State Budget leaders last week received certified revenue figures authorizing the appropriation of up to $12.3 billion for the state budget for Fiscal Year 2026, which starts in July.
This is about $1 billion less than for the current fiscal year. This was expected after the Legislature last year cut the state’s portion of the grocery tax. That was on top of personal and corporate income tax cuts approved several years ago.
While the state has less revenue, the taxpayer is keeping more of their earned income. That’s good news.
The talk at the Capitol is that we have healthy savings accounts, and we will be able to fund core services of the government, like public safety, public education, transportation, health care and others at stable levels. There’s a lot of information about the budget on the House website, okhouse. gov, for those who want to look deeper into the numbers.
Also, this week, the House passed legislation to reform the state’s administrative rulemaking process. Every year after legislation is enacted into law, state agencies and other entities are required to adopt administrative rules to put the laws into practice. The rules have to come back to the Legislature for approval, but sometimes this results in hundreds or thousands of pages of rules to pour through.
House Bill 2728 would establish the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act of 2025, modeled after similar federal legislation. It would help us make sure the rules follow legislative intent, don’t have unintended financial consequences for the state, and don’t create new law outside of the legislative process.
This was a bit of a tough week in the House. Ice and snow shut down the House for a day, forcing many committee meetings to be rescheduled. Our deadline for policy bills to be heard in their initial committees was extended to Monday, Feb. 24.
One disappointment this week was my House Bill 1989 failed to pass in the House Energy Committee. This bill would have established some setbacks for wind turbines, protecting our property owners. I appreciate the support I received while working on this bill from other legislators and the speaker. There are other avenues to accomplish this, and it is something on which I will continue to work.
On the upside, my House Bill 1992 passed the Civil Judicial Committee. This bill would combine tractors and trailers in statutory language for insurance purposes. When these combination vehicles are separated at the scene of an accident, we’ve discovered not enough insurance coverage on one or the other ultimately costs taxpayers more money to have them cleaned up or removed.
Remember, if I can help you in my capacity as your representative, please do not hesitate to contact me at the Capitol. My office phone is (405) 557-7375, and my email is tim.turner@okhouse. gov.
Rep. Tim Turner, a Republican, represents House District 15 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. His district includes Haskell County and portions of McIntosh, Muskogee, Le Flore and Pittsburg counties.
