In light of Oklahoma struggling with lower oil and gas prices once again, Oklahoma City State Senator David Holt proposes a way to increase the way the state government saves for troubled times like these. Holt introduced Senate Joint Resolution 44 which asks the people of Oklahoma to set the cap on the state’s Rainy Day Fund at 15 percent of the total state budget. According to Holt that figure is about $24 million dollars.
As things stand, the Rainy Day Fund’s cap is 15 percent of the general revenue fund certification which is a much smaller number.
“The thing that should frustrate all of us is that we have a century of experience telling us that an energy-based economy dramatically rises and falls, and yet we still don’t have a savings account that appreciates that fact,” said Holt. “Though addressing the short-term is important, we should also move forward on long-term reforms like this while the lessons are fresh, or we’ll simply find ourselves in this predicament again. Now that we know our actual state budget is in excess of $24 billion, we should act to create a Rainy Day Fund that is up to the task. Our current Rain Day Fund gives a false sense of security by measuring itself against an artificial number that is less than a quarter of the state’s actual spending. No responsible citizen would run their household this way, and neither should we.”
If SJR 44 is approved by the Legislature, the issue could be before voters this November during the General Election.
