Featured Read

Recent Posts

The Weekly Wonk: How Oklahoma ranks for child well-being; progress on child care; crumbling OKDHS oversight; & more…

What’s up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk shares our most recent publications and other resources to help you stay informed about Oklahoma. [More...]

Federal funding increases are making quality child care more affordable for Oklahoma families

A new report from Oklahoma Policy Institute finds that new federal grant funding is making affordable child care a reality for more Oklahomans. [More...]

Joe Allbaugh resigned, but his critique of Oklahoma’s justice system remains true (Capitol Update)

Surprisingly, Joe Allbaugh resigned abruptly as Department of Corrections (DOC) director last week. Judging from the comments he made I'd say, put simply, that he was "fed up." Allbaugh took on the task of restoring and improving DOC about 3 1/2 years ago when the previous director got into hot water after a botched administration of the death penalty. The job appears to have been a battle every day. [More...]

New KIDS COUNT Data Book ranks Oklahoma in bottom 10 states for child well-being

How Oklahoma Ranks Oklahoma ranks in the bottom 10 states in the nation for child well-being, according to the 2019 KIDS COUNT® Data Book released today by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. With an overall ranking of 42nd out of all 50 states,… Read more [More...]

The Weekly Wonk: Low-income Oklahomans ignored; a chat with Carly Putnam; & more…

What’s up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk shares our most recent publications and other resources to help you stay informed about Oklahoma. [More...]

End of Session Round-Up: A quiet year in taxes

Thanks to last year's revenue increases and a strong economy, fueled especially by booming oil and gas revenues, lawmakers entered the 2019 session looking at a large budget surplus  It was clear from the start that tax policy would be far less prominent and contentious than in past years. [More...]

End of Session Round-Up: Missed opportunities to improve financial security

We told you in February that the Legislature would have several opportunities to improve the lives of hard-working Oklahomans and their families. Unfortunately, only a few of these measures passed. [More...]

An impossible job done as well as it could be by departing DHS Director (Capitol Update)

Recently on the radio I heard a pundit being asked about his opinion of the performance of the just-resigned British Prime Minister Theresa May. He said, "She had an impossible job and she did it poorly." I thought of Ed Lake at the time (the impossible job part) wondering if he would remain head of DHS. Like May with Brexit, Lake's entire tenure as DHS director seemed to be subsumed by the child welfare crisis and implementation of the "Pinnacle Plan." He had an impossible job and he did it probably as well as it could be done by anyone. [More...]

The Weekly Wonk: Budget highlights; oil and gas taxes fuel revenue boom; end-of-session round-ups; & more…

What’s up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk shares our most recent publications and other resources to help you stay informed about Oklahoma. [More...]

End of Session Health Care Round-Up: We’ve seen worse, but still no expansion

Perhaps the best thing that can be said about this year's legislative session from a health care perspective is that, refreshingly, this was the first in recent years that didn't include a full-scale attack on access to SoonerCare. [More...]

Search the Blog