Oklahoma Legislature to reconvene special revenue session

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Oklahoma lawmakers plan to reconvene a special session to fill a $215 million hole in the state budget after accomplishing nothing during a brief meeting over the weekend.

The Oklahoma House and Senate are scheduled to reconvene Monday afternoon to consider a variety of revenue-raising proposals. Lawmakers convened on Saturday but adjourned within minutes without taking any action.

Lawmakers have been unable to agree on ways to raise new revenue. Democrats have made increasing the production tax on oil and natural gas a key issue in budget negotiations in the Republican-controlled Legislature.

Last week, the Senate adopted a resolution asking the House to pass a package of tax increases, including doubling the production tax from 2 percent to 4 percent, but the bill failed to get out of committee.