A proposal to have Oklahoma legislative sessions focused solely on the budget is picking up support outside the House and Senate chambers.
Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb said he’s on board.
"That should be explored, because our budget is the priority," Lamb said. "Spending money wisely, making sure we're efficient with taxpayer dollars — we discussed it some last legislative session. I think we'll see more discussion on it this year."
After a budget shortfall of more than $600 million for the current fiscal year, state officials are anticipating one approaching $1 billion next year. The actual numbers may not be known until January or February. Tax cuts for energy companies and personal income are likely not on the table to address the problem.
"If we didn't have incentives provided to those energy companies, we'd be in even more of a challenging situation than we are right now," Lamb said. "And with the tax cuts implemented and enacted in recent years, we're not in a budget challenge because of those tax cuts. We've had more money coming in, particularly last year, than we've ever had as far as revenue."
Lamb said agencies need to continue to trim their budgets and state leaders need to focus on providing the core services of government, but he’s not ready to suggest which agencies and services they might be able to offload.
"No. Asking me today, early November 2015 in preparation for the session of 2016, no, I can't address that really well today," Lamb said.
Lamb was in Tulsa Wednesday for a PSO event.
