With an agreement reached between the governor and legislative leaders on the FY 2010-11 budget, the next step will be to hammer out a budget for the new fiscal year that begins on July 1.
No one expects that to be easy, since the Legislature has about $1.2 billion less to spend than last year.
“We are looking at the 2011-12 budget,” state Sen. Johnnie Crutchfield said Friday at the Ardmore Chamber of CommerceLegislative Luncheon. “If we can’t find the revenue, we’ll have cuts of 10 percent across the board on top of what happened this year.”
Crutchfield said the Legislature has the option of ending various tax breaks to raise additional revenue. He doesn’t believe Oklahoma citizens would be receptive to a tax increase to solve the state’s budget shortfall.
“We are not going to tax ourselves until things are crumbling around our heads,” he said.
State Rep. Sam Buck said the new budget will include money from the Rainy Day Fund and the federal stimulus plan, but he didn’t contest Crutchfield’s estimate of 10 percent across-the-board cuts. Buck said the real crunch may come over the next few years, especially if the economy is slow to rebound.
“There are going to be some hard decisions made,” State Rep. Pat Ownbey said.
Some state programs will likely be cut more than others. Health care funding will likely be maintained because state funds are used as federal match, and legislators are expected to fund public education at the highest level possible. Buck also said it is unlikely the state’s veterans centers would experience major cuts since veterans programs have such wide support.
Thursday was the last day legislators could consider bills from the chamber of origin. Next week, the Senate will consider House bills, and the House will look at Senate measures. Bills advance in much the same way they did in their chamber of origin. If a bill passes the opposite chamber unchanged, it is sent to the governor for his signature. If a bill is amended in any way, it is returned to its chamber of origin for additional consideration.
Ownbey said his bill to reform eminent domain passed the House, but he expects it will have a tough fight in the Senate, where Crutchfield is a coauthor. The bill would force state agencies to declare property acquired by eminent domain surplus if it is unused after 10 years. At that time, the original property owner would have an opportunity to buy the property back.
“We have a lot of people who are going to lobby against this bill,” he said. “I think it is important to do what we can for landowners.”
Ownbey and Buck coauthored and helped pass at bill that would make volunteer firefighters eligible for two new levels of tax credits for the training they receive. Current Oklahoma law allows volunteer firefighters to earn one of two tax credits for the training they receive. House Bill 3123 would create a system of four levels of tax credits.
