State tax/revenue options being thrown around to help with budget shortfall (OKC Fox25)
January 3, 2017
By Jordann Lucero
OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — In just about one month, lawmakers will convene at the Oklahoma State Capitol to start a new legislative session.
With the state budget looking to be about $868 million short, state leaders have said we need to find new ways to bring in money including new taxes on things from cigarettes to sodas.
"I think it is important for everyone to realize we are not cutting our way out of this budget hole," Oklahoma Secretary of Finance Preston Doerflinger said.
Some lawmakers have said they will seriously look at increasing Oklahoma's motor fuel tax this session.
It has now been 30 years since the tax on fuel has increased. In 1987, tax on regular gas was set at 17 cents a gallon and diesel at 14 cents a gallon.
Another option being tosses around, a tax on sugary drinks like soda.
Oklahoma Democrats point to a Harvard study that calculated just in Oklahoma City, taxing soda at a penny per ounce would generate $26 million a year.
Governor Mary Fallin has suggested increasing taxes on cigarettes, which was voted down last year and taxing 150 services and things currently exempt from sales tax like, car washes.
Andy Moore started the group "Let's Fix This", a grassroots group that helps you get in touch with your lawmaker to ask for change and voice your opinions.
"I think lawmakers need to know what people want, the community. If we don't talk with them, then they can't really represent us. And so the biggest thing we can do is show up," Moore said.
He says you should review the tax options and say which you like or don't or share your ideas.
Civic engagement groups prepare for the next legislative session (Oklahoma Gazette)
December 28, 2016
By Laura Eastes
Last week, when Oklahoma’s chief budget negotiator divulged that the state was short $868 million in revenue for the coming year, it reinforced concerns that once again lawmakers would have another difficult budget to balance and citizens would bear the brunt with cuts to state services.
As this is the third straight budget shortfall, Oklahoma is no stranger to the aftermath of a cash-strapped coffer. In 2016, two revenue failures led to across-the-board budget cuts of 7 percent, shrinking state agency budgets and impacting a gamut of governmental services.
Unless lawmakers come up with new revenues, state agencies will likely see another round of cuts. The State Board of Equalization, chaired by the governor, certified $6 billion for available spending, which will be determined by lawmakers during the legislative session.
State leaders, including Finance Secretary Preston Doerflinger, promise to float revenue-raising proposals when session begins Feb. 6. However, last session, Gov. Mary Fallin called for expansion of the sales tax base and an increase of the cigarette tax to no avail.
Given the state numbers, along with the detrimental impact of this year’s state budget cuts on education, human services, health and public safety, 2017 will undoubtedly bring new challenges and opportunities for action.
Oklahomans engaged in Together Oklahoma and Let’s Fix This stand ready to advocate.
Together Oklahoma
Oklahomans are known throughout the United States for their compassion and commitment to the Oklahoma Standard, which encompasses the spirit of resilience in the face of adversity. Time and time again, Oklahomans are quick to respond to calls for aiding tornado victims or pledge funds for worthy causes assisting people in need.
When it comes to the crisis at the state Capitol, there is no clear course of action, which can discourage citizens from getting involved, explained Kara Joy McKee, outreach and advocacy coordinator at Oklahoma Policy Institute.
With a desire to connect the state’s values to the state’s budget priorities, Oklahoma Policy Institute developed Together Oklahoma. In communities like Oklahoma City and Norman, ordinary Oklahomans are becoming involved, learning about state policies, engaging with state government and advocating their interests.
Oklahomans from a multitude of different backgrounds and spanning generations are joining Together Oklahoma chapter meetings and hearing how state polices and budget decisions have impacted each other’s lives. At each meeting, group members strategize about how to bring change and reverse the trends of bleak budgets.
“No matter what you do or who you are, it’s obvious that our state has been weakened by this budget shortfall,” said McKee, who oversees Together Oklahoma. “We have to come together to share our resources [and] ideas and invest in what we care about, like teachers and schools, roads and bridges, health and mental health care and safe communities.”
In the days and weeks that followed Election Day, phone calls and emails flooded the Together Oklahoma office. Attendance counts from recent meetings in Oklahoma City, Norman and Tulsa are doubled when compared to a year ago. Interest continues to grow in Together Oklahoma as communities like Shawnee, Edmond and Stillwater push to establish their own chapters.
“I absolutely believe we can do better,” McKee said. “I believe Oklahomans care. I believe we are stronger together. I believe we can be a great state, not just OK.”
Let’s Fix This
At each Let’s Fix This event, founder and executive director Andy Moore stands up to introduce himself as a “regular guy” to the crowd.
To understand the mission of Let’s Fix This — and why the grassroots effort turned nonprofit has become hugely successful in the metro — you have to know the organization’s backstory. A regular guy frustrated with the state’s financial mess planned a visit to the state Capitol to talk with lawmakers about the budget hole and funding issues. Moore invited his friends and family, created a Facebook event and watched as people just like him went to the Capitol. With little experience — but with advice from some lawmakers — the bipartisan group took seats in the House and Senate galleries and went door to door through the Capitol offices.
“People really do want to be involved, and they want to have a voice,” Moore said. “They just don’t know how to do it. We realized there was a gap, and we created opportunities.”
Face-to-face meetings with lawmakers are the cornerstones of the Let’s Fix This movement. The opportunities to engage with lawmakers are expanding as Let’s Fix This leaders plan unconventional outings to shake hands and speak to elected officials.
Already, Let’s Fix This plans to gather at the Capitol at least once during the months of February, March, April and May. The outings are open to anyone with an interest in citizen advocacy or learning more about the ins and outs of state government. In the evenings on the days of the Capitol visits, Let’s Fix This participants will flock to restaurants and eateries for more causal encounters with lawmakers.
All Let’s Fix This events are grounded in the organization’s initial goal of proving citizen engagement matters and can make a difference.
“We really want to show people their voice matters,” Moore said.
http://okgazette.com/2016/12/28/civic-engagement-groups-prepare-for-the-next-legislative-session/
Oklahoma legislators take oath of office (NewsOK)
Members of the Oklahoma Senate and House of Representatives took their oath of office on Wednesday, promising to uphold the Constitution and not take any illegal compensation.
November 17, 2016
By Rick Green
Members of the Oklahoma Senate and House of Representatives took their oath of office on Wednesday, promising to uphold the Constitution and not take any illegal compensation.
Then they spent hours publicly introducing spouses, children, parents and others. Many prefaced their remarks by thanking God for the honor of being allowed to serve in the Legislature.
In some cases, the young children of lawmakers were allowed to say a few words or tell a joke like this one from Maguire Biggs, 6, daughter of Rep. Scott Biggs, R-Chickasha:
"What did the cookie say to the doctor?
"I feel crummy."
Some legislators were still familiarizing themselves with the public address system.
"Is this thing on? Is this on?" Rep.-elect Tess Teague asked after being introduced.
Teague, R-Choctaw, is one of 32 new members in the 101-person House. There are 13 new lawmakers in the 48-person Senate. The Republican Party dominates both chambers.
House Speaker-elect Charles A. McCall, R-Atoka, issued a statement noting the House "is the legislative body closest to the people."
"Now the hard work of governing begins," he said. "I am looking forward to working with members from both sides of the aisle to find common ground on the challenges facing our state so that our next 109 years will see Oklahoma as a competitive, prosperous place to live, work and raise a family."
Teacher pay raise
Senate President Pro Tem-nominee Mike Schulz, R-Altus, said there will be an attempt to raise public school teacher pay in the coming legislative session.
Oklahoma voters defeated State Question 779, which would have raised the state sales tax by one penny per dollar to fund increased education spending, including $5,000 teacher raises.
"First and foremost on a lot of people's minds is teacher pay," Schulz said. "The defeat of 779 — I do not believe — was pointed at teachers. I think it was more about Oklahomans feeling that was not quite the right way to do a pay raise.
"I do anticipate a lot of discussion continuing in our chamber, continuing in the House and in the governor's office on how we address this issue. I feel fairly positive we will discuss it and address it this session."
Rep.-elect Forrest Bennett, D-Oklahoma City, also views education as a priority.
"Me and everyone else and their dog are going to be working on education, hopefully, and trying to find the right kind of solution for the teacher shortage and the funding crisis."
Strong turnout
In addition to lawmakers, lobbyists, family and friends, members of a nonpartisan group calling itself Let's Fix This were also present.
"This is turnout like we've never seen on a swearing-in ceremony and I think that really speaks to the fact that the public really wants to be involved from the very beginning," said Andy Moore, executive director of the organization.
"Usually the public waits until late in session when the bad news has already started coming out and I think we would like to avoid some of the bad news and get in and interact with some of our lawmakers and say this is what is important and we want to be a part of the solution."
Gov. Mary Fallin observed that swearing-in day and Statehood Day coincided this year:
"On this 109th anniversary of Oklahoma's statehood, let us commit ourselves to focus on moving our state forward, keeping in mind our shared pioneer culture and a history that stretches back even further than statehood, beginning with the Native Americans who originally settled the Oklahoma Territory."
Group seeks to put the ‘us’ in Let’s Fix This on oath day (Non Doc)
In these highly divisive times, it’s easy to forget that some issues are universal. In Oklahoma, that would be the state’s mired-in-revenue-shortfall budget, which in turn short changes all aspects of society, from social services to infrastructure to health care.
November 16, 2016
By Josh McBee
In these highly divisive times, it’s easy to forget that some issues are universal. In Oklahoma, that would be the state’s mired-in-revenue-shortfall budget, which in turn short changes all aspects of society, from social services to infrastructure to health care.
The dire nature of last spring’s state revenue shortfall is largely what led licensed therapist Andy Moore and his friends to organize the advocacy group, Let’s Fix This. At that time, Moore began organizing friends and building a network of people to go one step beyond phoning and writing legislators and instead be physically present in the chambers. Eventually, hundreds of people began showing up.
“I realized that people were interested and started to understand that they really do have a voice in how our government runs,” Moore said today during his group’s event, Hall & Oaths.
Billed more as a casual convention of constituents rather than a rally, Hall & Oaths was designed to get citizens face-to-face with lawmakers on the day they are sworn in so as to make members’ concerns personally known from the get-go.
The timing of Wednesday’s event fit.
Tuesday, OMES announced that general revenue fund collections for October were down 10.8 percent below estimates, and sales tax collections have remained below the estimate for 20 of the last 21 months.
Moore, an OKC Democrat who serves as executive director of Let’s Fix This, said his group’s name was borne from the universal nature of civic involvement and Let’s Fix This’s lack of a specific agenda.
“We’ve tried to be very inclusive with everybody, because the issues that are most important to us — to our state — should be nonpartisan,” he said.
A mixed bag of local professionals makes up the group’s 11-member board, and its website offers resources for civic action as well as a blog of current events.
Inclusion in action
Wearing a hijab, Aliye Shimi came all the way from Tulsa for swearing-in day. Although she wore a green pin to show solidarity with other Muslims, she had added one of the red Let’s Fix This pins after encountering the group at the Capitol.
As a Muslim and as associate director with the Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry, Shimi wanted to make her presence known in light of recent comments from a certain Oklahoma Representative.
“Of course we have the concern of certain individuals who have been re-elected who want to single out us particularly because of our faith and because of our nationalities and who want to marginalize us,” Shimi said, referring to Rep. John Bennett (R-Sallisaw), who in October branded local Muslim leaders as terrorists. “So we are happy that the overwhelming majority of representatives today are more aligned with what the United States stands for and what our Constitution stands for than his bigoted ideas.
“I’m trying to put it as delicately as possible,” she said with a laugh.
Increasing accountability
Oklahoma City resident JoBeth Hamon, also a Democrat, referenced local artist Jack Fowler‘s most recent cartoon for the Oklahoma Gazette as an apt summation of why she got involved with Let’s Fix This. In it, a voter considers all of the negative things happening in Oklahoma before deciding just to vote in the same people again.
She said she likes that Lets’ Fix This can increase accountability on the part of lawmakers.
“Hopefully we can encourage people who care about mental health issues and education to go talk to their representatives,” she said. “Those are kind of my two big things.”
Hamon serves as education coordinator at Mental Health Association Oklahoma.
For people unable to make in-person visits with their lawmakers, Moore said phone calls are the easiest way to increase accountability.
“People don’t understand that just five or six phone calls is enough to kill a bill sometimes,” Moore said. “Writing letters and emails is great, too.”
Missed Hall & Oaths? Join the Capitol Crawl
Those whose work obligations or other daily needs prevented them from attending the Let’s Fix This event during today’s swearing-in ceremony can still meet the members and get involved during the Capitol Crawl from 6 to 10 p.m. tonight in OKC’s Uptown district. The event is also sponsored by Let’s Fix This.
Several senators, representatives and Let’s Fix This board members are scheduled to be on hand at Guyute’s, The Pump and Rockford to socialize with constituents and talk about the matters most important to them.
https://nondoc.com/2016/11/16/group-seeks-put-us-lets-fix-this
Legislature swears in new members under watchful eye of public (Red Dirt Report)
OKLAHOMA CITY – On Wednesday, the Oklahoma Legislature welcomed 32 new representatives and 13 new senators in the traditional swearing in ceremony, and an organized group of citizens were on hand to witness the event and share their priorities with lawmakers new and established.
November 16, 2016
By Heide Brandes
OKLAHOMA CITY – On Wednesday, the Oklahoma Legislature welcomed 32 new representatives and 13 new senators in the traditional swearing in ceremony, and an organized group of citizens were on hand to witness the event and share their priorities with lawmakers new and established.
Let’s Fix This OK, organized by Andy Moore of Oklahoma City, describes it as “Regular folks who believe in a better Oklahoma. We're a nonpartisan nonprofit that helps people become actively involved with their government.” The group, which organized citizen efforts at the Oklahoma Capitol earlier this year, said they were present for the swearing in so lawmakers would know that citizens were passionate about state government.
“We are here to help regular people interact and meet their senators and representatives,” Moore said. “We are here to see the swearing in and let them know that from day one, we are invested and that the public is interested in working with them. I think there is a perception that the public doesn’t care, and that’s not true. It goes both ways. There is a perception that lawmakers don’t care, and that’s not true either.”
While fixing Oklahoma’s budget woes were at the top of most attendee’s list, Moore said having the public and the legislature interact with each other is a step in opening transparency and starting dialogue.
Kandyce Mitchell, a board member for Let’s Fix This, said she attended in an effort to educate the public on how to engage with their lawmakers.
“We want them to know how to engage and invite them to engage with their legislators to let their concerns be heard,” she said. “I’m really encouraged for the coming session. I think the legislature will have to dig deep to find ways to fund teachers’ raises. I hope they will look closely at tax incentives for oil companies, and I hope they keep the Oklahoma film rebate.”
A decline in the Oklahoma economy and the practice of “one-time” funding solutions has put a burden on Oklahoma’s budget. The new legislature is predicted to face an additional $600 to $700 million budget hole for the upcoming session.
Education took a big hit in funding following the budget shortfall this year. The state's $1.3 billion budget deficit led to $74.4 million in cuts to public education. Oklahoma City Public Schools alone laid off 208 teachers, 100 central office administrators and 100 operations workers in addition to cutting funding for supplies, textbook orders and maintenance.
A one-time state funding solution allowed the district to hire most teachers. On election day, voters declined to pass a 1 percent increase in sales tax to pay for a $5,000 pay increase for teachers, leaving incoming legislators with the task of finding a way to fund education and grant teacher pay raises.
Carol Bush, Representative for District 70, is one of the new lawmakers who will tackle that issue in 2017.
“My number one concern is the budget issue,” she said. “We need to develop a long-range strategic financial plan where our expenses match our goals. I don’t believe there is enough transparency and accountability, and those were the reasons I decided to run.”
Although Tuesday was the first time Bush had heard of Let’s Fix This OK, she said she agreed with the mission of the organization.
“I ran on the ticket of a government set up for the people, by the people,” she said. “We should represent our constituents. One of my goals is to have a twice-a-month newsletter to my constituents and also hold town meetings so the public can know what is going on. We should be the people’s voice.”
After the Nov. 7 election, Oklahoma is currently a Republican trifecta, which means Republicans hold the majority in the Senate and House, as well as the governorship. Republicans control the state Senate with 42 seats to Democrats' six seats and control the state House with 75 seats to Democrats' 26 seats.
On Tuesday, the House Republican caucus elected and reaffirmed Rep. Charles McCall of Atoka as House speaker-elect. He ran unopposed in the election this year.
Rep. Harold Wright of Weatherford was chosen as speaker pro tem-elect. The caucus chairman will remain with Rep. David Brumbaugh of Broken Arrow.
In April, Sen. Mike Schulz of Altus was voted to become the next president pro tem of the Oklahoma Senate, which was held by term-limited Sen. Brian Bingman of Sapulpa.