It’s the time of year for wishlists, including at the Oklahoma State Capitol. For the state's hundreds of agencies, that means a $13.3 billion appropriation request of the legislature for the next fiscal year.
That’s about an $833 million budget increase compared to what they ended up with last time, according to the House’s updated budget transparency portal.
State agency budget requests are due to the legislature by Oct. 1 every year. That’s five months ahead of the legislative session in February, which usually runs until May — assuming lawmakers can agree on the state’s overall budget.
Agency appropriations comprise a large part of the overall state budget, but the requests they file are only wishlists with attached dollar amounts. The money appropriated to them doesn’t always reflect what they ask for.
Lawmakers will spend long hours debating how state money should be moved around. They will likely consider the agencies’ requests, but a slew of other factors, too, like the costs of implementing new — and old — legislation.
The last budget the legislature put together totaled about $12.5 billion.
Here are the top five largest budgetary asks from state agencies this year:
University Hospitals Authority:
- Total ask: $505.8 million
- Total increase: $250 million
Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services:
- Total ask: $592.4 million
- Total increase: $209.4 million
Oklahoma Health Care Authority:
- Total ask: $1.41 billion
- Total increase: $107 million
Oklahoma State University Medical Authority:
- Total ask: $185.9 million
- Total increase: $90 million
Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs:
- Total ask: $61.3 million
- Total increase: $16.9 million
