The Weekly Wonk: Lawmakers should solve problems, not hide them | Early budget picture signals Oklahoma returning to scarce funding | More

What’s up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk shares our most recent publications and other resources to help you stay informed about Oklahoma. Numbers of the Day and Policy Notes are from our daily news briefing, In The Know. Click here to subscribe to In The Know.

This Week from OK Policy

Policy Matters: Lawmakers should solve problems, not hide them: Recent headlines have reminded me of an unsettling reality: too often, our lawmakers and decision makers aren’t solving our communities’ problems. They’re merely trying to make them less visible. All Oklahomans deserve to have their humanity heard and recognized. [Shiloh Kantz / The Journal Record]

Early budget picture signals Oklahoma returning to scarce funding (Capitol Update): This is no doubt going to be a tight fiscal year, unlike the past few years when the state’s economy produced remarkable amounts of state revenue. With at least a $191 million hole in the budget to start, it looks like Oklahoma will revert to form with scarce funding. The money stashed away in various accounts during the past few years may be a cushion, probably avoiding cuts to important state services. [Steve Lewis / Capitol Update]

Weekly What’s That

Revenue Failure/Revenue Shortfall

A revenue failure (or revenue shortfall) occurs when collections going to the General Revenue Fund over the course of a fiscal year fall below 95 percent of the certified estimate (see Revenue Estimates).  The Oklahoma Constitution specifies that in the event of a revenue failure, each appropriated agency must be cut in equal proportion to their share of total appropriations from the General Revenue Fund. State statutes (62 O.S. § 34.49) directs the Director of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services to declare a revenue failure and reduce funds going to agencies by an amount estimated to bring spending into balance with revenue collections. There is nothing in statute or the Constitution that determines the timing of a revenue failure declaration or that specifies the size of cuts. 

There have been nine revenue failures since 2000, in budget years 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2016 (two), 2017, 2018 and 2020. The budget year 2009 cuts were later restored.

When a revenue failure is declared, the Legislature can use up to 3/8ths of the Rainy Day Fund to prevent or mitigate budget cuts. The Rainy Day Fund was tapped to address mid-year shortfalls in budget years 2003, 2010 and 2020. The Legislature has full discretion to decide which agencies will receive additional funds and in what amounts.

Look up more key terms to understand Oklahoma politics and government here.

Quote of the Week

“I know that the folks that want to eliminate all social services in Norman haven’t been able to win local elections, (or) enough of them to make that happen. It seems like, to me, they’re now going to attempt to use the power of the state to overrule the city and our voters.”

– Norman City Councilman Stephen Tyler Holman said regarding SB 484, which would prevent Norman and every other municipality in Oklahoma except Oklahoma City and Tulsa from using city funds to help the growing homeless population. [The Oklahoman]

Op-Ed of the Week

Opinion: Oklahoma’s new ‘Women’s Bill of Rights’ law hasn’t solved any problems, but it’s created them

Supporters of House Bill 1449 tout it as a necessary clarification of legal definitions for “male” and “female,” tying them firmly to biological sex assigned at birth. But behind this rhetoric of rights lies something far more insidious: a calculated erasure of transgender and nonbinary Oklahomans, with consequences that will reverberate far beyond the walls of the Capitol. [Kati Malicoate / Oklahoma Voice]

Numbers of the Day

What We’re Reading

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Oklahoma Policy Insititute (OK Policy) advances equitable and fiscally responsible policies that expand opportunity for all Oklahomans through non-partisan research, analysis, and advocacy.