OKLAHOMA CITY — The first regular session of the 59th Oklahoma Legislature adjourned sine die Friday, ending what some have called one of the most difficult – and at times dysfunctional – legislative sessions in recent history.
Yet even with the drama, threats and occasional name calling, state lawmakers developed and passed record-setting $13 billion budget, earmarked $625 million for the state’s public education system and sent a strongly worded message to Gov. Kevin Stitt by overriding several gubernatorial vetoes and reining in some of the governor’s appointive authority.
Republicans touted their education and school choice packages. Democrats countered that the session was highlighted by a lack of transparency in the budget process, hateful legislation and bad policy ideas.
Legislative leaders, fearful of additional vetoes by the governor, convened a special session on May 16 which ran concurrently with the regular session. That move allows lawmakers to come back into session to override any vetoes made by Stitt this summer. The special session is currently in recess and is expected to reconvene after the governor acts on the session’s remaining bills.
Senate Pro Tempore Greg Treat (R-Oklahoma City) described Stitt’s early vetoes of 20 pieces of legislation as the ‘tantrum 20.’ Treat praised the Senate, saying his GOP Caucus was more united than ever before.
“I am proud beyond measure of all of our accomplishments this session,” Treat said. “We passed comprehensive school choice, significant teacher pay raises, record investments in schools and many more policy initiatives that will benefit Oklahomans across the state for generations. We also accomplished a lot for business development that will create jobs and opportunities for communities across the state.”
Though the Legislature passed on the opportunity to reduce the grocery and income tax, lawmakers did pass a $55 million reduction in the state franchise tax and eliminated what the GOP called the ‘marriage tax,’ a revision that Treat said would save married couples in Oklahoma a total of $14.7 million.
In addition, the Legislature allocated the final $56 million of federal American Rescue Plan Act funding. Those measures provide funding to expanding broadband services, provide additional access to health care, replace and update water and wastewater systems and expanding workforce development programs for the nursing and healthcare industries.
House Speaker Charles McCall (R-Atoka) praised the final budget, calling it a to-do list of issues his caucus had prioritized.
“This forward-thinking, innovative budget is a testament to the dedication of House Republicans to building a flourishing state for every current and future Oklahoman while also committing to fiscal responsibility by maintaining healthy state reserves,” McCall said.
Democratic lawmakers, however, described the session in less than flattering terms.
Senate Minority Leader Kay Floyd (D-Oklahoma City) said the divided budget process which placed education funding proposal ahead of the state’s budget wasn’t very effective.
“The problem with that plan turns out to be that the House and the Senate just couldn’t come together on what we needed for education,” she said. “So, we lost probably three weeks’ worth of session days over the entire four months by not doing any floor work.”
That slowdown, she said, made the last few weeks of the session “very tense and very difficult.”
Floyd also criticized the effort by Republican leaders to exclude Democrats from budget negotiations. “The inability for the majority to include the minority – who represent the same amount of people they do in each district – is very detrimental to our state,” she said. “People say that’s the way it’s always been, but that’s just not true.”
There were times, though, that lawmakers were united in their efforts – namely when they overrode several of the governor’s vetoes.
On Thursday, lawmakers overrode 13 bills vetoed by the governor, including Senate Bill 429, which prevented schools from banning Native American students from wearing tribal regalia during graduation ceremonies and school functions.
The governor’s veto message said, “If schools want to allow their students to wear tribal regalia at graduation, good on them; but if schools prefer for their students to wear only traditional cap and gown, the Legislature shouldn’t stand in their way.”
Tribal leaders had supported the measure. Thursday the House voted 80-11 and the Senate voted 42-3 to override the governor’s veto.
Lawmakers also overrode the governor’s veto of House Bill 2820, legislation that reauthorized the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority as a state entity for another three years. Several days ago, Stitt vetoed the bill. The governor said OETA overly sexualizes children and indoctrinates them. He pointed to the news programs that discussed transgender issues and a program that interviewed LGBT citizens.
The Legislature also turned back the governor’s veto of the bill that oversaw the licensing of architects and interior designers. The bill’s author, state Sen. Todd Gollihare (R-Kellyville) said the governor had no logical reason or rational thinking for vetoing the measure.
Ten other measures, including a bill that directed the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services to provide emergency opioid antagonist to hospitals, and a bill that removed the governor’s sole authority to appoint members to the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority had their vetoes overridden.
For his part, Stitt questioned the need of the overrides and hinted late Friday, that he might call the Legislature into a second special session to address tax reductions, namely in the state income and grocery sales tax.
“The fact that we weren’t able to get that done is just unbelievable,” the governor said during a press conference.
During his State of the State address, Stitt called on lawmakers to cut the grocery tax and the income tax. And though several different bills were passed out of committee, the grocery tax reduction was stalled after concerns were raised by the Oklahoma Municipal League.
On Friday, Stitt said he was taking a harsh look at the newly passed budget. During his press conference the governor said he was concerned that the Legislature may have spent too much of the state’s reserve fund and overextended themselves on recurring tax revenue.
Gov. Stitt has until next Thursday to sign or veto legislation that was passed in the last week of the legislative session.