On Friday, May 23, the 2014 legislative session was drawing to a close. With the most critical bills voted on, it meant we could adjourn a full week before the Constitutional deadline of the last Friday in May.
The budget for the new fiscal year, FY 2015, had been approved by both chambers and sent to the governor for her signature. I think people on both sides of the aisle would agree it was a mixed bag. Many agencies that had already absorbed significant cuts during the recession received additional cuts. Core services, including higher education, CareerTech, Mental Health were held harmless. And although it was not nearly enough, additional resources were made available for public schools. Another plus was that more than 12,000 state employees will receive much needed raises, including more than 7,000 of the lowest paid workers.
The final budget agreement that was reached just one week earlier included legislation to authorize a $120 million bond package to finally address the deteriorating Capitol building. This isn’t a matter of simply repairing some drywall and replacing fixtures. The problems inside the building are significant enough to cause people to question the safety of those who work there and who visit each day. The plumbing and electrical systems have not been maintained and updated as they should have been in the nearly 100 year-old building—the electrical wiring is a fire hazard, and the plumbing is on the verge of completely failing. Pieces of the building are falling away in the interior and on the exterior. I’m grateful these and other issues will finally be addressed.
Another positive is that both chambers were able to override the governor’s veto of modifications to the Reading Sufficiency Act. As I have stated before, I fully support the goal of making sure more Oklahoma students are given the additional help they need to learn to read well. But I don’t believe schools were ever given adequate resources to accomplish this, and I had serious concerns about the fact that for most children, their ability to progress to the fourth-grade rested on a single high-stakes test. The changes we upheld ensure greater local control and input from teachers and parents while continuing to set high standards for reading skills.
One of the two biggest negatives of the session would be the passage of a bill that will make the retirement of future state employees extremely uncertain. The switch to a 401(k)-style of defined contribution means their retirement savings could easily be wiped out by another dramatic downturn on Wall Street.
I also felt that given the decrease in revenue that limited our ability to provide adequate resources in so many areas of state services, this was the wrong time to approve yet another tax cut. It was similar to the one approved last year, but that bill was thrown out after the Supreme Court said it violated the state’s single subject provision in the Constitution. Just this past week, we learned this year’s tax cut bill was also being challenged for violating the Constitution, which mandates revenue measures must begin in the House—this bill began in the Senate. There is certainly a chance this bill could be thrown out as well.
As always, I welcome your comments on state government. Please feel free to contact me by writing to Senator Charles Wyrick at the State Capitol, Room 535-A, Oklahoma City, OK, 73105; call me at (405) 521-5561.
The post Senate Minutes by Senator Charles Wyrick appeared first on Grand Lake Business Journal.com.