Gov. Mary Fallin will unveil her executive budget proposal Monday afternoon as she delivers her annual State of the State address to members of the GOP-controlled House and Senate.
With sliding oil prices expected to deepen an already-projected $300 million hole in next year's budget, Fallin told the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange's Michael Cross lawmakers will have to be creative as they attempt to balance a growing list of demands for state resources with a dwindling amount of available revenue.
“It’s not so much because the economy is weak, although we do have a little bit of a challenge with the energy sector, which we’re watching very closely, but it’s more about how we allocate the money within the budget itself,” Fallin said.
The governor also said there's an interesting twist to the cuts in spending and personnel by energy companies due to falling oil prices.
Oklahoma has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation at 4.2 percent, and Fallin said economists in state Department of Commerce have told her they've been approached by 37 companies in the past month who are desperate for workers.
“As those employees might be weaning off the energy sector through possible cutbacks and drilling in the energy sector, the other industries actually need those job skills,” Fallin said. “Whether it’s aerospace, whether it’s biochemical research, whether it’s agriculture, whatever the indstury might be, we think that with low unemployment, that there may be room to actually help other industries that have been starving for employees.”
Fallin and Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman have suggested lawmakers consider an estimated $900 million in agency revolving funds to help close the budget gap.
Prison Overcrowding
The governor also plans to address the state’s prison overcrowding. Fallin also
Oklahoma has one of the highest incarceration rates in the country, and Fallin signed an executive order last month to establish a panel to treat nonviolent offenders with substance abuse and mental health problems.
Fallin says she doesn't want to just study the issue, but use this legislative session to move forward and make progress.
“One of the things we think is important is inmates have some type of mental evaluation as they’re going through this system to determine if they’ve had a substance abuse issue or if they’re more prone to mental illness, or even a criminal,” Fallin said. “Certainly they have some type of crime they’ve committed, but what is the true problem with the inmate [himself?]”
Fallin also says she wants to keep people in prison who are violent and could cause harm to society, but that keeping non-violent offenders in prison breaks up families.
“It can certainly cause children to go into our child welfare system, and certainly can cause financial strains on a family, which leads to areas where we have more poverty in the state,” Fallin said “They’re out of the work force, they’re not supporting their families.”
Still No Medicaid Expansion Anytime Soon
Late last year the Oklahoma Hospital Association unveiled a plan to use federal Medicaid expansion dollars to increase health insurance options for low-income Oklahomans.
The Oklahoman’s Jaclyn Cosgrove reports a state Board of Health member asked his colleagues to endorse the plan during a January 13 meeting.
“That’s how strongly I believe that this is a good plan and really reflects what needs to be done in Oklahoma, and I’m afraid if we’re too weak on the issue that might be perceived that we’re really not on board,” said [Tim] Starkey, who operates Great Salt Plains Health Center in Cherokee. The board tabled Starkey’s motion, with other members saying it was too early to endorse the association’s plan, which uses Medicaid expansion dollars — a politically sensitive and heavily debated topic among state leaders. . . . Hospital association leaders launched their plan, Transforming Health Care: A Proposal for Oklahoma’s Future, in November and have spent the past few months educating policy leaders about the plan’s goals. Oklahoma Hospital Association President Craig Jones presented the plan in December to the Oklahoma Health Care Authority board.
Two years ago Fallin announced Oklahoma would not expand its Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act, and she says there's still not an appetite to expand Medicaid in Oklahoma.
Fallin says Oklahoma’s improving economy means the state now receives fewer Medicaid dollars, and she estimates it’s about a $160 million loss.
“If we were to add more people on to a system that’s already in the hole by $160 million, then that means either services are going to suffer, providers are going to suffer,” Fallin said. “We’re not going to be able to cover the people we already have, which is already a challenge for us.”
Fallin says Medicaid expansion could cost Oklahoma up to $1 billion by 2020. She did say she would continue to push for extensions to keep the employer-sponsored Insure Oklahoma plan that's currently administered by the state Health Care Authority.
Fallin will deliver her annual State of the State address early this afternoon, and KGOU will bring you live coverage from our public television colleagues at OETA beginning at 12:30 p.m.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
