The Oklahoma House failed Monday to pass a $1.50 per pack cigarette increase that was a big part of Republican budget plans.
Rep. Leslie Osborn tried to encourage her colleagues to vote yes on House Bill 2372, saying it would help the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, OSU Medical Authority, local health departments and others potentially facing severe cuts.
"Passage of this bill will ensure that their [Federal Medical Assistance Percentages] are met, their therapy caps are lifted and we do what we have promised we would, not for an agency, but for the people that we serve across this state," Osborn said.
HB2372 dedicated the first $185 million from the increase to health care. It had specific allocations from that for certain entities. Rep. Leslie Osborn addressed concerns specific agencies’ funding boosts would be short-lived, as the bill only mandated those allocations for next fiscal year.
"That resets their base at a higher amount because of the dollars that would go in, so it would be very problematic to go back and pull a lot of that off," Osborn said.
The implications for health care agencies of not passing the bill are bigger than another round of state budget cuts.
"I do not have the exact figures on me on what they would lose [of] their federal match, but on any of these, the way we're looking at the budget and with the $1 billion shortfall, I'm sure every one of these entities will lose federal match if we don't pass this bill," Osborn said.
The vote the bill was 63–34, but as a revenue measure, it needed 76 yes votes to pass. Yes and no votes came from members of both parties.
The vote on HB2372 was held open substantially longer than most votes. Gov. Mary Fallin came to the House floor during the vote. She later said she was disappointed in those who voted against the measure.
"It’s personal to those of us who have lost loved ones to smoking-related illnesses. It’s personal to teenagers in Oklahoma who would have been saved from lives of tobacco addiction if the bill had passed. It’s personal for citizens who would have received health care from the new revenue," Fallin said in a statement.
The proposal will be a ballot measure in the next general election.
