Recent Articles

Tax cut trigger shoots Oklahoma deeper into hole

Last month, the Board of Equalization certified that revenues will grow enough next year to trigger a cut in the state’s top income tax rate. At the same time, the Board determined that the state will have nearly $300 million… Read more [More...]

Five reasons NOT to donate to OK Policy

Typically, when we reach out to ask you to contribute to Oklahoma Policy Institute, we list all the good reasons why you should support our work with a tax-deductible donation. But because we are a fair and nonpartisan organization, it’s… Read more [More...]

New report shares ideas for repairing Oklahoma’s broken democracy

Electoral participation is a cornerstone of our representative democracy. The vote allows citizens to participate freely and fairly in the political process and ensures that elected officials stay accountable to their constituents. Yet in Oklahoma we are seeing growing signs… Read more [More...]

Repairing Oklahoma’s Broken Democracy

With voter turnout at record lows and most legislators running unopposed, it's hard to escape the conclusion that democracy is broken in Oklahoma. Our new report shares ideas for how to increase voter knowledge and participation, while giving Oklahomans more choices on the ballot. [More...]

Upcoming Event: State Budget Summit featuring E.J. Dionne

Although Oklahoma is now several years removed from the worst of the fiscal crisis that accompanied the Great Recession, the gap between the cost of providing basic public services and the revenues we collect to pay for them seems to… Read more [More...]

Legislature’s wandering budget hands get slapped again

For the second time, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has struck down a provision of this year’s state budget, ruling that the legislature acted unconstitutionally when it pulled $5 million out of the State Health Department’s Trauma Care Assistance Fund… Read more [More...]

Now what?

This is an expanded and edited version of a column that appeared in the Journal Record As expected, Oklahoma voters have re-elected Governor Mary Fallin to a second term. Backed by a strong Republican majority in the legislature, the Governor… Read more [More...]

Health Care Reform and the 2014 Elections (Dr. Lawrence R. Jacobs)

On November 10, Dr. Lawrence R. Jacobs spoke about the future of the Affordable Care Act in the aftermath of Republican gains in the 2014 mid-term elections to a lunchtime audience at the Jim Thorpe Association and Oklahoma Sports Hall… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma fails to make gains electing women and people of color

Last week’s election raised the number of female members of Congress to 100 for the first time in history, according to a post-election article in Vox. Women now make up 19 percent of the Representatives and Senators serving in Congress.… Read more [More...]

Why we don’t vote

Sunday’s Tulsa Word featured a series of short articles by nine Tulsans explaining why they vote. These citizens spoke eloquently of their sense of civic obligation and responsibility. They spoke of the hard struggles that prior generations had fought to… Read more [More...]