Oklahoman: Targeted Budget Cuts at Issue Amid State’s Revenue Shortfall
Targeted budget cuts at issue amid Oklahoma’s revenue shortfall
By Rick Green
Efforts to shore up the state’s declining revenues have been moving in fits and starts.
Gov. Mary Fallin laid out a general plan in her State of the State speech when the current legislative session began Feb. 1, but it’s not clear how well her fellow Republicans in the Legislature will be able to execute it.
State lawmakers essentially are trying to solve two problems at once.
They have $1.3 billion less to appropriate for the budget year that begins in July than they had for the budget now in effect.
Fallin has suggested various approaches to make up the shortfall, including removing some sales tax exemptions and tapping some revenue outside the normal appropriations stream.