State General Revenue Fund (GRF) collections in March totaled $489.3 million, which is $16.4 million, or 3.5%, above the monthly estimate. This was only $5.3 million, or 1.1%, below collections in March of 2020. Total GRF collections through the first nine months of fiscal year 2021 are $4.8 billion, which is $27.5 million, or 0.6%, above the estimate, and $94.1 million, or 2%, above prior year collections for the same period. March tax and fee revenue collections exceeded estimates by 3.5% and were bolstered primarily by income taxes and natural gas tax collections. Year-to-date collections continue to track just above estimates at 0.6%. Sales tax and oil tax collections remain weak categories with sales tax falling below estimates for the last five months and oil collections missing estimates for all months in the fiscal year. “Oklahoma continues to exceed year-to-date collection estimates. As life starts to return to normal, post-pandemic, we hope to see this economic momentum continue forward,” said OMES Executive Director Steven Harpe. “These financial indicators show us Oklahoma’s recovery plan is on track and making great strides.”

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On February 16, the Board of Equalization, chaired by Gov. Kevin Stitt, voted to approve $9,640,475,940 in revenue to be appropriated by the Legislature for Fiscal Year 2022, an increase of $1,807,310,758 over appropriated expenditures for FY 2021. “Other states are waking up to the reality of huge budget deficits, but Oklahoma’s economy is strong thanks to the balanced approach we took to address the pandemic and the Legislature’s wise decision not to spend all of the authorized amount last year,” said Gov. Stitt. “Keeping businesses open and getting COVID vaccines out quickly and efficiently has proven critical to keeping our head above water. Moving forward, my top budget priorities for FY 2022 are to deliver taxpayers more for their money and to invest in our fellow Oklahomans to fully unlock our full economic potential.”

The estimate includes $1.7 billion in one-time cash or non-recurring revenue. Gov. Stitt believes the State of Oklahoma should use the non-recurring revenue to significantly replenish its savings account to be prepared for any future downturns and strategically invest in infrastructure projects to help grow the economy. They also voted at the meeting to approve a Constitutional limit on appropriations for FY 2022 of $7,908,933,430 which restricts expenditures from certified funds and cash.

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Ron McWhirter

Democrats Charge Racism to Distract from Their Agenda

Thursday 6th of May 2021
Oklahoma Democrat leaders have called for Diversity and Inclusion training for members of the Oklahoma Legislature, due to what they call “racist” comments made by Republican legislators.
  On April 7, a member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives made a comment that the Democrats called racially insensitive. Rep. Jim Olsen (R-Roland), the House author of Senate Bill 612, was speaking in support of the bill in the House Public Health Committee. The legislation would abolish abortion by making it a felony for a doctor to perform an abortion, except to save the life of the mother in a medical emergency. It had already been approved in the Senate, 38-9, and was now beginning its way through the House.

Read the full story, here.

News

Oklahoma Struggles with McGirt Decision

Thursday 6th of May 2021
In July of last year, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the conviction of Jimcy McGirt of three serious sexual offenses. The decision, written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, contended that, for the purposes of the Major Crimes Act, land in eastern Oklahoma remains a reservation for the Creek Nation. The 5-4 decision reversed a decision by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals which had said that all Indian courts had been abolished at statehood. Instead, the Supreme Court ruled that because McGirt was a Creek, he could only be prosecuted in Creek tribal courts, or in federal court.
  Technically, the decision only directly affected McGirt, but the precedent set has created a cloud of uncertainty on the status of criminal law, taxation, and many other matters in lands once held by the Creek Nation. Additionally, it is expected that future litigation will lead to all of eastern Oklahoma which was once held by the Creek, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Choctaw tribes being considered Indian land.

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Steve Byas

Electronic Voting Fails at State Republican Convention

Thursday 6th of May 2021
The great English philosopher G.K. Chesterton said that before one takes a fence down, one must find out why the fence was put up. Certainly, change is sometimes good, but sometimes it is not
  .Electronic voting is a bad idea whose time should never come.
The recent debacle at the 2021 Republican State Convention demonstrated that rather powerfully. The powers that be in the Oklahoma Republican Party decided that we should do our voting, not by the old tried and true method of voting by counties – by paper ballots – then announcing it in a process that takes only a minimal length of time, but rather we should vote through a link provided in an email that we received on our smart phones, tablet, or laptop computer.

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News

State GOP Convention Contends with Electronic Voting and Elects Leaders

Thursday 6th of May 2021
The 2021 Oklahoma Republican Convention was held on Saturday, April 10 in the newly completed Oklahoma City Convention Center. There were 1,279 delegates from across the state in attendance. The GOP biennial convention is held in non-election years to elect leaders, adopt rules, and approve a party platform in preparation for the upcoming election year.
  Oklahoma Republican Party state chairman David McLain announced on January 15 that he would not be seeking another term. He was elected to the two-year term in 2019. In an email to Republican leaders, McLain noted some of the highlights accomplished during his administration including registering a record number of new Republicans, gaining seats in the state legislature, taking back the 5th Congressional District seat, and bringing in 65 percent of the vote for President Trump. Mike Turner, who was elected vice-chairman in 2019, resigned and was replaced by the Republican State Committee last year with Shane Jemison, who ran for election to the post at this year’s convention.

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Charlie Meadows

Will We Learn from Frigid 2021?

Thursday 6th of May 2021
Just as Joe Biden has been blathering about the “existential threat” from climate change, and the need to move away from fossil fuels to fully embrace alternative green energy, along came a frigid cold snap never experienced before by anyone alive today in states like Texas and Oklahoma.
  Why are those two states significant? Texas happens to be the largest producer of wind energy among all the states and Oklahoma is second. Truth is, the wind factories, commonly known as high tech windmills and promoted by climate change alarmists, failed miserably under such extreme cold temperatures. This should be a real wake up call as to how dangerous the “green new deal” is to America and its people if we continue the foolishness of embracing such nonsense.

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News

EPIC Charter Schools Reaches Settlement Allowing Continued Operation

Thursday 6th of May 2021
Founded in 2011, EPIC charter schools has grown from 1,700 students to 55,000 students and operates across the entire state. The school board for EPIC Charter Schools’ One-on-One Charter approved and signed settlement terms proposed by the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board (SVCSB) at a special meeting on April 21. “We worked toward this settlement with one goal in mind: improve where we needed in the interest of continuous school improvement to better serve our 2,200 staff members and our approximate 55,000 students and families,” said EPIC Superintendent Bart Banfield. “Our team is now excited and ready to turn the page on what has been a turbulent chapter.”

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Linda Murphy

SEX EDUCATION Encouraging Transgender Options for Students

Thursday 6th of May 2021
If you think that sex education in schools is for the older students and will just cover basic anatomy and normal bodily functions … If you think sex education is purely a scientific approach to informing students about what they need to know as teens … think again. It has become routine in programs for Sex Education or “Puberty Education” to include much more controversial material and often at young ages.

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News

Oklahoma Legislature Unveils Redistricting Plans

Thursday 6th of May 2021
On April 21, the two chambers of the Oklahoma Legislature unveiled their respective legislative redistricting plans. By law, the Legislature must redraw its legislative district boundaries to reflect changes in population every ten years. The two branches of the Legislature collaborated December to March to hold 22 town hall meetings – 18 in person and four virtual – to solicit input from the public. Under the Oklahoma Constitution, redistricting plans for state legislative districts must be completed by May 28, 2021, the constitutionally mandated conclusion of the first regular legislative session following the end of the census.

Read the full story, here.