Topic: Budget & Tax

It’s time to revisit State Question 640 (Guest Post: Rep. Marcus McEntire)

By: Guest
September 5, 2017 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Marcus McEntire is a freshman Republican legislator representing HD 50 (Duncan). A small business owner, he attended and graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in communication studies, earned a Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological… Read more [More...]

Statement: Court ruling confirms that Oklahoma lawmakers have good options to fix budget in special session

By: Gene Perry
August 31, 2017 // Updated: May 1, 2019
Oklahoma Policy Institute released the following statement on today’s Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling upholding a law that partially ends the state sales tax exemption for auto sales: ​The court’s ruling confirms that lawmakers have numerous options to fill the budget… Read more [More...]

If lawmakers wait until regular session to fix the budget, it will already be too late

By: Gene Perry
August 29, 2017 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Now that the Oklahoma Supreme Court has thrown out a key part of the budget passed by lawmakers earlier this year, it’s clear the lawmakers must return to the Capitol for a special legislative session to fix the problem. Oklahoma… Read more [More...]

Lawmakers get a Mulligan to fix the budget (Capitol Update)

By: Steve Lewis
August 18, 2017 // Updated: May 1, 2019
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. Those who are golfers, which I’m not, are familiar with a Mulligan. But you don’t have to… Read more [More...]

With the doomsday clock ticking, how might the state’s budget emergency be solved?

By: David Blatt
August 14, 2017 // Updated: May 1, 2019
Last week’s Supreme Court’s ruling that struck down a $1.50 per-package smoking cessation fee passed by lawmakers in May has created a genuine state emergency. Without quick and decisive action, Oklahoma faces unimaginable cuts to health care and other protections… Read more [More...]

Statement: Lawmakers must go back to special session and finish job of funding core services

By: Gene Perry
August 10, 2017 // Updated: May 1, 2019
The SOS Coalition, which includes Oklahoma Policy Institute and 20 other organizations, released the following statement on today’s Oklahoma Supreme Court decision that threw out a cigarette fee and created a $214 million hole in the budgets of SoonerCare ($70… Read more [More...]

Back to work for lawmakers? It depends on the Supreme Court’s definition of a revenue bill

By: David Blatt
// Updated: May 2, 2019
NOTE: This post was written prior to the Supreme Court’s decision striking down the smoking cessation fee included in SB 845. Click here for the Court’s decision. Here is the statement from the Save Our State coalition, of which OK… Read more [More...]

Summer Rerun: Sales tax holiday is poor policy

By: David Blatt
August 3, 2017 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Note: This post originally ran in August 2016. This weekend, many Oklahomans will flock to the stores to take advantage of the state’s annual three-day sales tax holiday weekend. Since 2007, shoppers are allowed to buy clothing items under $100… Read more [More...]

Internal politics at work in ouster of Rep. Leslie Osborn (Capitol Update)

By: Steve Lewis
July 28, 2017 // Updated: May 1, 2019
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. Internal legislative politics is one of the most fascinating but obscure phenomena in our representative government. It… Read more [More...]

In dispute between Republican leaders over DHS funding, here are the facts

By: Gene Perry
July 19, 2017 // Updated: May 2, 2019
It’s been an eventful week for the Oklahoma Legislature, especially considering they are not even in session. The week began with House Speaker Charles McCall and Majority Leader Mike Sanders blasting the Oklahoma Department of Human Services for making cuts… Read more [More...]