What’s up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk is dedicated to this week’s events, publications, and blog posts.

This week OK Policy and the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) co-released the 2012 Assets and Opportunity Scorecard, which showed that more than one in four Oklahoma households are “asset poor,” meaning they have little or no financial cushion to rely on in an emergency.  The Tulsa World and the Oklahoman covered Oklahoma’s Scorecard results in depth.

We pointed out that if legislators make the choice to prioritize tax cuts, they cannot pretend to be blameless when funds aren’t available for crucial services.  We hosted a debate about whether or not to require a prescription for pseudoephedrine, featuring Jessica Hawkins, the Director of Prevention Services for the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, and former state Senator Ed Long.

Finally this week, the Associated Press quoted us in an article on a regional trend of GOP action to axe state income taxes. The Tulsa World presented a summary of our issue brief defending the income tax. The Journal Record cited our work on worsening poverty in Oklahoma and legislative proposals that would make it even harder to be poor. The OK Policy Blog featured a short video about ‘community schools,’ a comprehensive approach to education that makes the school the hub of the community.

Numbers of the Day

• $136 – Average tax increase on elderly Oklahoma couples with $35,000 in income under a legislative proposal to eliminate a slate of broad-based tax credits and exemptions.
• 8,100 – Number of manufacturing jobs added in Oklahoma from January to December of 2011, up 8.4 percent for the year.
• 178, 020 – Number of Oklahoma children under age 6 who need daily child care during the week because their primary caregiver/s participate in the labor force, 2009
• 6,592 – Number of Oklahomans who tested for their GED in 2009; 70.1 percent received their GED, just above the average national pass rate of 69.4 percent.
• 11^th – Oklahoma’s rank among the states in percentage of households with no computer in their home, 2010

In The Know, Policy Notes

• The Foundation for Child Development finds that states with higher taxes and greater investment in public programs score highest for Child Well-Being.
• The Economic Policy Institute points out that the massive tax cuts propose by GOP presidential candidates don’t square with professed concerns about public debt.
• Demos shows that the pay premium gained by joining the federal workforce is reserved largely for less-skilled workers, and rather than disparaging public sector pay levels, we should embrace them as standards from which the private sector has shamefully deviated over the last three decades.
• The Shriver Center examines the trend of states issuing public benefits through bankcards and the implications of card fees for low-income people.
• Bloomberg Businessweek reports on falling premiums for Medicare Advantage, a private health insurance option for Medicare beneficiaries.

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What’s up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk is dedicated to this week’s events, publications, and blog posts.

This week OK Policy explained what federal budget cuts could mean for Oklahoma.  Doug Hall of the Economic Policy Institute underscored the urgency of fixing America’s crumbling infrastructure.  Our director David Blatt spoke at a StateImpact Oklahoma forum about why proposals to reduce or eliminate the income tax would effectively raise taxes for most Oklahomans.

Also this week, we featured remarks by Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley on how health care reform improves business competitiveness.  We posted event information about the first annual Grandparenting Workshop at Oklahoma State University.

Numbers of the Day

• $107 – Average tax increase on sixty percent of Oklahoma households under a legislative proposal to eliminate a slate of broad-based tax credits and exemptions.
• 8,600 – Number of jobs lost in state and local government in Oklahoma over 2010.
• $22,007 – Annual average wage for home health aides in Oklahoma, just below the federal poverty level for a family of four in 2010, $22,050
• 11 percent – Percentage of ex-offenders released in Oklahoma who were re-incarcerated for technical violations of their probation/parole in 2004, up from 3 percent in 1999.
• $34 million – Amount needed to repair sewer lines and make major improvements to two facilities slated for closure that house medically fragile, mentally disabled Oklahoma residents.

In The Know, Policy Notes

• The Center for Economic and Policy Research shares five reasons we should be concerned about the rising share of low-wage work.
• Touchstone examines the austerity curve, or the point at which cutting government spending becomes self-defeating because it lowers growth, depresses tax revenues, and pushes up social security spending by more than the government is cutting.
• The Century Foundation shares a series of graphs that bust the myths about food stamps.
• The Kaiser Family Foundation released their annual survey of employer health benefits, with a detailed look at trends in employer-sponsored health coverage.

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What’s up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk is dedicated to this week’s events, publications, and blog posts.

This week OK Policy refuted a claim by Senator Mike Mazzei that “special interests” were the real losers in the tax reform task force proposal. StateImpactOklahoma and Sen. Charles Wyrick both discussed our finding that the plan would amount to a tax increase for a majority of Oklahomans. We released an issue brief and a related blog post outlining Oklahoma’s Medicaid program and its eligibility requirements, breaking down its funding sources, and debunking some common Medicaid myths.

Also this week on our blog, we discussed how Arthur Laffer’s economic analysis of tax cuts is highly misleading, because his real goal is to tell politicians what they want to hear. A guest blog from Fab Lab Tulsa’s Matthew Norris presented the vision of an economy based on personal fabrication. This Land Press conducted a live interview with David Blatt about the history of OK Policy, our notable accomplishments, and some of the work we are doing now.

Numbers of the Day

• 63.9 percent - Percentage of deliveries in Oklahoma paid for by SoonerCare (Medicaid).
• 3/5ths - Proportion of Oklahoma households who use natural gas as their primary energy source for home heating.
•  37.7 percent - Percentage of working-age Oklahomans with a disability who were employed in 2009
• 40th - Oklahoma’s rank among the states in amount of state and local taxes collected as a share of personal income, 2009

In The Know, Policy Notes

• The Center for American Progress looked at how far we still need to go to reach MLK Jr.’s dream of equal opportunity.
• Dean Baker discussed why Social Security is not in danger.
• Businessweek examined the perils of offering corporations tax incentives to relocate.
• The White House profiled the diversity of approaches and progress being made to establish state-based insurance exchanges.

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What’s up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk is dedicated to this week’s events, publications, and blog posts.

This week OK Policy released a new fact sheet analyzing a tax reform task force’s proposal to cut the top income tax rate by raising taxes on a majority of Oklahomans.  This blog post explains why their proposal is a bad deal for working families and seniors in Oklahoma.  Our director David Blatt writes in the Tulsa World about why cutting or eliminating the state’s largest revenue source in the face of significant financial obligations is fiscally irresponsible.

Also this week on our blog, we compared Oklahoma’s public and private universities and community colleges on two important measures of value.  Credit counseler Jennifer Wallis offered tips for improving credit scores and financial security. Watch a short video on how IDAs help low and moderate income earners save for important assets like a college education, a home, or a business.  Urban Tulsa Weekly used OK Policy analysis in an article on the state’s troubled health.

Numbers of the Day

• 13.5 percent – Percentage increase in initial unemployment claims in Oklahoma during December 2011.
• 50 percent – Amount by which oil consumption in Oklahoma exceeds the state’s production.
• 1 in 3 – Oklahomans live in ‘high-poverty’ neighborhoods, census tracts in which the poverty rate is twenty percent or higher.
• 1.7 million – Metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions prevented by ENERGY STAR appliances in Oklahoma as of 2007, equivalent to the emissions of 1 million vehicles.
• 342,231 – Number of filers in Oklahoma who claimed the federal earned income tax credit (EITC) on returns filed in 2011.

In The Know, Policy Notes

• The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explains why a push to deny unemployment insurance to workers without GEDs is an appalling idea.
• Stateline previews how coming federal budget cuts will affect the states.
• Education Sector shows that even auto mechanics are becoming more likely to have college degrees.
• The Nation discusses how Right to Work hasn’t worked to protect Oklahoma manufacturing jobs.
• State Impact Oklahoma investigates the causes and consequences of persistent poverty in one of the poorest counties in the state.

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What’s up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk is dedicated to this week’s events, publications, and blog posts.

This week OK Policy announced we are seeking an outreach coordinator to lead the effort to ensure adequate funding of core public services.  OK Policy Director David Blatt was quoted in an article about this nascent coalition effort.  Our intern Kasey Hughart discussed the problem of wage theft and how Oklahoma can improve minimum wage and overtime policies for all workers.  Juan Pedroza from The Urban Institute questioned the claim that HB 1804 caused an exodus of immigrants from Oklahoma.

An OK Policy blog post was used as the basis for this editorial in the Tulsa World on the state’s decision to allow insurers to exclude babies from child-only health insurance coverage.  The federal government rejected the Insurance Department’s request for a waiver from a requirement that insurance companies spend at least 80 percent of consumer premiums on medical care.  Click here to read our letter to the Department of Health and Human Services opposing the Insurance Department’s request to exempt insurers in the state.

Finally, our work was featured this week in an Edmond Sun story on the state’s growing economy, and OK Policy analyst Kate Richey was quoted in an article on the growing wealth gap between white and nonwhite Oklahomans.

Numbers of the Day

• $2.5 billion – Expected amount of revenue that will be collected through the state’s personal income tax next year.
• $57.00 – Average markup over the fair market price on a flight through the Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City – one of the ten most expensive midsize airports in America
• 14.4 percent – Percentage of mortgages in Oklahoma that were delinquent during the 3rd quarter of 2011, up from 13.9 percent in the 2nd quarter; Delinquent mortgages have payments past due for 30 days or more.
• 55,600 – Number of kids on average per month in Oklahoma who had unemployed parents in 2011.

In The Know, Policy Notes

• Stateline examines the new approach by the Obama administration to give states more flexibility in defining “essential benefits” that must be covered by insurance under the new health care law.
• The New York Times calls for America to bring back boring banks.
• Robert Reich traces the history of the decline of the public good in American society.
• The New America Foundation explains why producing more college graduates requires a commitment to promoting savings, especially among children from lower income families.

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The Outreach Coordinator will be a half-time contract position (with the possibility of additional hours) based in Oklahoma City.  Click here for a full description of the position and instructions for how to apply.

Send a resume and cover letter to David Blatt, Director, Oklahoma Policy Institute at jobs@okpolicy.org by Tuesday, January 17, 2012.  Please be sure to note in the subject line of the email, Outreach Coordinator and describe your availability and salary requirements in the letter. 

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10. What’s at stake: the toll of budget cuts – With state agencies facing a third successive year of funding reductions, this post surveyed the impact that cuts have had across a broad range of programs and services. This is just one example of why OK Policy once again failed to be voted “Most Upbeat Policy Organization”.

9. The toll of budget cuts: Programs promoting high-quality teaching and schools under the axe – Following a ten percent cut in appropriations, the Department of Education eliminated funding for a wide range of programs. This blog looked at three such programs  – Great Expectations, A+ Schools, and Literacy First – that were zeroed out despite proven success in training better teaches and raising school performance.

8. Guest post (Trevor Shanklin): Oklahoma, we need to talk about drugs – With this post, our summer intern went some way towards disproving the idea that you’ve gotta be stoned to imagine that Oklahomans are ready for an honest conversation about reforming drug policies.

7. The Language Police: Bills would enact new restrictions on speech – Among the slew of restrictive immigration bills introduced in the 2011 session were measures aimed at imposing draconian restrictions on when public employees could use languages other than English. While all these bills failed last session, the adage that “No bad idea is truly ever dead at the Capitol” is worth remembering.

6. Out of the mouths of babes: Legislature moves to cut child nutrition benefits – Why would the Legislature try to prohibit non-profits and faith-based organizations in Tulsa and Oklahoma county from administering child nutrition benefits to thousands of women and children? Believe it or not, the answer rhymes with “shmabortion”.

5. Health care reform: Implementing insurance exchanges – With this and other pieces, OK Policy tried to get beyond the heated rhetoric of the health care reform debate and examine how the new law really works. This post on health insurance exchanges was written in February, before Oklahoma returned a $54 million implementation grant and made clear its unwillingness to develop a state-operated exchange that complies with federal requirements.

4. Get a job: Why restricting employment for ex-felons is counterproductive -  When the duly-elected mayor of Pawnee was forced out of office because of a prior felony conviction, it drew national attention. This post explored the wide range of employment obstacles ex-felons face and why this issue needs to be part of Oklahoma’s ongoing initiative for criminal justice reform.

3. Why education reform is not like musical chairs – Another year, another misguided effort to solve complex problems with simple formulas. In this case, we showed why a proposal to require that 65 percent of all education dollars be spent on direct instruction won’t work if we’re cutting education funding and just playing musical chairs with the remaining dollars.

2. Cutting the top income tax rate: Who benefits? -  Would the Oklahoma legislature actually allow a $120 million tax cut to take effect at the same time as funding is being slashed for a third consecutive year for schools, law enforcement and social services? Well, duh!

1. Child care cuts deal a blow to low-income working families and kids – The year’s top post considered another program threatened by shrinking state resources. In this case, proposed changes to the DHS child care subsidy program that would have raised co-payments and eligibility limits for working parents were deferred an ultimately abandoned.

We appreciate all of you who followed our blog and contributed comments and guest posts. We look forward to continuing the conversation in 2012!

UPDATE: As if the 2000 Presidential election wasn’t lesson enough, we have a fresh reminder of why not to declare a winner before all the votes are counted. The new last-minute, runaway winner for most popular blog post of 2011:

1. New insurance rules throw the baby out with the bathwater – Maybe our readers were genuinely outraged that the Insurance Commission would pass a rule allowing carriers to exclude infants from child-only health plans. Or maybe there’s something irresistibly compelling about the sad baby picture that accompanied the post – the same sad baby from our #6 top post.  Clearly, policymakers better think twice about making that baby sad.

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Rather then repeat ourselves this time around, we are broadening our focus to look at blogs covering other aspects of Oklahoma. Some of these bloggers write about municipal issues that, while not always receiving as much attention as state and national politics, can have as much or more impact on our daily lives. Others drift farther from public policy, but they share some of the culture and entertainment (and food!) that bring our communities alive.

• A Downtown on the Range: Nick Roberts describes himself as “your typical OKC enthusiast… who’s not always enthused.” Roberts tracks the urban development of Oklahoma City, writing passionately and knowledgeably about what developers and policymakers are getting right, as well as when they go off track.
• OKC Central: Steve Lackmeyer covers downtown OKC for The Oklahoman. On his blog, he adds background to stories, engages with commenters, and offers news and observations in a more conversational style than what appears in the paper.
• Doug Dawgz Blog: A blog dedicated to Oklahoma City, past, present, and future. Doug Dawg regularly unearths interesting stories and photographs from OKC history, and he is an excellent resource for following city council politics.
• Batesline: Michael Bates is a conservative blogger who we also featured on last year’s list, but he primarily writes about City of Tulsa issues that blur partisan lines. Bates does his research, often digging up information that you won’t find anywhere else.
• okc.net: A group blog/web magazine featuring stories on local music, comedy, comics, and some politics and news. Especially recommended is the series by Leah Kayajanian, recently relocated from Norman to Los Angeles, about her experiences as a stand-up comic.
• The Art of Manliness: Tulsans Brett McKay and his wife Kate write from the perspective of Martha Stewart’s macho alter-ego. Want to learn how to whittle? They’ve got you covered. Throwing a holiday party? They can help with that, too.
• Red Dirt Chronicles: Another group blog that covers a wide range of topics, by contributors who “love Oklahoma and have a little Red Dirt running through their veins.”
• Tulsa Food: Their tagline says it all: “Tulsa food & dining casually reviewed by ordinary people with a passion for food.” They also provide a weekly deal, usually for half off at a Tulsa-area restaurant. A great way to expand your culinary horizons.
• Oklahoma Rock Newsblog: Music videos, CD releases, interviews, and news on thousands of Oklahoma musicians.

If you know of any great Oklahoma blogs not included here, let us know in the comments!

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What’s up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk is dedicated to this week’s events, publications, and blog posts.

This week the OK Policy Blog shared five proven economic development ideas that are more cost-effective than tax cuts.  Our director David Blatt was quoted in this Tulsa World article on how corporate loopholes and exemptions have left our tax base riddled with holes.  We also questioned the wisdom of a request from Oklahoma’s Insurance Department to give profitable insurers a free pass to shift administrative expenses onto already strained household budgets.

Also this week, a new report from Good Jobs First found that while Oklahoma does the 6th best job of applying job standards to major tax subsidy programs, some of our subsidies did not fare as well.  OK Policy analyst Gene Perry discussed the report in an article in 23rd and Lincoln.  Lastly, yesterday’s blog post explores how some are profiting from immigrant detention in Oklahoma.

Numbers of the Day

• 3.4 percent – Percentage growth in year to date total adjusted retail sales in Oklahoma, compared to 2010
• 47^th – Oklahoma’s rank among the states on early prenatal care – the percentage of women who receive prenatal care within the first trimester, 2011
• 307,253 – Number of filers in the state that claimed the Oklahoma Earned Income Tax Credit on their 2009 returns
• 91.2 percent – Percentage of Oklahoma farms owned by individuals or families, 2007
• 446M – BTU’s of energy consumed per capita in Oklahoma in 2007, 11th most in the nation.

In The Know, Policy Notes

• The ACLU explains how mass incarceration is a windfall for the private prison industry.
• US Attorney General Eric Holder denounced recent state laws that restrict voting and proposed that the federal government automatically register all citizens to vote.
• The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy finds that state governments are losing out on over $10 billion in transportation revenue every year because the average state has not increased its gas tax rate in over a decade.
• The Atlantic Cities discusses new research suggesting that cultural diversity plays a key role in economic growth.
• Economist Nancy Folbre shows that since welfare reform instituted strict work requirements, the program no longer provides a safety net in times when jobs are not available.

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What’s up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk is dedicated to this week’s events, publications, and blog posts.

This week the OK Policy Blog warned about proposals to cut taxes that would actually shift more costs onto low and moderate-income Oklahomans.  OK Policy was quoted in two stories by NewsOK explaining the devastating implications of eliminating or reducing the state income tax.  For additional information and research on the income tax debate, see our tax reform information page.

Urban Tulsa Weekly used our work in a story about Oklahoma’s serious problems with predatory lending.  OK Policy analyst Kate Richey appeared on Dr. Bruce Prescott’s “Religious Talk” radio show to speak about the need for affordable credit in Oklahoma and the financially draining impact of high-cost lenders.  Kate also wrote in the Oklahoma Gazette this week about startling disparities in unemployment between white and black workers in the state.

Lastly this week, State Treasurer Ken Miller wrote in the OK Policy Blog about the rhetoric versus the reality on tax incentives.  We also discussed a new report showing how large corporations avoid state taxes.  OK Policy gave a presentation about the status of various aspects of the federal health care law.  Click here for a copy of the presentation and here for coverage from OETA.

In The Know, Policy Notes

•  The National Journal lays out the facts on the Keystone XL pipeline – what it is, whose it is, and what’s causing the delay.
•  The American Medical Association reports that most states are creating their own health insurance exchanges.
• The New York Times reports how Hispanic immigration is breathing new life into many previously declining Kansas towns.
• The Center for Children and Families projects that under full implementation of the Affordable Care Act, an estimated 3.2 million children will gain health care coverage, cutting the number of uninsured children in the US by 40 percent.
• The Century Foundation questions a proposal by Senate Republicans to pay for extending the payroll tax cut by eliminating jobs.

Numbers of the Day

• 31 percent – Percentage of Oklahoma women aged 18-35 years who reported being sexual assaulted in their lifetime, 2006.
• 100,213 – Number of Oklahoma children living in homes where the householders are grandparents or other relatives in 2010, 10.8 percent of the children in the state.
• 60 percent – Percentage discount on the average foreclosed property’s price versus the average property’s price in Oklahoma, the largest percentage of savings of any state in the country as of October 2011.
• 61,000 tons – Amount of sulfur dioxide (SO2) emitted annually by the three oldest coal-fired power plants in Oklahoma, currently out of compliance with the Clean Air Act.  SO2 is a toxic gas that is known to affect lung function when inhaled.
• 18 percent – Percentage drop in the total mail volume of the U.S. Postal Service between 2000 and 2010

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