It's raining

By World's Editorial Writers - 11/4/2009


Judging from Gov. Brad Henry's remarks Monday it no longer is a question of if the state's "rainy day" fund will be tapped to get government through this period of plummeting state revenues. It's now more a question of when.

In light of the state's dire economic position, Henry favors using some of the $600 million fund. But will he need to call lawmakers into special session to address the issue, or can the state stagger forward until February, when the Legislature meets in regular session?

The situation does not look good for waiting. Already programs are falling by the wayside. Staffing is being cut throughout state government. When the fiscal year began July 1, agencies took a 7 percent cut. For three months in a row now, agencies have been under orders to cut their budgets by an additional 5 percent each month. Such cuts will continue each month through the fiscal year, ending June 30.

Those who benefit from state programs are feeling the severity of cuts. In the past few days, the Department of Human Services cut a nutrition program for seniors. Older Oklahomans are planning a rally to protest cuts in that program on Wednesday.

And the nutrition program is just the tip of the iceberg, Henry said.

"Hopefully, we can make it to the regular session but we may not. But we are going to have to come together with a plan that is going to have to include, I believe, tapping the rainy day fund. It is raining out there."

Indeed it is.

The holiday season could boost revenues. Lawmakers and Henry have about $600 million in remaining federal stimulus dollars to plug holes. What happens if the holiday season does not boost revenues? And, the stimulus funds are one-time funds, and there are restrictions on how they can be used.

Oklahoma is in serious financial trouble. How much worse are Henry and lawmakers willing to let the situation get before they decide to tap into a fund that was designed to help in exactly this type of situation?


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Tulsa World Reader Comments
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Democrat, Tulsa County (11/4/2009 5:37:28 AM)
And just a few years ago, Representative John Wright told me and a small group of other educators who went to lobby on behalf of properly funding education that the income tax cuts being enacted would cause such economic growth that we would be awash with tax revenue by now. We nicely told the man that we believed that he was full of something squishy, but he was just sure that "Reaganomics" would work on the state level. The sad thing is that John Wright is one of the more reasonable state legislators among the majority party in Oklahoma City. Lord, help us!!!!

Democrat, Tulsa County (11/4/2009 6:01:21 AM)
We are nothing like California. Under Oklahoma state law, public sector employee unions have no power beyond the right to bargain collectively. When the local OEA bargaining units reach impasse with a school board, both sides submit their case to an impasse panel which then renders a recommendation. At that point, the school board is free to either accept or reject the recommendation. That means that the school board will likely impose its will.

my view, Sand Springs (11/4/2009 9:53:38 AM)
dusty, It's not the users in prison it's the dealers.

Proud Muslim, Tulsa: Coolest place in the world (almost) (11/4/2009 11:14:09 AM)
Gives new meaning to "It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring..."

Hobbs, Loveland, Co (11/4/2009 7:04:39 AM)
Absolutely Democrat and the Union haters who believe the NEA or the OEA weld a lot of power are wrong. The OEA is good regarding keeping a school honest when dealing with employees.

HospRx, Broken Arrow (11/4/2009 6:48:03 PM)
Dusty--These 2 people you know should also know that there is a limit of pot you can be in possession of before they consider it a higher crime(possible distribution or something like that). I don't think the sentences in these 2 cases necessarily fit the crime, but if they were citizens of Oklahoma, they should have known prior to bringing this much marijuana in to the state. Unfortunately their fault.

HospRx, Broken Arrow (11/6/2009 6:37:10 PM)
Sorry Dusty my post was not opinion. There are certain limits in the pot laws in Oklahoma. Citizens of Oklahoma should be aware of the laws they live under. It was their fault. However, like I stated in the post I do not think that the penalty fits the crime. This state is not "backwards" in their laws in this instance as only 13 states currently have legalized marijuana laws. I have to ask, would it be ok if the economy was booming then?

dustyoutlaw, Tulsa (11/4/2009 9:28:48 AM)
At a rate of 43.00 a day which the "Christian Prison" plan says is the going rate for a prisoner in Oklahoma, we could empty the prisons of pot users and save enough to balance the budget. Time to stop the draconian pot laws of this state.

dustyoutlaw, Tulsa (11/4/2009 12:47:12 PM)
Nonsense My view. I personally know of two doing 30 years apiece for going to California and getting themselves a pound of pot for themselves to smoke for a year until the next trip and neither of them had a prior record. And they never sold 5.00 worth. NONSENSE.

dustyoutlaw, Tulsa (11/5/2009 3:49:52 AM)
Your opinion Hosp and you're entitled to it. But in my opinion keeping thousands of non violent pot smokers in prison is indicitive of how backwards this state is. And we can't afford it when we have an economy like this to boot.

Four Sixteen Rigby, Tulsa (11/4/2009 5:53:20 AM)
"It could be worse. It could be raining." - Eyegore in Young Frankenstein. Actually, despite the fact that it is raining, it could indeed be worse. We could be like California. And it will get worse if we let the public sector employee unions take over government decision making like the California legislature and Governor have.

thehero, (11/4/2009 11:55:43 AM)
Democrat is correct. Those opposed to the tax cuts knew supply-side economics wouldn't work in Oklahoma. In theory, supply-side economics is dependent on high tax rates. The old Laffer Curve model, the capstone of supply-side theory, shows this. Cutting the tax rate further to an already relatively low tax rate won't stimulate the economy and produce more revenue. There is more and more evidence today that the tax cuts enacted under Reagan did not work as advertised either and the top federal tax rate was relatively high at that time. Did the tax cuts alone cause this budget shortfall? No. Did they adversely affect State revenue? Absolutely. The tax cuts have effectively “constrained” any growth in personal income tax collections when times were good. This constraint contributed to the State not having as much of a cushion to absorb any economic downturn. When the downturn did hit, State services and programs were more severely affected. While personal income tax collections probably would have been down due to the economic downturn, the tax cuts amplified this shortfall. Furthermore, these tax cuts will hamper the ability of Oklahoma to bounce back when times get better. There is currently a trigger which will cut the State's tax rate further once revenues begin to increase; another barrier to recovery. This trigger should be removed in this Legislative session. Will they? We’ll just have to wait and see.



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