Activists’ threat

Will the teacher raise be delayed by a veto petition?

On March 28th, just hours before Oklahoma Senators were to vote on pay raises for teachers and other employees funded by new taxes, a group calling themselves “Oklahoma Taxpayers Unite” held a press conference at the State Capitol. Led by former U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, the group warned lawmakers that they would lead a citizen initiative to overturn any tax increase.

Senators disregarded the warning by approving HB 1010xx with the three-quarters support needed for revenue bills, and the Governor quickly signed the measure into law. But is the tax increase—the first to be approved by Oklahoma lawmakers in over 25 years—now in danger of being overturned at the ballot and dragging the pay raises down with it?

The activists’ threat involves a little-known provision of the Oklahoma Constitution called the veto referendum, which allows a petition to be filed challenging any bill passed by the Legislature. To put a veto referendum on the ballot requires signatures by 5 percent of voters in the last gubernatorial election, which currently would be 41,242 signatures.

There have been 20 veto referendums in Oklahoma history but none since 1970. In 1991, an initiative petition attempted to overturn the landmark education reform bill HB 1017, but this was not a veto referendum. To overturn HB 1017, opponents tried to amend the state Constitution. They succeeded in gathering enough signatures to get State Question 639 on the ballot in October 1991, but the measure failed with just 46 percent of the vote.

While there is uncertainty about the timing involved in the veto referendum process, it appears that Sen. Coburn and his followers could block enactment of HB 1010xx if they are able to gather enough signatures and clear the various other obstacles needed to get a referendum petition certified prior to the law taking effect on June 27. In that case, the bill would be stayed pending a decision by the voters, which would likely (but not necessarily) coincide with the general election on November 6.

The teacher pay raise would most likely be deferred as well, as the pay raise bill is contingent on enactment of HB 1010xx. That means teachers would not see a pay increase in time for the next school year.

While opponents of the education funding package have uncovered a way to block the measure, they would be taking a major gamble by moving ahead with a veto referendum. Three-quarters of lawmakers, including over 70 percent of Republicans, voted for a tax increase because they understood that providing teachers a raise is both urgent and popular.

The current funding package is paid for primarily by limiting the tax break on oil and gas production and by raising cigarette taxes—both of which are broadly popular and directly affect a limited number of voters—along with a small increase in motor fuel taxes (3 cents per gallon on gas and 6 cents per gallon on diesel).

Putting the funding package on the ballot almost guarantees a huge mobilization and strong turnout by teachers and other supporters of public education, which could hurt Republican candidates in the fall election. The main goal of Oklahoma Taxpayers Unite seems to be to warn Republican lawmakers about the political perils of raising taxes; the lesson they may learn instead is to stop messing with teachers.

David Blatt is Executive Director of Oklahoma Policy Institute.