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The Weekly Wonk: The big and little budget pictures; the empathy gap; & 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. Numbers of the Day and Policy Notes are from our daily news briefing, In… Read more [More...]

Where next year’s shortfall starts: Budget counts on $600-$750 million in one-time revenues

OK Policy’s analysis of the General Appropriations bill and budget documents released this week shows that far more than half of the additional revenues agreed to by legislative leaders and Gov. Fallin as part of the FY 2017 budget consists… Read more [More...]

Proposed budget will add to the cost of mental illness in Oklahoma

Terri White, Commissioner of the state Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS), has frequently said that mental health has never been adequately funded in Oklahoma. The state ranks 44th in the nation for mental health spending per… Read more [More...]

Budget plan brings more bad news for Oklahoma seniors, children, & people with disabilities

Earlier this month, we warned that important protections for seniors, children, and Oklahomans with disabilities were crumbling because the Department of Human Services had already made “the easy cuts” and was now forced to make cuts that directly hurt our… Read more [More...]

This part of the budget deal may be the greatest threat to Oklahoma’s economy

Overwhelmingly, the states where residents earn the highest wages also have the best-educated workforce. Both productivity and median wages in a state are strongly correlated with the percentage of residents with a college degree. At the same time, overall state… Read more [More...]

Budget agreement leaves $243 million in Rainy Day Fund

The budget agreement announced today by legislative leaders and the Governor includes some $1.060 billion in additional revenue above what was certified by the Board of Equalization in February as available for the budget. This includes $200 million in transportation… Read more [More...]

The budget big picture and little picture

The budget agreement announced today by legislative leaders and the Governor proposes a total of $6.778 billion in state appropriated dollars for FY 2017.  This is a decrease of 5.1 percent from the initial FY 2016 budget and of 1.2… Read more [More...]

Statement: Lawmakers have not risen to the challenge of a historic budget shortfall

Oklahoma Policy Institute released the following statement in response to the state budget deal announced by lawmakers: Lawmakers have not risen to the challenge of a historic budget shortfall. While this budget deal may prevent further cuts to common education… Read more [More...]

Instead of progress on fines and fees, last-minute legislation would hike them even further

The beginning of this year’s legislative session brought hope that lawmakers would begin to scale back justice system fines and fees that have grown enormously in size and number over the past two decades. Instead, the problem is likely to… Read more [More...]

What happened with the tax increase on cigarettes? (Capitol Updates)

Steve Lewis served as Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1989-1991. He currently practices law in Tulsa and represents clients at the Capitol. You can sign up on his website to receive the Capitol Updates newsletter by email.… Read more [More...]

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