UPDATE, 4:27 p.m. Dec. 7 — OU press secretary Corbin Wallace said in a statement that the Oklahoma Supreme Court will now hear the arguments against Boren's penny tax proposal Dec. 16. He also sent a statement from Boren below:
"No, I do not plan to attend the hearing. Kent Meyer is one of the finest lawyers in the country when it comes to the constitutionality of state questions. Since the question was phrased as a constitutional amendment, I am convinced that it meets the definition required under the state's single subject law."
Read the original report below:
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An nonpartisan advocacy group from Oklahoma will challenge the constitutionality of OU President David Boren’s sales tax proposal in front of the Oklahoma Supreme Court Tuesday morning.
OCPA Impact will present its oral arguments against Initiative 403 — Boren’s penny sales tax proposal — to Oklahoma Supreme Court justices in the capitol building at 10 a.m. Dec. 8.
OCPA Impact is a government watchdog group dedicated to “removing state barriers to job growth, business growth and individual opportunity,” according to its website. The group is protesting the way Boren’s initiative is written, claiming it contains provisions that are against the Oklahoma Constitution.
“It violates the Oklahoma constitution’s single-subject rule,” OCPA Impact CEO Dave Bond said. “Bills passed at the state capitol or passed ballot provisions have to be limited to a single subject. That’s to prevent logrolling, which is where you take something that people are generally in favor of and roll it together with something that people are against. This ballot provision has what seems to appear like four different subjects."
Bond said while the group is protesting Initiative 403, he recognizes Oklahoma’s need for educational reform.
“I think everyone’s in agreement that Oklahoma state teachers need a pay raise,” he said. “There was a public opinion survey done earlier this year that showed above 97 percent of Oklahoma voters feel that way. We need quality teachers in the classroom. I think everyone agrees that lawmakers should make those necessary adjustments.”
Boren’s proposed sales tax would increase Oklahoma’s sales tax, already one of the highest in the country, by one cent. The expected annual revenue of $615 million raised from the initiative would go directly to a newly created Education Improvement Fund. If the proposal fails, Boren has previously said OU could face a budget cut of $14 to $15 million.
“Oklahoma teachers should receive a pay raise, and we should hire more teachers,” Bond said. “It’s very doable, can be done and should be done. But this all should be done without a tax increase.”
Bond also said in an email that the Oklahoma Supreme Court has also granted permission for three parties to file a joint amicus brief to challenge Initiative 403. The three parties are the Oklahoma Municipal League, Dewey Bartlett and Harold Hamm.
