Why a judges' group opposes Gov. Kevin Stitt's plan for pay raises

Though it was a big part of the last-minute budget deal between the governor and Republican leaders in the Oklahoma Legislature, a planned pay raise for some members of the judiciary isn't going over so well with those who would get the increase.

This week, Gov. Kevin Stitt backed off trying to tie the FY 2025 budget to a cut in the state income tax. Instead, the governor — who returned to the budget summit after several absences — told lawmakers he would sign the budget if lawmakers would agree to allocate $20 million to the governor's Quick Action Closing Fund, approve a judicial pay increase — but cap it at 7% and limit it to district judges — continue to fund tribal litigation efforts and launch a task force to create a state business court.

Stitt's change of heart surprised some lawmakers.

"We didn't anticipate the governor doing that," Senate Pro Tempore Greg Treat said. "But I thought it was a very fair deal for us."

The governor's move eliminated the debate about a second tax cut and appeared to solve a second problem — worry that he would veto the budget agreement and that those vetoes could not be overridden.

Why the Oklahoma Judges Association asked members to ush back against Gov. Stitt's budget proposal

But not everyone was pleased with the proposal.

This week, the president of the Oklahoma Judges Assocation, a judicial advocacy group, emailed its members asking them to contact their state lawmakers and push back against the governor's proposal. A copy of the email, obtained by The Oklahoman, indicates the judges' group wasn't pleased by Stitt's pay idea.

"The time is now at hand where judges should contact their Representatives and Senators and urge them to oppose any resolution that disapproves of the 17% recommended pay raise," Judge Thad Balkman wrote in an email to the association's membership.

"Our District Courts and appellate courts have sufficient funds to cover the $8.6M cost of the raises for this year, and we will need to ask for supplemental funding next session and an annual appropriation next session if the Legislature is not inclined to appropriate the money to fund the raise. But the message for now is simple — oppose any resolution that disapproves and reduces the 17% raise in judicial compensation. Please contact your legislators now! Contact them individually and not with a generic email sent to multiple legislators at the same time," the email urged.

More: House, Senate GOP leaders reach agreement on budget — with no income tax cut

Balkman, a district judge in Cleveland County, is president of the association. He said the 17% pay increase would have gone into effect automatically had it not been included in the budget proposal.

"As a reminder, the 17% pay raise recommended by the Board on Judicial Compensation goes into effect absent a resolution reducing it is passed by both the House and Senate and signed by the governor," Balkman wrote. "No such resolution has been filed by either the House or Senate, but it looks like that may be very likely as the session winds down and the pressure is mounting to pass a budget before Sine Die adjournment."

Gov. Stitt wants to focus on district courts only

Stitt, however, said a 17% or 18% pay increase "seemed like a big bump right off the start."

"Our judges do a great job," the governor said. "We need to make sure we pay market. The only caveat is, let's focus on district courts only."

Stitt said he chose to focus on district courts because the courts in eastern Oklahoma "are being picked off by the federal bench."

"I've been an advocate for tax cuts this whole time," the governor said. "And giving people pay raises is a noble cause, but at the same time if we have all this money to give public employees pay raises, we should give Oklahomans a tax cut."

Appellate courts, the governor said, don't have any problems recruiting people.

"An 18 percent (pay increase) in one year? I haven't gotten an 18 percent pay increase," the governor said. "The average Oklahoman's salary is $55,000 per year, and we thought that giving that much across the board was probably a little bit much this session."

Balkman said his group has continued to monitor budget discussions and has been in contact with legislators nearly every day of this session.

"Until now, legislators have been unclear and non-committal about their support of the 17% recommended pay raise," Balkman wrote. "Since Monday, budget discussions have revealed that the Governor is conditioning his approval of a budget on capping pay raises at 7%, and only for trial level judges. The Governor’s position is that pay raises should be focused only on trial judges because, “of the possibility that judges can be recruited to the federal bench."

Lawmakers expect to have a final version of the budget ready by Tuesday. The second session of the 59th Oklahoma Legislature adjourns at 5 p.m. on May 31.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma judges group opposes Gov. Stitt's pay raise plan