Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt on Wednesday signed the state's budget bill for the next fiscal year.
The FY2027 budget, which begins on July 1, was passed by both chambers by April 9, but Stitt's signature officially puts it into action. The package comes in at $12.8 billion — about $160 million over last year's budget, but short of agency requests.
In an April 1 press conference announcing the budget agreement, Republican legislators highlighted big ticket items like $192 million for education (including teacher raises), $250 million for Medicaid services and $136 million for capital improvement projects.
Senate Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, highlighted that climbing state revenue allows the state to fund these plans.
"We've cut taxes over and over again in our state, revenues continue to grow," Paxton said. "We do not have a revenue problem in Oklahoma. We have an expense problem. An expense is caused by things that we have no control over. We're trying to get that control back this year."
Paxton then referred to his work on pending state questions that would ask voters to give the Legislature more control over Medicaid expansion spending, which was enshrined in the state's constitution in 2020.
Stitt said in the same press conference that he is particularly proud of his work to create room for savings in the budget, which comes in the form of the Taxpayer Endowment Trust Fund. The budget will allocate $200 million to this "sovereign wealth fund," meant to make up for revenue lost by tax cuts. The bill creating the fund is working its way through the legislature now.
Throughout his time as governor, increasing state savings has been one of Stitt's priorities.
Republicans aimed to get the budget wrapped up quickly so they could end the legislative session early. But Democrats have said that comes at a price, and they feel their voices have not been included.
"Only a handful of members in both the House and Senate have been included in budget negotiations, ignoring the requests and concerns of thousands of Oklahomans who deserve representation in these meetings," said House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson, D-OKC, in a press release. "We are all learning of this budget deal alongside every Oklahoman—and it's precisely why we don't see their needs reflected in this budget, especially as federal cuts are looming."
House fiscal chairman Trey Caldwell, R-Faxon, said "about six Democrat members" have worked on the budget. For Senate Minority Leader Julia Kirt, D-OKC, that's not enough.
"One Democrat getting to have a conversation about something specific in the budget — that is not transparency," she said in a press conference following the budget announcement. "If the budget is out and we're going to actually have a conversation and that budget can be amended, then I will change my tune."
Contributing reports from Lionel Ramos.
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
