Commentary: Will Henry force another budget standoff?

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Mar 26, 2007 by William O. Pitts

A pleasantly surprising $6.9 billion early budget agreement, which easily passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives and state Senate last week, quickly brought out whiners and critics, from Gov. Brad Henry to consumer groups.

Announced jointly by House Speaker Lance Cargill, R-Harrah, Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Morgan, D-Stillwater, and Co- President Pro Tempore Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City, the agreement provides a reasonable balance between additional spending and new tax cuts.

More importantly, it contains very little, if any, of the $660 million bonded indebtedness proposed in the governor's budget.

In a snit because he was not consulted, Henry criticized parts of the bill and the process.

Cargill insists the governor was invited to the leadership meetings but declined claiming they only resulted in political posturing. Henry erred. The outcome was a rare example of Senate and House cooperation and bipartisan budget writing.

State Treasurer Scott Meacham, the governor's financial caddy who seemed to be calling the shots, appeared even more miffed about being left out. He said the bill does not provide enough money for education and Department of Corrections, and he is opposed to the requirement in the bill for auditing the DOC.

The carping is sour grapes and nit-picking. Their flawed budget was submitted for legislators to consider. They did and developed a bipartisan alternative.

The snub of Henry may be traceable to last year's legislative session when the governor bypassed Morgan and went to then-House speaker Republican Todd Hiett, Kellyville, and came away with a budget and tax cut proposal that angered Senate Democrat leaders, leading to a budget stalemate and a special session.

Meacham and Henry have warned of possible vetoes.

Could they be overridden?

The evenly divided Senate passed the bill unanimously, and assuming it was a good-faith agreement, Democrats probably would be bound to stand firm.

No such arrangement exists in the House, where the bill passed by a vote of 84-16, including support from 28 Democrats, more than sufficient to override.

Whether that vote would hold sufficiently in case of specific line-item vetoes is another question. State Rep. Danny Morgan, D- Prague and minority leader, if he tries, might be able to get enough votes from his 44-member caucus to sustain some or all of them.

Henry has another card to play - vetoing, or threatening to, one or more of the tax cut bills, which are part of the bipartisan agreement but not included in the budget measure.

Again Senate Democrats would appear to be bound by the agreement, and getting enough Democrat votes in the House to sustain a veto of tax cuts might be difficult.

The proposed tax cuts include speeding up the maximum income tax rate reduction to reach 5.5 percent by 2008 and 5.25 percent by 2009; a three-day tax holiday for back-to-school purchases; eliminating small businesses from the requirement to file corporate franchise tax reports if the tax is less than $250; and providing a tax credit for parents who stay home with their children rather than using day care.

These have some groups like the Community Action Project in Tulsa, a mostly tax-supported anti-poverty agency, concerned. They are preaching gloom and doom about the state's financial future despite excess revenues continuing to accrue and the state's Constitutional Reserve Fund being at its maximum level.

This particular organization has consistently opposed tax cuts and lobbied for continued growth in government spending.

The governor is in a dilemma. After his and Meacham's criticism, some believe surrender on the budget weakens his administration. Vetoing it and being overridden holds the same prospect.

Sustaining the veto in whole or in part likely will cause a delay in the budget process and risk another partisan budget impasse this session or possibly more spending, the onus for which would be on the governor and House Democrats.

William O. Pitts, the former president and chief executive of Oklahoma Business News, was the president and chief lobbyist for the Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association's Oklahoma Division. You may reach him by phone at (405) 278-2880 or by e-mail, bill.pitts@journalrecord.com.