Governor’s budget suggestions get cool reception
A major disagreement on how much should be tapped from the state’s savings account to balance the current 2010 fiscal year budget developed just hours after the governor opened this year’s legislative session with the annual State of the State address.
Gov. Brad Henry warned and advised legislators several times in his 34-minute speech to use targeted cuts when trying to balance this fiscal year’s budget, which is expected to come up about $530 million short. More cuts will be made in the 2011 fiscal year budget, which is 20 percent, or $1.3 billion, less than the $6.6 billion in state money lawmakers had available to spend last year.
The Democratic governor didn’t list any suggestions to the Republican-led Legislature in his speech. But while he was speaking, his budget proposal was being e-mailed to lawmakers. Normally, legislators get the governor’s budget in the form of a big book before the State of the State. But last week’s winter storm closed the state Capitol for two days which delayed getting the budget document to the printers.
Henry calls for using about $480 million of the nearly $600 million in the state’s savings account to take care of the 2010 fiscal year revenue shortfall. Henry argues the Rainy Day Fund was established and built up to capacity over the years to be used in times of emergency revenue shortfalls.
Henry’s budget adviser, state Treasurer Scott Meacham, said Oklahomans wouldn’t like state troopers and prison guards losing their jobs and state services being further cut when the state had hundreds of millions of dollars available. Without using any of the Rainy Day Fund, he said, state agencies would be looking at budget cuts of at least 15 percent; state revenue so far this fiscal year has come in about 25 percent below estimates.
House Republicans say they need to be convinced. House Speaker Chris Benge R-Tulsa, said GOP House members don’t want to spend more than about $230 million of the Rainy Day Fund on the 2010 fiscal year budget. That’s about half of what the governor is proposing.
House Republicans weren’t immediately thrilled with the governor’s ideas to generate more money and cut spending for the 2011 fiscal year budget. The governor is proposing cracking down on out-of-state uninsured motorists, which could produce about $95 million in fines, eliminating and suspending some tax credits and collecting sales tax on all Internet sales. He also wants to consolidate several state agencies. Add all the new revenue ideas and the state’s 2011 fiscal year budget is about $6.9 billion – enough to keep critical services such as public safety, health and education close to current funding levels and prevent the elimination of many others.
The governor’s reasoning is why cut programs and services during the current shortfall only to replace them whenever the state’s economy improves, Meacham said.
House Republicans say there’s no guarantee any of Henry’s ideas will produce that much revenue. Some of the consolidation ideas, such as transferring the medical examiner’s office to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, have been proposed in earlier years but legislation proposing it never advanced.
In Henry’s defense, the governor is required to come up with a balanced budget on the first day of the legislative session. Many suggestions made by Henry and some other governors never materialized, either because they wouldn’t have produced that much revenue or because of no legislative support.
Henry’s budget proposal is the first offer in a budget process that usually involves several give-and-takes from the governor and legislative leaders.
It’s also a way to keep some programs alive until the state Tax Commission submits its final revenue estimates for the 2011 fiscal year later this month.
The governor may be hoping that natural gas prices, which have increased the past month because of cold weather and winter storms across the country, may at least hold at the higher price, causing Tax Commission officials to increase the estimated price of natural gas in the 2011 fiscal year budget and as a result up the projected revenue for the state.
- Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau
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Comments
Amen! I’m with you 100% Jeff. I’d rather see them increase fines for DUI. And cell phones while driving; I almost get run over by a driver talking on a cell phone all the time it seems. That is more dangerous in my mind than a drunk driver. Slam them with some fines.
If we get too cute with increased fees, we are going to lose businesses. I thought we had already learned our lesson on that one. Texas, Kansas, and Arkansas would eat our collective lunches if we start jacking up fees for this and that.
BTW, moron. You SMELT iron or metal, you may have SMELLED your dog. You must be a product of home schooling.
How about we invest in sending our kids to school so they dont end up as idiots that cant spell! Both sides are stupid – ALWAYS!! But calling him Osama is a bit ridiculous. He is OUR president, and deserves some respect, no matter what side you are on. Comments like that only show how ignorant and uneducated on the issues you are.
I voted for Obama – but I also vote for many republicans and I openly criticize his policies I do not believe in (Unfair taxation, etc…). The only way this country will ever move forward is when we realize that we are ALL ON THE SAME TEAM and we need constructive discussion to move us forward. This partisan rhetoric (BOTH SIDES!!) is acts to inflame problems rather than solving them.
Please keep flatulence jokes and personal attacks out of here, folks. Glad you’re commenting but let’s keep the discourse mature and refrain from personal attacks. Thanks.
What does Henry know? That moron endorsed Osama for president. There is a model for fiscal responsibility.