Oklahoma lawmakers have passed a $6.8 billion budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1st.
By a vote of 57-42 just hours before the end of the legislative session today, the Oklahoma House passed Senate Bill 860, which cuts most state agency budgets by about five percent.
Supporters say the plan protects core services and closes a projected $878 million budget hole.
Mustang Republican Rep. Leslie Osborn:
“One billion–with a B–dollar hole, we fixed it. There’s no perfect anything, but it’s as good as it’s gonna get and it kept our core services harmless.”
But opponents say it includes hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue, passed in violation of Oklahoma's constitution, which bars the passage of revenue-raising measures in the final week of the session.
Tulsa Democratic Rep. Eric Proctor:
“This budget is being held together with Scotch tape and baling wire and we are seriously close to a constitutional crisis and a budgetary crisis by passing this bill.”
The budget now heads to Gov. Mary Fallin for her signature.
