Tag: Mickey Hepner

Favorite Oklahoma politics and policy blogs

If you’re reading this, chances are you depend on blogs for at least part of the information you consume on a daily or weekly basis. Yet if you’re an Oklahoman interested in state politics and policy, it’s not easy to… Read more [More...]

While We Were Out: Debate over SQ 744 heats up

My decision to take vacation over the final week of July and first week of August allowed me to avoid not only some of the worst of the summer heat wave here in Oklahoma but also much of the heated… Read more [More...]

New certification: Law changes led to $305 million of revenue enhancements for next year

Each year, the State Board of Equalization meets three times to review and approve projected revenues for the upcoming fiscal year – in December, February and June. At this year’s June meeting, which took place earlier this week, the Board… Read more [More...]

Not to worry? Next year's budget projections likely to be met

Once bitten, twice shy. Or is it twice bitten, thrice shy?  Oklahoma’s budgeting laws try to protect against mid-year budget shortfalls by allowing the Legislature to appropriate only 95 percent of the certified estimate of General Revenue (GR) fund collections… Read more [More...]

Bridging the gap (1): Revisiting the vendor sales tax discount

With state revenue collections seeing their steepest plunge in a generation, Oklahoma is enduring a tough year of state budget cuts that are already having a harmful effect on families, communities and the economy. However, while the severity of this… Read more [More...]

Glimmers of good news in state revenue collections?

This month’s announcement of December General Revenue collections didn’t seem to provide much in the way of good news. Revenues for the month again came in around 30 percent below levels of one year ago (graph) and 30 percent below… Read more [More...]

Is this state fiscal crisis worse than the 1980's? Yes and no…

In writing about the state’s current budget woes, I’ve tended to say that Oklahoma is in the midst of its worst fiscal crisis since the oil bust of the 1980’s. Whether we were around during those days or not, I… Read more [More...]