Category: Media

David Walters: Partisan ideology takes its toll on budget (Nondoc)

By David Walters  Watching the demise of Oklahoma’s state-government services (public education, health care, corrections, infrastructure funding and mental health, to name a few) is similar to watching a car accident or the Donald Drumpf campaign: You are horrified, but… Read more [More...]

Regarding Bills Moving Forward in the Oklahoma State Legislature: A Review (Studio Tulsa)

By Rich Fisher  On Thursday of last week, the State Legislature arrived at a deadline for moving legislation forward — and thus many bills advanced in the Oklahoma Legislature from one chamber into the other, while many other bills were,… Read more [More...]

State considers Rainy Day Fund for schools (KTUL)

By Kimberly Jackson  TULSA — The Governor and Republican leaders want Oklahoma to tap into the Rainy Day Fund, to help schools and prisons survive budget cuts, for the last part of this fiscal year. The fund would provide $78… Read more [More...]

Exclusivity promised to Oklahoma tribes threatened by fantasy gaming (World Casino News)

By Kim Morrison Legislation proposed this year to authorize daily fantasy sports contests could strike a blow to Oklahoma education funding as well as tribal gaming exclusivity. The Oklahoma Fantasy Contests Acts, HB 2278 and SB 1396, would legalize the… Read more [More...]

Make Less Than $9500 Per Year? Oklahoma Will Help You By Axing Your Medicaid (Wonkette)

By Doktor Zoom Republicans in Oklahoma’s House of Representatives are apparently sick and tired of Florida and Maine being the shittiest to their poor people. So by an overwhelming majority, the Oklahoma House voted last week to kick 111,000 single… Read more [More...]

Norman Superintendent, Cherokee Nation business leader join OK Policy Board

Oklahoma Policy Institute is pleased to announce that Dr. Joseph (Joe) Siano, Superintendent of Norman Public Schools, and Charles (Chuck) Garrett, executive vice president at Cherokee Nation Businesses, have joined our Board of Directors. “We are delighted to add two… Read more [More...]

State agencies take an additional 4 percent cut for this fiscal year (Norman Transcript)

By Sidney Lee The Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services told state agencies to prepare for an additional 4 percent cut of their annual state allocations. This comes a few months after state agencies took a 3 percent cut.… Read more [More...]

This week in WTF: HB 2665 and HB 2797 (NONDOC)

By Josh McBee (Screenshot) As the 2016 Oklahoma legislative session advances, the Republican-controlled House has advanced at least two bills of note so far. HB 2665: Low-income Oklahomans face loss of health coverage Rep. Doug Cox (Provided) The first involves… Read more [More...]

Statement: Oklahoma should use Rainy Day Fund to ease mid-year cuts

Oklahoma Policy Institute released the following statement in response to state officials announcing even deeper mid-year budget cuts to all state agencies: Cumulative 7 percent across-the-board cuts to Oklahoma’s state agencies will be disastrous for schools, health care providers, public… Read more [More...]

OU students will work toward impacting Oklahoma policy (OU Daily)

By Jessica James A new student organization is empowering college students to make the changes they want to see in their communities by teaching them how to conduct policy research and possibly write legislation. The Roosevelt Institute is a national,… Read more [More...]