OKLAHOMA CITY — With less than a month before the Second Session of the 58th Oklahoma Legislature begins, state lawmakers will have dozens of issues to address this year.
The lack of money, however, won’t be one of them.
Flush with a positive report from the state Board of Equalization, revenue estimates show that legislators will have about $10.3 billion to spend this year.
That’s the good news.
On the opposite side of that equation, however, is the fact $1.3 billion of those funds are one-time funds. In addition, the legislature’s Republican leadership – including the Senate’s budget chair, Sen. Roger Thompson – are hesitant to spend the full amount, saying they would rather save a good chunk of those funds.
“It’s important that we proceed with caution and not spend all of these funds,” Thompson said. “I believe we must not spend the full $10.3 billion but instead further build up our state savings to protect us from future financial downtowns.”
At the end of December Thompson issued a media statement saying he wanted to get the state’s Rainy Day fund “as close to $2.3 billion as possible.”
Right now, the fund has about $1 billion.
Thompson said inflationary pressures, some one-time federal money earmarked to fight the Coronavirus and the state’s cyclical oil and gas economy have made the Legislature cautious about spending its full revenue estimate.
“Now we find ourselves on the mountain top, but the valley will come,” he said. “My job as appropriations chairman is not to just look at next year but to look at what’s best financially for Oklahoma 5, 10, 20 years down the road.”
Still, even with the GOP’s cautious approach, serious issues remain: health care, education and infrastructure continue to have funding needs and, in some cases, have fallen well below the national norm.
The problem, former Senate Pro Tempore Cal Hobson said, is that Oklahoma’s house is falling down.
“Roads are terrible, health care issues, education salaries are some of the lowest in the country. The list is endless,” Hobson, a Democrat from Lexington, said. “It makes no sense to brag about leaving the house on fire.”
And while Hobson said he supported setting aside funding for future rainy days, the rain he said, has been falling for decades. “I don’t think it’s wise to be the second in the nation in the number of uninsured children,” he said.
Hobson said lawmakers need to earmark funds for children’s health, health care and infrastructure. “The state of our health care – from prenatal all the way to seniors – is decrepit and embarrassing.”
Thompson countered that lawmakers need to remain fiscally conservative and pass a ‘mostly flat budget.’ “This means state agencies would receive the same amount in FY 23 as they did this fiscal year,” he said.
For his part, Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt is echoing the legislature. In a media statement issued just after Christmas, Stitt said he was committed to investing in the future “by adding to what is already the largest state savings account in history.”
The legislative session opens at noon on Monday, Feb. 7.