Capitol Breakdown: Reacting To Gov. Stitt's State Of The State Speech

Griffin Media political analyst Scott Mitchell gives us his reaction to Gov. Stitt's 2024 State of the State speech and what could come next for Oklahomans.

Grading Oklahoma Governor's State Of The State Speech

Jonathan Cooper: you just listened to this State of the State speech. Before I ask you any questions. What was your first reaction to hearing it today? What were the big takeaways?

Mitchell: Well, if I'm grading the speech like a high school speech teacher, it's the best one he's given. He was really good. He was conciliatory. It was brief, and spent a whole day on it. And it was one of those that really made people feel good. So if you're giving points on making people feel good, and looking good, he did good today,

Find The Full Speech Here

What Were The Main Themes Of Governor's State Of The State Speech?

Cooper: What were some of the big themes that you took out of it? I know he talked about a lot of different things. But what were some of the key talking points that he had?

Mitchell: Well, he's beaten the tax cut bandwagon. He did it very gently, very diplomatically. But the Senate is unmoved right now, they're not going to do anything until they get the equalization board numbers, and they're very concerned about a downturn. You know, it's really easy to cut taxes, Oklahoma, it's really hard to raise them if you get into a bad situation. And we've emptied that rainy day fund twice in a couple of decades. So they're very, very careful. The Pro Tem has said we're interested in a grocery tax cut, but we'll just have to see. There's nothing [that is] going to happen until they all agree it takes three to get something done. And they're not there yet.

Cooper: I want to ask you about that. You know, because a lot of Oklahomans they don't follow this super closely. They see the headlines and they see the headlines: Oh, they're going to possibly cut the income tax, maybe lower it maybe eventually get rid of it altogether. So you know, they they hear that the governor wants to do this, but then it comes out. Oh, wait, we're not going to do it now. So you mentioned the Senate. They are more conservative with it. The House was willing to do some stuff. What has to get done for Oklahomans to see maybe a tax cut?

Mitchell: I think you're going to have to see the leadership in the Senate is going to have to see numbers that convinced me that one, two, three years down the road, if we have a downturn, if we have something like a court ruling that cuts out some taxes, any of those sort of things that cause problems in the budget. I think the Senate will move when they're convinced they can cut taxes reasonably, and not endanger the state budget, especially core services two, three, four years down the line. Once they're comfortable with that then I think you'll find common ground, they'll get something done.

What Is The Next Step For Oklahoma and Tribal Leaders?

Cooper: And to me one of the big talking points, it seems like it's been a big talking point with Gov. Stitt for the past two or three years is the fallout after the meager decision. And all of the uncertainty that he says has come from it. It shows some of the tribal leaders, Chuck Hoskin from the Cherokee Nation. They didn't look too happy. They were not cheering on some of the things he was saying. So for us on the eastern side of this state, what are the next steps with this? Is it just going to be back and forth, back and forth until he's out of office? Or can they come together for some solutions?

Mitchell: That's a great question, Jonathan. I don't know the answer. There's a lot of court cases right now. I think when you hear the governor speak of this, that does not reflect all the leadership and both of the houses. So they're very split as to their ideas moving forward with this. There are a lot of allies inside the Senate inside the House of Representatives for the nation and not with the governor on these issues. It is such a convoluted discussion right now that I don't think you'll see anything really change on this. Until the next governor.

What Are Oklahomans Future Energy Plans According To Gov. Stitt?

Cooper: and you had mentioned energy was something that you thought he addressed some but it's going to be a big topic here. Tell me about that a little bit.

Mitchell: That's really interesting. The governor is talking about the state expanding into areas, oil, and gas, those sales are up, we've seen record numbers with oil and gas production, which helps with the state budget. We're seeing alternative renewable energy becoming a big deal. But last year we began to see discussions about how the electricity costs were out of kilter with everything else. In fact, that WalletHub study last June showed that we're the sixth most expensive state for electricity. And now we're having a behind-the-scenes tussle between consumers, especially industrial consumers, and utilities, about who's going to build transmission lines in Oklahoma, all of that infrastructure money that came out of the body administration, such as broadband money and highways. That's a really, really divisive issue. It's going on behind the scenes. It's really been out of sight of the media. And that's going to be a colossal tussle going down the stretch in this legislative session.

Is Gov. Stitt Already A Lame Duck Governor?

Cooper: And one thing that's kind of going on behind the scenes too, is the question of who's going to be the next governor? I know that some of the leadership right now in the House, and the Senate, are considering running. So did you notice some things with that as far as their reaction to how the state said some things?

Mitchell: I don't think everybody has a full grasp of the changes that are on tap. right now and in the next couple of years, we're going to see new leadership in the House, new leadership in the Senate and Governor status, essentially lame duck. I mean, the race is already on for people positioning themselves to be the next chief executive. And the most interesting thing to me is candidate filing happens in the middle of the legislative session. And that makes a big difference about what bills they take up until, after candidate filing, the primaries going to be early in the summer. So all of these issues, who's the next governor, who could be the next attorney general, if the current attorney general decides to run for something else, all of this is in the air and for political commentators, we it just makes everyday worth living because there's so much speculation about so many people on so many things.

Cooper: Well, we got the next few months to talk about it even more.