OML Advocate Legislative Bulletin 9-26

Happy Easter

Wishing you and your cities a joyful and peaceful Easter! May the day bring fresh beginnings, a little sunshine, and time to enjoy with those who matter most.

Hope it’s filled with smiles, good company, and maybe a little chocolate too!

No Joke:
Governor, Legislature Reach Budget Agreement

It wasn’t an April Fools’ joke, the Governor and the Legislature announced a budget agreement on Wednesday. The $12.78 billion state budget for fiscal year 2027 is an increase of 1.27% over current fiscal year spending. This is the earliest that a budget agreement has been reached in recent memory. The House Appropriations Chairman announced that Members should expect Joint Appropriations and Budget Committee meetings on Monday afternoon, so we anticipate they will move quickly to get their work done and adjourn.

Some highlights of the budget agreement are:

• Provides for state agency budgets to remain mostly flat;

• Raise teacher pay by $2,000 ($85 million) and dedicate nearly $80 million to literacy initiatives, reading tutors and math tutors;

• A 3 or 6 percent increase in COLA’s in seven state pension system payments for retired public employees, including teachers, firefighters, law enforcement personnel and state employees based on length of service.

• Create a new “sovereign wealth fund” governed by the Invest in Oklahoma Board. The new fund would receive $200 million from the Revenue Stabilization Fund to pursue high-dividend investments to create a new revenue stream for annual appropriations.

• $35 million for a new revolving water loan program through the Oklahoma Water Resources Board;

• $10 million for water projects through Rural Economic Action Plan (REAP) grants tied to the other OWRB program;