Is This the First End of Session in a Decade without Wooly Buggers?
Wooly buggers, those bills with hidden surprises for special interests ran through at the last moment at the end of the legislative session, are a Capitol staple for both lobbyists and legislators needing campaign donations. Yet the oil price plunge and the pandemic might have a silver lining, the passage of a budget to fill a 1.4 billion dollar hole in the budget without massive tax increases or fee increases on Oklahoma taxpayers.
Last week legislative leaders announced a budget agreement, where most agencies get around 4% of a haircut. Including around 78 million bucks from the education budget but that is negated by a corona virus federal money infusion of around 200 million so the teachers won't be eating beans and rice anytime soon. Of course they will scream “budget cuts!!!” just like they did when the 2008 and 2009 stimulus money disappeared.
Where are they getting the missing 17% of last year's budget? From reserve funds, one time spending cuts, moving non appropriated money into the budget, and agency cuts averaging 4%. The budget is about 3% less than last year, around $237 million dollars less, for a total budget of $7.7 billion, which is $237.8 million, or 3%, less than the FY 2020 budget.
The end of session is actually looking decent. The 2022 budget will have around $600 million dollars in reserves if needed and there is around a billion dollars in agency reserves in a typical year.
How refreshing, a session ending without the wholesale rape of the Oklahoma taxpayer. Just goes to show you that even without the audits of the agencies that Stitt promised in the campaign it is possible to weather record down turn in both oil and the expenses of a pandemic without jacking up taxes and fees to the working folks of Oklahoma.
