The Legislature’s only constitutionally-required job each year is to create a balanced budget to fund state government services. While we file, vote and pass numerous pieces of legislation each year to make our state a better place to live and work, a great deal of our time is spent on creating this budget framework. Unlike the federal government, we cannot spend more money than the revenues collected for the year, so we are constantly keeping an eye on the state of our economy and tax revenues collected.
As chairman of the Natural Resources and Regulatory Services Appropriations Subcommittee, I’m immersed in the budget process even further. Our committee oversees the budget requests from 13 of the approximately 60 state agencies that receive appropriations from the Legislature, including the Conservation Commission, Department of Agriculture, and Department of Tourism and Recreation.
If you keep up with the news, you may have heard about the report released by the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT) that questioned the Tourism Department’s spending and contract with Swadley’s BBQ to run restaurants in our state parks.
Our state parks provide citizens and visitors recreational and vacation opportunities in our own backyards, and they are extremely important assets. However, it’s also important to make sure we are utilizing our tax dollars in an appropriate manner, so they are properly allocated to manage and maintain these indispensable state assets. I plan on digging deeper into this report and seeing how this plays out moving forward.
One of our legislative priorities this year, aside from the budget, is making sure we don’t end up with an extreme backlog of Oklahomans waiting for services at the tag agency like we saw in 2021. We appropriated about $6 million last year to open temporary REAL ID megacenters to help those needing immediate driver license and REAL ID services, but the issues that came to a head in 2021 drew attention to the need to modernize our entire system for providing Oklahomans with services they need. This year, we approved a measure creating Service Oklahoma, which would form a franchise system for tag agents. Service Oklahoma agents would offer standardized operating hours and services so Oklahomans always know they will receive the highest level of care. In the future, these agencies could offer additional amenities where folks could get other important government documents like birth certificates and marriage licenses. Service Oklahoma was developed with input from a group of tag agents, legislative leaders and members of the executive branch who were tasked with developing a road map for tag agents to better serve the state.
Speaking of tag agents, the Senate approved two of my bills that modify how vehicles are registered and tax is collected. Currently, you have 30 days from the time you purchase a vehicle to get it registered at your local tag agency. SB 1318 would double this time frame from 30 to 60 days, giving Oklahomans more time to pay taxes on the vehicle and ease the burden on tag agents across the state.
SB 1486 would modify the formula used to calculate how much sales tax is owed on a new vehicle purchase. Under current law, sales tax is calculated on the initial cost of the vehicle, even if a tradein allowance is used to lower the total purchase price. This legislation would modify the sales tax to be calculated on the difference of the price of a new vehicle and the value of the trade-in. Both of these measures are awaiting approval in the House of Representatives.
Finally, I had the pleasure of welcoming Thomas High School senior BaLee Noland to the Capitol this past week as my page. We enjoyed having BaLee in our office, and during her service she was able to tour the Oklahoma History Center and state Capitol, and even meet with Governor Stitt and Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat. She’s a bright young lady with a great future ahead of her. We are thankful for her service.
I appreciate the faith you’ve put in me to be your voice at our Capitol. If there’s anything I can do to help you, please reach out. You can contact me by email at Darcy.Jech@oksenate.gov or by phone at 405-521-5545.