Lawmakers: Forecast is cloudy

By James Beaty

A legislative forecast by Pittsburg County’s three state lawmakers predicts state government will continue to face some financial clouds this year — but also said there are some actions that could be taken to brighten the picture.

District 7 state Sen. Richard Lerblance, D-Hartshorne; District 17 state Rep. Brian Renegar, D-Blanco, and District 18 state Rep. Terry Harrison, D-McAlester, made their forecasts during a legislative breakfast.

The McAlester Chamber of Commerce sponsored the event, held on Thursday at the Whispering Meadows Winery in downtown McAlester.

The three Democratic state legislators spoke in turn, addressing a group of Chamber members, community leaders, public officials, business men and women, and others.

They blamed many of Oklahoma’s current budget problems on tax cuts enacted by the Republican-led state legislature over the past few years.

The 2010 legislative session is set to begin on Feb.1.

“Of course, everybody’s aware of the budget crunch,” Lerblance said.

“We’re lucky that the recession didn’t really hit us until six months ago,” he said. Lerblance noted that the state started with a 7 percent budget reduction last year — but then added several more budget cuts on top of that.

“What Oklahoma really depends on is the gross production tax,” Lerblance said. The state has suffered declining tax revenues since the price of natural gas and oil has been down, he noted.

Lerblance said the decision to move the Oklahoma Department of Corrections cadet training academy from the Wilburton Campus of Eastern Oklahoma State College to a vacant Oklahoma Highway Patrol building in Oklahoma City underscores the problem.

“That’s coming home to us; that’s a classic example,” Lerblance said.

“It’s time for the people to realize, reality is here,” he said, predicting everything from the closure of some senior citizen nutrition centers to larger classroom sizes.

Referring to the budget for the state of Oklahoma, Lerblance said “We have $1.3 billion less than we had last year — and last year was a shortfall.”

Unlike the federal government, the state is required to balance its budget, Lerblance said.

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” he said of the dismal budget forecast.

Noting that the state spends a lot of money incarcerating lawbreakers, Lerblance said “I’ve got some bills that will hopefully not send so many people to prison.”

It costs $15 a day to put someone in a program to treat substance abusers, as opposed to $45 a day to incarcerate them, he said.

Drawing a distinction between violent offenders and someone who abuses drugs, Lerblance said Oklahomans should lock up the people they’re scared of, not the people they’re mad at.

“Folks, we’ve got to get smart on crime,” he said.

In his address, Renegar said he will miss having Harrison in the legislature, calling him a lawmaker who could change someone’s mind in a debate. Harrison is not seeking re-election, but instead plans to run for the District 18 district attorney’s office.

Renegar also cited the budget as the biggest project for the upcoming legislative session.

“I wish we could spend the whole session on the budget,” he said.

Because he’s in the Democratic minority party at the state Capitol, Renegar said he did not file any bills for the legislative session.

That’s because if the bills don’t make it through a committee dominated by the other party, rules preclude him from bringing it up again until a lengthy time period has passed.

Instead, Renegar said he will attach his measures to other bills, as amendments. Two measures where that’s proven effective for him involved incorporating water law similar to New Mexico’s into Oklahoma law, and affixing voting by zone — instead of by the entire district — for board seats on Kiamichi Technology Center facilities.

By far, the biggest issue people have been talking to him about is cell phone use in automobiles, Renegar said. He expects to see some action on that during the upcoming session.

Another issue: Requiring insurance companies to pay for mammograms for women 35 and older — a response to a so-called study claiming mammograms aren’t necessary for younger women.

“We know it’s important to catch in the early stages,” Renegar said, referring to cancers that can be detected through the procedure.

He pointed to other bills he expects to see filed — such as requiring counseling before being allowed to marry or divorce — as government intrusions.

Harrison, taking his turn before the group, said the Republican-dominated state legislature has enacted record tax cuts for three of the past five years.

“Now, we’re going to have a $1.3 billion hole in our budget,” he said.

“If we had left our tax code alone — done nothing — we wouldn’t have a deficit,” he said.

Harrison said he and some of his fellow Democratic lawmakers had warned of the consequences of the huge tax cuts.

“Over and over and over, we kept saying, we can’t keep giving this money away,” he said. “We fought tooth and nail over the cuts.”

He termed the cuts as “voodoo economics.”

Harrison called the current budget crunch at the state level “The result of the Republican tax plan for Oklahoma.”

Harrison, making a reference to a previous statement by Lerblance, said “I can tell you without any reservations, if you want to be smart on crime in Pittsburg County, vote for me for D.A.”

Lerblance said he’s looking forward to the upcoming session at the state Capitol — although he quickly added a qualifier.

“It ought to be a great year,” Lerblance said.

“I’m looking forward to it — like I look forward to going to the dentist.”

Contact James Beaty at jbeaty@mcalesternews.com.

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