Legislature past halfway mark

by Marcus McEntire

It has been a busy legislative session so far. We’re at the point where the House and Senate are each considering measures from the opposite chamber.

Of the 1,901 House Bills and 44 House Joint Resolutions filed this session, 344 of those passed by the committee deadline. Of the 1,116 Senate Bills and 18 Senate Joint Resolutions filed, 336 of those advanced in the House.

Once measures pass committee, they are eligible to be heard on the chamber floor. We have until April 27 to complete third reading on this legislation.

If bills pass unamended by the opposite chamber, they are sent to the governor. He’s signed about 30 measures into law so far this session.

If bills are amended in the opposite chamber, they must return to their chamber of origin to face a vote to accept or reject the changes. If amendments are rejected, measures have one final chance to advance, through the conference committee process. Members from house and Senate committees where the bills were first considered convene to consider final language. Many bills die in conference committee, but a few survive.

The House on April 17 voted to reject Senate amendments to two of our major education bills that would appropriate more funding to public schools and give parents more education options for their children. The House version of these bills would have sent $500 million in additional funding to our public schools, requiring $2,500 pay raises for all teachers. We also would allow $5,000 annual tax credits for parents wishing to send their children to private schools and $2,500 credits for homeschooled students. The Senate version would result in less funding for many of our rural schools and teacher pay raises for some but not others. They also wanted to cap income for parents qualifying for the tax credit.

The governor on Friday announced a compromise plan that would send $300 million to the Oklahoma Student Fund; $300 million into the school funding formula, including merit raises for teachers between $2,000 and $5,000; and $200 million for the parental tax credits, prioritizing households that earn under $250,000 annually. House members are evaluating the governor’s suggested plan. We’ll see what emerges from conference committee.

Also at this time, we are working to finalize our state budget. I’m told negotiations this year are some of the toughest yet. I believe that happens when there’s more money to spend as the arguments grow over where funding will have the best effect. We have about $12.6 billion to appropriate for the next fiscal year. As every year, education will get the lion’s share, followed by human services, transportation, public safety and health and mental health care and more. I’m sure there will be discussions of savings this year, and we also hope to accomplish some important tax relief. 

Please feel free to contact me at marcus.mcentire@okhouse.org or 405-557-7327.