OKPOLICY.ORG
Steve Lewis served as Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1989-1991. He currently practices law in Tulsa and represents clients at the Capitol. You can sign up on his website to receive the Capitol Updates newsletter by email.
The filing period for legislative offices kept many members on edge last week. Filing, together with the leadership’s beginning to reveal to the general membership the budget discussions they’ve been having now for several months, made for an interesting start to the six-week dash to the finish. Also, Governor Fallin offered up a “revised budget” with various elements for legislators to consider. And as if that weren’t enough on the plate, the plan by the Oklahoma Healthcare Authority to expand Medicaid through Insure Oklahoma came into sharper focus. The $1.50 per pack cigarette tax increase has been suggested to pay the state’s match for the “Medicaid Rebalancing Act” as well as to hold provider cuts down.
It looks like the next few months are going to be a rough ride. To actually make a budget, members are going to have to do things some thought they would never do. They are going to have to find a way to raise some revenue. In addition, the governor has proposed borrowing through bonding for completion of the state Capitol repairs and to free up operational money from roads and highways to fund other areas of state services. And even after all that, there might be cuts to areas like education, human services and higher education that will be unpalatable.
The governor has proposed ways to get to the promised land of a balanced budget. Legislators, including some in leadership, have reasonable doubts about whether they will all work or whether they can pass. But legislators also have some ideas that could get a decent budget put together. There really is no lack of rational alternatives to avoid dismantling valuable and needed state services and to running the state like an underfunded third-world government. The question will be whether they can get it done. To their credit there is a lot of hard work going on among legislators, the agencies and the governor. But they’ll be judged by their results, not by their hard work.
And then there is the election. This generation of legislators has seldom if ever been tested like it will be now. Few of the options will be popular, and decisions are being made and voted on, if you have a primary, only weeks before the election. Or, if you have a general, a few months from the election when people will have had a chance to get mad and get organized. You have to assume legislators run for these offices at least in part because they want to make a positive impact on the world in which they are living. The next six weeks will give them that chance.
