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Federal health officials say nearly 125,000 Oklahomans have signed up for health insurance coverage through the federal marketplace created under the Affordable Care Act. Oklahoma’s judicial system is among those facing budget a budget cut this year, raising questions about whether it would be able to collect as much in court fines and fees that help fund other state agencies. Three weeks after the Tulsa County parks director recommended closing three county swimming pools, county officials on Tuesday took $500,000 from the Parks Department reserve fund to keep the Tulsa Jail operating through June.
State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister said Wednesday that she is “partnering” with a Yukon lawmaker to revise a highly controversial bill that sought to ban the teaching of AP US History. On the OK Policy Blog, we looked at the hot-button issues that so far haven’t gotten much attention this legislative session. David Blatt’s Journal Record column discussed how for many ex-felons in Oklahoma, it can be illegal to get a job.
The Tulsa World editorial board argued in support of a bill to increase cigarette taxes as a way to partially close the state’s $611.3 million budget hole. A House committee approved three state question proposals to have the governor and lieutenant governor run on the same ticket, create a constitutional amendment to expand gun rights, and call a state constitutional convention. A bill to establish guidelines for court-ordered mental health treatment advanced out of committee after lawmakers moved its effective date to 2016, because they don’t have money to fund it this year.
As cities are considering tougher rules on fracking, state lawmakers have filed at least eight bills to take local control away from municipalities for regulating oil and gas drilling. A bill that would bar workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity will not get a hearing in the House. The Number of the Day is the percentage of Oklahomans age 18-64 who receive Social Security disability assistance. In today’s Policy Note, Bloomberg discusses a survey showing low-income Americans are far more worried about saving enough for retirement than other Americans.
In The News
125,000 Oklahomans Have Signed Up For Health Insurance Under Affordable Care Act
Federal health officials say nearly 125,000 Oklahomans have signed up for health insurance coverage through the federal marketplace created under the Affordable Care Act. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services announced Wednesday that 124,838 Oklahoma consumers either selected a plan or were automatically reenrolled in coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace.
Despite Generating Money, Judicial System Faces Budget Cut
Oklahoma’s judicial system is among those facing budget a budget cut this year, raising questions about whether it would be able to collect as much in court fines and fees that help fund other state agencies. In February, Gov. Mary Fallin called on lawmakers to cut the budgets of most state agencies, including the judiciary, by 6.25 percent. Fallin’s budget would have cut funding to the Supreme Court by $455,694, to the Court of Criminal Appeals by $226,887 and to the district courts by $3,474,769.
Read more from Oklahoma Watch.
With closing pools under consideration, Tulsa County to use park funds to keep jail operating
Three weeks after the Tulsa County parks director recommended closing three county swimming pools, county officials on Tuesday took $500,000 from the Parks Department reserve fund to keep the Tulsa Jail operating through June. The $500,000 was part of an $800,000 transfer approved by the county Budget Board to the jail fund. So far this fiscal year, the Budget Board has provided $2 million from the county’s general fund to cover revenue shortfalls at the jail.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Hofmeister says she will ‘partner’ with lawmaker on controversial AP history bill
State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister said Wednesday that she is “partnering” with a Yukon lawmaker to revise a highly controversial piece of education legislation that had her fielding calls from national media. Hofmeister said she had spoken to House Bill 1380 author, state Rep. Dan Fisher. She said Fisher was listening to the backlash from students, teachers and parents and told her he was “willing to go back to the drawing board.”
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Sleeping dogs of the 2015 session
The 2015 session is now underway and it’s clear that this year, as always, will feature heated debates on a multitude of contentious issues, from proposals to expand school choice through vouchers and charter schools to efforts to rein in tax credits to hot-button social issues, such as guns, abortion, and same-sex marriage. Less noted, but perhaps equally significant, is the low profile of several issues that have been highly contentious in recent years and that many expected to see back on the agenda in 2015.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
When it’s a crime to work
With our prisons dangerously overcrowded and our budget in shambles, Oklahoma’s high incarceration rate seems finally to be getting serious attention this legislative session. Various proposals are exploring sensible alternatives to prison and ways to reduce sentence lengths for nonviolent offenders. Yet for many Oklahomans with past criminal convictions, we’ve created so many barriers to life after prison that every sentence can become a life sentence.
Read more from the Journal Record.
With huge state budget hole, cigarette tax proposal should be kept alive
Tuesday’s news that state government faces a $611.3 million budget hole is very discouraging. The Legislature seems to have the will to do something about the chronically underfunded areas of state government, especially education. But, as things stand now, it doesn’t have the money. In fact, core state services are likely to see funding cuts again. There are solutions.
See more from the Tulsa World.
Three Ballot Measures Sent To Full House For Approval
Oklahoma voters would get to decide if the governor and lieutenant governor should run on a ticket together, whether Oklahomans need more gun rights, and if the entire state constitution should be rewritten. The House Rules Committee approved the three separate measures on Wednesday that would send proposals to a vote of the people. All three resolutions now go to the full House.
Bill Outlining Court-Ordered Outpatient Mental Health Treatment Advances
A bill to establish guidelines for court-ordered outpatient mental health treatment advanced out of committee Wednesday with a slight change. An amendment to Rep. Lee Denney’s bill will move its effective date to 2016. “We opted to move the date forward a year instead of putting ‘when funds are available’, because it sometimes seems we put things in statute and funds are just never available,” Denney said.
Read more from Public Radio Tulsa.
As cities consider tougher drilling rules, state lawmakers eye ‘local control’ limits
When New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a statewide ban on fracking in 2014, Oklahoma Rep. Casey Murdock took notice. After voters in the city of Denton, Texas — just 40 miles south of the Oklahoma state line — approved a fracking ban in the Nov. 4 election, the Republican representative from Felt took action. Murdock’s measure, House Bill 1395, is one of at least eight “local control” bills under consideration by the 2015 Legislature. The bills differ in the details, but they all limit, in some way, the power municipalities have to regulate oil and gas drilling or related activities, like fracking.
LGBT workplace equality bill won’t get House committee hearing this session
A bill that would bar workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity will not get a hearing in the House, its author said Wednesday. House Bill 1345 by Rep. Jason Dunnington, D-Oklahoma City, was assigned to the House Economic Development, Commerce and Real Estate Committee, chaired by Rep. Dan Kirby, R-Tulsa. Kirby said he was not pressured by anyone to take the bill off the panel’s agenda. He said adequate protections against discrimination based on sex and gender already exist in Oklahoma law.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Quote of the Day
“In just three to four years, someone who starts out at minimum [at Chipotle] could be at apprentice level and I was stunned to learn they would make more than a teacher with a Ph.D and 25 years of experience.”
– State superintendent of schools Joy Hofmeister, discussing the state’s education funding crisis (Source)
Number of the Day
5.80%
Percentage of Oklahomans age 18-64 who receive Social Security disability assistance.
Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
The Inequality of Retirement Anxiety
When it comes to retirement planning, there are two kinds of people: low-income Americans, who worry about saving enough money, and everybody else. That’s the message of a survey out today from Bankrate, which asked 4,200 people last month why they weren’t saving more for retirement. You might expect the answers would change as workers got older, but they didn’t; across all age groups, about 1 in 3 respondents said they didn’t have enough money to save more, and another third said they were already saving enough.
Read more from Bloomberg View.
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