Down To The Wire: House Leaves Budget To Final Hours Of Session
House leaves $6.8 billion general appropriations bill for last day of session
By RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writer
OKLAHOMA CITY — How Oklahoma’s 2016 legislative session ends pretty much depends on what the House of Representatives does Friday.
Sometime after it convenes at 9 a.m. Friday, and more likely sooner than later, the House will take up the $6.8 billion general appropriations bill passed by the Senate on Wednesday. The House must approve Senate Bill 1616 — the general appropriations bill for the next fiscal year — prior to the constitutionally mandated 5 p.m. Friday final adjournment or create the necessity for a special session. The new fiscal year starts on July 1.
The Senate passed SB 1616 by a count of 30-16, with nine Republicans joining the seven Democrats present in dissent. The House is usually more unpredictable than the Senate, and while the measure is expected to pass, wrangling the necessary votes might not be easy for Speaker Jeff Hickman, R-Fairview.
He apparently will not be able to count on any help from the 30-member Democratic minority, which is expected to stick together and use the occasion to badger Republicans about the extent of the majority party’s responsibility for three straight revenue failures and deep cuts to just about all areas of state government.