Oklahoma and Tennessee Governors Address Final Legislative Sessions Amid Budget and Policy Debates

In early 2026, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt delivered his final State of the State address as the legislature opened its session, while Tennessee Governor Bill Lee marked the close of his final legislative session with passage of a $58.3 billion state budget. Stitt's address, delivered around February 2, addressed education, Medicaid, medical marijuana, and tax policy amid revenue that rose about $300 million from the prior year despite elimination of the state sales tax on groceries, though not enough to trigger a conditional quarter-percent income tax cut previously championed by Republican lawmakers. Stitt called for creating a Taxpayer Endowment Fund seeded with $750 million from existing state savings, citing cash reserves that reportedly peaked above $5.5 billion. He proposed sending voters a ballot question allowing adjustments to Medicaid expansion and another on medical marijuana, and called for making the State Superintendent an appointed rather than elected position. He also urged eliminating the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association and pushed for welfare and Medicaid reforms including work requirements, along with codifying a 3% cap on annual recurring state spending growth in the state constitution. Tennessee's budget, finalized as Lee's legislative session closed in April, included funding for a new College of Medicine building at the UT Health Science Center and nuclear workforce education programs. Both governors are leaving office due to term limits, making these their final sessions, though the reports do not specify whether either state's legislature has acted on the respective proposals. Outside the Oklahoma capitol during Stitt's address, protesters expressed opposition to immigration enforcement policies, including the state-federal Operation Guardian partnership Stitt highlighted. It remains unresolved which of Stitt's proposed measures—including the endowment fund, Medicaid ballot question, or superintendent appointment change—will advance through the legislature, and specific details of Tennessee's full budget beyond the cited allocations were not corroborated across multiple sources.