• Cathy Burden and Elaine Hobson: SB 834 – Empowering public schools or dismantling them? (May 2009);
• Clay Pope: Protecting our natural resources must be a priority (June 2009);
• Karin Brandenburg and Wanda deBruler: Will Oklahoma be first to discriminate against military spouses in divorces? (Sept. 2009);
• Laura Dempsey-Polan: Medicaid in-home support programs: getting more for less (Oct. 2009);
• Jeff Alderman: Health care perspectives – Rethinking health reform, with a bigger brush (March 2010);
• Tom Daxon: Putting tax expenditures on the right TRACC (March 2010);
• Amy Santee: Turning The Tide On Female Incarceration (March 2010); 
• Valerie Andrews: Cuts to substance abuse services will mean higher costs and worse outcomes (April 2010);
• Sara Waggoner: Can emergency food programs continue to meet growing needs? (April 2010);
• Adam Kupetsky:   Regulate me! (April 2010);
• John Gajda:  State budget cuts will impact people with developmental disabilities (May 2010);
• Michael Lipsky:  ‘The public service’ includes state and local workers (May 2010);
• John Thompson: An Obamamaniac’s critique of the President’s educational policies (June 2010) and Ready or not, the educational revolution is now (July 2010);
• Connie Cronley: Feeding the hungry, tearing down gates (June 2010);
• Brad Byers: Health care reform: the battle between fact and myth (July 2010).

If you count on OK Policy’s blog posts, issue briefs, fact sheets, guides and information to help make sense of complex policy issues, please know that we are counting on you, too. We are a 501 (c)(3) funded entirely through  foundation grants and from contributions from Oklahoma individuals and organizations.  The tough economic times are affecting our fundraising opportunities as much as anyone else. You can help us out enormously by making a tax-deductible donation in any amount you can afford – $10, $25, $50, $100 or more – through our secure website. Or, if you prefer, just sent a check to: Oklahoma Policy Institute, PO Box 14347, Tulsa, OK 74159. Between now and June 30th, all first-time donors will receive a copy of  “Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax System in All 50 States“, a seminal publication from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy that reveals the amount that households of different income categories in each state pay in state and local taxes.

With your support, we’ll be able to continue producing and distributing the information that Oklahomans need to understand key policy debates affecting the state. You can count on it.

This blog aims to be a forum where Oklahomans can share their perspectives, and we encourage you to contribute to  the conversation by submitting a guest blog post. Think of it as an op-ed with links.  We will help publicize pieces we post to our audiences and encourage you to send out the link to your friends, colleagues and networks.

Here are our blog guidelines:

– We will post entries that make an argument on public policy issues of importance to Oklahomans, whether we agree or disagree with the author’s point of view. However, we reserve the right not to post any blog entry submitted to us.

– Contributions addressing OK Policy’s core policy areas of state budget and taxes,  poverty and wealth creation, health care and social services, or the economy will receive strongest consideration.

– Blog entries should be between 300 and 600 words. They should be original contributions and not pieces that have been published elsewhere.

–  Please provide links for articles or studies referred to in your piece.

– Blog entries should avoid personal attacks and undue partisanship.

– We may edit your submission lightly for clarity and grammar. In all cases, we will have you review and approve a final draft of the piece before posting.

– We will run a short disclaimer before guest posts stating that the post reflects the opinions of the author and not of OK Policy.

– Please include a title for your post and brief (20 words maximum) biographical or background information that can appear in the introduction to the post.

– Send your submission in an e-mail or Word document to David Blatt (dblatt@okpolicy.org)

If you’re looking for examples of guest blog articles, click here for one on health care reform or here for one on protecting natural resources.

I hope to hear from you!

The OK Policy board and executive team have spent some time over the past two months measuring our success against our goals.  As we review our accomplishments of the last two years, there is a great deal of which we are proud.  Through our issue briefs and fact sheets, public presentations, blog and other communications, we believe that we have established ourselves as a credible source of information and analysis in this state for a diverse set of audiences – from legislators and editorial boards to engaged advocates and ordinary Oklahomans attentive to policy debates. However, we have concluded that in the state’s current economic and legislative climate, our organization’s best use is to focus on policy analysis and research to help inform the public debate.  As a result, we have concluded that we will need to make changes to our organizational structure and our mission.

Over the last six weeks, Matt Guillory has been winding down his involvement with OK Policy. His last day with Oklahoma Policy Institute was January 29th. We are grateful to Matt for the hard work and vision he brought to getting us off the ground, and are very pleased that he will remain involved in our mission of helping position Oklahoma for success.

I have now assumed the position of OK Policy’s director, working from Tulsa with administrative and research assistance. We will continue to operate as a 501(c)(3) organization with a strong and committed Board of Directors.

Moving forward, we will focus our energies and resources on our core strength of providing information and analysis to a broad public audience on issues related primarily to state fiscal policy, as well as selected topics involving poverty and economic opportunity. Whereas in the past we have attempted, in part, to directly promote legislative change through advocacy and coalition-building, we will now concentrate more strictly on generating information and ideas that can be used by diverse constituencies in policy discussion and debates.

By narrowing our focus to what we do best, we feel OK Policy can be more effective and efficient with our available resources.  We will also seek to conduct project-based research for organizations and businesses on a contract basis as a way to provide our expertise to various groups and help elevate the public debate by combining efforts with organizations and sponsors whose public policy goals align with those of OK Policy.

Our commitment to continuing as an organization is based on the conviction expressed by many of you that our work as a source of trustworthy information and a voice for those of limited means is important to Oklahoma, especially during these times of economic hardships and fiscal disruptions. If you believe that what we do is valuable, we hope you will be willing to support OK Policy financially. You can click here to make a tax-deductible donation online through our secure server or send a check to Oklahoma Policy Institute, PO Box 14347, Tulsa, OK 74159-1347. If there are projects on which we may be able to partner, or if you’d like to contribute to our work through a guest blog submission or other efforts, please send me an e-mail (dblatt@okpolicy.org) or call me at (918) 794-3944.

Thanks for your continued interest in and support for OK Policy. I hope you’ll continue to follow us on the next stages of the journey!

10. The racial wealth gap — I reported on a provocative talk by Meizhu Lu on the extent and causes of the racial disparities in wealth and ownership in America.

9.  Fewer exceptions – Tobacco tax revenues rise while sales fall — thanks to changes in compacts and enforcement, the state is enjoying a win-win situation on tobacco.

8. Sunk: Mercury Marine fiasco sheds light on cost of state subsidy wars — a powerful example of how everybody can lose when states throw incentives at businesses.

7. Cap and trade laws could change Oklahoma’s financial climate — we identified some of the many issues at stake with the cap-and-trade proposals before Congress.

6. A quick look at the new state budget — before the dust had even settled, we put out a quick summary of the FY ‘10 budget agreement.

5. Health insurance reform explained… in 3 steps! — we can only claim credit for a great link on this one.

4. Tax cuts and consequences — we weighed in on the ways in which the tax cuts of recent years have contributed to, if not directly caused, the state’s fiscal woes.

3. SB 834: Empowering public schools or dismantling them? — guest bloggers Dr. Cathy Burden and Elaine Hobson debated the pros and cons of one of the most controversial bills of the 2009 session.

2. No-tax day — as the income tax deadline loomed, Paul Shinn provided a peak at what our lives and our state might look like without those taxes we all love to hate.

1. Guest blog: Will Oklahoma be first to discriminate against military spouses in divorce? — this piece by two critics of a proposal to change how Oklahoma treats military pensions in divorce  got circulated widely around the Internet and continues to generate heated responses.

Thanks to everyone who has kept up with this blog and provided us with feedback and comments, as well as guest contributions. Keep those coming, and we look forward to keeping the discussion going in the new year.

Last week, as representatives from every Oklahoma tribe gathered in Washington DC for a Native American Summit, I gathered with the rest of my Leadership Oklahoma class in Tahlequah to learn more about Native American issues in Oklahoma. It was appropriate for both to occur at the same time. The destiny of Oklahoma’s tribes is heavily affected by policies in DC. Since the tribes have such a significant impact on the economy of our state, the recent summit affects everyone in Oklahoma, whether or not you are a member of a tribe.

As Senator Brian Bingman pointed out in an address to the class, tribes have a tremendously positive impact on our state. In 2006, the estimated economic impact of tribes in Oklahoma was $15 billion. In fact, the budgets of the tribes in Oklahoma are collectively larger than the state budget. When tribes are successful, the Oklahoma economy benefits.

This is just one of the reasons the summit in DC, which was the fulfillment of a campaign promise made by President Obama, is so welcomed.  One reality that came across throughout the LOK weekend was that the tribes are experiencing success right now. Many of them have benefited from visionary internal leadership that has allowed them to build valuable infrastructures within their nations. In some cases, gaming revenues have been able to serve as capitalization for an array of diversified and successful business ventures.

However, as I learned more of the details of treaties and federal statutes or policies that have shaped the lives of generations of tribal members without their consent, another thing was clear. The prosperity that many tribes have recently achieved is precarious in nature. A change in Federal, or even state, policy could once again change the course of their hard-earned progress.

I was encouraged by reports from some of the tribal leaders who attended the summit.

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith said that the unique aspect of this summit in DC was that the president gave an assignment to his cabinet to report back in 90 days with a plan to execute an order implementing government-to-government relations between the United States and tribal nations. As history has shown, tribes have not always been consulted regarding decisions that impact their peoples.

Chairman Jeff Houser of the Fort Sill Apache Tribe (and a fellow Leadership OK Class XXIII member) echoed the feeling that this was a great first step and said that he is interested to see the next step in 90 days.

What may be the most encouraging report for me came from Chickasaw Nation Governor Bill Anoatubby (Leadership OK Class III). He enthusiastically reported that President Obama knows more about Indian tribes and tribal sovereignty than any other president with whom he has had contact.

After becoming more acquainted with the checkered history of tribal sovereignty, I am encouraged to hear that the President, who will help shape the federal policies regarding tribes, has a firm grasp of the mistakes of the past. With that understanding, we look forward to consistent policy that will allow Oklahoma tribes to continue to thrive. This will help drive our state’s economy more than most of us recognize.

We look forward to running guest contributions more often. We believe this blog can serve as a forum for honest and lively debate. We encourage you to submit guest blog posts on subjects that are important to you or in response to points of view that others have expressed in this space. We just ask that everyone treat the OK Policy blog more like a front porch conversation than like a heated argument. This is a discussion of issues with the intent of making Oklahoma better for all of us. The first step to coming to agreement is to have a free exchange of ideas in a respectful way.

Here are our blog guidelines:

–We will post entries that make an argument on public policy issues of importance to Oklahomans, whether we agree or disagree with the author’s point of view. However, we reserve the right not to post any blog entry submitted to us.

–Contributions addressing OK Policy’s core policy areas of state budget, revenues, and expenditures; poverty and wealth creation; or the economy will receive strongest consideration.

–Blog entries should be between 250 and 550 words. They should be original contributions and not pieces that have been published elsewhere.

–We will run a short disclaimer before guest posts stating that the post reflects the opinions of the author and not of OK Policy.

–We might, in some instances and without revealing the content of your post, solicit a contrasting opinion to yours on your issue in advance of publishing it.

–Please remember to include a title for your post and brief (20 words maximum) biographical or background information that can appear in the introduction to the post.

Send your submissions to David Blatt (dblatt@okpolicy.org) or Matt Guillory (mguillory@okpolicy.org). We hope to hear from you!

Only 21 percent of employees in the largest 98 metro areas work within three miles of downtown, while over twice that share (45 percent) work more than 10 miles away from the city center.

Oklahoma’s major metropolitan areas are joining in this trend. Our jobs are not as spread out as most metro areas, but lately they have been spreading faster. Just under a quarter of Oklahoma City (23.9 percent) and Tulsa (23.1 percent) jobs are 10 or more miles from the city center, compared to the national average of 45 percent. From 1998-2006, Oklahoma City share of jobs in this “outer ring” has grown by 4.6 percentage points; in Tulsa it grew by 3.8 percentage points. Both are considerably higher than the national average growth of 2.6 percent.

Why should we care? The continuing outward movement of jobs has some substantial policy implications:

1. It’s costly. It costs 20 to 40 percent more to provide water and sewer infrastructure to less dense areas than to more compact areas. People spend more time and money commuting to outlying jobs than centrally located ones.
2. It reduces job opportunities, particularly for low-income working people. They tend to live in inner cities or older suburbs, while job growth is in newer and wealthier suburbs. Since the office park developments where jobs are growing don’t lend themselves to public transportation or even car-pooling, job sprawl leads to greater inequality and higher unemployment for low-income Americans.
3. It can squelch innovation. Studies show that more densely spaced jobs and employers lead to more interaction among businesses and employees and increased patenting. This can be seen locally in the significant medical advances and inventions resulting from Oklahoma City’s medical park development. This public-private partnership created a major new employment center just a few blocks from downtown.
4. It’s wasteful. Researchers have found that the “carbon footprint” of metropolitan areas can be related to the density and concentration of development, with lower-density regions consuming higher amounts of carbon per capita…shifting 60 to 90 percent of new growth to more compact forms of development would reduce VMT by 30 percent and decrease carbon dioxide emissions from transportation by 7 to 10 percent over the next 40 years.

Should we take policy action to reduce or reverse job sprawl? The Brookings study cautions that outward movement is a long term trend that is likely to pick up again as the economy recovers. They suggest, though, that coherent policies can slow down the spread of jobs and the resulting costs and inequities. Oklahoma typically has tolerated and even encouraged suburban sprawl and it would require major shifts in thinking to switch directions. Still, we could save ourselves some time and money and improve economic opportunities by considering:

• Putting the brakes on widening freeways to the suburbs after the current round. If we shift these resources to road maintenance and public transit we’ll save money, time, and axles!
• Pursuing public transit, including commuter rail in the metro areas. Transit stations help concentrate jobs and shopping and make it easy and economical for everybody to access them.
• Stopping spreading state offices and agencies to the suburbs. This just increases driving time and cuts off some of our neediest workers from accessing jobs with good pay and benefits.
• Expanding the use of creative public financing to build central city employment opportunities. The new Devon complex in Oklahoma City should be the next step, not the last.

Cities have been expanding since they were first created and won’t stop anytime soon. Perhaps, though, the time has come to put more effort into making them better, not just bigger.