The second session of the 59th Oklahoma Legislature came to an end Thursday afternoon, just one day before it was required to do so by the Oklahoma Constitution.

This year’s session was a bumpy ride.

Heavy with Republican infighting and power struggles between the governor’s office and the Legislature, the 2024 legislative session became a capstone to a yearlong debate over income tax cuts and only a handful of significant policy issues — all framed against an upcoming presidential election this fall.

Still, even with the controversy, lawmakers developed and passed a $12.47 billion budget that included a 4.5% tax cut on the sale of groceries, earmarked $1.5 billion in new funding for Oklahoma’s common education system, and added $25 million additional funding into the school funding formula.

The budget also included $240 million for new engineering and science facilities at the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University, spent $27.6 million to address the student waitlist for CareerTech and put $350 million in a new Oklahoma Capital Assets Maintenance and Protection Fund to cover deferred maintenance at state properties, state parks and public colleges and universities.

Friday, Gov. Kevin Stitt described the session as “productive.” The governor said he was pleased lawmakers cut the grocery sales tax and continued efforts on criminal justice reform, but he criticized the Oklahoma Senate for not confirming all of his executive nominations.

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“My job is to nominate the very best Oklahomans,” Stitt said. “It’s hard to find the right people. The Senate’s job is to confirm those, advise and confirm I think is what it says. As long as they don’t have criminal backgrounds and generally are moving in the right direction. That’s the job is to make sure they are good Oklahomans and meet all the qualifications. It’s not to pick on an individual.”

Outgoing Senate Pro Tempore Greg Treat said his goal with the 2024 session was to leave the state a better place than when he came into office.

“As we conclude another legislative session, it is a time of reflection and looking forward,” Treat said. “I am confident that I am exiting my term on a high note and leaving my position as pro tem in a mindset of peace and gratitude. I have always wanted to leave my service with the Senate and state in a better place than when I came into office.”

What’s next? Gov. Kevin Stitt has hundreds of bills to sign or veto over the next two weeks

State lawmakers sent more than 430 bills to the governor this session. Stitt has roughly 15 days to sign, veto or allow the budget bills to go into effect.

Senate Education Committee Chairman, Sen. Adam Pugh said he, too, was pleased lawmakers finished their work — effectively “landing the plane.”

“It was a little bumpy and maybe some passengers got hurt because of a little bit of turbulence at times,” he said. “But I’ll say this, every morning when I walk in I remind myself that tension is a feature of our system. It’s meant to be hard to get stuff done.”

Pugh said he was glad that lawmakers made another investment in education. He pointed to the graduation pathways legislation and major revisions to the reading sufficiency act as examples of legislation passed this year that would improve the state.

Democrats, however, called the session a missed opportunity.

Incoming Senate Minority Leader Julia Kirt said Democrats wanted to see public education, “funded for success.”

“We did not see that with this budget,” Kirt said. “This budget includes half as much in new public money as private voucher money, and we have to focus on what really matters to kids in our school districts across the state.”

Kirt said Oklahoma families were “working too hard and see too little in results.”

“That’s why we’re up here is to support Oklahoma families,” she said. “We’re all exhausted. We know there is a reason for that, because Oklahoma families are exhausted. We have to keep working to do better for the people of Oklahoma.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma legislative 2024 ends with hundreds of bills to be signed