New House Demand on Road Projects Derails Budget Talks, Speaker's Behavior Increases Special Session Chances

House Speaker Loyd Benson has derailed budget negotiations again, threatening to stall the entire state budget until State Senate leaders agree to a list of road projects drawn up by members of the House, according to Senate President Pro Tempore Stratton Taylor.

"Just when we thought we were going to reach an agreement and get on with the people's business, the Speaker threw a new demand on the table. He's basically threatening to hold the entire state budget hostage until he gets his way on a bunch of road projects," noted Senator Taylor.

"I would prefer to move forward with finalizing the budgets for veterans, education, prisons and all the other state agencies, instead of letting the fate of the state budget hinge on a handful of highway projects. We can talk about road construction separately, without derailing the rest of state government in the process."

In the latest wrinkle of budget negotiations, Speaker Benson told Senate leaders that he would not agree on budget allocations until both Houses signed off on a list of projects for the second phase of an ongoing highway construction program. Until today, that item had not been on the request list of House budget negotiators.

With the legislative session set to adjourn in less than two weeks, lawmakers were already behind schedule in writing the state budget. The latest twist simply complicates matters, according to Taylor.

"Every time the Speaker throws a new demand on the table, he increases the likelihood that Oklahoma taxpayers will get stuck with the tab for a special session. It's really very simple. If we don't start writing the budget now, we'll be writing it in June. I don't think that's very responsible," said Senator Taylor.

Although the budget proposals of House leaders continue to change from day to day, Senate negotiators have not altered their budget requests, according to the Senate leader.

The Senate has requested $40 million in new money for higher education and input on a massive health care program unveiled by Speaker Benson two weeks ago. Contrary to claims by the Speaker, the Senate does not want to use tobacco money to fund higher education, said Taylor.

"Our position has been very simple and straightforward. We just want to move ahead with writing the state budget, instead of getting entangled in a bunch of side disagreements that really don't have much to do with the budget process," said Taylor.

After reading recent newspaper quotes from Speaker Benson stating that he supported $40 million for higher education and would allow Senate input on his health care plan, Senator Taylor said he thought the House and Senate would reach a budget agreement last week. That didn't happen, however, because the House negotiators' position didn't match the Speaker's public comments.

"When I read Speaker Benson's comments in the newspaper, I thought we had an agreement and could move forward toward an orderly adjournment. When it became clear that his public statements didn't match the House negotiating position, we were all thrown back to square one," said Senator Taylor.

"If the Speaker is trying to engineer a budget train wreck, he's doing an excellent job. I just hope that he gets serious about wrapping up the budget before time runs out on the session next week."