![]() ![]() In early March, the Oklahoma Education Association, which represents nearly 40,000 teachers and school employees, called on the Legislature to support a proposal to increase funding for public education and state services. Proposals to avert/end a teacher and state employee walk-out The Senate adjourned special Session on April 17th and the House followed suit April 19th. A group opposed to tax increases, Oklahoma Taxpayers United!, has announced plans for a veto referendum to challenge HB 1010xx. The Senate subsequently voted to approve bills that expanded collections from online sales and from tribal gaming, while repealing a new lodging tax that was part of HB 1010xx. The Legislature also passed pay raise bills and the FY 2019 education appropriation bill. Most of these increases will be funded with new revenue approved in HB 1010xx, which passed the both chambers with enough votes to clear the three-quarters supermajority requirement for revenue bills. On March 26th, the House passed a set of bills that give teachers and other school employees and state workers a pay raise, as well as increasing operating support for schools. Following the failure of the main Step Up revenue bill, HB 1033xx, legislative leaders turned to closing out the FY 2018 budget by introducing a new General Appropriations bill, HB 1020xx, that filled most of the remaining shortfall for the three health agencies by spreading $46 million in cuts across all appropriated agencies. Special session reconvened on February 5th, concurrently with regular session, to address a series of bills that emerged from the Step Up Oklahoma plan. In December, lawmakers convened in the second special session and passed supplemental funding measures for the Oklahoma Health Care Authority and Department of Human Services. The Governor announced she would call a new special session “in the near future.” The non-vetoed section provided enough revenue to avert imminent cuts to the three health agencies. Fallin used her line-item veto authority to veto all but five sections of the General Appropriations bill, stating that the bill “does not provide a long-term solution to the recurring budget deficits”. After efforts to pass a “grand bargain” revenue plan fell short, Gov. The first eight-week special session convened on Monday September 25th and adjourned on Friday November 17th. (Last Updated: April 20, 2018, 9:00 am) Quick Summary This page will continue to be updated to reflect the most recent developments. The second special session adjourned on April 19th. In late March and early April, the House and Senate passed a series of revenue and funding measures aimed at providing raises for teachers and other workers, as well as boosting operating support for schools. The second special session began in December 2017 and then ran concurrently with the 2018 regular session from February through mid-April. The Governor also insisted that special session provide long-term budget solutions. The first was aimed at filling a $215 million hole to the budgets of three health agencies – the Department of Mental Health and Substance Services, Department of Human Services, and Oklahoma Health Care Authority – that was triggered by the Supreme Court decision striking down the smoking cessation fee passed in May. Governor Mary Fallin called two special sessions of the Legislature in 2017-18. ![]()
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