Friends,
We are headed into the final weeks of the 2024 legislative session. By the Oklahoma Constitution, the legislature must adjourn by the last day in May. While I am finishing my first term, many legislators are term limited and/or running for another office and will not return to the House. The constantly shifting dynamics of a body of people that have to run every two years and then get thrown in the soup and make policy together are interesting to me. Should I be reelected, I will have a lot of new people to get to know and build relationships with so we can get to work! Below I’m pictured with two Tulsa-area reps, Rep. Regina Goodwin on the left and Rep. Lonnie Sims on the right. They each bring something unique to the House and I will miss them both.
Budget
The budget battle rages on and what’s at the heart of the disagreement at this point, I do not know. It was largely about cutting the personal income tax but it seems like the Senate has convinced the Speaker and the Governor that there is no circumstance under which their chamber will support a tax cut. The Senate has consistently reminded everyone – in the very public budget summit meetings – that we have cut taxes quite a bit in the last few years. Just this session we eliminated the grocery tax, a great benefit to Oklahomans but also in doing so we reduced the state’s annual income by nearly $400 million. Yet the disagreement continues, making me think the impasse has become more personal or power struggle in nature. d. You can read the coverage of the budget summits here.
When and if we get a budget, I will likely support it provided there is no tax cut involved. I don’t want to vote against the good things included in the budget and I want to support the more transparent process that has been occurring (even if it’s still a total mess!). I will need to see the final product but I could see supporting it solely for the reason that a tax cut is not included. I thought that this piece from Sen. Rader about the proposed tax cuts was an objective discussion and included a lot of good information.
Remaining Legislative Work
Besides the budget, we have to address the administrative rules proposed by the State Department of Education before we finish the regular session. Several of them are no help to educating successful Oklahomans but the rule tying accreditation to test scores would be incredibly harmful. The rule is completely punitive in nature as it offers no support for schools that may not meet the required thresholds and no federal funds could be used to support either as tying accreditation to testing scores is not a federally approved practice. I have had an overwhelming amount of communication from citizens around the State asking for a no vote on the rules. I will evaluate each rule specifically prior to them being presented for a vote but at this time, I do not anticipate supporting them. You can read more about the proposed rules and process here.
In news of progress, a bill right out of HD 70 was signed by the Governor this week – making it our fourth bill to be enacted this session! Medical debt affects so many of our friends and neighbors – this new law will ensure patients know the cost of common procedures ahead of time. Specifically, the bill ensures that patients know the cost of common medical procedures per federal and state law and that if providers are not compliant with applicable price transparency laws, no judgment for that debt can be achieved. Medical debt is the cause of 25% of bankruptcies in Oklahoma. I am hopeful by strengthening our price transparency laws we can reduce that number. The work on this bill began with my predecessor Carol Bush and I was honored to carry it forward. You can read the bill here.
Good and bad news on our childcare work. The bill enacting a tax credit for employers who share costs with employees for childcare is still alive and may still get signed if the budget conversation doesn’t take all the remaining session time. Fingers crossed. House Bill 1808 which would have continued the benefit for childcare employees to receive free childcare made it all the way to the live budget negotiations table but then was cut right there on live stream! The good news about that though is that the incoming Speaker of the House spoke up for childcare and forced a commitment to address the issue in the next session. I spoke to him about it and am confident we will work together to continue to build a childcare system that is accessible and affordable and honors childcare as workforce infrastructure.
Almost a Wrap
I am really looking forward to seeing everyone who can attend our townhall on May 30th at 5:30 PM at the Schusterman-Benson Library to discuss the end of the legislative session and start looking at what is next. If you would like to join us, register here. In the meantime, I was on this fun podcast Inside the Capitol if you’d like to listen. I discuss childcare and hype Tulsa up with the Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell.
Let’s Keep Going –
Suzanne