The Incentive Evaluation Commission was created by legislation passed in 2015 “to produce objective evaluations of the State of Oklahoma’s wide array of economic incentives.” The Commission is made up of five members appointed by the Governor, House Speaker, and Senate President Pro Tem, along with representatives of the Department of Commerce, Office of Management and Enterprise Services, and Tax Commission.
Under the enabling legislation, every economic inventive must be evaluated once every four years. The Commission contracts with an external research firm to evaluate each incentive on that year’s calendar. PFM Group Consulting LLC has been selected as the research firm each year since 2016. The evaluations are conducted according to a formal set of criteria set out in the enabling legislation, including jobs created, economic output, fiscal impact, and return on investment. The consultant issues a final report on each incentive with recommendations as to whether the incentive should be retained, retained with modifications, or repealed. The Commission then votes on the recommendations and reports to the Legislature, which may adopt legislation in line with the recommendations.