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The Weekly Wonk is a summary of Oklahoma Policy Institute’s events, publications, blog posts, and coverage. Numbers of the Day and Policy Notes are from our daily news briefing, In The Know. Click here to subscribe to In The Know.
This week on the OK Policy blog, we explored whether term limits really changed how long Oklahoma legislators served. We explained how despite Governor Fallin’s attempt to shift the blame to President Obama, the real reason behind state Medicaid cuts is Oklahoma leaders’ mismanagement of the state budget.
A guest post warned of the influence of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a secretive organization that connects corporate lobbyists with state legislators. An upcoming series of Community Meetings in Oklahoma City and Tulsa will explore extending foster care in Oklahoma to age 21.
In his Journal Record column, Executive Director David Blatt explained how tax cuts in Kansas were intended to boost the economy but have had the opposite effect. RH Reality Check linked to OK Policy resources to argue that health care access and accepting federal funds to expand health coverage will be key issues in the state’s gubernatorial race.
In our Editorial of the Week, an advisory board member for a hospital in Creek County wrote that Oklahoma’s refusal to accept Medicaid funds could force rural hospitals to close their doors.
Quote of the Week
“They start with the mentality of seeing employees as assets to be maximized.”
– Zaynep Ton of MIT’s Sloan School of Management, on retailers such as QuikTrip, Trader Joe’s and Costco Wholesale that are paying workers living wages. Such retailers consistently report better operational efficiency, better customer service, and better sales than their low-wage competitors (Source: http://bit.ly/1zDQV1z)
Numbers of the Day
- 57 minutes – Average time patients with broken bones had to wait before receiving pain medication in Oklahoma emergency rooms.
- 2,700,990 tons – Total tonnage processed by the Port of Catoosa in 2013.
- 17 – Number of journalists reporting full-time from the Oklahoma statehouse. Oklahoma ranks 15th nationwide.
- 6 – Number of Oklahoma high schools with a dropout rate above 40 percent for the Class of 2012.
- 9 percent – Percentage decline in Oklahoma’s teen birth rate from 2012 to 2013.
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
What We’re Reading
- Huffington Post discusses new legislation by Democratic Senator Cory Booker and Republican Senator Rand Paul that aims to break the cycle of incarceration for nonviolent offenders.
- Quartz looks at how companies like QuikTrip, the grocery store chain Trader Joe’s, and Costco Wholesale are proving that the decision to offer low wages is a choice, not an economic necessity.
- Eighteen cities in Texas have passed rules to reign in some of the worst practices of payday lenders. The Washington Post explains how.
- CNN Money discusses how the prosperity of the American middle class has fallen below Japan, Canada, Australia and much of Western Europe, even as a few very wealthy Americans skew the average wealth upwards.
- Bloomberg View shares the concept of participatory budgeting, in which citizens have a hand in allocating resources.
