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 presented a second study that further debunked a report being used by those trying to abolish the income tax.  Our new fact sheet summarized numerous flaws in their report.  Our work was cited in articles by Stateline, OU Daily, and the Associated Press on Gov. Fallin’s tax plan.  We prepared a memo that compares the major tax cut proposals in the legislature and launched an animated video that showed that in the Oklahoma v. Texas Economy Bowl, the team with the income tax is winning. Read the rest of this entry »

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 we posted a new report debunking highly misleading analysis that phasing-out the state income tax would spur economic growth.  Our work was cited in a StateImpact OK article on the state’s tax reform debate.  We announced that Megan Williams Benn has joined our team as an outreach coordinator leading our work to protect our tax base and ensure adequate funding of public services. Read the rest of this entry »

Oklahoma Policy Institute is delighted to announce that Megan Williams Benn will be joining our team as an outreach coordinator working with a broad group of organizations on efforts to protect our tax base and ensure adequate funding of public services.

A native of Balko in Western Oklahoma, Megan has extensive experience in both government and the private sector. After earning a B.A. from Texas Christian University, she worked in Washington, D.C. as an executive assistant at the White House and as director of business development for Clifford L. Brody Associates. Since returning to Oklahoma, she has served as program coordinator for the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology, researcher for Oklahoma Senate staff, and Legislative Liaison for the Department of Commerce. Most recently she has operated her own political consulting business, where she has advised  rural schools and other clients. She and her husband, Dr. Jason Benn, have two children and live in Norman.

Under her contract with OK Policy, Megan will lead the efforts of an emerging coalition that is working to promote fair and sustainable budget and tax policies. Megan’s experience has provided her an unequaled mix of policy expertise and familiarity with the legislative process, and she has a broad network of relations at the Capitol and around the state, especially among those in the economic development and education communities and in rural areas.  We are very excited to welcome Megan on board, and know that she will make a great contribution to building on the successes of OK Policy and increasing our impact on the critical fiscal policy debates facing the state.

You can reach Megan at mwbenn(at)okpolicy.org

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 Oklahoma Policy Institute Director David Blatt released a statement in response to Governor Fallin’s plan to eliminate the income tax.  Our work on the income tax proposal was cited by KRMG, The Edmond Sun, StateImpact OK, and The Associated Press. The Oklahoma Gazette featured OK Policy in a cover story about the income tax debate in Oklahoma.  The OK Policy Blog pointed out that Gov. Fallin’s state of the state address acknowledged our urgent unmet needs but was ambivalent about how to pay for them. Read the rest of this entry »

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.

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.

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.

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. Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »

Oklahoma Policy Institute is seeking an experienced and effective outreach coordinator to lead the effort to educate Oklahomans about the need to protect our tax base and ensure adequate funding of public services.  A coalition of organizations for fair and sustainable budget and tax policies is emerging.  The outreach coordinator will play a critical role in developing the strategy for this coalition, developing and spreading the coalition’s message, expanding membership, and executing a shared agenda for achieving the coalition’s goals.

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. 

Each year we try to rouse ourselves out of our post-Christmas, pre-New Year’s slumber long enough to pull together a Top 10 list of our most popular blog posts. As we said last year, if this organization, with its rich history dating all the way back to the early months of 2008, stands for anything, it stands for Tradition.  So without further ado: Our 10 blog posts that received the most hits in 2011. If you missed any of these the first time around, here’s another chance to take a look. Read the rest of this entry »

Last year, we listed some of Oklahoma’s best politics and policy blogs of the left, right, and center. We shared 15 blogs that are written by Oklahomans, have a political or policy focus, and are likely to keep you informed, amused, enlightened or outraged. Follow the link to rediscover those blogs, most of which continue to post regularly.

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. Read the rest of this entry »