OK Policy Blog

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Criminalizing homelessness is harmful and ineffective

By: Sabine Brown
March 30, 2024 // Updated: April 1, 2024
Proposals to criminalize homelessness are harmful and counterproductive. Research shows us that the best way to combat homelessness is to increase access to affordable housing. More...

Recent Posts

Weekly Wonk: Better ways to deliver fiscal relief than cutting grocery sales tax | Living wage out of reach for many Oklahomans | Capitol Update

By: Dave Hamby
February 17, 2024 // Updated: February 17, 2024
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...]

Fact check: Would Oklahomans still pay sales tax on groceries if lawmakers cut the grocery sales tax?

By: Dave Hamby
February 15, 2024 // Updated: February 22, 2024
The most likely bills that lawmakers are considering for cutting the grocery sales tax only eliminate the state portion of the sales tax on groceries, which is 4.5 percent. Under these measures, Oklahomans buying groceries would still be paying city sales/use taxes (up to 5.5 percent) and county sales taxes (up to 2.5 percent). [More...]

Governing is finding a way to say ‘yes’ to solving problems (Capitol Update)

By: Steve Lewis
February 13, 2024 // Updated: February 13, 2024
Legislators during appropriations hearings — or in private conversations in the hallways or in their offices — hear from state agencies anxious for funding to do their jobs and to provide services to Oklahomans. The governor’s budget would lead one to believe that Oklahoma has arrived, that we are near the top on measurements of quality of life. In fact, the opposite is true — from mental health to education to health care.  [More...]

Weekly Wonk: How do new immigrants fare in our economy? | Oklahomans get what we pay for | 2024 Legislative Primer | More

By: Dave Hamby
February 10, 2024 // Updated: February 10, 2024
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...]

Economic Projections for Asylum Seekers and New Immigrants in Oklahoma

By: Gabriela Ramirez-Perez
February 7, 2024 // Updated: February 7, 2024
Authored by Anthony Capote, Senior Policy Analyst at Immigration Research Initiative; David Dyssegaard Kallick, Director of Immigration Research Initiative; and Gabriela Ramirez-Perez, Immigration Policy Analyst for the Oklahoma Policy Institute. # # # Immigration is hardly a new social trend… Read more [More...]

Special session went according to script, but tax cuts still major topic during next few months (Capitol Update)

By: Steve Lewis
February 6, 2024 // Updated: February 6, 2024
The special session last week went pretty much according to script. The House, following Speaker Charles McCall’s lead, passed the governor’s .25-percent income tax cut along strict party lines. The Senate made good on President Pro Tempore Greg Treat’s announced intention to adjourn the session with no action. Both chambers adjourned to the call of the chair so they could take up a tax bill later in either the regular session that started Monday or in the special session. [More...]

Weekly Wonk: A job isn’t enough to afford housing for most Oklahomans | MODERN task force released | What to expect when expecting chaos | Civil rights movement helped create Head Start

By: Dave Hamby
February 3, 2024 // Updated: February 3, 2024
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...]

An early look at recommendations from the governor’s MODERN criminal justice task force (Capitol Update)

By: Steve Lewis
// Updated: February 5, 2024
Gov. Stitt’s MODERN criminal justice task issued its report on February 2, and the recommendations presumably serve as a guide for criminal justice reforms the governor in the upcoming legislative session and beyond.  [More...]

A job isn’t enough to afford housing for many Oklahomans

By: Sabine Brown
January 31, 2024 // Updated: February 7, 2024
State leaders often say the answer to housing instability is a job – but jobs don’t help if they don’t pay enough. Wages have risen at less than half the rate of rent for the last two decades, putting working… Read more [More...]

Weekly Wonk: Oklahoma tax cuts part of damaging national trend | Legislature shouldn’t be ‘Fear Factor’ | Policy notes, numbers

By: Dave Hamby
January 27, 2024 // Updated: January 27, 2024
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...]

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