Topic: Budget Process

Statement: Oklahomans deserve to see the full budget process, not just the final result

Statement from OK Policy Executive Director Shiloh Kantz: A state budget deal announced on April 1 raises a few eyebrows, but the real concern to Oklahoma taxpayers isn’t the timing — it’s the process. Once again, legislative leaders are keeping… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma budget faces $571M shortfall: Low- and middle-income residents will be hit hardest

From OK Policy’s Fiscal Policy Analyst Aanahita Irani Ervin: At February’s Board of Equalization meeting, one urgent fact stood out: Oklahoma is shifting the cost of essential services onto low- and middle-income families. Year-over-year comparisons show the state is experiencing… Read more [More...]

Tax cuts now, crisis later: Oklahoma’s unsustainable budget

As usual, Oklahoma’s legislative session ended with a flurry of fiscal and budget bills in the last two weeks of the session. The legislature has one constitutional requirement every year: pass a balanced budget. In doing so, the legislature decides… Read more [More...]

Effective democracy requires more transparency in Oklahoma state government

Oklahoma’s government is one of the least transparent in the nation. In contrast to other states, the general public is largely left out of the budget process and deprived of basic expectations of government such as public debate. Unfortunately, that… Read more [More...]

Budget includes a few long-awaited investments, but misses crucial opportunities

This year, Oklahoma lawmakers appropriated $10.68 billion to the state budget for Fiscal Year 2023, which begins on July 1, 2022. The FY 23 state budget includes some long-awaited investments in areas like access to mental health care and reducing the 13-year wait for services for individuals with developmental disabilities. [More...]

OK Policy statement on legislature’s FY23 appropriations bills

The budget bills approved today by lawmakers — and now forwarded to the governor for consideration — reflect some good investments in Oklahoma, especially for youth and their families involved in the justice system and the hundreds of Oklahomans with intellectual and developmental disabilities who currently face a 13-year wait for services.  [More...]

Lawmakers voted down a corporate income tax cut this spring. Leadership should leave it out of the budget.

NOTE: Policy Fellow Josie Phillips contributed to this analysis Cutting the corporate income tax — which was proposed in the failed House Bill 4358 — overwhelmingly benefits wealthy and out-of-state corporations over everyday Oklahomans and locally owned businesses. The Senate… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma among least transparent states for state budget process, new OK Policy report shows

A new report from the Oklahoma Policy Institute shows that Oklahoma is among the nation’s least transparent states when engaging its residents during the development of the annual state budget.  OK Policy’s new “Focus on Transparency” report serves as a… Read more [More...]