Coffee Comments on Henry's State of the State Address

State Senate Co-President Pro Tempore Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City, commented on Gov. Brad Henry’s 2008 State of the State Address.

“With our state and nation facing so many critical challenges, I believe the people of Oklahoma were hoping to hear more of a vision for change and innovation from Governor Henry. Instead, much of what the governor discussed were repackaged old proposals, and he didn’t even mention many important issues facing our state.

“Senate Republicans have a bold and innovative agenda to move Oklahoma forward, and we hope to work with Governor Henry, Senate Democrats, and the new House leadership to do the people’s business,” Coffee said.

“Governor Henry proposed a a laundry list of spending today, but he did not give much detail on how he plans to pay for it. We will analyze the governor’s budget to make sure it is based in reality. We must be cautious to ensure we don’t dig a hole for future budget years,” he said.

Coffee expressed disappointment that Henry did not mention key issues such as lawsuit reform, tax relief, and government accountability.

“Given that the governor didn’t even mention lawsuit reform, one really must question how interested he is in finding a bipartisan solution. Senate Republicans want to work with Governor Henry to find common ground on lawsuit reform, but we’re not willing to take the “reforms” out of lawsuit reform just to get him to sign a bill

“It was also disappointing that the governor didn’t talk about keeping the commitment made to taxpayers last session to reduce the income tax to 5.25% in January 2009. With the national economy slowing down, the Legislature and the governor need to do our part to keep Oklahoma’s economy by providing more tax relief,” stated Coffee.

“Streamlining government and making it more accountable, efficient and effective will be a major priority for the Legislature this year. I wish the governor would have discussed this important issue in his State of the State address,” he said.

Coffee said he appreciated the governor’s call to fully fund the Department of Corrections. However, Coffee questioned why the governor proposed increasing funding for drug courts, but did not proposed reforms for the program. An independent performance audit determined drug courts are failing to divert drug offenders from prison and have not resulted in the savings that were promised.

Coffee said he hopes the governor will support Senate Republicans’ plan to dedicate more of existing motor vehicle taxes to fix our roads and bridges.