Alva Review-Courier -

We’re now heading into the final two weeks of the legislative session. Oklahoma’s Constitution mandates that we must reach final adjournment no later than 5 p.m. on the last Friday in May.

This is my ninth year in the Legislature. I have been here in horrible budget years, and in good ones, and in these nine years I thought I’d seen every budget scenario possible – until this year.

I remember fairly early in my legislative career when we were looking at a budget hole of about $1 billion. I know how hard we all worked to reform and strengthen our budgeting process, and to take the bold step of working together to raise revenues to protect our core services, including our schools, transportation, public safety and health and mental health.

I’ve seen several years where we had no choice but to make cuts, doing our best to mitigate the impact on our schools, in particular, and how to distribute the rest of those cuts as fairly as possible. I’ve also served in years when we had revenue growth. This is one of those years.

You’d think it would be easier to write a budget when there was extra money, but in my experience, it can actually be less contentious when you are looking at cuts. When you have to make cuts, it isn’t a pleasant thing, but we all know we have to live within our means – plus, unlike the federal government, Oklahoma cannot simply print more money. Our state Constitution mandates us to write and pass a balanced budget.

In contrast, when there is revenue growth, people can get really entrenched in their positions on the best way to utilize those additional funds. The governor has his ideas and priorities, as do the majority caucuses in the Senate and the House. The minority caucuses have their ideas as well. Senate Republicans have advocated for the majority of our growth to be invested in education, but we also know there are additional needs in other core areas. We also remain cautious knowing economists are still predicting a recession at some point, so we definitely feel it would be irresponsible to spend the maximum amount certified for the coming fiscal year.

As frustrating as the budget negotiations have been this session, I still believe that we have shared goals. We want investments in education, infrastructure, health care and public safety, but as they say, the devil is in the details. Yes, it can get messy sometimes and from the outside looking in, it may look like all we ever do is fight, but I assure you, those disagreements, are also part of our checks and balances. But in these final days of budget negotiations, we must remember those really tough years we were facing not that long ago, and make sure we protect our state from winding up there again.

It is my honor to serve you in the Oklahoma State Senate. You can reach me by calling 405-521-5626 or emailing [email protected].