Author: Steve Lewis

What the State Equalization Board meeting tells us about Oklahoma’s budget (Capitol Update)

Reports of the June 15 State Equalization Board meeting remind me of a few things about state financing that we don’t often think about. The board met to adjust the Fiscal Year 2027 revenue estimate, reflecting actions taken by the… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma ranks 48th in education, but lawmakers are betting on literacy reform (Capitol Update)

The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2026 KIDS COUNT Data Book, published earlier this month, ranked Oklahoma 44th in overall child well-being, keeping the state among the bottom 10 nationwide. Oklahoma’s lowest major-category ranking was in education, where it placed 48th.… Read more [More...]

HB 3742 brings long-needed discovery reforms to Oklahoma courts (Capitol Update)

Although Oklahoma ranks 4th in the nation for incarceration per 100,000 people, reforms aimed at making the criminal legal system fairer and less reliant on incarceration remain difficult to achieve. If incarcerating people at a higher rate than 46 other… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma takes a closer look at its early childhood services (Capitol Update)

With the passage of House Bill 1979, Rep. Trish Ranson, D-Stillwater, and Sen. Chuck Hall, R-Perry, have taken the right approach to finding long-term solutions to Oklahoma’s childcare crisis and other urgent early childhood needs. The bill creates an Early… Read more [More...]

Managed care and Medicaid expansion shape Oklahoma’s health policy debate (Capitol Update)

Oklahoma’s approximately $3 billion Medicaid (SoonerCare) managed care program is likely to remain a prominent public policy and political issue for the foreseeable future. Known as SoonerSelect, it covers hospital and physician services as well as dental care, mental health… Read more [More...]

Senate divisions come to a head at session’s end (Capitol Update)

Former U.S. House Speaker John Boehner was once quoted as saying that “a leader without followers is just a man taking a walk.”  Senate President Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, must have found himself feeling that way at times this… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma should not deny transgender people medically necessary care (Capitol Update)

Senate Bill 904, a carryover bill from 2025 that started as amendments to an incentive reimbursement program for long-term care facilities, was plucked from obscurity recently, gutted, and turned into a bill denying Medicaid (SoonerCare) coverage “for any gender transition… Read more [More...]

Lawmakers fund rural prosecutor recruitment, leave defense behind (Capitol Update)

Legislators’ favorable view of the state’s district attorneys is evident in the passage of a couple of measures requested by the District Attorney’s Council (DAC) to attempt to address the shortage of attorneys willing to serve as assistant district attorneys… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma’s property tax cap proposal raises equity concerns (Capitol Update)

Property taxes are unpopular in Oklahoma. And an ill-advised initiative petition proposal, State Question 843, would eliminate property taxes on homesteads without replacing the funding for schools, cities, and counties. So, it’s not a surprise that House Speaker Kyle Hilbert,… Read more [More...]

The evolving limits of government liability under Oklahoma’s Governmental Tort Claims Act (Capitol Update)

Sovereign immunity was a common law doctrine brought to the United States from England that stood for the axiom, “the King can do no wrong,” meaning generally that a state and its political subdivisions cannot be held liable for the… Read more [More...]