Murdock's Minutes

The most important job of the Legislature is to write and approve a balanced budget. I would go beyond that and say we have a responsibility to the citizens of this state to prioritize the fundamental core services of government, make targeted investments that will move our state forward, and ensure adequate savings for future economic changes. The budget we’ve approved this session will achieve all of that.

This time last year, between the economic downturn caused by the pandemic and already low oil and gas prices, we were looking at a revenue shortfall of $1.3 billion. Fortunately, we’d significantly boosted our savings the year before, and last year, due to the uncertainty of how long the economic downturn from the pandemic might last, we opted not to spend the full amount we could have appropriated. Oklahoma also opened back up as soon as safely possible, enabling people to get back to work, and revenue collections rebounded.

As a result of these careful decisions, we have been able to make significant investments this year in education, public safety, transportation, health and mental health and in programs that will directly benefit rural Oklahoma. The budget plan also includes tax relief for Oklahoma individuals, families and businesses

The Fiscal Year 2022 budget, which begins this coming July 1, will boost common education funding to a record high of about $3.2 billion, and it will trigger class size reductions in kindergarten and first grade.

It also includes tax relief, reducing the top personal income tax rate from 5% to 4.75%, and cuts the corporate income tax rate from 6% to 4%. Combined, these cuts put Oklahoma in the Top 10 for the lowest rates in the country of states that levy those types of taxes.

This budget will invest in our county roads and bridges and will provide additional funding for the attorney general to push back against federal overreach and assist with legal challenges and issues over the Supreme Court’s McGirt decision.

The budget also includes $15.5 million for REAP, the Rural Economic Action Plan, providing resources for critical infrastructure needs in our rural communities. This represents a 17.8% increase in REAP.

The budget also includes a $42 million tax incentive for rural broadband providers – part of a slate of initiatives to expand rural access to broadband throughout Oklahoma. This is especially important for so many rural communities that are currently underserved or have no broadband service at all. We really saw how important this was during the past year when schools, businesses and even government moved more of their functions online because of the pandemic.

We also held back more than $800 million to put aside for emergency savings, bringing our total savings to about $1 billion to help us deal with any future economic downturns or emergencies without crippling basic, core services of government our citizens rely on daily.

Overall, this is a fiscally conservative budget that I believe will move rural Oklahoma, and our whole state forward in the months and years to come.

It is my honor to serve you in the Oklahoma State Senate. You can reach me by calling 405-521-5626 or emailing Casey.Murdock@oksenate.gov.