Sen. Roger Thompson has been chosen to chair the Senate Appropriation Subcommittee on Finance.  He was named to head the committee by incoming Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Schulz.  Thompson was also recently chosen by the Senate Republican Caucus to serve as caucus vice chair.
Legislation that would change the state’s tax code in any way is typically assigned to Finance.  Thompson said because the bills that committee votes on may have implications for state revenue and the budget, this year the Finance Committee became an appropriations subcommittee.  He said with an additional budget shortfall anticipated for Fiscal Year 2018, his subcommittee will be among the most-watched in the Senate.
“The good news for Oklahoma is the recent decision by OPEC to decrease oil production.  We’ve seen oil prices finally moving upward and that’s going to have a positive impact, not just on oil and gas tax collections, but a wide range of other areas as companies eventually begin adding jobs in the energy sector,” said Thompson, R-Okemah.  “But for right now, our economy is still being affected by what’s happened over the past couple of years.”
The latest report from the State Treasurer’s office shows that collections of oil and gas production increased in November, the second month in a row to show improvement after a long period of decline beginning in December 2014.  However, the report also showed that income and sales tax, the two largest revenue sources for the state, fell below prior year collections for November.
“I think as the energy industry continues to recover, we’ll see growth in other areas as well, moving us in the direction we need to be going,” Thompson said.  “But this session we’re still going to be facing significant budget challenges.  That means there will likely be additional legislation to decrease or eliminate some tax preferences.  These preferences are supposed to help, not hurt the state, however, in some cases the level of economic benefit is simply not great enough to justify them.”
Thompson will have additional responsibilities in helping decide policy and funding proposals with his assignments as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, the Appropriations Subcommittee on Select Agencies, Education Committee, Rules and Public Safety.
Members will return to the Senate for an organizational day Jan. 3, 2017, and the session will formally begin Feb. 6.