Public Policy Advocates

A substitute bill regarding the house-passed Tax Freeze Bill (HB 318) was expected to be adopted by the Senate Finance Committee this week.  However, the Republican caucus submitted a proposal that was immediately met with disapproval from an overwhelming majority of Senators.  Republican Senators were only able to garner 5 votes from their 22-member caucus for the new measure, while all 12 members of the Democratic Caucus stood in opposition to the proposal. 

The Republican proposal, announced by Senate President Bill Harris, kept 2/3 of the proposed Tax Freeze, while implementing the rest of the tax cut.  In order to make up the funds lost by enacting that 1/3 of the tax cut, the Senate included a number of cash management and cost cutting solutions, designed to fill the gap.  The bill also included a number of bills currently pending in the Senate which do not have any fiscal effect.  Included in the substitute bill proposal was:

-A waiver allowance for schools to opt-out of the all-day kindergarten required by House Bill 1.
-Language allowing for oil and gas drilling in Salt Fork State Park
-Allocation of casino tax revenues
-Removal of legislative pay cut language
-Shifting money from programs to combat homelessness

A full synopsis of the substitute bill proposal can be found here.

Unable to gather enough Democratic votes to adopt the substitute bill, the Senate Finance Committee recessed Wednesday without taking action on the bill.  There will be no committee hearings next week due to the holiday.  Therefore, the first opportunity to continue work on this bill will be the week of November 30th.