Oklahoma lawmakers reconvened Monday for the start of the 2015 legislative session, an event marked by Gov. Mary Fallin’s State of the State Address and the release of her state budget. As StateImpact’s Joe Wertz reports, Fallin proposes cuts for most agencies, but earmarked funding increases in three areas.
Fallin urged lawmakers to spend more than $80 million to boost funding for K-12 education, several health agencies and the Department of Corrections. Funding for 10 other agencies would be flat; the rest would face 6.25 percent cuts to their annual appropriations. The state is facing a three-hundred million dollar budget hole that could grow as low oil prices affect revenues. Fallin predicts a tough budget year.
“But it’s not because of a stagnant economy or declining tax receipts. Rather, it’s because our General Revenue Fund — the primary source of discretionary spending set by the Legislature every year — it is growing smaller.”
Fallin is asking lawmakers to rein in billions of dollars diverted from the general budgeting process, often through tax credits and incentives, or unused revolving funds, which she says many agencies have stockpiled.