Category: Reports and Fact Sheets

2017 Policy Priority: Increase teacher pay

See the full list of our 2017 policy priorities Download this fact sheet as a pdf Background Oklahoma’s average teacher pay and benefits is among the very lowest in the nation and well below surrounding states. This noncompetitive pay damages… Read more [More...]

2017 Policy Priority: Make the budget more transparent

See the full list of our 2017 policy priorities Download this fact sheet as a pdf Background Each year, the single most important piece of legislation adopted by the Legislature is the General Appropriations (GA) bill. The GA bill typically… Read more [More...]

2017 Policy Priority: Strengthen working family tax credits

See the full list of our 2017 policy priorities Download this fact sheet as a pdf Background In a tax code that provides many tax breaks for high-income individuals and businesses, Oklahoma offers just three tax credits that help support… Read more [More...]

2017 Policy Priority: Halt the next tax cut

See the full list of our 2017 policy priorities Download this fact sheet as a pdf Background Back in 2014, when the state’s economy was enjoying strong growth tied to high energy prices, lawmakers approved a cut in Oklahoma’s top… Read more [More...]

2017 Policy Priority: Revenue options for a better budget

See the full list of our 2017 policy priorities Download this fact sheet as a pdf Oklahoma is once again facing a massive budget shortfall. According to preliminary estimates, lawmakers will have about $740 million less for next year’s budget… Read more [More...]

The Cost Trap: How Excessive Fees Lock Oklahomans Into the Criminal Justice System without Boosting State Revenue: Conclusion & Acknowledgements

Oklahoma’s criminal justice system, like many others across the country, places enormous financial burdens on the people it serves, forcing them to pay for many functions of government that may or may not bear any relation to their case. The thousands of dollars charged to mostly poor defendants can turn into a permanent punishment that creates high barriers to rebuilding a life after involvement in the criminal justice system. Meanwhile, state agencies increasingly depend on the revenue generated by this arrangement as their appropriations from the Legislature have fallen. Legislators unwilling to raise taxes or to reverse tax cuts already enacted have instead created or increased court fees in order to generate new revenue. [More...]

The Cost Trap: How Excessive Fees Lock Oklahomans Into the Criminal Justice System without Boosting State Revenue: Part IV

[Download the full report as a pdf.] Part IV. Recommendations Oklahoma legislators should take steps to reduce the damage of excessive and unaffordable legal financial obligations, and strong reform ideas have aleady emerged in the Legislature. In 2016, the Justice… Read more [More...]

The Cost Trap: How Excessive Fees Lock Oklahomans Into the Criminal Justice System without Boosting State Revenue: Part III

[Download the full report as a pdf.] Part III. Fee revenue funds many government functions, but criminal fee revenue has leveled off The fees that the courts collect on criminal and civil cases range from relatively large sums that fund… Read more [More...]

The Cost Trap: How Excessive Fees Lock Oklahomans Into the Criminal Justice System without Boosting State Revenue: Part II

[Download the full report as a pdf.] Part II. Court debt punishes the poor, and most goes uncollected The costs for even a single incident in the criminal justice system are simply out of reach for many Oklahomans. About 80… Read more [More...]

The Cost Trap: How Excessive Fees Lock Oklahomans Into the Criminal Justice System without Boosting State Revenue: Part I

[Download the full report as a pdf.] Part I. Fees have grown for every type of crime As a result of their involvement in the criminal justice system, criminal defendants are charged a litany of fines and fees by the… Read more [More...]