Special Session Kicks Off Today

By Keaton Ross | Democracy/Criminal Justice Reporter

If Gov. Kevin Stitt gets his wish, the Legislature will send a 0.25% personal state income tax reduction bill to his desk this week.

But numerous hurdles stand in the way of the governor’s plan to deliver tax cuts before the Legislature convenes for the 2024 regular session on Feb. 5.

Citing growth in state revenue and savings, Stitt issued an executive order on Jan. 16 calling lawmakers to the Capitol one week early to consider tax cut legislation. Stitt unsuccessfully called a similar special session in May 2022 and October 2023.

All signs point to a similar outcome this week. Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, said Thursday the upper chamber will take no action on tax cuts this week. He had previously expressed concerns that passing an income tax cut before the Board of Equalization finalizes Fiscal Year 2025 budget numbers would be unwise.

“The appropriate time for discussion on budget and taxes is during regular session that starts a week after the governor’s special session call,” Treat said in a statement. “Since there is no agreement, special session – a week prior to regular session – is just political theater and a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Senate Minority Leader Kay Floyd, D-Oklahoma City, and Cyndi Munson, D-Oklahoma City, were also critical of the special session call.

“We will have four months beginning February 5 to deliberate fiscal and policy ideas,” Munson said. “Our job as legislators is to work through these important issues, as we are called to do every year. Instead, the Governor is asking us to waste time and taxpayer dollars by throwing ideas at the wall to see what sticks. It is unwise and fiscally irresponsible to ask the Legislature to haphazardly cut revenue.”

House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, has been more supportive of the proposal. House Republicans have passed several tax cut bills in recent years that ultimately stalled in the Senate.

“House Republicans will do their constitutional duty and answer the governor’s call to special session,” McCall said in a written statement. “We will be ready to pass meaningful tax relief legislation for the hardworking people of Oklahoma as we previously have in multiple special and regular sessions.”

Measures to eliminate the state portion of the grocery sales tax, which have garnered bipartisan support but failed to reach the governor’s desk in recent sessions, are excluded from this week’s special session. However, several proposals to cut the tax have been filed ahead of the regular session.

What are your thoughts on this special session? What would you like the Legislature to prioritize this year? Let me know at Kross@Oklahomawatch.org.

What I’m Reading This Week:

Gov. Kevin Stitt, Chickasaw Nation Finalize New Tobacco, Car Tag Compacts: Major portions of the compacts remain the same as previous agreements. However, the tobacco compact includes some language tweaks, including new terms on the “compact jurisdiction,” specifying the agreement only applies to tribal allotments and Chickasaw Nation land held in trust by the federal government. [Oklahoma Voice]
Supreme Court Will Consider Overturning Oklahoma Death Row Prisoner Glossip’s Murder Conviction: The Supreme Court blocked the latest effort to execute Glossip in early May. Despite Drummond’s doubts about the trial, an Oklahoma appeals court upheld Glossip’s conviction, and the state’s pardon and parole board deadlocked in a vote to grant him clemency. [Associated Press]
New Ethics Commission Director Gets Guardian System Extended for 2024 Election: Bruce Boone said the extension with Civix through February 2025 buys “some much-needed time” as she speaks with leaders of the Oklahoma Legislature about funding to build the next iteration of the Guardian System. The system had been set to lose functionality on July 1. [NonDoc]

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