In an escalation of the fight at the State Capitol over passing tax cuts and education reform, and in particular frustration with the Senate leadership's intransigence on these issues, the governor vetoed twenty Senate bills - writing the same veto message on all of them:
"Oklahomans elected me to advocate on their behalf and fight for the taxpayer. I take this responsibility seriously and so I cannot, in good faith, allow another year to go by without cutting taxes, and reforming education, both of which we can absolutely afford with our $1.2 billion surplus and over $6 billion in savings. Therefore, until the people of Oklahoma have a tax cut, until every teacher in the state gets the pay raise they deserve, until parents get a tax credit to send their child to the school of their choice, I am vetoing this unrelated policy and will continue to veto any and all legislation authored by Senators who have not stood with the people of Oklahoma and supported this plan." [emphasis mine]
Absolute. Scorched. Earth.
I'm not 100% sold on the various education reform proposals (I have some reservations), but man... I kinda admire Gov. Stitt going scorched earth on this. I want a governor who is willing to go to bat for the taxpayer and for parents.
Stitt vetoed an additional five bills last night, though they were not specifically related to the tax/education policy war with the Senate.
NonDoc has an been covering the legislative session drama very well. Be sure to read the below articles for much more detail (the first one is particularly well-written and reported):
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