OKLAHOMA CITY – The second regular session of the 57th Oklahoma Legislature adjourned sine die last Friday, a session historic for its fight between the governor and the legislature, a record number of veto overrides, an ongoing battle against the COVID-19 pandemic and a catastrophic decline in the price of crude oil.
Still, the Republican-controlled House and Senate passed a $7.7 billion budget for the 2021 fiscal year and increased the authority of Governor Kevin Stitt. Though the session started normally, by mid-March both the Senate and the House of Representatives closed after legislative staff members tested positive for the coronavirus.
“We worked remotely serving our constituents and connecting them with important services while closed,” Senate Pro Tempore, Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, said.
Lawmakers, however, ultimately returned to the largely empty Capitol building, wearing masks and voting in small groups. And, after all the debate was finished, the legislature overrode 10 of Stitt’s vetoes, a record-setting number.
Along with the budget, the Senate refused to confirm Gary Cox, the governor’s choice for Secretary of Health. Senate members said they were concerned by the fact that Cox didn’t meet the statutory requirements for the office.
On Friday, the final day of the session, the legislature overturned six gubernatorial vetoes, including:
• Senate Bill 1002 which adds two members representing telecommunications and rural cooperatives to the rural broadband task force created by House Bill 4018.
• House Bill 3819, which requires contracts by state agencies to be open to inspection by any member of the legislature.
• House Bill 4049 which modified the process of online renewal of car tags.
• House Bill 4018, which created a task force to study broadband access in rural Oklahoma.
• House Bill 2749 which capped the state investment in the endowed chairs program for higher education.
• House 2750 which allowed bonding for endowed chairs up to the cap set in HB 2749.
Previously, the Legislature overrode vetoes on four other budget bills: Senate Bill 1922, House Bills 2741, 2742, and 2743.
In a media statement, Treat, the Senate leader, said the legislature initially expected a relatively ‘small’ budget hole of approximately $85 million.
“That normally would mean few, if any, cuts to ensure a flat budget,” he said. “Then the coronavirus pandemic and plummeting oil and gas prices crippled our state’s economy eventually leading to a projected $1.3 billion budget hole.”
Lawmakers, Treat said, were able to protect public education and other core services and limit cuts to state agencies to less than 4.1 percent.
He said the state’s common education system, despite an initial budget cut, would actually see increased funding when federal coronavirus relief funding was included.
“Due to the coronavirus pandemic, there were fewer policy bills considered,” he said. “But we did take important actions like providing liability protections to doctors and nurses on the front lines of the coronavirus fight and businesses working to reopen safely to get our economy going again.
“We passed election reform measures to protect the integrity and ensure the safety and security of our free elections. Given all the circumstances, this was a successful legislative session and one that myself and senators can be proud of for what we achieved to move Oklahoma forward.”
In addition to the budget, the legislature also passed five substantive measures which State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister said would have ‘positive and meaningful’ impact on the state’s common education system by strengthening student supports and improving transparency in education.
Those bills included:
• House Bill 2804 which requires schools to screen kindergarten through third- grade students for dyslexia if they are not reading on grade level at the beginning of the school year.
• House Bill 2905, the Virtual Charter School Reform and Transparency Act. The bill changes instructional activities, truancy and adds a required student orientation policy.
• House Bill 3466 requires the State Textbook Committee to use a three-tiered rubric when reviewing materials to be approved for the state list.
• Senate Bill 212 requires the initial allocation of state aid for statewide virtual charter schools to be calculated like that of all other schools, rather than using a weight of 1.333 for all virtual students enrolled as of Aug. 1.
• Senate Bill 1436 creates a new micro-credential for special education teachers already certified in mild-moderate disabilities to become certified in severe-profound disabilities.
“Taken together, these new laws will help push education forward and provide desperately needed supports,” Hofmeister said in a media statement. “In the midst of the coronavirus crisis, our schools do not lack for challenges, but these measures will help ensure we maintain focus on all of Oklahoma’s more than 700,000 public school students.”
Treat said the agreement on the state’s budget was far better than anyone could have predicted given the unprecedented financial circumstances. He said the veto overrides were necessary to protect core state services.
“When the budget was vetoed, the Legislature took steps to protect public schools and other core services by overriding the veto,” he said.
With the legislative session over, lawmakers – both state and federal – will turn their attention to the 2020 election campaign.
The state’s primary election scheduled to take place a little more than a month from today, on Tuesday, June 30.