© 2024 KGOU
News and Music for Oklahoma
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Oklahoma Legislature Passes Budget Over Gov. Stitt's Objections

Matt Trotter
/
Oklahoma Engaged

Oklahoma’s legislature has passed a budget over the head of the state’s governor. In total, lawmakers passed four bills despite Governor Kevin Stitt’s objections.

Governor Stitt vetoed four bills including the state budget, Wednesday afternoon. Within hours, lawmakers voted to override him. First, they passed the $7.7 billion budget into law. And late Wednesday they overrode a trio of budget bills that funneled about $290 million from some state funds into common education. Those bills are part of a package passed by the legislature last week as a piece of their budget deal.

 

Representative Kevin Wallace, an architect of the measures, said lawmakers didn’t want to allow Stitt to push them around.

 

"With a quick stroke of a pen, one person believes that they can right the ship because they’re the CEO of this state," Wallace said "And I’m not just gonna sit back and let it happen."

 

The budget situation remains bleak, though. The state was forced to make hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts because of projected shortfalls caused by fallout from COVID-19.

Robby Korth grew up in Ardmore, Oklahoma and Fayetteville, Arkansas, and graduated from the University of Nebraska with a journalism degree.
More News
Support nonprofit, public service journalism you trust. Give now.