OK Policy Blog

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The 2023 legislative session included significant tribal-state bills and a respect for tribal sovereignty from state lawmakers

By: Vivian Morris
November 21, 2023 // Updated: November 22, 2023
Oklahoma has the second-highest share of tribal citizens of any state, which helps shape the fabric of our state’s culture and communities. This year, the Oklahoma legislature demonstrated this influence by including and valuing Native Oklahomans and tribal leaders in… Read more More...

Recent Posts

Cutting into the bone: Impact of falling revenues starting to be felt

By: David Blatt
September 17, 2009 // Updated: May 1, 2019
Anyone hoping for signs that the state’s budget woes had already hit bottom found little to cheer in Tuesday’s  revenue announcement [PDF] from Treasurer Scott Meacham. August General Revenue (GR) collections came in nearly 32 percent below one year ago.… Read more [More...]

Pleasant surprise: Oklahoma health insurance gains ground for all ages, types of coverage

By: David Blatt
September 15, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
As we noted right after the numbers were  released, last week’s Census Bureau report on health insurance coverage provided some unexpectedly good news for Oklahoma. While the nation as a whole saw an increase in the number of uninsured, which… Read more [More...]

Automatic for the people: New approaches to building savings

By: David Blatt
September 14, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
The Obama administration recently announced a series of measures aimed at making it easier for Americans to save.  As the New York Times article on the initiative noted, the measures are all rooted in research from the field of behavioral… Read more [More...]

New national data on income, poverty and the uninsured shows recession’s initial effects

By: David Blatt
September 11, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Yesterday, the U.S. Census Bureau released its annual report on income, poverty and health insurance coverage for 2008  from its Current Population Survey. You can or click here for fact sheets and links to all the data or click here… Read more [More...]

You want insurance with that? Fast food chain covers its employees and helps its bottom line

By: Paul Shinn
September 10, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Burgerville, a small fast-food chain in the Pacific Northwest, has always made a killer fresh blackberry shake. Recently, it also made a shrewd business move: providing health insurance for employees. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported on the genesis… Read more [More...]

Better Served: States are encouraged to broaden sales tax base

By: David Blatt
September 9, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Should states be looking at broadening their sales tax bases to cover more currently untaxed services? That is the argument made in a recent paper by Michael Mazerov of  the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Most states could improve… Read more [More...]

Non-profits and advocates gather to size up budget situation

By: David Blatt
September 8, 2009 // Updated: May 1, 2019
Last week, OK Policy convened a meeting of over 30 representatives of non-profit and advocacy organizations to discuss the state’s budget situation. We begin with a presentation on budget trends and outlooks, which can be viewed on our website; the… Read more [More...]

Summer re-run: Domestic violence programs provide shelter from the storm

By: David Blatt
September 4, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Note: Occasionally we are re-running blog posts on topical subjects that you may have missed the first time around. Last week, the Tulsa World reported that DVIS (Domestic Violence Interventions Services) of Tulsa has been awarded a $426,335 grant from… Read more [More...]

Taking on tax incentives

By: David Blatt
September 3, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
In a recent post on our blog, Paul Shinn looked at state tax incentives and made the case for holding them to the same standards of accountability as direct government spending programs.  In the new blog at Tax.com, David Brunori,… Read more [More...]

Uninsured Oklahomans remain a problem we should take seriously

By: Paul Shinn
September 2, 2009 // Updated: May 2, 2019
The News on 6 in Tulsa reported last week on Oklahomans who lack health insurance. OK Policy’s David Blatt was featured in the story, available here in both print and video, describing who is likely to be uninsured and explaining… Read more [More...]

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