Issues in the wake of Oklahoma's newest budget

Capitol Considerations 

by Senator Micheal Bergstrom

When the Oklahoma legislature locked down the budget on Friday, May 26, it may have filled a budget hole for the fiscal year beginning in July, but it left a few problems in its wake.

As things stand right now . . .

* Legislators are facing a built-in budget deficit next session of $200 million to $400 million.

* Oklahoma's prison system is at 109 percent capacity.

* We approved fees or taxes that may not be constitutional.

Since we failed to make significant budget cuts and did not put in place sufficient new, recurring revenue streams, next year we will be facing another budget shortfall, although, hopefully, not as difficult to deal with as this year's.

We did make progress in the area of criminal justice reform, but we have a long way to go. Prison overcrowding, if it continues, is going to be opening the door for a Justice Department investigation, and lawsuits. The Department of Corrections is calling for three more prisons while the public seems to want a reduction in the number of nonviolent criminals going to prison. We must deal with this.

Then we have our taxes and fees.

Needless to say, when voters passed State Question 640 years ago, they wanted to limit the legislature's ability to raise taxes. It's worked. With a 75 percent super-majority vote required to pass a tax increase in both chambers, doing so is almost impossible.

The problem is, that after years of significant cuts and a series of revenue failures, there were some agencies we couldn't cut. I'll admit that after just months on the job, I was not expert enough to know where to seek cuts in critical agencies like Common Education, Department of Corrections, Department of Public Safety and the Department of Human Services.

So we either have to pass fees or remove exemptions from existing taxes, since that only requires a 50 percent plus one vote.

One of the increases we ended up with is SB 845. This is a new $1.50 cessation fee on each pack of cigarettes. We want smokers to quit and young people to not start, so we are raising the cost of smoking. It doesn't hurt that it will help fill about $215 million of our budget hole.

I voted for the bill, and am sorry I did.

Originally this was going to be a tax, but it couldn't get passed in the House of Representatives, and suddenly it appeared as a fee. Now I don't have a problem with it as either a tax or a fee since it's going toward health care and will help pay for the treatment of Oklahoma citizens with smoking related diseases.

The problem is whether or not it is constitutional. If the courts see the fee as a tax then the bill will be tossed out, that funding will be gone, and our shortfall will be even greater.

Obviously, we could have and should have done better.

I welcome your questions and concerns, so please feel free to contact my office at the State Capitol if you would like to discuss a particular issue or problem. Our office can be reached by phone at 405-521-5561 or by email at bergstrom@oksenate.gov. If you visit the Capitol, we are located in Room 527A.

-30-