Much accomplished in 59th Legislature

The first session of the 59th Legislature is behind us, and while it was challenging at times, I’m pleased to say we were able to accomplish a great deal for the people of Oklahoma.

Thanks to the strength of our economy the last few years, we were able to approve a historic nearly $13 billion state budget while also sustaining more than $3.9 billion in state savings. Our economy is starting to slow down, and a national recession could well be in our future, so we knew it was imperative to maintain this crucial safety net for our state agencies and services.

The Department of Education received record appropriations approaching $4 billion – a nearly 25% increase over their current budget. This critical funding will put an additional $200 million into the state funding formula and provide $3,000 to $6,000 teacher pay raises to help keep our outstanding educators while attracting more to this great profession. We’re also providing six weeks of paid maternity leave; making major investments in school security; focusing more assets into reading sufficiency; and providing additional funding to those schools with low ad valorem tax collections.

As chairman of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, I was thrilled that the Department of Agriculture received a significant increase to their annual budget. This will provide $5.5 million to cover increased operations and services and nearly $7 million for our rural fire departments for necessary vehicle upgrades. Just over $4.8 million has been allocated to build a state veterinary hospital under the OSU Veterinary Hospital Authority. The Oklahoma Water Resources Board also received a $17 million supplemental appropriation for drought relief for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. We then appropriated an additional $20 million to them for FY’24 for ongoing drought relief efforts. These funds will provide much-needed support for our agriculture community and rural Oklahoma.

Funding was also provided to many other critical areas like workforce and economic development, health and mental health care, victims’ services, and increased public safety training. The state’s last nearly $56 million in federal ARPA funds was also allocated to further expand broadband services, update water infrastructure, strengthen workforce development, invest in long-term care for children, and improve access to health and mental health care services. I’ll go into more detail about these funding areas in the coming weeks. 

I was happy that several of my bills were signed into law, including two increasing the monthly travel allowance for county commissioners, sheriffs, assessors, clerks, treasurers, and court clerks by $300 and another modifying amounts for county equipment to be reported in commissioner meeting minutes or use for trade-ins.

The others will modernize our state’s 9-1-1 emergency system; create the Veterans Suicide Prevention Task Force and the OSU Veterinary Medicine Authority. The governor also signed legislation to better protect county officials from assault; modernize how county documents are stored and processed; and modify how pooled investment programs for counties and municipalities are governed.

To keep up with the latest news from the Capitol and around Senate District 31, please follow my official Facebook page @SenatorKidd.

Thank you again for the privilege of serving our district and the State of Oklahoma in the Senate. If I can be of any assistance, you can reach me at (405) 521-5563 or Chris.Kidd@oksenate.gov.