Rep. Meloyde Blancett: The state is falling apart; can we please do something about the budget?

It's time.

It's time to talk about the budget.

We are bleeding teachers to other states, we're putting public education in peril, we're bankrupting hospitals, and we're putting abused children at risk. Yet we're over halfway through the legislative session, and we still don't have a plan to address our growing budget disaster.

I know there are Tulsans concerned about this because I get calls, messages and emails from constituents and community organizations. They ask me, "Why are you allowing more budget cuts to our schools?" "Why aren't you doing something about paying teachers more so we can keep good teachers and keep them from going to Texas?" "Why are you cutting reimbursement rates for hospitals?" "Why are you allowing there to be a waiting list of nearly 8,000 people to receive help from the Department of Disability Services?" "Why are you hurting (the mentally ill, distressed families, the hungry, seniors - take your pick)?"

I have those same questions. And what I want to know is this - Why don't we have people charging the Capitol with pitchforks demanding action? Because that's not happening, it begs this question: Are the services we are cutting, services that we want outright eliminated? If the answer is yes, then there's nothing left to do but continue what we are doing and own the consequences.

If the answer is no, however, then quick action must occur and by a lot of people.

Secretary of Finance Preston Doerflinger and Treasurer Ken Miller, both Republicans, have clearly said, "We don't have a spending problem. We have a revenue problem." In fact, in a recent presentation to the Republican Club of Tulsa, Doerflinger said the funding situation in some areas such as corrections and the Department of Human Services is so dire that "people will die" if more money isn't found.

And, oh, by the way, more cuts are coming but there's no more money in the Rainy Day Fund. There are precious few rocks left to turn over.

If we're going to fix this , we've got to have a broad-based recurring revenue plan like the Restore Oklahoma plan put forth recently by House Democrats. This is the only comprehensive funding option that's been proposed.

It calls for 11 different measures that together total $1.4 billion of recurring revenue, including these moves:

Restore gross production tax from its newly decreased 2 percent (from 7 percent) to 5 percent - $312 million;

Restore the income tax recently cut to previous levels for those with an average annual income of $1.4 million - $204 million;

Eliminate capital gains exemption - $157 million;

Convert itemized deductions to a credit - $112 million;

Require combined corporate reporting so companies here can't shift their revenue to other states to pay lower taxes - $100 million;

Enact some service taxes on certain industries - $290 million, and

Increase the cigarette tax as part of this larger budget package - $160 million.

So, the question remains - do we want to fix this budget problem or do we want to keep cutting services? If "continue to cut" is the answer, then we need to just own the impending social explosion it will cause and move on. If we want this fixed, then every single voter, as quickly as possible, needs to call or email their representative and senator and demand a budget plan, like Restore Oklahoma, that includes comprehensive recurring revenue. We have six weeks before the legislative session ends. If we don't get a budget soon, we're not going to have much of a state left to live in.

Meloyde Blancett, a Democrat, represents House District 78 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. She lives in Tulsa.