Category: Media Coverage

Fallin Vetoes High-Interest Loan Bill Pushed by National Payday Lenders (Oklahoma Watch)

By Mollie Bryant Gov. Mary Fallin vetoed a bill on Friday that would have created a loan with a 204 percent annual interest rate. In her veto message, Fallin wrote that the bill, which reflects a national push from the… Read more [More...]

Scratch This: The Fall (And Possible Rise) Of State Lotteries In Education Funding (Huffington Post)

By Kevin Mahnken The purchase of a lottery ticket offers an assurance of virtue with its promise of vice. Shell out for a Powerball or scratch ticket, ads declare, and you’ll be making a deposit to your state’s education fund… Read more [More...]

Earned Income Tax Credit helps low-income families (Muskogee Phoenix)

By D.E. Smoot About 331,000 eligible workers and families in Oklahoma shared $844 million as a result of the federal earned income tax credit, and some of those taxpayers qualified for a refund thanks to a similar state credit.   … Read more [More...]

‘Perfect storm’ shutting down Oklahoma’s next tax cut (The Oklahoman)

By Dale Denwalt Oklahomans expecting an income tax cut will probably have to keep waiting. Lawmakers have approved a bill repealing the next automatic cut, which could trigger as state revenues improve. The Oklahoma House overwhelmingly supported the measure on… Read more [More...]

Save Our State proposes budget ‘Oklahomans deserve’ (Red Dirt Report)

By Heide Brandes OKLAHOMA CITY – On Tuesday, the Save Our State (SOS) coalition, a group of more than 21 statewide organizations ranging from education to mental health to basic human needs, unveiled their budget blueprint for Oklahoma’s current fiscal… Read more [More...]

Dollars for Dimes (OETA)

[arve url=”http://player.pbs.org/viralplayer/3000139160/” /] Efforts to collect criminal fines and fees have been ramped up to help fill the funding gap. But is that process cost effective? The problem of costly efforts to collect fees from criminal defendants has caught the… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma’s “prosperity districts” are not OK (The Humane Society)

Last November, Oklahoma voters crushed a State Question 777, a proposed constitutional amendment in Oklahoma to create a “right to farm” — a measure to deregulate agriculture in the state on a go-forward basis. Despite a multi-million dollar campaign to… Read more [More...]

Bill would allow out-of-state carriers to sell health insurance in Oklahoma (The Oklahoman)

By Dale Denwalt A bill allowing out-of-state insurance carriers to sell plans in Oklahoma will be heard in committee next week. The House author of Senate Bill 478 said his measure would give Oklahoma residents a chance to buy less… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma Stewardship Council says HB2132 is response to defeat of SQ 777 (Norman Transcript)

OKLAHOMA CITY, April 7, 2017 – The Oklahoma Stewardship Council (OSC) says a bill pending before the state lawmakers is nothing more than a legislative scheme to undermine the will of Oklahoma voters. The OSC, a coalition of family farmers,… Read more [More...]

Bill aimed to create new small loan with more regulations (KFOR)

By Lacey Lett OKLAHOMA CITY – House Bill 1913 will create a new small loan for those borrowing between $500-$1,500. “They’re voluntary. No one is forced to take them, and they’re to people that for whatever reason in their life,… Read more [More...]