With less than two months remaining in this year’s legislative session, much of our work is currently focused on crafting the state budget for Fiscal Year 2025. The Senate has been operating under new budgeting procedures this year to open meetings to the public and promote transparency. This is a vast difference from my first few years in the Legislature when only a handful of people were responsible for writing the budget, and lawmakers often only had a few days to review the multi-billion-dollar budget. Additionally, our new schedule and processes give all legislators the opportunity to provide input on the budget, ensuring their constituents are represented throughout the appropriations process.
Our budget procedures have included a number of steps, but most importantly, we’ve pulled these conversations with state agency officials and other experts from behind closed doors and allowed Oklahomans to see the negotiations and discussions in real time. In the remaining weeks of session, we’ll work towards a final budget with the House of Representatives, who’ve also spent the past few months putting together their proposed appropriations. The goal is to reconcile both chambers’ budgets into one final agreement that reflects the needs of our dozens of state agencies and entities, and most importantly, our citizens.
Floor work will also pick up as we’ve now passed the deadline to advance House bills from Senate committees. April 25th marks the next deadline, and we have until this point to advance these measures off the Senate floor. Similarly, the House has until this date to pass legislation that originated in the Senate. I’ll keep you posted as we round out the final weeks of session and come to a final budget agreement. Please feel free to contact my office if we can be of assistance to you. You can reach us by email at [email protected] or by phone at (405) 521-5541. When emailing, be sure to include your name and where you’re from.
