Despite some last-day drama, Gov. Kevin Stitt and legislative leaders declared the 2025 legislative session one of the most successful in their tenures.
“I think we’ve had one of the best, most conservative sessions ever,” Stitt said at a May 28 press conference. “We have the quarter-point tax cut that I just signed. We have the path to zero, so this will put Oklahoma on a trajectory that if we continue this economic boom and this development, and income continues to increase, we’re going to modestly grow government but it’s also going to automatically trigger tax cuts.”
He also called lawsuit reform legislation “amazing.”
Stitt said state officials will tout this year’s accomplishment in marketing efforts to let businesses across the country “know that Oklahoma is serious about being the most business-friendly state.”
The governor also noted that the budgets for most state agencies were kept relatively “flat” this year.
Legislative leaders voiced similar views after the session’s conclusion this week.
House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, declared it “a really great, successful session.”
Senate President Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, similarly called it “a really great session.”
“I was very proud of what we’ve accomplished this year,” Paxton said.
Major new laws were passed addressing a wide range of issues, including taxation, regulation, initiative petitions, lawsuit reform, and school choice.
House Bill 2764 cuts Oklahoma’s top income-tax rate from 4.75 percent to 4.5 and puts the income tax on a gradual path to zero. The bill also eliminates several tax brackets that apply to very low levels of income.
HB 2764 is expected to reduce Oklahomans’ tax payments by a combined $340.5 million annually.
And under the bill, future quarter-point reductions will occur when state tax-collection growth reaches certain levels, continuing until the income tax has been fully repealed, without hiking any other taxes.
Lawmakers also worked to reduce excessive government regulation that often impedes economic growth.
House Bill 2728, by state Rep. Gerrid Kendrix and state Sen. Micheal Bergstrom, creates the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act of 2025. The new law requires thorough review and proactive legislative approval before any state agency regulation can take effect if the rule’s implementation and compliance costs exceed $1 million over a five-year period.
Major new laws were passed addressing a wide range of issues, including taxation, regulation, initiative petitions, lawsuit reform, and school choice.
According to the 2024 edition of “Snapshots of State Regulations,” issued by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Oklahoma is the 17th-most regulated state in the country with 142,313 regulations on the books. In comparison, Idaho, the nation’s least-regulated state, has just 31,497 regulations in place.
The passage of similar laws in other states has resulted in a dramatic curtailment of government regulation.
Lawmakers also approved transparency reforms so Oklahomans will have more information when presented with an initiative petition proposal.
Senate Bill 1027, by state Sen. David Bullard and Hilbert, includes several transparency reforms, such as requiring that voters be informed of who is funding a petition effort as well as any taxpayer costs that would be created by passage of a proposal. The bill also requires that initiative petitions gather signatures from a larger geographic swath of Oklahoma, although successful petitions could still visit far less than half the state.
Policymakers also worked to reduce the economic damage created by the threat of “jackpot” awards for vague “noneconomic” damages in lawsuits.
Senate Bill 453, by state Sen. Brent Howard, caps awards for noneconomic damages at $500,000 while still allowing plaintiffs to receive full recovery for true economic damages, such as lost wages and medical expenses.
“The Economic and Fiscal Impact of Excessive Tort Costs on Oklahoma,” a study commissioned by the State Chamber Research Foundation and conducted by the Perryman Group, found that excessive tort costs have translated into the loss of $3.7 billion in state gross product each year and almost 32,000 jobs in Oklahoma.
A less high-profile but similar bill protects Oklahoma businesses from lawsuits.
Under Senate Bill 642, by Paxton and Hilbert, the workers’ compensation statute’s exclusive remedy provision will not prohibit general contractors from enforcing indemnity contracts they’ve entered into with subcontractors.
Education Reforms
Lawmakers also worked to reduce red tape associated with Oklahoma’s wildly successful school choice programs.
Senate Bill 105, by state Sen. Julie Daniels and state Rep. Chad Caldwell, eliminates a requirement for Oklahoma children with special needs to attend public school for one year before they qualify for the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarships for Students with Disabilities program, which helps families pay for private school.
Senate Bill 684, by Paxton and Hilbert, provides certainty to families who participate in the Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit program, which helps all families pay for private school. The legislation “grandfathers” in families that received a tax credit the prior year.
The Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit program provides families with refundable tax credits of $5,000 to $7,500 per child. The largest credits go to families with the least income, and priority is given to families with incomes below $150,000.
Recipients with income below $150,000 were already grandfathered, but that meant a family with one child and income of $149,000 was guaranteed education stability while a family with three children and income of $151,000 was not. SB 684 adjusts the grandfather provision to provide certainty to all families.
A recent report from the Oklahoma Tax Commission shows the Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit program is allowing thousands of students to shift from public school to private schools, with the majority of beneficiaries coming from low-income and middle-class families, including children on state welfare programs.
A report issued by the National Education Association last month showed that Oklahoma public school teachers had an average salary of $61,330 in the 2023-2024 school year.
As of May 1, the Oklahoma Tax Commission reported that 36,860 children had been approved to receive credits for the 2025-2026 school year. A majority of those children came from low-income and working-class families, qualified for state benefit programs such as food stamps and Medicaid, or are homeless/financially disadvantaged.
The raw number of children receiving the tax credit from families with incomes below $75,000 exceeded the number from families with incomes greater than $250,000, according to the report.
Nearly three-fourths of children receiving the credit so far for the 2025-2026 school year are from families with incomes below the program’s top bracket.
In a press release issued after the session’s adjournment, Hilbert and Paxton highlighted several other measures as highlights of the session.
Those measures included Senate Bill 758, by Paxton and state Sen. Kristen Thompson, which reduces the number of virtual school days that public schools can schedule each year outside emergency situations. The new law will reduce what critics allege were bogus “distance-learning days” in many school districts in which students were given little to no instruction or classwork.
The legislative leaders also highlighted Senate Bill 796, by state Sen. Adam Pugh and state Rep. Denise Crosswhite Hader, which prohibits taxpayer-funded “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” (DEI) programs at Oklahoma public colleges and universities.
“This session has been about laying the foundation for Oklahoma’s future,” Paxton said. “We came in with a clear mission to put our state on a stronger footing, and we delivered. We passed transformational tax reforms that return hard-earned dollars to Oklahoma families and businesses while keeping our state competitive. I’m proud of the Senate’s work to pass common-sense legislation that reflects the values of the people we represent. From reducing unnecessary virtual school days to making classrooms more focused by removing cellphones and curbing DEI ideology on our campuses, to modernizing the way we approach energy and economic development, we took bold steps to improve our state’s future. We’ve proven that good governance yields real results. We’re not just talking about the future, we’re building it.”
“This session was about taking bold action to improve the lives of every Oklahoman,” Hilbert said. “We prioritized policies that put students, families, and businesses first. We were able to cut taxes, strengthen our schools, and modernize outdated laws that held us back. I’m especially proud of the bipartisan support we saw on issues that matter most to everyday citizens. The legislation we passed isn’t just a checklist of campaign promises, it’s a roadmap to a better, stronger Oklahoma. These measures aren’t just wins for today, they’re investments in the next generation.
Democrat Points to ‘Missed Opportunities’
Not all lawmakers praised the session’s outcomes.
State Sen. Julia Kirt, an Oklahoma City Democrat who leads that chamber’s minority caucus, said there were “missed opportunities” that “let Oklahomans down.” Among other things, Kirt said lawmakers should have spent more money on public schools and provided raises to teachers.
However, school funding remains at a historic high. A recent report issued by the National Education Association, a teachers’ union, found that Oklahoma had per-student revenue of $14,066 in the 2023-2024 school year based on public schools’ average daily attendance figures. That is significantly higher than the average private-school tuition in Oklahoma.
The NEA report also showed that Oklahoma public school teachers had an average salary of $61,330 in the 2023-2024 school year, and lawmakers voted this session to raise the minimum salary for teachers with 26 to 35 years of experience.
The session’s final day involved lawmakers overriding Stitt’s veto of many lower-profile bills, and lawmakers also voted to remove Allie Friesen as commissioner of the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services due to financial problems at the agency. Stitt had defended Friesen and said she was not the cause of the agency’s financial problems.
Even so, legislative leaders noted that this session involved a significant amount of cooperation between the governor and the Legislature, and Stitt himself praised the overall results.
“I feel really, really good,” Stitt said. “I think it’s one of the best sessions we’ve had in my seven years, and I’ve really enjoyed working with the (legislative) leadership. We’ve got a lot of great things going. The economy’s good, and it’s a good time to be an Oklahoman.”