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Governor Mary Fallin has signed House Bill 1020XX, the Fiscal Year 2018 budget bill, into law. The $6.98 billion budget covers the current fiscal year, which ends June 30.

 

The measure cuts state spending by about $44.7 million and requires every state agency to cut about 2 percent from their budgets over the next four months. It is the result of two special sessions that Fallin convened after three health-related agencies were plunged into a $214 million budget shortfall last August when a proposed smoking cessation fee was struck down by the state Supreme Court.

 

Fallin urged lawmakers to pass revenue and reform measures to make up the funding gap. However, members in the House of Representatives failed to muster the required three-fourths majority necessary for certain revenue measures.

 

The governor also signed HB 1021XX, which states legislative intent that a number of social service programs, mainly for the elderly and disabled, be kept at their original budgetary levels.