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: 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...]

Fact Check: The impact of a .25-percent income tax cut to Oklahoma taxpayers

By: Dave Hamby
January 25, 2024 // Updated: January 25, 2024
Oklahoma Capitol Proposal The governor has proposed an across-the-board .25-percent cut to the state’s personal income tax. This proposal will be the focus on a legislative special session on Monday, Jan. 29.  How this impacts Oklahomans The Institute on Taxation and Economic… Read more [More...]

Weekly Wonk: Task force is step backwards for Tribal/state relations | Oklahomans need solutions, not grandstanding | Policy notes, numbers

By: Dave Hamby
January 20, 2024 // Updated: January 20, 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...]

Gov.’s task force is latest step away from practical solutions in Tribal/state relations (Capitol Update)

By: Steve Lewis
January 17, 2024 // Updated: January 17, 2024
Tribal leaders took offense at both the composition of the task force and the tenor of the governor’s executive order. Only two of the 38 federally recognized Tribes were to be represented on the 13-member task force. The executive order characterized McGirt as “continuing to wreak havoc in nearly half of the State of Oklahoma and calls for “recommendations relevant to the speedy resolution of the broken system created by the McGirt decision.” Tribal leaders do not view McGirt as having “wreaked havoc” or created a “broken system.” [More...]

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