Category: Capitol Updates

Senate committee hears proposals to reform fines and fees (Capitol Update)

Last week the Senate Judiciary Committee, at the request of Chairperson Sen. Julie Daniels (R-Bartlesville), held an interim study on an important criminal justice reform issue: Using the criminal justice system, including incarceration, to collect court-imposed fines, costs, fees, and assessments. [More...]

Agency reforms maintain vital role for Board oversight (Capitol Update)

As the meeting of the OJA board demonstrates, it would be a shame to forfeit the contribution of knowledgeable citizens who volunteer their time, energy, and expertise to make our state policies better. [More...]

Justice reform for the children (Capitol Update)

These are sobering findings for Oklahomans struggling to overcome the political hurdles preventing us from dealing with overincarceration [More...]

Stop complaining about SQ 780 and make it work (Capitol Update)

Before SQ 780, thousands of people afflicted with a drug problem were arrested and sent to prison. The people of Oklahoma took control of this issue. It's time now for DAs and sheriffs to quit complaining about it and make it work. [More...]

Greenwood story needs to be told (Capitol Update)

For me it's taken living in Tulsa, hearing the tragic story many times and meeting some of the survivors to begin to understand the trauma and legacy of those events. The opportunity to absorb that history will be lost for future Oklahomans and visitors unless the Greenwood History Center is completed. [More...]

Spottedcrow case highlights Oklahoma justice system’s flaws (Capitol Update)

At some point it would seem to be of no benefit to the state or to offenders to keep them in debt under threat of arrest and jail.    [More...]

Improving Oklahomans’ education is a key to better health (Capitol Update)

Excellent and accessible education and social services will lead the way to more productive people and better health, but as a state we seem to continue, for now to see ourselves as better off being a low-tax, low-service state. [More...]

Not so Quik! (Capitol Update)

QuikTrip is run by very smart businesspeople. Perhaps they should employ better risk management practices and not rely on taxpayers to pay the actual and social costs of felony charges and imprisonment for petty thieves. [More...]

Custody death of 16-year old may help spark changes in pretrial juvenile detention (Capitol Update)

These three recent actions together - change in federal law, the investigation and recommendations for change by OCCY, and OJA's desire to update the state detention plan - may create an opportunity for progress in the area of pretrial treatment of juvenile offenders [More...]

Lawmakers scramble to come up with Plan B on health care expansion (Capitol Update)

As often happens, on a given issue the people may be out ahead of the politicians they elect. Now it appears there is a lot of support for full expansion as proposed in SQ 802. [More...]