OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt said he is ready to align his vision of lower spending and less taxes with the new Trump administration in Washington, D.C.
Stitt, delivering his seventh state of the state speech since taking office in 2019, said Oklahoma’s economy is in better shape and the state has growing budget reserves. But he told Oklahomans it will take discipline to continue safeguarding taxpayer funds.
“Americans voted for courage,” Stitt said. “They voted for freedom. They voted for the American Dream, not more government. We have a mandate to support and pass conservative, limited government legislation that makes the American Dream possible for all 4 million Oklahomans.”
Stitt unveiled a state version of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency. Businessman Elon Musk is heading up that effort for the Trump administration, but its implementation so far has been chaotic. Stitt wants his Oklahoma DOGE to submit a report on efficiency, fiscal reforms and budget findings by March 31. Like the federal DOGE, Stitt wants a member of the business community to serve as an unpaid advisor and report only to the governor.
“For years, I’ve instructed my cabinet secretaries and agency directors to shrink employee count and cut unnecessary contracts,” Stitt said. “I am committed to having fewer state employees at the end of my term than when I took office in 2019. I also mandated an end to work from home policies for state employees to better serve the people of our state.”
As he was speaking, Stitt’s office released his budget proposal for fiscal year 2026. It calls for a legislative appropriation of $11.09 billion. That represents an 11% decrease from appropriations in the current fiscal year. But the executive budget includes $1.3 billion in one-time or supplemental expenditures from the 2025 fiscal year.
Stitt said Oklahoma must cut its income tax to remain competitive with surrounding states and states with no income taxes. To that end, his “Half and Path” state income tax plan calls for a 0.5 percentage point decrease in the state’s 4.75% personal income tax rate and a path toward no income tax. He also wants a half-point cut to the state’s corporate income tax, now set at 4%.
“If we don’t act quickly, we are going to be left behind and we’ll be considered a high-tax state,” Stitt said.
Oklahoma has about $4.6 billion in unspent funds and reserves in various state savings accounts. Stitt said he wants the state to have a new savings floor of about $4 billion. His half-point income tax cut proposal would cost about $240 million for fiscal year 2026, which starts in July. But that would be more than $480 million on a fully annualized basis because the state’s fiscal years and tax years don’t line up.
Stitt didn’t detail his path to zero income tax in the speech, but Republican lawmakers have filed several bills to step down the tax rate over the next several years if revenue targets are met.
House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, said he and the governor share goals regarding government efficiency and banning cell phones in schools. But he said House leaders will continue to monitor the latest revenue estimates from the Board of Equalization, which next meets on Feb. 14.
“We all agree in wanting Oklahoma taxpayers to keep as much of their hard-earned money as possible while being as prepared as possible for future budget uncertainty,” Hilbert said in a written statement.
Stitt’s speech also touched on education, criminal justice reform and immigration. One of the governor’s guests in the House gallery was Bixby Superintendent Rob Miller, who implemented a strict, no cell phone policy in the district.
“I want to challenge the Legislature and school districts across the state to consider ways to make cell phone-free schools a reality for all students,” Stitt said.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters, who last year called Miller a “clown and a liar” over school finances, sat stone-faced as Miller stood up to applause from lawmakers. Miller has an ongoing defamation lawsuit against Walters in Tulsa County.
Stitt also endorsed a Senate plan to get rid of virtual instructional days at public schools. He said Kansas has 186 instructional days. Some Oklahoma schools use planned virtual days, reducing seat time to as low as 148 days, he said. But the governor also touted the state’s approval of public funding for a Catholic virtual charter school, a decision that is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
“We all know that kids learn best when they’re in the classroom with our great teachers,” Stitt said.
Stitt said he wanted to end what he called a “debtors’ prison” of excessive court fines and fees of formerly incarcerated people. Those payments trap people in a cycle and contribute to higher recidivism, he said.
“I want to change that structure and make sure that a second chance is actually a second chance, and get rid of fines, fees and court costs for good,” Stitt said as Democrats joined their Republican colleagues in a rare moment of joint applause.
Stitt recounted his administration’s recent efforts on immigration, like sending the Oklahoma National Guard to the Texas border in 2023. More recently, he’s directed his corrections and public safety directors to come up with a plan to help the Trump administration deport migrants serving time in Oklahoma prisons.
“I’m so excited to have a law-and-order president back in the White House that will listen to the American people and our calls for safe communities,” Stitt said.
Several hundred protesters filled the plaza in front of the south steps of the Capitol on Monday morning before Stitt’s speech. The protest, organized by Defense of Democracy, included speakers who criticized state and federal policies on immigration, labor, housing and the environment.
“To all the immigrants here, I stand with you,” said Sara Bana, a Midwest City councilwoman who is running for Oklahoma County commissioner. “Our local institutions must serve as a buffer against fascism.”
Among the signs held by protesters were those reading, “Fight Fascism Like Your Grandparents” and “Germany Ignored It First Too.”
In separate press conferences after Stitt’s speech, Democrats in the House and Senate said Stitt’s alignment with Trump administration policies showed he was out of touch with everyday Oklahomans. They said the governor didn’t mention policies that could help working families like paid family leave and educational policies like increased teacher pay.
Senate Democratic Leader Julia Kirt of Oklahoma City said she didn’t hear much new in Stitt’s speech.
“We heard a lot of the ideas that we’ve seen from Republicans who are using D.C. think tanks for policy ideas that they’re copying here,” Kirt said. “Unfortunately, we saw copy and paste for tax cuts for big business and for wealthy Oklahomans. We saw more mandates for classrooms without actually providing the kind of resources we need in our schools. We saw diverting money to private schools.”
House Democratic Leader Cyndi Munson, D-Oklahoma City, said Stitt should have been talking to Oklahomans on their doorsteps instead of traveling to Florida to meet with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Munson said most Oklahomans are worried about paying for groceries, gasoline and rent.
“While I’m not surprised, I’m deeply disappointed that he spent so much of his time talking about the president and talking about what the president wants to do and taking time to appease him,” Munson said.
Republished in partnership with Oklahoma Watch under a Creative Commons license. Free Press publishes this report as a collaborative effort to provide the best coverage of state issues that affect our readers.
Paul Monies has been a reporter with Oklahoma Watch since 2017. He covers state agencies and public health. Call or text him at (571) 319-3289 or email pmonies@oklahomawatch.org. Follow him on Twitter at @pmonies.
