(The Center Square) - The Oklahoma House of Representatives approved a $12.9 billion budget with millions more for education and health care.
The budget does not include a grocery tax cut or income tax rollback proposed by Gov. Kevin Stitt.
One of the big winners in the budget is education, which increased by 21.5% from last year. The budget bill includes $700 million for school choice tax credits. Democrats rejected the credits they called a "voucher scheme."
"Instead of $700 million to subsidize private schools, we could put that money into the funding formula to provide more money going directly to the classroom to support students and to provide pay raises for support employees like our bus drivers, teacher's aides and food service workers," said House Democratic Leader Cyndi Munson, D-Oklahoma City.
Public health care spending will increase by 22.4%. Nearly half of that will go to the state's skilled nursing facilities and intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities. The money will make up for funding lost when the COVID-19 public health emergency ended.
"The Legislature has averted an outright catastrophe by replacing federal dollars that have been revoked due to the end of the COVID-19 emergency declaration," said Steven Buck, president and CEO of Care Providers Oklahoma. "That action will likely be enough to avoid widespread closures within the industry and provide some sense of stability for most residents and staff."
Emergency management and homeland security will receive a $25 million boost from the Statewide Recovery Fund to the Emergency Relief and Impacts Grant Revolving Fund The recommendation came from the Joint Committee on Pandemic Relief Funding and will be used for the Emergency Relief and Impacts Grant Program.
The budget now goes to the Senate. Democrats said the budget does not accomplish the state's goals for better education, affordable health care and safe neighborhoods.
"This budget proposal is just another example of the supermajority's failure to govern despite having every resource available. The chaos of this session has left real Oklahomans behind, whether we are talking about access to mental health services or passing meaningful policies that could improve their lives," said Sen. Julia Kirt, D-Oklahoma City.
The budget debate is occurring in a special session running concurrent to the 2023 session, which ends Friday.
via Oklahoma's Center Square News