Michelle Seeber
Woodward News
Woodward, Okla. — State Reps. Mike Sanders and Jeff Hickman shared the good, the bad and the budget as they provided a legislative update to Woodward area residents during the Woodward Chamber of Commerce's "Eggs and Issues" event Friday morning.
Hickman, R-Dacoma, once again spoke about an expected 10 percent cut to the state's overall budget for Fiscal Year 2010-2011 as “we still have another $1.2 million shortfall.”
This shortfall will likely lead to the loss of hundreds of state jobs, he said, noting that up to 20 percent of the state labor force could be looking at cutbacks.
Despite the dire budget situation, Sanders, R-Kingfisher, said he "see(s) some opportunities."
Namely these opportunities come in the form of consolidation of state agencies, he said, but noted that such consolidation must be approached with thought and caution.
But if done properly, Sanders said consolidation “will make sure tax dollars are being spent wisely."
On another positive note, Hickman pointed to signs that certain areas of the state’s economy may be picking up.
Hickman, who is also chairman of the Appropriations Subcom-mittee on Revenue and Taxation, said that state collections in February exceeded estimates.
“February is typically the worst collection month of the year,” Hickman said, noting, “It’s good to not be actually continuing to fall.”
He noted that income tax and gross production tax collections were also up significantly, both by 36 percent over last year, and natural gas production is up.
“That means more people are working,” Hickman said.
But while some revenue collections are up, others are continuing to decline.
"Sales tax collections are down 15 percent,” he said, adding “motor vehicle collections are also down."
“We are in the worst era of collections since the Great Depression,” Hickman said. “We still have many difficult days ahead.”
While discussions on the FY 2010-2011 budget still loom, the House has been busy in the last few days passing a number of different bills, and Sanders touched on a couple of his.
His HB 2968 is directed at sex offenders and would require they register with a "mappable" physical address, not with post office box numbers.
“You can have a post office box number and still live directly across the street from a school,” Sanders said.
Another bill (HB 2973) would require wind energy companies to take down towers if the they go bankrupt, he said.
Both bills will now go to the Senate for a vote.
Hickman also discussed some other recently passed legislation, including HB 2331 that would allow police officers to impound uninsured vehicles until insurance is purchased and another bill that would reduce tax credits for electrical vehicle purchases to a maximum of $5,000 or half the purchase price, whichever is cheaper.
