The House adjourned its regular session on Friday, May 27, as we are constitutionally required to do. We are, however, still convened in special session but adjourned to a call of the chair.
This will allow us to come back in during the interim to take legislative action on any number of bills that will appropriate funding to American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) projects.
Last year, the Legislature formed the Joint Committee on Pandemic Relief funding to take public input into the best use of the state's portion of $1.8 billion in ARPA funds. We received 1,400 proposals the committee is currently evaluating. The Legislature is called to be stewards over taxpayer money, and we take this seriously. These federal funds are, after all, our money. We want to maintain legislative oversight into how this money is spent, and the special session is the best way to accomplish this.
We've already sent several proposals to the governor, such as expanding broadband internet so people have access to online services such as virtual education, telehealth, business and more. We've also proposed spending ARPA funds to expand the number of spots available in state college nursing programs so we have more frontline health care workers to meet the needs of Oklahomans.
As we are constitutionally required to do each year, the Legislature also sent the governor our final budget package for Fiscal Year 2023, which starts in July. The $9.8 billion budget appropriates about 48% to education, 29% to health and human services, 8% to transportation and 7% to public safety. This budget grants pay raises to multiple law enforcement agencies, including 30% to Highway Patrol troopers and 30% and 20% to Department of Corrections officers and Pardon and Parole officers, respectively.
We also completely eliminated the state's developmentally disabled waiting list, ensuring critical services will be delivered to more than 5,100 on the list.
We delivered some inflation relief – rebates of $75 for individual income tax payers and $150 for families, as well as the restoration of the 1.25% sales tax exemption on the purchase of a vehicle. The governor vetoed these measures, instead calling the Legislature into an additional special session to instead eliminate the state's portion of the sales tax on groceries and to reduce the personal income tax for all Oklahomans. These are great ideas, but we didn't get consensus among all legislators to accomplish those changes this year, so I'm not sure what will be accomplished in special session.
The Legislature is the body constitutionally required to write and pass the budget each year as it is the body closest to the people. The governor has input by presenting his executive budget at the beginning of each session or by vetoing the entire budget or part of it. This year, the governor chose to let most of the budget become law without his signature, while vetoing other portions. The Legislature overrode several of the governor's vetoes.
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In your service, Mike Dobrinski