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In The Know is your daily briefing on Oklahoma policy-related news. OK Policy encourages the support of Oklahoma’s state and local media, which are vital to an informed citizenry. Inclusion of a story does not necessarily mean endorsement by the Oklahoma Policy Institute. Some stories included here are behind paywall or require subscription. Subscribe to In The Know and see past editions.
New from OK Policy
The 2024 Legislative session’s Tribal-state bills show that more can be done for Tribal-state policy collaboration (Legislative Wrap-Up): Oklahoma lawmakers began this year’s legislative session as Oklahoma’s governor continued to create division with Tribes with ongoing political rhetoric and an unwillingness to respect sovereign-to-sovereign policymaking. Lawmakers from both the Senate and House considered dozens of bills directly affecting Native Oklahomans and Tribal governments on education, public health, housing, and public safety, among other topics. Oklahoma is stronger when the state collaborates and includes the Tribes to advance our overall prosperity and well-being as Oklahomans. [Vivian Morris / OK Policy]
Oklahoma News
Disparity in Oklahoma minimum wage rates prompts calls for statewide increase: A growing disparity between what the state requires its employees to make and what it requires everyone else to pay is an indication that it’s time to increase the state’s minimum wage rate, advocates said. [Oklahoma Voice]
- Opinion: The cost of living keeps going up for Oklahomans. It makes sense wages should, too. [Mattece Mason / The Oklahoman]
- From OK Policy: SQ 832: Minimum Wage Increase | Information and Resources
Women’s health care in Oklahoma ranked one of the worst in the nation: Oklahoma ranked among the worst states in the United States for women’s health and reproductive care, according to a new national health scorecard. Ranked at 48, only Texas and Mississippi performed worse. [Oklahoma Voice]
- Oklahoma ranks 48th overall for women’s health care access, study finds [KOSU]
State Government News
Oklahoma House to hold interim studies on corporal punishment, immigration: House members will spend the interim evaluating corporal punishment, vaping and the cost of illegal immigration, to name a few issues. House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, approved 114 interim studies. [Oklahoma Voice]
Oklahoma pushes forward on climate change plan despite missing out on federal grant: Despite turning in a detailed plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Oklahoma missed out on a share of nearly $5 billion in federal grants to accomplish these goals. [The Oklahoman]
Former executive director of Oklahoma cosmetology board offered severance agreement: A state board that oversees Oklahoma’s cosmetology and barbering industry has agreed to pay its former executive director a severance package worth over $20,000, the agency’s records show. [Oklahoma Voice]
Roundup: Athletic Commission seeks AG opinion, Norman arena vote paused, campaign finance discussed: Slap fighting could someday be coming to a venue near you, an election about a new Norman arena proposal won’t be coming as soon as some thought, and a state agency has contributed a record total amount of funding to public schools, colleges and universities. [NonDoc]
Opinion: Oklahoma leaders crow about parental empowerment, so why are they forcing the Bible on our kids?: An old saying advises us not to talk about religion and politics in polite company. So why are Oklahoma Republicans insisting that we teach our children to be impolite? Yet, here we are attempting to require our children to talk about Christianity in public schools as our education officials lead a foolhardy charge to turn our public school classrooms into Sunday schools. [Janelle Stecklein / Oklahoma Voice]
Editorial: Oklahomans don’t want public educators teaching Bible school: State Superintendent Ryan Walters isn’t getting the message that public school families don’t want teachers giving Bible school lessons and do want local control of their districts. [Tulsa World]
Federal Government News
Congressman Frank Lucas aims to guide space policy to the moon and beyond: As the chair of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, Congressman Frank Lucas is keeping his eyes on the horizon.[KOSU]
Tribal Nations News
In long-sought change, states must consider tribal rights when crafting water rules: This May, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a revision to the Clean Water Act that requires states to consider tribal treaty rights when crafting water quality regulations. The rule could protect resources such as wild rice, sturgeon, salmon and shellfish. [Oklahoma Voice]
U.S. House panels review ‘startling’ allegations at Bureau of Indian Education university: Members of two U.S. House panels examined allegations of sexual assault, bullying and retaliation at the U.S. Bureau of Indian Education-operated Haskell Indian Nations University during a hearing this week. [Oklahoma Voice]
Five Oklahoma tribes demand apology from Atlanta Braves for decision to host ‘Georgia Tribe Night’: Leaders of the Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Tribes announced Tuesday that they had passed a resolution calling on the Major League Baseball team to apologize for “honoring fraudulent groups that pose as tribes without federal recognition” and urging the team to conduct “meaningful consultations” with federally recognized tribes on “how to properly engage with Native Americans.” [Oklahoma Voice]
Handgame competition brings Kiowa, Apache elders together in Western Oklahoma: An event organized by the tribes’ Administration of Aging aims to bring older tribal members into the community, but it also continues a legacy of a centuries-old guessing game. [KOSU]
Muscogee Nation announces new casino in Coweta: The Muscogee Nation announced plans to break ground in September on a $100 million casino in Coweta. [KOSU]
Voting and Election News
Will only 17% of Tulsans vote in this election like last time?: Will Tulsans care enough to vote? The trend says no. Every Tulsan and residents in many surrounding suburbs have something to vote for on the ballot in the Aug. 27 election. [Tulsa World]
Health News
Bird flu detection in dairy cattle sparks rise in state, federal biosecurity and precautions: Oklahoma has become the 13th state to report a positive case of bird flu in dairy cattle, a developing situation that has featured the U.S. Department of Agriculture making dairy farms eligible for a federal grant program and state agriculture agencies emphasizing biosecurity and new mandates around the testing and transportation of lactating cattle. [NonDoc]
Opinion: New program gives LPNs path to two-year state college, leading to an RN license: Our nation is battling a nursing shortage, and Oklahoma is not immune from experiencing the effects of this shortage. [LaDonna Selvidge / The Oklahoman]
Criminal Justice News
Dozens of Counties Don’t Apply for Mental Health and Diversion Grants: Millions of dollars are flowing across Oklahoma to bolster community-based diversion and treatment programs, but most counties have not applied for a share of the money. [Oklahoma Watch]
$2 million settlement shows police need more mental health crisis training, mourning aunt says: Aman’s fatal shooting by police, which cost the city of Tulsa $2 million to settle a subsequent civil rights lawsuit, should never have happened, a relative told the Tulsa World last week. [Tulsa World]
As Comanche County tries to end jail overcrowding, Manitou idea irks Tillman County: Despite changes in leadership and new efforts to reduce the jail population, continued overcrowding at the Comanche County Detention Center has forced officials to send some detainees as far as three hours away while conversations about building a new jail inch along. [NonDoc]
Shootings, fires, and fights: Nationwide increase in outlaw biker violence seeping into Oklahoma: Recent arrests and court cases — along with police records, interviews with federal and state authorities, and documented plans of more clashes to come — reveal a disturbing rise in outlaw biker violence in Oklahoma. [The Oklahoman]
45 years into career, new Tulsa Police Chief Dennis Larsen starts next chapter: A 45-year Tulsa Police Department veteran who most recently, as deputy chief, oversaw the Investigations Bureau, Larsen was officially sworn in last Tuesday as the city’s 41st police chief. [Tulsa World]
Housing & Economic Opportunity News
Right to Counsel program aims to blunt eviction spikes: As evictions continue to rise around America, Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma director Michael Figgins is working hard to get a message out to those who might be affected — it doesn’t have to be this way. [NonDoc]
- From OK Policy: Passing a right to counsel law for Oklahoma tenants could advance racial equity and protect a tenant’s basic rights.
Tulsa Fire Department expands downtown response team helping homeless population: The Tulsa City Council has approved funding to allow the expansion of the Tulsa Fire Department’s Alternative Response Team 2, a unit dedicated to decreasing the high usage of the 911 system in downtown Tulsa. [Tulsa World]
Economy & Business News
As investors pay top-dollar for land, farmers are often priced out: The rising cost of farmland has priced out many would-be farmers and ranchers or forced others into early retirement. The parts of the country where farmland prices have seen the largest increase have also been where the number of agriculture producers has declined the most. [Investigate Midwest]
Education News
Sunset of Counselor Corps Leads to Budget Cuts, Staff Reductions: Three hundred counselors and mental health professionals were hired through Oklahoma’s Counselor Corps program. Funding for the successful program is running out, leading some school districts to reduce or eliminate mental health services for students. [Oklahoma Watch]
Walters’ Bible-teaching mandate is unconstitutional, Mayes County man claims in lawsuit: The Oklahoma State Department of Education wants a lawsuit filed by a Mayes County man over state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters’ Bible-teaching mandate for Oklahoma schools moved to federal court. [The Oklahoman]
- At least eight large Oklahoma school districts rebuke Ryan Walters’ order to teach Bible [The Oklahoman]
Civil rights groups seeking records on Ryan Walters’ Bible mandate for Oklahoma schools: Four civil rights organizations and an Oklahoma law firm said they made a joint request for records Friday, seeking information from the Oklahoma State Department of Education about state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters’ recent mandate that the Bible be incorporated into classroom teaching. [The Oklahoman]
Case against Epic Charter Schools co-founders on hold as recusal motions mount: Despite lingering four months without a conclusion, the preliminary hearing for criminally charged Epic Charter Schools co-founders Ben Harris and David Chaney will be delayed even further after their attorneys asked an Oklahoma County District Court judge to recuse herself from the case this week. [NonDoc]
Oklahoma education officials begin search for next chancellor: The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education kicked off the search for the next higher education chancellor on Wednesday. [Oklahoma Voice]
- Regents accept Oklahoma chancellor’s resignation, form plans to search for her replacement [The Oklahoman]
Increases in fees and tuition approved for Langston University and Rogers State University: The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education approved tuition and fee increases on Wednesday after denying them in June. [Oklahoma Voice]
Most college sexual assaults occur in the first months of class: What students, parents should know: The first few months of a freshman’s college career presents a unique risk. Their lack of support systems, knowledge of resources and familiarity with a new environment creates the “perfect storm” of vulnerability to sexual assault. [The Oklahoman]
Free meals at Tulsa Public Schools now expanded to secondary students: Speaking at Memorial High School’s cafeteria, Tulsa Superintendent Ebony Johnson announced Thursday that all TPS students will be able to receive a free breakfast and lunch at school during the 2024-25 school year. [Tulsa World]
Opinion: OKCPS superintendent, District Attorney Vicki Behenna team up to fight absenteeism: A focused plan to address chronic absenteeism in OKC schools, which included attendance advocates, incentives (some provided by the OKCPS Foundation) and regular monitoring and other strategies, allowed for great improvement the first half of this past school year. [Mary Mélon-Tully / The Oklahoman]
Community News
Opinion: DEI bullying assumes people didn’t earn their jobs: Take a stroll through social media, columns and other commentator quips. Essentially if you aren’t white or a man, the first response is to throw DEI around. It’s a hurtful assumption that these people haven’t earned their positions through qualifications and hard work. [Niki Kelly / Oklahoma Voice]
Opinion: Not everything is about Christianity or America: That a Parisian Olympic opening ceremony invoked a Greek Bacchanal featuring flamboyance inspired by art and history isn’t shocking. It ought to have been expected. [Ginnie Graham / Tulsa World]
Local Headlines
- Norman weighs relocating homeless shelter from downtown [Journal Record]
- Midwest City rejects Heritage Park Mall redevelopment plan, proceeding with acquisition [The Oklahoman]
- Broken Arrow police sergeant fired; man he arrested plans lawsuit [Tulsa World]
Quote of the Day
“Raising the minimum wage floor would help begin to address the problem of (wage disparities). It can’t correct for it entirely, but it’s a very important step because it provides a boost to everyone.”
-Gaby Ramirez-Perez, a policy analyst with OK Policy, speaking about the impacts of increasing the state’s minimum wage. She noted people of color are paid disproportionately lower wages than white Oklahomans, and it is the same case for women compared with men. [Oklahoma Voice]
Number of the Day
$12.41
Starting July 1, all state employees in Oklahoma must make at least $12.41 an hour, or an annual salary of $25,820. The increase was mandated because of a 2009 law that requires state employees to have “an annual salary equal to the amount established in the Federal Poverty Guidelines for a three‐person household.” The minimum wage for most other Oklahoma workers is $7.25 per hour. [Oklahoma Voice]
Policy Note
Reviewing How the Affordable Care Act Improved the Health Coverage Landscape: The Affordable Care Act (ACA) gave millions of newly eligible people access to affordable, comprehensive health insurance. Undoing the ACA’s coverage expansions or undermining its consumer protections — let alone repealing the law — threatens to bring back serious challenges people used to face in accessing coverage. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]
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