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
July 17, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
This week we released the July edition of Numbers You Need, our monthly bulletin of key economic and budget trends. The monthly report contained some glimmers of good news, as the state’s unemployment rate rose by a relatively modest 0.1… Read more [More...]
By: David Blatt
July 15, 2009 // Updated: August 21, 2025
Five years after voters approved a State Question increasing the tax on tobacco, there is good news to report: over the course of the recently completed fiscal year (FY ’09), tobacco sales in Oklahoma declined by 7.2 percent over the… Read more [More...]
By: David Blatt
July 14, 2009 // Updated: August 21, 2025
Treasurer Scott Meacham today released revenue collections for the final month of the just-completed fiscal year, FY ’09. As was widely expected, the numbers were dismal: June General Revenue (GR) collections came in 30.1 percent below last year and 26.2… Read more [More...]
Ron Jenkins of the Associated Press wrote an article that ran this weekend picking up on OK Policy’s recent blog post examining the puzzle of why TANF cash assistance caseloads have been so slow to rise since the onset of… Read more [More...]
By: David Blatt
July 13, 2009 // Updated: August 21, 2025
Across the nation, the deep, prolonged economic recession is putting great strains on state Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs. Oklahoma is hardly immune from these challenges, but our problems are less severe than elsewhere. The combination of having entered the recession… Read more [More...]
By: David Blatt
July 7, 2009 // Updated: August 21, 2025
We recently reported on how Oklahoma’s robust economic growth prior to the recent downturn vaulted the state from the poorest fifth of states early this decade, as measured by per capita personal income, to the 28th spot in 2008. Further… Read more [More...]
By: David Blatt
July 2, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
As the worst recession in a quarter-century continues to unfold, insightful and moving stories of its impact on individuals, families, communities, and organizations are appearing regularly in the media. Periodically, we are using this space to call attention to notable… Read more [More...]
By: David Blatt
July 1, 2009 // Updated: May 1, 2019
As we’ve discussed in various blog posts and issue briefs, most state agencies received basically flat funding or were dealt budget cuts of 5 to 7 percent for the new fiscal year beginning July 1st, even as inflation leads to… Read more [More...]
By: David Blatt
June 25, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
For those of you who missed it earlier, the Grindstone Journal has reprinted my article on expanding coverage to the uninsured in Oklahoma that ran originally as an op-ed contribution to The Oklahoman.
The Grindstone Journal is a recently-created, Oklahoma-based… Read more [More...]
By: David Blatt
June 23, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
While the arrival of summer has many of us slowing down to a more leisurely pace, in Washington, the debate on health care reform is quickly shifting into overdrive. Several Congressional committees have taken up consideration of health care legislation,… Read more [More...]
OKPOLICY.ORG
Five years after voters approved a State Question increasing the tax on tobacco, there is good news to report: over the course of the recently completed fiscal year (FY ’09), tobacco sales in Oklahoma declined by 7.2 percent over the… Read more [More...]
Treasurer Scott Meacham today released revenue collections for the final month of the just-completed fiscal year, FY ’09. As was widely expected, the numbers were dismal: June General Revenue (GR) collections came in 30.1 percent below last year and 26.2… Read more [More...]
Across the nation, the deep, prolonged economic recession is putting great strains on state Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs. Oklahoma is hardly immune from these challenges, but our problems are less severe than elsewhere. The combination of having entered the recession… Read more [More...]
We recently reported on how Oklahoma’s robust economic growth prior to the recent downturn vaulted the state from the poorest fifth of states early this decade, as measured by per capita personal income, to the 28th spot in 2008. Further… Read more [More...]
