The House gave final legislative approval Thursday to a $7.1 billion budget bill to fund state government during the fiscal year that begins July 1.
The measure appropriates about $102 million less than the current year's budget, but would still increase funding for public schools by $80 million.
The legislation also includes a $44 million increase for the Department of Human Services and $36 million for targeted pay raises for thousands of state employees to bring state salaries closer to private sector salaries.
“Faced with a revenue shortfall, tough decisions had to be made,” said House Speaker Jeff Hickman (R-Fairview). “Much like a family sets household budget priorities, we moved forward with a budget that emphasized core government services like education and the vital role of public safety and human services protecting our state’s most vulnerable.”
State Rep. Scott Martin (R-Norman) said lawmakers were “extremely creative” with the way they put this budget together.
“There certainly were some cuts to agencies, but we tried to hold those as minimal as possible,” Martin said. “We made increases to some agencies. We held a lot of those core services flat."
It now goes to Gov. Mary Fallin to be signed into law.
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