Civic Leaders ‘Step Up’ with Reforms, Tax Plan
‘Step Up Oklahoma’: Business leaders launch revenue, reforms advocacy
By William W. Savage III, NonDoc Editor in Chief – January 11, 2018
Less than one month before the start of the 2018 legislative session, a handful of state business leaders has formed Step Up Oklahoma, an organization that will advocate for a “compromise” package of reform and revenue ideas.
“We’ve been fighting over tax reform, fighting over revenues. Frankly, I’m here to say the business community has been part of that problem,” BancFirst executive chairman David Rainbolt said seconds after taking the podium at the Oklahoma History Center this morning. “When we were at the Legislature, you could see, as we’ve discussed this issue over time, lobbyists would be walking the halls supporting each of our various businesses and interests, and the next one would come in and be on the exact opposite side of the issue.”
Rainbolt was joined in his remarks by Tucker Link, chairman of Knightsbridge Investments, Phil Albert, president of Pelco Structural, and Glenn Coffee, a former president pro tempore of the Oklahoma State Senate and current attorney.
“We no longer can be part of the problem,” Rainbolt said. “We’ve been in contact with the executive branch and leadership of both parties in both houses. We’ve got a revenue problem, and we’ve got a reform problem. Both. Not one or the other.”