Budget Deal Reached

Governor Kevin Stitt, House Speaker Charles McCall and Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat announced Wednesday they have come to an agreement for the FY 2020 budget. The announcement comes after dueling press conferences at the beginning of the week outlining the differences between Stitt, the House and the Senate.

Among the highlights of the agreement, a $203 million increase for all public education including $157.7 million for common education, creation of the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency, a funding increase to hire more auditors within the State Auditor’s Office, fully funding the Oklahoma Department of Transportation’s Eight-Year Plan, changing the funding for District Attorneys, and putting back an additional $200 million in Oklahoma’s savings account.

You can view the press conference announcing the agreement below.

While it appears the budget process is back on track, House Minority Leader Rep. Emily Virgin said it wasn’t enough.

“This is what a budget looks like when you decide taxpayer money is better suited to sit in a bank than be invested back into state resources like our children, state employees, and middle and low wage earners. Our state agencies were brutally impacted by Republican cuts over the past decade. This budget fails to make these agencies, including the state department of education, whole.

The Republican budget will now be voted on and passed before lawmakers have a chance to go home, talk to their constituents and receive feedback from the people in their communities. I hope those constituents will ask “why?” After being in session since February, and being promised transparency from day one, why didn’t we allow constituents more time to provide feedback?

In contrast, House Democrats put out the “Brand New State” budget more than two weeks ago. We took transparency to the point of posting a line-by-line budget on www.brandnewstateok.com/budget.

House Democrats presented a budget that restores an Earned Income Tax Credit to more than 200,000 Oklahoma households. We have the only budget that expands Medicaid and increases healthcare coverage to hundreds of thousands of Oklahomans. Our budget is the only budget that invests $90 million into the state’s infrastructure. The “Brand New State” budget is the only budget that provides a $2500 pay raise to state employees so that their salaries are closer to those in the private sector. We have presented the only budget that ends the debtor prison that exists in our court system, and it is still the only budget that fully funds public education in Oklahoma.”

The highlights of the budget agreement can be found below.

Oklahoma Budget FY 2020 Highlights

SAVINGS

• $200 million in Oklahoma’s savings account, putting Oklahoma on the path to storing two months of expenses, more than $1 billion, to protect core services in difficult times.

EDUCATION: $203 million increase for public education across the spectrum

• $157.7 million for common education:
  • On average $1,220 teacher pay raise. Compromise language has been agreed to that will require school districts on the funding formula, which is 97% of school teachers, to deliver an on average $1,220 pay raise. The compromise language will require school districts to report how those pay raises will be executed and sustained within districts, and the reports will be made available online for the public to view.
  • $5.5 million for the Reading Sufficiency Act, fully funding the third-grade reading initiative for the first time in state history;
  • An additional $74.3 million for local schools to use to hire additional teachers, counselors, social works or address their unique needs in their districts.
• $18 million for career tech centers to increase compensation for employees and teachers
• $28 million for higher education to bolster research programs and provide a salary increase for college teachers
• Graduate Medical Education funding for of physician residency programs for Oklahoma’s teaching hospitals (see below in health care section)

AGRICULTURE AND RURAL OKLAHOMA

• $500,000 to fund a public-private partnership to maintain clean water in Northeast Oklahoma and areas with high poultry density
• $90,000 to hire an additional state veterinarian
• $1.1 million for Wildfire mitigation funding and additional resources for rural fire fighters
• $1.5 million to improve rural flood control dams

GOVERNMENT MODERNIZATION

• $37.7 million for an additional state employee pay raise of up to $1,300. This builds upon the state employee pay raises given in FY’2019 of up to $2,000 per employee.

• $15 million for digital transformation of state government services to enhance transparency and make customer service more efficient and effective
• $1.7 million for the creation of the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency
• $700,000 to hire more auditors and increase the State Auditor’s office capability to conduct more regular audits across state agencies

 ROAD AND BRIDGES

• Fully funding Oklahoma Department of Transportation’s 8-year plan
• Restored $30 million in funding to CIRB supporting county roads

PUBLIC SAFETY

• Funding prioritization for two new trooper academies, putting an estimated 80 more troopers on the roads in 2020.
• $2 per hour pay increase for correctional officers, which is a 14% raise. This will bring correctional officer pay to the regional market average and in turn will bolster the Department’s recruitment effort to fill vacancies.
• $1 million to reduce the backlog of untested rape kits

 CRIMINAL JUSTICE

• $20 million to reform the funding of District Attorney offices
• $10 million for Smart on Crime programs through the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
• $1.5 million for the Women in Recovery diversion program
• $1.7 million to address increasing demand for mental health services

JOBS / ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

• $19 million for the Quick Action Closing Fund, prioritizing recruitment opportunities to grow Oklahoma
• $1 million for additional job growth and economic development specifically in the automotive industry and in aerospace through the Department of Commerce’s Aerospace Commerce Economic Services (ACES) program
• $1 million to assist new entrepreneurs and small business innovators through the Oklahoma Center for Advancement of Science and Technology
• $5.3 million to modernize and expedite the Oklahoma Corporation Commissions’ permit processing for energy development

HEALTH CARE

• $62.8 million for Graduate Medical Education program to support physician training for rural hospitals
• $105 million reallocation to increase provider rates for physicians, hospitals and nursing homes
• $29 million saved to a new preservation fund to preserve Medicaid provider rates when the federal government’s 3-year rolling average results in a rate decline.
• $10 million to decrease the Developmental Disability Services wait list and increase provider rates
• $4.6 million to increase immunizations and staff county health departments throughout the state