Thread by @OKPolicy

Gov. Stitt on Monday began ramrodding through the Legislature at least $700 million in incentives for an unnamed company with virtually no time for lawmakers – and the general public – to evaluate how these taxpayer dollars are being spent and who benefits from them. #okleg 1/

It’s also not certain how the state intends to pay for this $700M incentive. The gov. said the state would dip into its more than $1B savings account. Legislative leadership previously said that they needed to save $2.3B to meet a recent stress test.
oksenate.gov/press-releases…

If legislative leadership intends to appropriate savings to incentives for the undisclosed company, this would represent a remarkable reversal on stated policy and without opportunity for most lawmakers, let alone everyday Oklahomans, to make an informed decision.

Gov. Stitt announced in broad terms a major incentive package at 1 p.m. The language for that bill (HB 4455) was not made public until 2:30 p.m., and it went before lawmakers for a vote just two hours later. oklegislature.gov/BillInfo.aspx?…

Officials on Monday said negotiations for this undisclosed project have been in the works for years, yet lawmakers had less than 2 hours to consider a complex, multiyear business incentive that equates to about 8% of Oklahoma’s annual budget.

It’s unreasonable to give lawmakers such a short amount of time to understand and cast an informed vote on complex, consequential legislation. It also denies the opportunity for concerned Oklahomans to weigh in.

“How am I supposed to go back to my constituents and say, ‘I gave away three-quarters of a billion dollars to a company that I don’t even know their name?’ Is that responsible?” - Rep. Collin Walke, D-OKC, during Monday’s JCAB meeting. nondoc.com/2022/04/18/okl…

Gov. Stitt called the bill “mega-legislation” for a “humongous, humongous factory,” “billions and billions of dollars worth of investment [and] thousands and thousands of jobs.” Decisions of that magnitude deserve deliberation and debate, not a secretive, last-minute rush.

We support economic development efforts that can be fully considered by elected officials to ensure best use of limited state revenue dollars. But we must object to Oklahoma taxpayers being strong-armed with a last-minute, backdoor deal that benefits a clandestine company.

None of these concerns address the merits of the proposed legislation. Frankly that’s because only a handful of insiders have considered and shaped this legislation that’s being pushed through the legislative process.

This lack of openness isn’t necessarily new: Oklahoma legislators have a history of making consequential decisions about our tax dollars outside the public eye:
okpolicy.org/oklahoma-among…

The best decisions — especially regarding expenditure of public tax dollars — are made in the light of day with the full facts available for review and consideration.

The process Oklahoma lawmakers and private interests have taken today to surreptitiously maneuver public funds for private use is antithetical to representative government.