahoma’s state employee compensation closer to the market.

“State employees who serve every day should not have to take another job just to get better pay, but that is the case right now,” Sterling Zearley, the OPEA’s executive director, said.