Sorry to be alarmist, but it really is that bad, right? If our legislators don’t choose enough revenue options for the budget, nursing homes and hospitals will close, schools will cut teachers and class days — and that’s just the start. What a mess! We don’t want to see that kind of Oklahoma.
Time is short! The legislative session must end by May 27th, and the budget deal will come out this week or next. So what can we do?
Persuade your legislators!
NOW is your last chance to tell your legislators to “Choose these reasonable options” and “don’t choose those bad ones”.
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Vote NO on SB 1604 that ends refundability of earned income tax credit for working families. (Talking points and contact form here)
- You can also tweet your legislators with hashtags like #SaveOurEITC and #VoteNoOnSB1604
- Example tweet: Don’t ask the parents working hard for low wages to fix the state’s revenue problems #SaveOurEITC and #VoteNoOnSB1604
- Example tweet: Under SB1640 a single mom with 2 kids working full-time at $10/hr ($20,800 annually) would see her taxes increase by $231 #SaveOurEITC
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Vote YES on HB 3210 $1.50 per pack cigarette tax increase that goes to save our nursing homes and hospitals by funding Medicaid. (Talking points here)
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Vote YES on SB 1606 to end the double deduction. (More info here)
While you are requesting they specifically Vote NO on SB 1604 and Vote YES on HB 3210 and SB 1606, you can remind them that they also have all of these other revenue options and that we’ll be watching to see if they take advantage of reasonable ways to save Oklahoma from financial ruin.
Bring your friends!
You may only have two state legislators but you have many more colleagues and friends all over this state who can be talking to their own legislators. This is the time when Oklahoma needs you to step up and call on your networks to make a difference. Some may say it won’t work, but let’s not risk being the kind of people who didn’t even try.
Make sure everyone you know has seen our resources at:
We can still stop the legislators from cutting the Earned Income Tax Credit, and we may even get them to add more long term revenues, but we must make the effort to get us there. I’ll leave you with this quote from John F. Kennedy who said “There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.”
