OKLAHOMA CITY – A budget stalemate surfaced last week in the Legislature when the House of Representatives failed to share its Fiscal Year 2025 proposal with the state Senate, which has embraced a budget transparency initiative this session.
“In an inexplicable attempt to stall and evade progress on state budget negotiations, the House has refused to share their proposed budget with the Senate,” said Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat (R-Oklahoma City) in a April 3 press release. “The House isn’t being transparent, or good partners in this process.
“Therefore, the Senate will stop hearing all House bills assigned to the appropriations committee until they are willing to give us their budget numbers so we can continue with the open and transparent budget process we have instituted this session,” Treat said.
A reason for the stalemate is an education funding issue, the Pro Tem said in his April 4 news conference.
This appears to be a leftover issue from the 2023 budget negotiations, as Southwest Ledger reported last May that a mediator was called in to help House and Senate leaders resolve a standoff regarding education issues with two weeks left in the session. Those issues involved funds for teacher pay increases and money to be earmarked for the state education funding formula.
At the time, Treat told media representatives that negotiations would be easier if they were done in public, which resulted in the Senate’s push in 2024 for an open, transparent budget initiative.
Proposals from southwest Oklahoma’s five senators – Dusty Deevers (R-Elgin), Jessica Garvin (R-Duncan), Brent Howard (R-Altus), Chris Kidd (R-Waurika) and Lonnie Paxton (Tuttle) – are still progressing through the legislative process. In last week’s action, no bills had passed from the committees to the Governor’s desk.
On April 4, the Senate adopted Senate Resolution 38, which recognizes former University of Oklahoma Head Football Coach Barry Switzer’s distinguished career. It was authored by Sen. Greg McCortney (R-Ada) and co-authored by all the other senators.
The resolution reviews Switzer’s football coaching career and notes that he was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame. He also won a NFL Super Bowl in 1995 while coaching with the Dallas Cowboys after his college football career.
In addition, Switzer’s community service efforts were recognized. He has served as an honorary coach for Special Olympics Oklahoma for more than 45 years.