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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 19, 2018
Governor Mary Fallin Highlights Successes in 2018 Legislative Session
OKLAHOMA CITY – Governor Mary Fallin today complimented lawmakers for passing criminal
justice reform legislation, appropriating a record amount of funding for public
schools, and approving a budget for the upcoming fiscal year without cuts to state
agencies.
The $7.6 billion budget puts significantly more money toward
education, mental health services, and public safety.
“The budget includes many of
the priorities I have requested lawmakers to approve the past three years,”
said Fallin. “It provides for a teacher pay raise and additional funding for
public schools as well as increased funding for mental health and corrections
to implement criminal justice reform measures.”
“For the first time in years,
no agency is receiving a cut. This budget provides a long-term solution to
multi-year budget deficits and helps reduce the reliance on one-time funds.”
In all, the governor received 342
measures for consideration during this year’s session. She signed 324 and
vetoed 18.
2018 Policy Highlights
Education
“Common education receives a
19.8 percent increase in funding for the upcoming fiscal year, which is the
largest appropriation for public schools in state history. The appropriation
includes $353 million to fund teacher pay raises that average $6,100 per teacher,
which move Oklahoma teacher from last in the seven-state region to second for
average annual pay, and from 49th in the nation to 29th. When taking into
account the cost of living, Oklahoma teachers will be the 12th-highest-paid in
the country. It also has $52 million for support personnel pay raises, $24
million for flex health benefits; $33 million for textbooks, and $17 in new
funding for the school funding formula.
“Improving the quality and outcomes in education is the
single-most important thing we can do to attract and retain jobs, alleviate
poverty, and help Oklahomans have fulfilling and productive lives.” – Governor
Mary Fallin
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House Bill
1023XX – establishes a new
teacher salary schedule, the largest teacher pay increase in state
history. Teachers will receive a $6,100 pay raise on average in the
upcoming school year.
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HB 1026XX – provides a
$1,250 annual increase in pay for school support personnel.
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HB 3705
– appropriates $2.9 billion, a 19.7 percent increase over last year, for K-12
public education. This is the largest
appropriation to education in state history. Funding contained in HB 3705
includes $353.5 million for teacher pay; $52 million for support personnel pay:
$33 million for textbooks: $17 million for the state aid formula; and $24.7
million for flex health care benefits.
The total increase in common education funding for the 2019 fiscal year
is $480.2 million.
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Senate Bill 1171 – establishes
work-based learning opportunities, such as apprenticeships and internships, as
a duty of the Governor’s Council of Workforce and Economic Development (GCWED)
in an effort to improve the state’s talent pipeline.
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SB 980 – creates a tiered certification program for
teachers so that high-quality teachers have the ability to advance in their
careers without having to leave the classroom to become administrators.
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SB 1196 – allows junior and senior high school students to participate in
concurrent enrollment program, regardless of location in the state.
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SB 1370 – Allows high school students to
replace one credit of math for a three-hour per school day CareerTech program
that is endorsed or aligned to industries in Oklahoma.
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HB 2009 – requires
schools to annually publish a report
listing all increases in wages, salaries, rates of pay or fringe benefits and
any changes to job class to increase transparency.
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HB 2860 – requires
school districts to provide a link to the State Department of Education’s Oklahoma
cost accounting system and school district financial information on their
websites to increase transparency.
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HB 3311 – requires the
inclusion of civics in the subject matter standards for history, social studies
and U.S. government
Economic Development
& Commerce
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SB 897 – codifies the
Incentive Approval Committee for the Quality Jobs program to review all
applications for approval and oversight.
This ensures taxpayer interests are represented when Quality Jobs
applications are reviewed.
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SB 923 –implements
changes recommended by the Incentive Evaluation Commission for Small Employer
Quality Jobs by increasing the maximum number of full-time employees from 90 to
500.
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HB 3324 – provides for
the transfer of 5 percent of the quarterly incentive payments made by the Oklahoma
Tax Commission to qualifying establishments related to the Oklahoma Quality
Jobs Incentive Act, the Small Employer Quality Jobs Incentive Act and the 21st
Century Quality Jobs Incentive Act to the Quick Action Closing Fund.
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SB 1585 – establishes automotive
engineer tax credits by creating several
income tax credits designed to incentivize qualified employers and employees in
the automotive manufacturing industry.
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SB 1388 – creates a
statewide framework for wireless providers to work with municipalities and
others to deploy small cell devices.
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SB 1475 – creates
the Occupational Licensing Advisory Commission, which will review each
occupational or professional licensing once every four years and make
recommendations to the Legislature.
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HB 2933 – a product of the Governor’s Task Force on Occupational
Licensing, directs licensing boards to grant a one-year waiver of fees
associated with licensure or certification to a low-income applicant.
Health &
Human Services
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HB 2932 – establishes Medicaid
work requirement eligibility for able-bodied adults without dependents. Directs
the Oklahoma Health Care Authority to apply to the federal Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid Services for a waiver.
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HB 2825
– directs the Department of Human Services (DHS) to explore opportunities to
enhance community partnerships for the purpose of linking Temporary Assistance
for Needy Families (TANF) recipients with career and technology education and
training programs. This will expand opportunities for TANF recipients to
participate in and complete employment and training activities.
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HB 3104 – clarifies that DHS must report any infant who is diagnosed
with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome or Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.
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SB 1367 – states that a law enforcement officer may not
take a person into custody if the officer was contacted by the person in
question for medical assistance (either for themselves or another person).
Public Safety
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HB 2798 creates the
Opioid Overdose Fatality Review Board.
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HB 2635 – protects
the motor vehicle report (driving record) from being expunged after one year
and keeps it at the three-year window for insurance and business owners who
hire people to drive for companies.
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HB 2651 – allows for a
course of study for students who are training to acquire a commercial driver’s license.
This allows those training sites to include human trafficking material in their
classes.
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SB 1203 – reduces the
fine for speeding violations for 1-10 mph over the speed limit to $100.
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SB
1517 – creates the Task Force on Trauma-Informed Care to create a list
of best practices for children and their families at risk of adverse childhood
experiences.
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HB 3300 – the Breanna
Bell Act, which protects people with disabilities from sexual assault.
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HB 1124 – the Justice
for Danyelle Act, which prohibits sex offenders from loitering within 1,000
feet of their victims’ home.
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HB 3328 – Creates the
Commission on the Prevention of Abuse of Elderly and Vulnerable Adults.
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HB
2630
– helps the Department of Corrections (DOC) expand the Global Positioning
Satellite Program (GPS by loosening some of the rules that disqualify certain
offenders from participating. These requirements apply to low-level non-violent
offenders who are better managed in a public setting.
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SB
904
– allows DOC to fund community sentencing programs across the state.
Veterans &
Military
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HB 3042 – directs Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs (ODVA) to develop
a long-term care facility to replace the Talihina Veterans Center.
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SB 922 – establishes the Oklahoma Women Veterans Program to ensure that
women veterans have equitable access to federal and states veterans’ benefits
and services. The program will be overseen by a women
veterans coordinator.
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SB 1053 –
authorizes the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs to obtain certification to
accept payments and reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid programs.
Government
Modernization & Budget
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HB 1010XX – provides the
revenue to fund a historic teacher pay raise. This is accomplished by an
increase of $1 per pack of cigarettes, taxing little cigars at the same rate as
cigarettes; raising the fuel tax by 3 cents a gallon on gasoline and 6 cents a
gallon on diesel; and raising the gross production tax from 2 percent to 5
percent on all wells.
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HB 1011XX – puts a $17,000 cap on deductions on
adjusted gross income. Charitable contributions and medical expenses are not
capped.
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HB 3603 – authorizes
the governor to appoint the executive director of the Department of Tourism.
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HB 3036 – makes the commissioner of health a gubernatorial appointee,
with the advice and consent of the Senate.
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HB 1024XX - provides a
tiered pay raise for state employees, ranging from $750 to $2,000 depending on
salary.
Criminal Justice Reform
“Our state prisons are filled
to well over capacity so it is crucial that we make some changes to our
criminal justice system. These bills will not jeopardize public safety while
addressing Oklahoma’s prison population. Too few Oklahomans are getting the
treatment they need for substance abuse and mental health issues, and are instead
winding up in our criminal justice system.” – Governor Mary Fallin
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SB 650 –
authorizes no more than one nonviolent felony to apply for expungement if they
have no new convictions or pending charges within the last seven years.
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SB 786 –
eliminates the mandatory minimum and allows a judge to sentence up to the
current maximum sentence of seven years in prison for burglary in the second
degree, and creates a new felony offense, burglary in the third degree (defined
as breaking into a vehicle), punishable by up to five years in prison.
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SB 649 – reduces
enhanced sentences for certain repeat nonviolent felonies.
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SB 689 – creates
risk and needs assessment as a tool for sentencing.
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SB 793 – changes
the penalties for commercial drug offenses, and distinguishes conduct by
possession with intent to distribute, distribution, and manufacturing.
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HB 2281 – adjusts
penalties for numerous low-level property offenses, including larceny, forgery
and other “paper crimes.”
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HB 2286 – creates
an administrative parole process for nonviolent offenders who comply with case
plans in prison so that the Pardon and Parole Board can focus on more serious
offenders, and establishes a geriatric parole release process for inmates who
are 60 and older and who have been determined to not be a public safety risk.
Transportation
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HB 3576 – creates the Oklahoma State Safety
Oversight Program to be overseen by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation
(ODOT). It directs ODOT to develop and enforce standards for all private and
public rail-fixed guideway public transportation systems statewide that are not
administered by the Federal Railroad Administration.
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HB 2650 – amends the specifications of merging
traffic in and near construction work zones allowing for more flexibility within the confines of federal
law. It allows for more efficient
methods of traffic control, increasing safety and decreasing congestion.
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HB 2578 – creates the
Aerospace Commerce Economic Services (ACES) within the Oklahoma Department of
Commerce. The purpose of ACES is to create a partnership of service providers
(similar to CADSQ) to more effectively respond to the needs of the aviation,
aerospace and defense industries in the areas of education and training,
research, and economic development.
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HB 2253 – closes a tax
loophole by requiring 50 percent of an aircraft’s operations be charter to
qualify for the aircraft excise tax exemption.
Energy
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SB 1576 – keeps wind farms from interfering with the flight
paths of military installations, thereby protecting the work and mission of
Oklahoma’s military bases.
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SB 893 - imposes a cap
of $500,000 on the zero emission facilities electricity production tax credit. The cap is
only applicable to credits that are earned from electricity produced by means
of water, sun or geothermal energy.
Pensions
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HB 1340 – gives
retirees in all of the state retirement systems a one-time payment in varying
amounts.
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SB 527 – gives someone
who is disabled in the line of duty with less than 20 years of service the half-pay
cost-of-living adjustment.
Agriculture
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HB 2913 - creates the Oklahoma Industrial Hemp
Agriculture Pilot Program to be administered by the Oklahoma Department of
Agriculture, Food, and Forestry (ODAFF).
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SB 1600 – increases
appropriations to ODAFF, allowing an additional $400,000 in funding to rural
fire departments across Oklahoma.
2019 Fiscal Year Budget Highlights
Overview
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Funds core government services.
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Uses a low percentage of one-time funds,
which will be used to fund one-time costs.
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Education will have the largest funding
increase.
Health and Human
Services
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$22.6 million: Fully funds the Pinnacle
Plan and restores provider rate cuts for the Department of Human Services, and money
to go to the Developmental Disabilities Services waiting list. This fully funds
the Pinnacle Plan, and funds services for Oklahoma’s most vulnerable citizens.
Corrections
$17.5 million: for the FY 18
supplemental annualized for the Department of Corrections (DOC).
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Payroll-even
after the $1,500 raise signed into law in March 2018, Oklahoma is 18 percent below
contiguous states in pay. The vacancy rate for correctional officers is
currently 30 percent, agency-wide, it is 22 percent. These vacancies require
employees to work overtime to staff critical correctional officer posts which
put a strain on an already overburdened payroll. This supplemental will help
DOC address the pay deficit for qualified applicants.
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Contract
beds- Oklahoma currently has more inmates than beds, and many inmates that are
sentenced to DOC custody will wait in county jails before being received by
DOC. This supplemental will go towards making a timely payment to the counties
where these inmates are housed.
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Health
services- costs associated with the over-50-year-old population accounts for 43
percent of DOC’s cost for specialty care, pharmaceuticals, laboratory services
etc. Travel to medical appointments with outside providers has increased with
an aging population.
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Critical
needs and necessary purchases- aging infrastructure has suffered from decades
of neglect, and money is being redirected from planned projects to
emergencies. Repairs to critical
infrastructure are a necessary and immediate need.
Criminal Justice
Reform
$7.1 million:
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Department
of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services will receive $4 million to fund
risk/needs assessments, and $1 million will go to drug and mental health treatment
courts.
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$2
million to restore provider rate cuts.
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$111,000
to the Pardon and Parole Board to hire two new field staff positions that were
eliminated due to budget cuts. Funding will ensure that work activities,
including the processing of pardons and paroles, will not be delayed.
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$4.8 million: The Department of Corrections
Defender Management System-funding for an entirely new system will allow DOC to
track and monitor offenders on probation in one system and will allow for
shared data regarding offenders to be shared in one database statewide.
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$500,000: Pay for Success is a proven
program to reduce the number of women sent to prison and the resulting impact
incarceration has on their children. Oklahoma is using Pay for Success
contracting to improve criminal justice outcomes for women, reduce incarceration,
and, consequently, lower overall public sector costs. The Pay for Success
contract between the Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES) and
Family and Child Services is the 17th Pay for Success contract in
the U.S. and the first-ever PFS contract focused on female incarceration.
General Government
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$53.695 million: State employee pay
raise- it has been 11 years since state employees have had an across-the-board
pay raise. The amount is staggered according to employee salary.
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$7.5 million: Higher Education
Concurrent Enrollment- provides funding so high school seniors can take college
classes for college credit while still in high school. This program saves
families money on tuition costs and reduces student debt.
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$8.36 million: Provides raises to other
educators outside of K-12, such as CareerTech, Oklahoma School for the Blind,
Oklahoma School for the Deaf and Department of Corrections teachers.
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$4 million: State Emergency Fund- additional
funding needed due to the wildfire outbreak in west and northwest Oklahoma.
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$500,000: ABLE Commission- will
help fund data migration from archaic system to a new, more user-friendly web-based
solution, and the
number of locations where alcohol is sold is expected to double with new laws,
and more agents are needed to monitor locations.
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$4 million: Closing Fund
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$2 million: Performance audits-funding
will go toward independent auditing firm performing performance audits to
ensure that tax dollars are maximized and are being spent on mission-critical
needs. First agencies on the list for audits are the Oklahoma Tax Commission,
the Office of Management and Enterprise Services, the Department of Corrections, and the
Department of Public Safety.
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Commerce- $445,000 to
Aerospace Commerce Economic Services (ACES)-this initiative aims to grow the aerospace
industry, and will help drive further job creation, economic growth and
increased tax revenue for the state.
- Agriculture - $4,000 to rural fire and $1,000 to the Made in
Oklahoma program.
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Web: www.governor.ok.gov
Facebook: www.facebook.com/GovernorMaryFallin
Twitter: www.twitter.com/GovMaryFallin
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