One of the biggest responsibilities of the legislature is to determine how much money our agencies are appropriated each year. Unlike the federal government, the Oklahoma Constitution has a balanced budget mandate – we cannot spend more money than we have. It falls to the Legislature to ensure we prioritize every dollar and continue to look for new efficiencies to make those dollars go farther.

While a stronger economy, new revenue streams and budgeting reforms resulted in revenue growth the past two years, Oklahoma’s economy began slowing in recent months, largely because of lower than expect...