With no budget agreement, threat of special session still looms in Oklahoma
OKLAHOMA CITY — The state of Oklahoma’s ongoing financial woes could be worsened if Gov. Mary Fallin makes good on her threats to order lawmakers back to the Capitol this summer to hash out a budget agreement.
A special session would cost taxpayers an estimated $30,300 per day, state House and Senate officials say. The House estimates each special session day would cost it $21,800. The Senate expects to pay about $8,500 daily.
Gov. Fallin, however, has said she’s willing to stay at the Capitol this summer as long as it takes lawmakers to reach an acceptable budget agreement that avoids making “draconian cuts” to education, health, human services, transportation, corrections and public safety.
“If I have to veto the budget because we don’t get our work done — and we devastate our state agencies and not fund core mission services that our citizens actually demand that we do — then I’m willing to veto the budget,” she warned earlier this month.
By law, legislators are required to present a budget to Fallin before session ends May 26. Fallin has the authority to ax that agreement and order the Republican-controlled Legislature to return to the Statehouse for extra days.
If that happens — and it takes lawmakers another 30 days to reach an agreement — taxpayers could be on the hook for more than $900,000.
And with only five days left to raise enough new money to fill an $878 million shortfall, Fallin’s office noted that lawmakers thus far have only passed measures that generate about $44.3 million.
If lawmakers zero out the budgets of all state agencies except for the top seven — K-12 schools, health care, higher education, human services, corrections, mental health and transportation — they still would be short $19 million, Fallin has said.
And next year is an election year, she said.
“If you think we’re going to fix the budget next year, God help us all,” she said. “It’s not going to happen.”
Lawmakers skeptical
Top lawmakers, though, are skeptical that Fallin will actually end up calling them back and point the finger at each other for their failure to reach revenue-raising agreements.
“I think that the clock is ticking and the pressure on the Senate Republicans, in particular, to work a bipartisan deal is ratcheting up,” said House Minority Leader Scott Inman, D-Del City. “My gut tells me that by Sunday night or early next week there will be some sort of (budget revenue) agreement.”
Still, he said he expects the budget will fail if agencies end up facing 8 or 9 percent budget cuts, and legislators will return this summer.
Senate Majority Floor Leader Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, said it’s anyone’s guess if lawmakers will end up in special session. He said that would ultimately be up the House Democrats.
“If the House Democrats get serious and don’t play games, it’s a lot lower chance of having to go to special session, but I’m not going to sit here and predict,” he said. “I’m not very good at that. If they’re serious about filling the holes in education and health care, they’ll come to the table without any gimmicks.”
Earlier this week, lawmakers revealed that a bipartisan House budget plan to help close about half the budget gap stalled. Legislators clashed over allowing the state’s tribal-run casinos to offer games that use dice or balls.
In addition to expanding tribal gaming, that plan would have raised more than $400 million in new, recurring revenue by hiking the price of cigarettes, capping itemized deductions, restoring an income tax credit and slashing about $50 million in oil and gas subsidies, supporters said.
House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, said he’s working to get Fallin and state senators on board with the plan in an attempt to avert special session.
“We are committed to working whatever hours we need to between now and the required (session) deadline to get the budget in place that will not require us to be in special session,” he said.
Teacher raises
Even after stabilizing the budget by increasing revenue, McCall said state agencies could still see cuts. Meanwhile, he’s still optimistic that public school teachers will receive a raise.
“Teacher pay raises (are) still extremely important. That’s another reason I’m so adamant about moving this plan through the entire process because it does create, undisputedly, the revenue to implement (a) teacher pay increase,” he said.
And, this isn’t the first time that Fallin has threatened to call lawmakers back.
Last year, Fallin said she wanted a special session to work on a plan to fund teacher pay raises, but that never happened after legislative leaders balked at the idea in an election year.
Lawmakers last returned for extra days in September 2013 to consider tort reform, according to state records. In 2006, they reconvened to finish work on the budget.
Janelle Stecklein covers the Oklahoma Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach her at jstecklein@cnhi.com.