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 hosted a Fifth Anniversary Dinner at Cain’s Ballroom. As part of our celebration, we unveiled a new video, “OK Policy: Five Years of Better Information, Better Policy” produced by filmmakers from This Land and featuring interviews with staff and Board members, legislators, and engaged citizens. We also released our 2013 Legislative Primer this week – newly updated and redesigned.
The OK Policy Blog posted new analysis showing that the poorest taxpayers in Oklahoma pay more of their incomes in state and local taxes than do the wealthiest. Policy analyst Gene Perry spoke to KWGS about this analysis and Kate Richey was quoted in a Tulsa World article on the prevalence of financial insecurity among Oklahoma households.
The OK Policy Blog asked whether Oklahoma could run out of water. We also blogged about an upcoming event, where the new director of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services will speak about the future of DHS.
David Blatt’s Journal Record column discussed the state legislature’s continuing tax cut drama. Our Director was also quoted in an Oklahoma Watch piece on whether the state should join the Medicaid expansion. Our work was cited in an Urban Tulsa Weekly article on why tax cuts alone do not spur economic growth.
- 101,469 – Number of Oklahoma households who pay more than 50 percent of their income in housing costs, 2012
- 84,165 – Oklahoma’s current jobs deficit, or the number of jobs the state needs to create to keep up with the growth of the working aged population as of December
- 5 – Number of years the Oklahoma Policy Institute has been providing data-driven information, analysis and ideas on state policy issues
- $1 billion – Amount Oklahomans paid in additional interest on auto loans due to dealerships’ rate mark-up, the 8th most paid in financing markups to dealerships in the U.S., 2010
- 14,348 – Number of American Indian veterans in Oklahoma, the 2nd largest population of Native veterans outside California
In The Know, Policy Notes
- Analysis from the Economic Policy Institute revealed that unemployment in most occupations in the U.S. remain nearly double pre-recession rates.
- PolicyLink discusses an initiative that is building a business case for removing employment barriers from ex-felons.
- Wonkblog shares the insanely confusing path to legal immigration to the US, in one chart.
- Wonkblog shares findings of a study showing that Hispanic immigrants are assimilating just as quickly as earlier groups.
- Good Jobs First shows that state and local governments waste billions of dollars annually on economic development subsidies given to companies for moving existing jobs from one state to another—or on “job blackmail” paid to prevent possible relocations.
