Monday, May the 4th be with you, 2020

What happens when you write a morning newsletter and then realize the Oklahoma Legislature released its list of FY 2021 budget bills Sunday night?

You rewrite the opening, bullet the list, hyperlink the bill numbers (because this is the everloving internet) and summarize the situation using midnight math and background text messages: For FY 2021, Oklahoma state agencies will generally receive a 4 percent cut in appropriations with slight variations, most notably common education's smaller 2.5 percent cut.

So here are the bills, along with brief summaries:

• SB 1921 contains a Board of Education appropriation from the Constitutional Reserve Fund;
• SB 1922 appropriates money from the General Revenue Fund to state agencies while taking money out of other funds, including $6.5 million from the Digital Transformation Program Revolving Fund;
• SB 1046 increases the Supplemental Hospital Offset Payment Program cap from 2.5 percent to 4 percent beginning July 1, 2020, to fund up to $134 million annually for Medicaid expansion;
• SB 1935 authorizes transfer of additional dollars for Medicaid expansion in FY 2021 from the Revenue Stabilization Fund;
• SB 1937 authorizes broader use of the Rate Preservation Fund to sustain Medicaid provider reimbursement rates;
• SB 1073 further specifies the receipt and expenditure of federal Medicaid dollars for Medicaid expansion;
• SB 1931 rejects some judicial pay raises recommended by the Board of Judicial Compensation while authorizing 4.5 percent pay increases for district court judges, associate district court judges and special district court judges;
• SB 1944 requires — immediately upon passage and approval — the director of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services to publish daily reports of all expenditures of federal CARES Act funds on the state's Oklahoma Checkbook webpage.
• HB 2741 adjusts apportionment percentages of sales, use and income tax revenue at different rates for different years, making this the most complicated measure in FY 2021's batch of budget bills.
• HB 2742 adjusts apportionment percentages for insurance premium taxes to the state retirement systems. The bill could allow lawmakers to finalize a cost of living adjustment for teacher, firefighter, law enforcement, judicial and state retirees.
• HB 2743 directs $180 million in FY 2021 and FY 2022 that would otherwise be apportioned to the Department of Transportation's ROADS Fund to the Education Reform Revolving Fund of the Department of Education;
• HB 2744 authorizes $200 million in bonds for the Department of Transportation to use for construction projects and enables HB 2743's redirection of otherwise apportioned dollars.

As you will read below, the Joint Committees on Appropriations and Budget are set to meet at 3 p.m. today inside a (mostly) re-opened State Capitol. Pack your mask and your lunch.

1 minute:
State Capitol to re-open ... with precautions

Leaders of the Oklahoma Legislature announced Saturday that the State Capitol will be open to the public again when lawmakers return for session today. As media were the only members of the public allowed in the building for legislative session March 17 and April 6, the decision to re-open Capitol access comes with some protocols:

• entry-point screenings
• masks strongly suggested
• social distancing
• disinfection efforts
• visits to lawmaker offices available by appointment only.

The Legislature worked with the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center to develop the protocol plan, and top lawmakers said their goal is to ensure the safety of everyone involved, including state employees.

"The guidance of the health professionals at OU Health Sciences Center puts the public and our staff in good hands," Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat (R-OKC) said in a press release. "Health professionals advised us on the previous access guidelines, and they are advising us on these, as well."

Both chambers of the Legislature will continue to have reduced staffing at the Capitol, with some employees continuing to work from home.

"Capitol access is being phased in cautiously just like Oklahoma’s reopening is being phased in cautiously," House Speaker Charles McCall (R-Atoka) said in the same release. "If you truly need to be at the Capitol, you can be there under health precautions, and if you do not need to be there, be safe and watch online."

House proceedings and Senate proceedings are both streamed online.

2 minutes:
Legislature unhappy with Stitt on budget

Frustrated by a breakdown in negotiations with Gov. Kevin Stitt’s team and by what they believe is an inaccurately low revenue forecast from the state Board of Equalization, the Oklahoma Legislature intends to pass a Fiscal Year 2021 budget this week cutting state agencies roughly 4 percent across the board, with about a 2.5 percent cut for common education.

Lawmakers are scheduled to hold Joint Appropriations and Budget Committee (JCAB) meetings at 3 p.m. today, and a series of appropriations bills was revealed Sunday evening. If you somehow missed it, scroll back up.

If the JCAB process moves as expected, the Legislature could send a Fiscal Year 2021 budget to Gov. Kevin Stitt by the end of Thursday, May 6. But Stitt appears set to have the final say on which agency budgets receive the most backfill from federal CARES Act funding.

Read more about the budget battle playing out at the State Capitol.

3 minutes:
Five policy bills on Monday's agendas

In their press release Saturday, legislative leaders said they "will discuss plans for the rest of session when they convene Monday." In the meantime, five measures appear up for consideration today.

On the House's floor agenda for Monday, three measures appear.

An amended version of SB 300 would create the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Limited Liability Act and would establish limited tort immunity for health care providers treating patients diagnosed with or suspected of having COVID-19, so long as gross negligence is not committed.

SB 801 would modify oversight of Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists by changing the requirement that they work under the "supervision" of a physician to a requirement that they work "in collaboration with" a physician. The bill passed the Senate unanimously in February and is the culmination of years' worth of negotiations.

SCR 10 would establish rules and details concerning the oversight committee of the Legislative Office for Fiscal Transparency. The "LOFT" effort was created last year.

The Senate floor agenda for Monday features two bills.

HB 4041 would require funeral home directors to notify employees about risks for exposure to HIV, MRSA, hepatitis or any other communicable disease. In the instance a dead body is determined to have tested positive for such a disease, funeral directors must also notify individuals transporting that body. It would also require penal and other institutions to notify funeral directors if a person who died at the institution tests positive for a communicable disease. It adds a new section of law requiring any hospital, physician or other person responsible for the release of a body that has tested positive for communicable disease to notify the receiving funeral director.

HB 3870 would direct the Commissioners of the Land Office to "use their best efforts to exchange undeveloped land owned by the Commissioners of the Land Office for privately held commercial properties and consider the impact on affected taxing districts prior to the exchange or purchase of commercial properties."

4 minutes:
Will Stitt receive extension of
'health emergency' powers?

That's the (literally) $50 million question. On April 2, Gov. Kevin Stitt invoked the Catastrophic Health Emergency Powers Act for the first time in state history. Days later, on April 6, the Legislature approved Stitt's expanded powers, which included flexibility to spend money and suspend state laws deemed to be inhibiting the governor's ability to combat COVID-19.

Those powers were granted for 30 days, meaning the Legislature will have to decide this week whether to grant an extension to Stitt, whose administration has clashed with lawmakers recently on a host of issues.

One requirement placed on the emergency powers by the Legislature was that Stitt report to them details of his expenditures and his suspensions of state law. It is unclear whether such reports have been made so far.

One other note: The Legislature approved the "health emergency" declaration in special session, so lawmakers would take any further action on that matter in special session as well.

Read more about the Catastrophic Health Emergency Powers Act.

BONUS:
New resource pages for
Tulsa and Comanche counties

New on NonDoc today, you can find two new resource pages for large Oklahoma counties. The pages for Comanche County and Tulsa County each list key county resources, as well as links to websites for the counties' largest municipalities.

Peruse and bookmark all of our public resource pages today:

• Canadian County
• Cleveland County
• Comanche County
• Oklahoma County
• Tulsa County
• Statewide resources

DOUBLE BONUS:
All the government you could ever want

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