Senate To Stall Special Session, Will Leave It Open For Future Negotiations

The Senate says they’re not going to take up the tax cut bill in Monday’s special session, calling it political theater and a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Whether lawmakers gavel in for two minutes or spend hours debating the tax cut, it will cost each chamber around $17,500 - taxpayer dollars for a single day of special session.

That means Monday's session will cost us at least $35,000 for a tax cut that’s likely to fail.

The Governor’s special session call specifically asked for lawmakers to vote on a .25% cut to the personal income tax, dropping it from the current 4.75% to 4.5%. “For the average family in Oklahoma, it's about $110 a family would save from a quarter point tax cut,” said Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat.

Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat says they intend to gavel in and leave the session open, in case they come to an agreement in the future over this tax cut. “It's a serious issue, it's not just a delay. We're wanting to get real numbers,” said Treat. “We'll leave the session open in case we want to do it at a later time but we want to do it in a fashion that thinks about the long term, not just about political points.”

Treat said the governor is using a budget estimate from December, while lawmakers use an estimate that will be made in February to make their final budget. “Last year from December to February our numbers dropped $611 million from what the estimate was to what our real amount to be spent in the budget was,” said Treat. 

Treat said that until the Senate gets those numbers during the first week of February, they will not make any large cuts to the budget, such as this tax cut. “We're for tax relief but we want to make sure we can afford it long term,” said Treat.

The state House, on the other hand, says there’s been more than enough time to consider the cut, and is ready to pass the legislation on Monday. “It's time to take a vote,” said House Speaker Charles McCall. “Our job is to show up, consider and make votes, and the governors call this time - it was for a vote on the quarter percent tax cut.”

House Speaker Charles McCall says the House of Representatives will be voting on the tax cut Monday. “We'll send it to the Senate and at this point, we just need to see the senate members vote for it and let the chips fall where they may,” said McCall. “We need to just come in and put those votes up and see, so the people of Oklahoma can see that the legislature is doing their job and acting - and they can see the outcome.”

McCall says they need to get the tax cut out of the way before the regular session starts, so they can shift the focus to other priorities. “Outside of that special session this tax cut could become the one issue that takes up all the time of the regular session, like the education bill last year,” said McCall.

Governor Stitt said in a statement “If anything is a waste of taxpayer money, it is the refusal of Senate leadership to give Oklahomans a well-deserved pay raise.”