Culver reflects on 2024 ahead of new session

OKLAHOMA CITY – Rep. Bob Ed Culver, R-Tahlequah, provided a wrap-up of 2024 ahead of the new session, which begins this month. In a press release, Culver discussed how legislation sent 481 bills to Gov. Kevin Stitt in 2024. That included bills to address illegal immigration, cut taxes and supporting public schools.

The House launched an "easily accessible" online budget dashboard that details appropriations for the previous fiscal year, state agencies' budget requests, and each chamber's official negotiating position. The House Budget Transparency Portal has given Oklahomans "unprecedented" access to the budget process, allowing them to see every step of the budget process and how their tax dollars are being spent.

One of the highlights for Culver over the last two sessions is what they accomplished for public schools. The Legislature invested a record $1.5 billion in new funding to public K-12 education between fiscal year 2019 and fiscal year 2025, including $839.5 million in fiscal year 2024 and fiscal year 2025. This includes $10 million into a three-year program to employ a literacy instructional team in school districts, and a three-year school safety pilot program. They also supported six weeks of paid maternity leave for public school educators and updated graduation requirements to require four years of math and six credits in subjects aligning with a student's Individual Career and Academic Plan.

Culver said there is more work to be done to support public schools, but the Legislature has made that a priority, and the amount invested shows that.

Another focus of the Legislature this session were public safety and judiciary issues. Culver served as vice chair of the Judiciary-Civil Committee, and the work that they do benefits Oklahomans across the state. They passed legislation that prohibits bonds for individuals who are arrested for a violent crime while out on bond for a violent crime, and increased the punishments for domestic abuse against a pregnant woman and for strangulation against an intimate partner. Additionally, the Legislature permitted property owners to request the county sheriff immediately remove someone unlawfully occupying real property under certain conditions and provided $18 million for sheriff and deputy pay raises in the fiscal year 2025 budget.

Culver said public safety should be a concern for all, and the Legislature is committed to passing laws that keep every Oklahoman safe.

A major piece of legislation carried over from 2023's session, but passed this year was the elimination of the state's portion of the grocery tax. The House has passed dozens of tax cut proposals over the last four years, only for them to stall out in the Senate. Last session, the dam finally broke and the Senate passed the House's version of the grocery tax cut.

Culver said this is one way for Oklahoman's to keep more of their hard earned money, but more needs to be done to cut taxes in a responsible, measured way.

The $12.47 billion budget passed by the Legislature and approved by the governor was negotiated in the "most transparent process ever in state history." Budget negotiations were livestreamed, and the House Budget Transparency portal was updated in real time as negotiating positions changed.

Culver added it is important to remember that one's voices in the Legislature are the elected officials, and to reach out to them often to express thoughts and desires for how they would like to see tax dollars spent.

A few highlights from this year's budget not mentioned above are:

• $25 million additional funding into the school funding formula

• $27.6 million for CareerTech to address its waitlist

• $350 million for the new Oklahoma Capital Assets Maintenance and Protection Fund to cover deferred maintenance at state properties, state parks and public colleges and universities

• $30 million to increase reimbursement rates for developmental disability service providers

• $3 million to provide 300 additional individuals with developmental disability services

• $15 million increase to provide services to pregnant women

• $1.5 million to address the rape kits backlog

• $45 million in disaster relief to help tornado-impacted counties

• $200 million to Rural Economic Transportation Reliability & Optimization (RETRO) Fund 

• $50 million to DEQ to upgrade levees along the Arkansas River

• $12.7 million to Oklahoma Water Resources Board to leverage federal funding in community water supply

Anyone needing assistance from Culver are asked to call his Capitol office at 405-557-7408 or email him at bob.culver@okhouse.gov.