It appeared legislative leaders were making progress on the budget for fiscal year 2025, but now the process is starting over with less than a month left in the session.
TRANSCRIPT
Dick Pryor: This is Capitol Insider - taking you inside politics, policy and government in Oklahoma. I'm Dick Pryor with Quorum Call publisher Shawn Ashley. The legislature is heading into the final four weeks of the session, and there is still no budget agreement. In fact, Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat announced that budget talks, which have included agreement on appropriations for a significant number of agencies and programs, are starting over. What's happened? Why the reset?
Shawn Ashley: Treat pointed to the Senate's new transparency process that he announced in December that's designed to open the budget discussions to public view, and a series of apparent agreements between the Senate and the House that were made outside of that process. Treat was rather blunt Thursday, saying “deals made in the dark will not be honored.”
Dick Pryor: Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Roger Thompson was abruptly relieved of those duties by President Pro Tem Greg Treat, after holding the chairmanship for nearly six years. Treat promoted vice chair Senator Chuck Hall to the position. What caused that rather stunning change?
Shawn Ashley: In short, Treat suggested Thompson made agreements with the House behind closed doors and outside the Senate's transparency process. Those deals in the dark. Treat said, “the Senate's transparency efforts during the first 11 weeks of the legislative session were pretty flawless but last week, week 12, we went dark,” Treat said, “and a lot of decisions were arrived at without honoring the process.”
Dick Pryor: So, what does that really mean? That the 12th week went dark and made Treat replace the only appropriations chair ever had with less than a month remaining in the session.
Shawn Ashley: When the House released its budget blueprint in mid-April, it also launched what it called a transparency portal that compared the House and Senate budget positions. Now, the House subsequently updated its portal to show changes in the chamber's positions, including additional agreements between the two sides. In some cases, the Senate appeared to have adopted the House's position. In others, it was the House that had moved to the Senate's position, and in some a compromise between the two sides was reflected. But Treat said Thursday any changes in the Senate's position needed to be discussed in public meetings of the Senate Appropriations Committee and its subcommittees. And none of those discussions had occurred.
Dick Pryor: Where does the House stand on the budget?
Shawn Ashley: McCall was optimistic last Monday that an agreement could be reached by the end of the week. He said there were only a few points of disagreement. Now, obviously that didn't happen. But even Friday after Thompson's removal and the Senate implementing its reset, McCall remained positive. “We look forward to the opportunity to sit down and finalize the budget and have those discussions,” McCall said.
Dick Pryor: Speaker of the House McCall continues to push for income tax cuts. That's also something that Governor Stitt wants. And McCall implies that pay raises for state employees and judges should not happen unless there are income tax cuts first. Are either of those things even on the table at this point in the budget process?
Shawn Ashley: Not really. The House blueprint does include an income tax cut, but it does not include pay raises for state employees or judges and justices. To make both happen - a reduction in revenue because of the tax cut and an increase in spending for the pay raises - would mean significant adjustments to the other spending proposals outlined in the House's blueprint. Now, the Senate remains opposed to an income tax cut. Treat reiterated Thursday that the Senate's position was that the elimination of the state portion of the sales tax on groceries, which will take effect sometime in August, was the only tax cut the Senate would approve this year.
Dick Pryor: Given the budget process reset, what happens next?
Shawn Ashley: Treat and McCall have accepted an invitation from Stitt for a meeting of their budget teams in his office Monday afternoon. Things could get a lot clearer or a lot murkier after that. We'll just have to wait and see.
Dick Pryor: Thank you. Shawn.
Shawn Ashley: You're very welcome.
Dick Pryor: For more information, go to quorumcall.online. You can find audio and transcripts at kgou.org and look for Capitol Insider where you get podcasts. Until next time, with Shawn Ashley, I'm Dick Pryor.
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