Tax cuts to conference, standoff solidifies 
Capitol Spotlight for weeklies for week of May 14, 2007
By Jim Campbell
OPA Capitol News Bureau
Balancing budget requests of various interests against available revenue, an exercise often akin to poking 10 pounds of stuff into a five-pound sack, faces the extra problem of working with a "sack" that could be shrinking a lot.
The billion-dollar question: If it wouldn't fit in May would it fit in June?
A record income tax cut that Democrats assumed -- some say naively -- would become the basis for House-Senate conference negotiations instead became the centerpiece of a standoff played out against a backdrop of the lieutenant governor's race and control of the Senate.
Some lawmakers said a special legislative session next month was all but inevitable after business closed May 11 without a budget agreement.
Democrats voted with Republicans weeks ago to send a bill cutting the state income tax from 6.5 percent to 4.9 percent to the House, with the title off, figuring it would go to conference for a final rewrite.
The bill was sponsored by Sen. Scott Pruitt, R-Broken Arrow, a candidate for the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor. When it got to the House, where Speaker Todd Hiett, R-Kellyville opposes Pruitt for the nomination, the title was restored and it was sent back to the Senate. Hiett earlier had proposed a cut to 5.86 percent.
Hiett has proposed total tax cuts of about $570 million.
On May 9, the income tax bill and revived GOP measures eliminating the estate tax, a.k.a. the "death tax," and enacting "significant lawsuit reform" came up for a vote in the Senate. It was the same day Republican Mike Schultz defeated Democrat Robbie Kerr, widow of the late Sen. Robert Kerr of Altus, for the remainder of Kerr's Senate term, further trimming the Democrats' slim majority.
In roll call votes, the majority prevailed, 24-22, to send the income and estate bills to conference. The vote on the lawsuit bill was just 23-22, because Sen. Susan Paddack, D-Ada, left for signing of the "Caitlin Wooten Act," of which she was Senate author.
"This is not the end," Pruitt said following the vote. "This is just the beginning."
Although he said he would have preferred that the Senate send the bill to the governor, he asserted that if Democrats "wanted the 4.9 percent to die they would have tabled it."
"They didn't do that and sent it to conference," where, he said, he assumed GOP conferees would hold out for the 4.9 percent cut in the state income tax rate.
He said he was not considering a compromise.
"I think 4.9 percent is a great step," he said. "I think we need to lower it beyond that."
Both Hiett and Pruitt said their commitment to the record tax cut is not tied to their political race and contend the tax cuts would increase state revenue by attracting more taxpayers to the state.
Sen. Jay Paul Gumm, D-Durant, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, saw it differently.
"Tax cuts should be negotiated as part of a budget that reflects our state's values, not used as a platform for a term-limited politician to try to get elected to another job," Gumm said.
Sen. President Pro Tempore Mike Morgan, D-Stillwater, and Democratic Gov. Brad Henry have taken positions for targeted tax cuts in place of the income tax slash. Morgan cited remaining needs in such areas as health care, transportation and education.
Senate Republican leader Glenn Coffee of Oklahoma City denounced the Senate action, saying, "The priorities of the Senate won't change until the leadership of the Senate changes."
Republicans have never controlled the Senate.
Sen. Owen Laughlin, R-Woodward, said Pruitt "has always been a true believer. He has not changed his stripes."
Laughlin said talk of a special session was "irresponsible" and contended a budget could be written "in a heartbeat" if the two sides would get together.
"Would they be more willing in June?" he asked.
Morgan said, "We continue to be hopeful that somehow this impasse with break and we'll be able to have some sort of budget agreement before we have to adjourn on May 26."
***
The governor scolded lawmakers for failing to pay disaster-related bills that go back nearly six years.
"We must pay our past obligations," Henry said. "It is dead foolish for us as a state not to fund our emergency disaster fund."
The governor is asking for $18-20 million to cover long-outstanding ice storm bills plus recent expenses related to wildfires and tornadoes.
***
Oklahomans may now use deadly force to defend themselves outside the home, the governor having signed the "Stand Your Ground" law.
"This law will allow law-abiding Oklahomans to protect themselves, their loved ones and their property," Henry said.
Rep. Kevin Calvey, R-Del City, a candidate for the GOP 5th District congressional nomination, authored House Bill 2615.
If a runoff were not already likely in the crowded Republican primary, it became even more probable with entry of Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett and Edmond doctor Johnny B. Roy.