Recent Articles

Joint Statement: Installment loan bill needs improvement to protect Oklahomans from financial harm

For Immediate Release Oklahoma Policy Institute along with a coalition of Oklahoma organizations and individuals released this joint statement on a bill that would allow a new high-cost lending product in Oklahoma: Last month, the Oklahoma Senate passed a bill,… Read more [More...]

Bill Watch: At a dead end

Six weeks into the 2019 legislative session, the House and Senate hit their second major deadline last Thursday. Bills that failed to pass off the floor of their chamber of origin are now dead for this session. [More...]

Bill Watch: One more week for bills until next Survivor elimination

Last week, we reported that just over 1,000 bills and resolutions had survived the initial committee deadline and were still alive. The ranks of surviving bills will be thinned once again by next Thursday, March 14th, the deadline by which bills must pass out of their chamber of origin to avoid being booted off the island (for various exceptions to this rule, see our 2019 Legislative Primer).This coming week will see the sausage-grinding machine speed up considerably, as hundreds of measures vie for hearings during what are expected to be long days and nights on the House and Senate floor. Here are some key bills OK Policy continues to track closely in the areas of criminal justice, education, economic security, and taxes. [More...]

Bill Watch: You’re all dead to me!

As of today, 1,020 bills and resolutions remain active out of the 2,836 total measures introduced thus far this session. This translates to a 37 percent survival rate. In this update, we stop to mourn or celebrate some of the key pieces of legislation that missed the deadline and have been relegated to the sidelines, if not the graveyard, this session [More...]

Fact Check: Property crime decreased in Oklahoma after SQ 780

In the months after State Question 780 went into effect, Oklahomans reported fewer theft crimes to law enforcement agencies across the state. The early results of Oklahoma’s landmark justice reform add to the evidence that it is possible to reduce both crime and punishment at the same time. [More...]

Statement: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reversal of rules protecting consumers from payday debt trap will harm Oklahomans

Last week the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) proposed to reverse their own rule, issued in 2017, protecting consumers from the harms of predatory lending, despite the lack of new evidence that the rule needs to be reconsidered. Oklahoma Policy Institute opposes this proposed repeal and strongly urges the CFPB to allow the 2017 rule to take effect as scheduled later this year. Oklahomans are depending on these promised protections. [More...]

Statement: Governor’s State of the State address and budget propose some positive steps but leave out major needs

Oklahoma Policy Institute released the following statement on Governor Stitt's State of the State address and proposed budget. [More...]

2019 Priority: Revisit the supermajority requirement of SQ 640

Download this fact sheet as a printable pdf here. Read about the rest of OK Policy’s 2019 Legislative Policy Priorities here. In March 1992, Oklahoma voters approved State Question 640, establishing the requirement that any bill to raise revenue must… Read more [More...]

2019 Priority: Add racial impact statements on criminal justice legislation to reduce disparities in the justice system

Download this fact sheet as a printable pdf here. Read about the rest of OK Policy’s 2019 Legislative Policy Priorities here. Communities of color are disproportionately affected by incarceration in Oklahoma. One in every 15 adult Black men in Oklahoma… Read more [More...]

2019 Priority: Safeguard access to quality health care by rejecting ‘junk coverage’

Download this fact sheet as a printable pdf here. Read about the rest of OK Policy’s 2019 Legislative Policy Priorities here. Before 2013, widely-available junk health insurance coverage left patients at the mercy of big insurance companies, with coverage that… Read more [More...]