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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.
Today you should know that Oklahoma Labor Commissioner Mark Costello plans to travel to Washington to testify against making information about workplace injuries available to the public. Governor Fallin handed out $4.5 million to two companies in 2013 using Quick Action Closing Fund incentives. The OK Policy Blog explained why claims that Obamacare is destroying jobs are over-hyped, and the overall impact of the law is good for business.
Oklahoma Treasurer Ken Miller said Oklahoma’s economy improved moderately in 2013 and early economic signs for 2014 appear positive as well. Public Radio Tulsa explained why a new tax deduction for foster parents is not likely to be enough to solve Oklahoma’s foster parent shortage. Tulsa Public Schools is turning to national experts for help with teacher recruitment in the face of worsening teacher shortages statewide.
A satanic group unveiled designs for a 7-foot-tall statue of Satan it wants to put at the Oklahoma state Capitol. NewsOK reported on how the TEEM ministry headed by former House Speaker Kris Steele is helping Oklahoma ex-felons find their second chances.
The Number of the Day is the decrease in the number of jobs in Oklahoma over the past 12 months. In today’s Policy Note, Theda Skocpol finds that the Affordable Care Act is working well where state-level officials are pitching in to help and lagging where they are engaged in obstruction.
In The News
Oklahoma Labor Commissioner opposes letting public know about workplace accidents
Oklahoma Labor Commissioner Mark Costello plans to travel to Washington on Thursday to testify against a proposed federal regulation that U.S. labor officials have touted as a way to improve workplace safety. The proposal would require about 250,000 U.S. businesses to electronically submit their workplace injury and illness reports to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration so the information could be posted online. Costello says it is unproven that making that information available to the public would improve public safety.
Governor hands out $4.5 million in Quick Action Closing Fund incentives in 2013
An incentive fund aimed at attracting businesses to the state named its first two recipients in 2013, just a couple years after the legislature gave the governor’s office the power to issue cash incentives to corporations. General Electric and Macy’s are the first two recipients of the Quick Action Closing Fund, and the incentives total around $4.5 million. In conjunction with the Department of Commerce, Gov. Mary Fallin offered GE $3 million in cash with the only requirement being that the company choose a location in Oklahoma for a new research center. The money can be used at the company’s discretion.
Read more from Capital City OK.
Obamacare destroying jobs? Not so fast.
Three years after it was signed into law, the Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as Obamacare) remains contentious. Critics have especially focused on a provision that requires businesses with 50 or more full-time employees to offer affordable health insurance to workers or be fined $2,000 per employee, excluding the first 30 employees. This “employer mandate” has been delayed until 2015; that didn’t stop The Oklahoman from running an editorial to claim that the employer mandate is killing jobs. The Oklahoman uses a single anecdotal example to make its criticism, while ignoring the many ways that the Affordable Care Act is a positive force for American business.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
Oklahoma treasurer offers positive economic outlook
Oklahoma’s economy improved moderately in 2013 and early economic signs for 2014 appear positive, as well, Oklahoma Treasurer Ken Miller said Monday. Oklahoma gross revenue collections rose 3.2 percent in 2013, reaching a total of $11.446 billion, Miller said at a news conference. “The Oklahoma economy continues to advance but backed off the accelerator a little during 2013,” Miller said. “All major sources of revenue finished the year in growth territory, just not as robust as during the past few years.”
Tax deduction likely not the solution to foster parent shortage
There are more than 11,000 children in state custody. There are fewer than 4,000 foster homes in Oklahoma. The foster kids to foster homes ratio is improving, but not enough. On Jan. 1, a new state law went into effect. Foster parents now qualify for a tax deduction of $2,500 for single returns or $5,000 for joint returns. The consensus seems to be that a tax deduction is nice but inadequate. Numbers back that up. A 2007 report established minimum adequate rates for children, known as the Foster Care MARCs. They’re estimates of the cost to raise a foster child in one of three age groups. Oklahoma’s MARCs average $21.07 per day. The state’s actual reimbursement rates average $15.71.
Read more from Public Radio Tulsa.
TPS will pay group to help recruit teachers
Tulsa Public Schools is turning to national experts for help with teacher recruitment in the face of worsening candidate shortages statewide. The school board on Monday unanimously approved $430,820 from its civic donors fund for a new technical assistance partnership with The New Teacher Project. Nearly 400 teachers retired or resigned from TPS in 2012-13, and the district started the current academic year short-handed and never caught up.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Satanists unveil design for Oklahoma Capitol monument
A satanic group unveiled designs Monday for a 7-foot-tall statue of Satan it wants to put at the Oklahoma state Capitol, where a Ten Commandments monument was placed in 2012. The New York-based Satanic Temple formally submitted its application to a panel that oversees the Capitol grounds, including an artist’s rendering that depicts Satan as Baphomet, a goat-headed figure with horns, wings and a long beard that’s often used as a symbol of the occult. In the rendering, Satan is sitting in a pentagram-adorned throne with smiling children next to him.
Oklahoma ex-felons find their second chances through TEEM ministry
Delbert Delcoure thinks he may need a friend or two once he leaves a local community correctional center in the spring. Delcoure, 45, said he has been in and out of prison five times over the past 20 years and is now serving a six-year sentence for possession of a controlled dangerous substance. As one of the inmates at Clara Waters Correctional Center participating in a new program offered by The Education and Employment Ministry, Delcoure said his sessions with one of the program’s mentors are helping him prepare for the weeks and months after his release.
Quote of the Day
The statue will also have a functional purpose as a chair where people of all ages may sit on the lap of Satan for inspiration and contemplation.
-Lucien Greaves, spokesman for the New York-based Satanic Temple, on a monument the group is proposing to build near the Ten Commandments monument at the Oklahoma Capitol (Source: http://bit.ly/K1N4W1)
Number of the Day
2,350
Decrease in the number of jobs in Oklahoma over the past 12 months.
Source: Oklahoma Employment Security Commission via the Oklahoma State Treasurer
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
The Best Way to See That Affordable Care is Moving Ahead – Look at States Really Trying
Opponents have already pronounced Affordable Care a failure, while the national media exaggerates every glitch and tracks the story as a DC political horse race. But America’s fifty states are where the real action is. Enrollments are adding up quickly in cooperative states, and lagging where top officials are engaged in obstruction or delay. Where good faith is present, the law is working well so far. In short, America’s new health reform can work, but it depends greatly on the capacities of the various states to administer challenging reforms – and even more on the willingness of state-level officials to pitch in to shape reform to local needs, as the original legislation intended.
Read more from the Scholars Strategy Network.
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