Senate appropriations subcommittees advance recommendations for transportation, general government and OMES; tax commission trims $1M

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday received subcommittee recommendations for general government and transportation appropriations, advancing multiple agency budgets and sending them to the full committee for final action.

The recommendations included a $21,300,000 increase for the Department of Transportation, bringing that subcommittee’s recommendation to a total appropriation of $813,243,711. The panel also moved a $1,000,000 reduction in the Oklahoma Tax Commission’s base recurring appropriation from the agency request, and recommended flat or adjusted budgets for several other state entities including Service Oklahoma, the state senate, the governor’s office and the Oklahoma Military Department.

The subcommittee presentation began with Senator Ryan Woods’s overview of the Department of Transportation recommendation. Senator Woods: “the subcommittee come together this morning and the subcommittee recommended, to full appropriation today, an increase of 21,300,000 for a total appropriation of $813,243,711,” he said.

Nut graf: The hearing combined routine subcommittee moves with brief policy questions from senators about agency operations and longer budget items for OMES (the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services). The Tax Commission drew particular scrutiny after telling the committee it had brought work in‑house and reduced requested recurring dollars by $1,000,000 while projecting recurring savings compared with its prior third‑party contract.

Agency details and key discussion

Oklahoma Tax Commission: Jessica Grokos, deputy executive director for the Oklahoma Tax Commission, told senators the reduction reflects ongoing efficiency and the transition away from a third‑party contractor. Grokos said the commission did not renew a one‑year contract with renewal options and moved much of the work in‑house. “We chose not to renew that contract at the end of the first year, bring it in house,” Grokos said, adding that the first‑year cost to stand up the program was roughly $3,900,000 but that moving forward the agency expects the recurring cost to be about $2,000,000 annually. Senators asked whether that reduced budget would still allow the commission to pursue recapture and fraud‑related work tied to tax credits; Grokos described the statutory reconciliation process and said the commission was working through recapture as required by existing law.

Service Oklahoma and other flat budgets: Senator Woods presented flat budgets recommended for Service Oklahoma ($52,848,000), the state House budget ($22,786,198), the Oklahoma Military Department ($22,106,110), the state senate and several smaller offices. Those presentations proceeded with little or no follow‑up questioning.

OMES: Senator Greene presented the subcommittee’s recommendation for the Office of Management and Enterprise Services, which included a $7,276,050 increase for FY25 and a $22,812,022 increase for FY26, yielding a proposed total appropriation of $173,760,564 for OMES. Senators asked whether the recommended budget included funding for deferred maintenance of capital assets; Senator Kurt asked directly, “Are there is there funding here or somewhere else for deferred maintenance for capital, assets?” The response from the presenter was “there’s none in this budget.” Senators expressed concern that routine capital and lease obligations would go unaddressed if maintenance funding was not set aside.

What’s next

The committee chair reminded members that these subcommittee recommendations are one step in a multi‑stop budget process: agency requests were heard in public budget hearings, subcommittees reviewed them publicly, and the full committee will review and adopt a Senate position in the weeks ahead.

Ending: The Appropriations Chair moved the subcommittee recommendations to the full committee; most items advanced without lengthy debate. Several follow‑up questions remain open, notably about deferred maintenance funding for OMES and the exact sufficiency of Tax Commission funding as the agency transitions from a vendor model to an in‑house approach.