Oklahoma lawmakers are close to reaching a budget deal. It could be as soon as the weekend if you ask certain members of the House. But remaining funding disagreements and a shake-up in Senate fiscal leadership are expected to delay productive negotiations.
House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, said he thinks the two chambers could agree upon budget appropriations for fiscal year 2025 as soon as this week.
“I really hope to get a budget deal done this week,” McCall said. “I think we're very close. There's only about three areas, four areas of the budget that there's just not quite agreement on. Hopefully we can work through those.”
As of May 1, the House and Senate are $1.5 billion apart, according to the House’s budget transparency portal, launched earlier this month.
Last year, the state approved a $13.18 billion budget. Agency budget requests and chamber positions for this year are as follows:
- If state agencies get the money they asked for: $13.21 billion. This is a quarter of a percent increase in the overall appropriations compared to fiscal year 2024.
- If the House gets its way: $12.67 billion. This is almost a 4% decrease in total appropriations made in fiscal year 2024.
- If the Senate gets its way: $14.22 billion. This is almost an 8% increase in the total appropriations made in fiscal year 2024.
The main areas of disagreement include common and higher education funding, an income tax cut and some deferred maintenance projects at universities, parks and other public spaces.
On Tuesday, Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat replaced his chief budget negotiator with the House — Sen. Roger Thompson, R-Okemah — with Perry Republican Sen. Chuck Hall. The move is expected to delay budget talks past this week.
Lawmakers in each chamber will also have to align their priorities with that of Gov. Kevin Stitt. The House is championing an income tax cut along with Stitt, which the Senate has so far refused after it approved a state grocery tax slash in February.
And between those pending income tax cut discussions — which are paired with a concurrent special session that started days before the regular session — and a $1.5 billion gap between the two chambers, Thompson told NonDoc there is still a lot of work ahead.
The legislative session is set to end May 29.
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