
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...]

In nominal dollars, this year's Oklahoma budget is the largest in state history. However, in real dollar value, it has lost a lot of its buying power when adjusted for inflation and population growth.
[More...]

The FY 2023 budget makes some good and long-awaited investments in Oklahomans. It also misses several critical opportunities to make generational change, such as investing in common education and funding State Question 781.
[More...]

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...]

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...]
By:
Emma Morris
April 20, 2022 // Updated: May 27, 2022

Cuts to the individual income tax rate are unfair to low- and middle-class families since they return the largest benefit to the wealthiest Oklahomans. Tax cuts now can devastate state revenue and funding for services like public education in future years.
[More...]
By:
Emma Morris
April 11, 2022 // Updated: April 11, 2022

Oklahoma is in a unique position this year to make a downpayment on the future of our state. Premature tax cuts will set the state up to fail; investments will allow us to thrive.
[More...]
By:
Emma Morris
March 17, 2022 // Updated: June 14, 2022

This legislative session, the Oklahoma legislature is set to consider several proposals that would significantly cut state revenue. Rather than cutting taxes, legislators must consider the state’s long-term fiscal health and its structural deficit by maintaining revenue streams this year and for years to come.
[More...]
By:
Emma Morris
May 27, 2021 // Updated: August 11, 2021

The FY 2022 budget reverses service cuts but remains at among lowest level in decades. The budget reflects a dramatic, if short-term, turnaround from last year.
[More...]

The $8.3 billion budget represents a modest increase from last year’s pandemic low. However, rather than trying to change Oklahoma’s overall trajectory through smart spending choices, lawmakers enacted tax cuts that will largely benefit out-of-state corporations, high-income households, and special interests.
[More...]