Oklahoma Watch (https://oklahomawatch.org/category/government/publicmoney/page/2/)
An Oklahoma Watch review of thousands of gifts and meal purchases in 2017 found it’s impossible to confirm who was bankrolling efforts to influence policymakers for a quarter of the record-setting amount that lobbyists spent on legislators and other state officials last session.
Thursday’s state Supreme Court ruling creates a $214 million shortfall. Lawmakers could consider these four options over the coming days and weeks.
Just as suddenly as they appeared in November, criminal charges against Oklahoma schools Superintendent Joy Hofmeister disappeared last week. And the reasons remain a mystery.
Two of the three court challenges seeking to overturn $343 million worth of revenue bills passed in the waning days of the legislative session could face a quick demise if the state has it way.
An Oklahoma Watch analysis of more than 3,000 horizontal wells shows that more than half of a typical well’s projected lifetime oil and gas production will occur during its first three years, when it is taxed at a much lower rate.
An oil industry group’s analysis of oil and gas production in a highly active areas of northwest Oklahoma has found a less steep decline over three years than a statewide study by Oklahoma Watch.
In the final days, legislators approved three key revenue bills, saying they passed muster with the state constitution. But lawmakers’ earlier comments may put those bills at risk of being overturned in court, which would throw the state back into a budget crisis.
In one of the wildest sessions in recent memory, the state Legislature passed its 2018 budget and adjourned. The budget, which Gov. Mary Fallin is expected to sign, will have real-life ramifications for just about every state agency.
As the 2017 legislative session enters its final phase, House GOP leaders’ strategies to bridge the $878 million shortfall are slowly coming into focus.
Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb’s resignation from Gov. Mary Fallin’s Cabinet over her proposed tax plan underscores the challenges the $934 million proposal faces in an increasingly skeptical Legislature.