TRANSCRIPT
Announcer: Capitol Insider sponsored by the Oklahoma State Medical Association, physician members who are committed to better health for all Oklahomans. Learn more at okmed.org.
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. Shawn, the end of the 2025 legislative session is near, and the fiscal year 2026 budget and tax cut plan have passed both houses and are in the hands of the governor. What will this agreement mean for state government and Oklahomans in the year ahead?
Shawn Ashley: The $12.59 billion budget is less than a 1% increase in spending. So, most agencies are going to see flat or in a few cases, even smaller budgets. Now, at the same time, there are some big projects in this budget. Two-hundred million dollars for a new pediatric heart hospital at OU Health, $250 million for the OSU veterinary medical facility and $312 million to purchase a prison, the Lawton Correctional Center, for the Department of Corrections. Taxpayers will see the effect of the tax bill at the beginning of 2026, when the bottom three income tax brackets are eliminated, and the top individual income tax rate drops to 4.5% from 4.75%. That should mean more take-home pay for those who receive a paycheck.
Dick Pryor: This was a complicated deal and it's a lot more than a plan for appropriations and tax cuts.
Shawn Ashley: There are lots of moving parts and I think they all moved this past week. There are more than 30 bills that implement the budget agreement. Some are what we call budget limit bills that tell state agencies how to spend the money they are being appropriated. There was the $255 million incentive program to help attract the $4 billion aluminum smelter firm that will build a facility in Oklahoma. The state is still managing several hundred million dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act, ARPA, which brought $1.8 billion into the state in 2020. So, there are several bills that removed excess or unspent ARPA funds from one project and then another bill that re-appropriated those funds to other projects.
Dick Pryor: Now that the budget and tax cuts have been sent to the governor, what's left for lawmakers to do?
Shawn Ashley: House Speaker Kyle Hilbert told reporters there may be some bills coming out of conference committees where the final language was being written. One of those bills that puts in place the specifics of the business courts that were authorized in 2024 and includes things like where they will be located, how their judges will be selected, and how much they will paid are part of the budget agreement and need to be passed. Hilbert and Senate President Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton said they also would discuss which of Governor Stitt's more than 40 vetoes, if any, they will attempt to overrule.
Dick Pryor: So, Governor Kevin Stitt is signing and vetoing bills. He is also continuing his unusual practice of allowing bills to become law without his signature. Why is he doing that?
Shawn Ashley: Stitt has allowed more than 180 bills to become law without his signature. That is more than he has signed and vetoed combined. So, I asked him about that on Wednesday. Stitt said he is signing bills that are his priorities. He signed, for example, the bell-to-bell school cell phone ban that he touted in his State of the State speech. After that, Stitt says he is only signing those things that he thinks moves Oklahoma forward. And if he thinks the bill is not good for the state, Stitt said he will veto it. “A lot of this stuff, these aren't my priorities,” Stitt told me. “These aren't something that I think are going to move the needle. And so, I just simply let them go into law without my signature.”
Dick Pryor: Law is also made in Oklahoma through the initiative petition process - votes of the people on state questions. But that process would change dramatically through a bill that has been sent to the governor. Supporters call it an election integrity bill. Opponents say it will make it tougher for citizens to place state questions on the ballot. What does this bill do?
Shawn Ashley: A lot. Senate Bill 1027 sets a cap on the number of signatures that can be gathered in each county. It also establishes a number of requirements for those who collect signatures, and it modifies the requirements for how an initiative petition will be written and the process for reviewing it. Stitt on Wednesday talked positively, sometimes even favorably, about the initiative petition process. But over the last several years, he has signed a number of bills, somewhat similar to this one, that have placed restrictions on that process. So, it will be interesting to see exactly what he does with this bill.
Dick Pryor: When do legislative leaders expect this session to end Sine Die?
Shawn Ashley: No later than 5 PM Friday, May 30th. They don't have a choice about that. That's when the constitution says the session has to end. But we will see if they can get all their work done sooner than that.
Dick Pryor: We'll see. 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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