Fallin says fiscal cliff complicates Okla. budget
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) —Republican Governor Mary Fallin says uncertainty over whether federal leaders will resolve the fiscal cliff is complicating her efforts to prepare an executive budget for the upcoming year.
Fallin said Thursday her office is putting together a state budget for the 2014 fiscal year that begins July 1st, but she says it's challenging without knowing whether the fiscal cliff's deep spending cuts and tax hikes will kick in early 2013.
Fallin says she instructed her staff to prepare the budget using figures currently in place for federal funding of state services like education and health care. The governor says those figures will have to be altered if federal spending cuts kick in.
The executive budget must be in lawmakers' hands by January. The 2013 legislative session begins on February 4th.