Former Executive Director David Blatt joined OK Policy in 2008 and served as its Executive Director from 2010 to 2019. He previously served as Director of Public Policy for Community Action Project of Tulsa County and as a budget analyst for the Oklahoma State Senate. He has a Ph.D. in political science from Cornell University and a B.A. from the University of Alberta. David has been selected as Political Scientist of the Year by the Oklahoma Political Science Association, Local Social Justice Champion by the Dan Allen Center for Social Justice, and Public Citizen of the Year by the National Association of Social Workers.
By: David Blatt
February 13, 2012 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Update: We have put out a fact sheet summarizing major flaws in the Laffer report.
Do states without an income tax enjoy stronger economic growth? This is one of the central claims made by economist Arthur Laffer in a recent… Read more [More...]
By: David Blatt
February 7, 2012 // Updated: May 2, 2019
The Affordable Care Act, the federal health care law that takes full effect in 2014, is expected to provide health insurance coverage to over 335,000 uninsured Oklahomans and reduce the state’s uncompensated health care costs by more than two-thirds ,… Read more [More...]
By: David Blatt
February 1, 2012 // Updated: May 2, 2019
The question of whether to require a prescription for the purchase of pseudoephedrine (the main ingredient in medications such as Sudafed) as a means to help combat the production of methamphetamine, promises to be one of the hotly contested issues… Read more [More...]
By: David Blatt
January 30, 2012 // Updated: May 1, 2019
Last week I participated in a StateImpact Oklahoma forum on the state budget with Rep. Earl Sears, the Chair of the House Appropriations and Budget Committee (R-Bartlesville), and Sen. Tom Adelson (D-Tulsa). An audience member asked the legislators what they… Read more [More...]
By: David Blatt
January 25, 2012 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Doug Hall is Director of the Economic Analysis and Research Network at The Economic Policy Institute. This is a slightly revised version of a post that originally appeared on EPI’s Working Economics blog.
Later today, I will pass through two… Read more [More...]
By: David Blatt
January 19, 2012 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Matthew Norris is Board President of Fab Lab Tulsa, Inc. and is one of the principal founders of the organization. This post originally appeared on the Fab Lab Tulsa blog.
Fab Lab Tulsa opened on a hot September 13th in… Read more [More...]
By: David Blatt
January 6, 2012 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Paul Shinn is public policy analyst for Community Action Project of Tulsa County, which offers early learning and other programs for low-income children and families across Tulsa. This post initially appeared on CAP’s Tulsa Initiative blog.
At Community Action Project… Read more [More...]
By: David Blatt
January 5, 2012 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Juan Pedroza is a Research Associate at The Urban Institute’s Center on Labor, Human Services and Population. This originally appeared on the Urban Institute Metro Trends blog and is reposted with permission. Juan’s research will appear in a forthcoming issue… Read more [More...]
By: David Blatt
December 27, 2011 // Updated: October 17, 2012
Each year we try to rouse ourselves out of our post-Christmas, pre-New Year’s slumber long enough to pull together a Top 10 list of our most popular blog posts. As we said last year, if this organization, with its rich… Read more [More...]
By: David Blatt
December 21, 2011 // Updated: May 1, 2019
On Tuesday, the Board of Equalization certified a preliminary estimate of the revenues available for next year’s budget. The numbers confirm that while the worst of the fiscal crisis is over, the state is experiencing a slow, incomplete recovery that… Read more [More...]