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In The Know is a daily synopsis of Oklahoma policy-related news and blogs. Inclusion of a story does not necessarily mean endorsement by the Oklahoma Policy Institute. You can sign up here to receive In The Know by e-mail.
State superintendent candidates John Cox and Joy Hofmeister debated the direction of public schools during a televised debate. Under new guidance from the Health Dept., Oklahoma will not require a blanket quarantine for all health-care workers who visited West Africa.
The House Utility and Environmental Regulation Committee held an interim study on the link between fracking and earthquakes in Oklahoma. The Oklahoman Editorial Board argued that lawmakers can’t be ‘tough on crime’ if they aren’t fully funding corrections.
Oklahoma City and Tulsa rank among the most-affordable big cities in the United States according to Kiplinger. A guest post on the OK Policy Blog discussed a new effort to bring millennial voters to the polls and millennial voices to the policy-making table.
In today’s Policy Note, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities demonstrated the long-term economic growth potential for states who would choose to spend less in maintaining extremely high prison populations and spent more instead on public education. The Number of the Day is how many Oklahomans with physical or mental disabilities obtained gainful employment through services provided by the Department of Rehabilitation Service.
In The News
Hofmeister, Cox spar over direction of public schools
One week before the general election, state superintendent candidates John Cox and Joy Hofmeister traded jabs on statewide television Tuesday night, with each questioning the other’s qualifications for the job and their views on public education.
State Health Department releases rules for Ebola quarantines
Unlike some states, Oklahoma will not require an overall quarantine for health-care workers who treated West African Ebola patients, officials said Tuesday. State health-care leaders adopted new rules Monday in conjunction with recently released federal guidelines establishing four categories of Ebola contact.
Payne County woman asks lawmakers to protect residents from earthquakes
A Payne County woman made an emotional plea to a legislative panel Tuesday to protect Oklahoma residents from a growing number of earthquakes many believe are caused by the oil and gas industry. Angela Spotts is a spokeswoman for Stop Fracking Payne County. She was among the presenters during a House Utility and Environmental Regulation Committee interim study on earthquakes that was requested by Rep. Cory Williams, D-Stillwater, and Rep. Jason Murphey, R-Guthrie.
On corrections, Oklahoma lawmakers can’t have it both ways
THE Oklahoma Department of Corrections budget request for the next fiscal year prompts the question: Will state policymakers ever seriously entertain policies that might help this state spend less on corrections? If the answer is no — and there’s been little evidence to date that lawmakers are fond of prison reform — then those same lawmakers must be willing to break open the checkbook. Current trends can’t be addressed without additional money.
OKC, Tulsa among most affordable big cities in nation
Oklahoma City and Tulsa were among a list of the most-affordable big cities in the United States in a ranking assembled by Kiplinger. Oklahoma City ranked ninth with a cost of living 9.7 percent lower than the national average. Kiplinger also reported that a city survey found that local residents had more positive attitudes about living and working in Oklahoma City than the average national respondent.
Oklahoma’s broken democracy hurts millennials (Guest Post: Nikki Hager)
Mobilizing Millennials is something Common Sense Action (CSA) is working to achieve. CSA is the first bipartisan, millennial advocacy organization and is active on 40 college campuses in 20 states across the nation. CSA works to bring Millennial voices to the policy-making table, including facilitating voting. Getting more young people to vote in primary elections is one of the reasons I worked to bring a CSA chapter to the University of Tulsa this fall.
Quote of the Day
“Yet as Oklahoma’s prison population has grown through the years, and as lawmakers have added more statutes to keep people locked up longer, the state’s violent crime rate has decreased only slightly. In his audit of the DOC, state Auditor and Inspector Gary Jones said lawmakers need to either ‘act responsibly and commit sufficient financial resources’ to fund the prison system’s operations and programs, ‘or find ways in which to be smart on crime, keeping in mind the ever increasing cost to Oklahoma taxpayers.'”
Number of the Day
1,900
The number of Oklahomans with physical or mental disabilities who obtained gainful employment through services provided by the Department of Rehabilitation Services in 2013
Source: OKDRS
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Changing Priorities: State Criminal Justice Reforms and Investments in Education
Corrections spending is now the third-largest category of spending in most states, behind education and health care. If states were still spending on corrections what they spent in the mid-1980s, adjusted for inflation, they would have about $28 billion more each year that they could choose to spend on more productive investments or a mix of investments and tax reductions. Even as states spend more on corrections, they are underinvesting in educating children and young adults, especially those in high-poverty neighborhoods.
Read more from Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
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