A new report by our friends at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows that the approach Oklahoma policymakers are taking to the current fiscal crisis – implementing budget cuts without drawing down reserves or looking at raising revenues…
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The May edition of Numbers You Need, our monthly update of key Oklahoma economic and budget trends, includes some recent data on bankruptcy filings in Oklahoma that provides another indicator of the spread of economic hardship in the state. For…
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The initial reports on the agreement for the Fy ’10 budget reached on Friday between legislative leaders and the Governor were positive – due to the availability of over $600 million in federal stimulus dollars, key education, health care, and…
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Sunday’s Tulsa World reports that one of many important decisions left to the last week of the legislative session is whether to modernize Oklahoma’s unemployment insurance (UI) system to qualify for $75 million in additional federal stimulus money. According to…
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Recently, The New York Times had a front-page article spotlighting the extent to which victims of the economic downturn are able to access public benefits that are part of the nation’s safety net. Most programs, including Unemployment Insurance, food stamps,…
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By:
Paul Shinn
May 18, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
The Brookings Institution recently released a study of the continuing shift of jobs away from cities and toward the suburbs. According to Job Sprawl Revisited: The Changing Geography of Metropolitan Employment, only 21 percent of Americans who live in metropolitan…
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On Friday afternoon, legislative leaders and the Governor announced the outline of a long-awaited budget agreement. This step is necessary to start the flood of bills to fund state agencies, allocate some of the federal stimulus money, and decide what…
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By:
David Blatt
May 15, 2009 // Updated: October 17, 2012
Dan Piraro provides a Bizzaro taste of what’s in store for publicly-funded services in Oklahoma…
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As we reach one week until the scheduled adjournment of the Oklahoma Legislature on May 22nd, we can only share the advice offered by Bette Davis in All About Eve: “Fasten your seat belts. It’s going to be a bumpy…
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By:
David Blatt
May 14, 2009 // Updated: October 17, 2012
In November, U.S. Senator David Vitter of Louisiana proposed that all applicants for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program be required to submit to a mandatory drug test as a condition of receiving assistance. His proposal was defeated…
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