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In The Know is a daily synopsis of Oklahoma policy-related news and blogs. Inclusion of a story does not necessarily mean endorsement by the Oklahoma Policy Institute. You can sign up here to receive In The Know by e-mail.
Today you should know that the U.S. Department of Justice wants to block the planned merger between American Airlines and US Airways, a move that threatens pay raises and stock distributions for Tulsa area employees and could derail more than 20 months of bankruptcy reorganization. Wonkblog examined why the Justice Department wants to block the merger. Four top Chesapeake Energy Corp. executives were terminated from the company as part of an ongoing reorganization effort.
Urban Tulsa Weekly reported on the economic case for accepting federal funds to extend Soonercare or Insure Oklahoman. State Superintendent Janet Barresi said Oklahoma is not adopting Common Core Standards for science and social studies because they “were laced with very liberal principles.” The okeducationtruths blog points out that Oklahoma’s current social studies standards were developed by a group that included David Barton, a controversial historian and Religious Right activist whose book about Thomas Jefferson was pulled from publication because of numerous factual inaccuracies.
Members of four new state Department of Human Services citizens’ advisory panels will meet for the first time today to be briefed on department operations and examine the challenges ahead of them. Gov. Mary Fallin had to reissue a call for a special legislative session to address changes in Oklahoma’s civil justice system because a typo made reference to a part of the state constitution that doesn’t exist. The OK Policy Blog showed that Oklahoma’s poor and middle-class families pay a much larger share of their income in state and local taxes that do the wealthiest.
The Oklahoma Editorial Board writes that Oklahoma should heed US Attorney General Eric Holder’s call to reduce sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. The Number of the Day is Oklahoma’s rank among the states for prescription painkiller abuse, which now kills more residents than motor vehicle accidents. In today’s Policy Note, an animated chart shows the United States’ changing population distribution by age from 1900 to projections for 2060.
In The News
American Airline-US Airways merger plan opposed by Justice Department
The U.S. Department of Justice wants to block the planned merger between American Airlines and US Airways, a move that threatens pay raises and stock distributions for Tulsa area employees and could derail more than 20 months of bankruptcy reorganization. The Justice Department was joined by six states and the District of Columbia in filing a lawsuit Tuesday that says the merger could raise prices for consumers and eliminate competition on hundreds of daily flights throughout the country.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
See also: Why the Justice Department is blocking the US Airways-American merger from Wonkblog
Four Chesapeake Energy Corp. executives terminated
Four top Chesapeake Energy Corp. executives are leaving the company as part of an ongoing reorganization effort, CEO Doug Lawler said Monday. Steve Dixon, chief operating officer and executive vice president of operations and geosciences; Jeff Fisher, executive vice president of production; Steve Miller, senior vice president of drilling and Martha Burger, senior vice president of human and corporate resources “are leaving the company to pursue other opportunities,” Lawler wrote in an email to company employees Monday afternoon. The four are considered terminated without cause, effective immediately.
Expanding health coverage for the uninsured would benefit economy
It’s number three on their short list: “Keep Our Economy Competitive.” The slick website put together by Oklahomans for a Healthy Economy features three reasons to advocate for a change. But they’re not seeking tax policy changes or more industry investment. Instead, they’re tying the state’s larger economy to the goal of government helping with health insurance for more low-income people in Oklahoma. Other claims — an improved health care system and reduced insurance costs — more obviously align with a group whose key member is the Oklahoma Hospital Association. The economic angle, however, is front and center in their advocacy effort.
Read more from Urban Tulsa Weekly.
Barresi says Oklahoma revising standard for science and social studies to take out “liberal principles”
State Superintendent Janet Barresi, a self-described “strong conservative,” faced pointed questions about the Common Core state standards initiative from those who gathered at the Spirit Life Church, at a program sponsored by the Tulsa 9.12 Project. Barresi said Saturday that while Common Core state standards for English and math have been adopted in Oklahoma, standards in other subjects including science and social studies “were laced with very liberal principles,” prompting an ongoing revision process to make Oklahoma’s standards align with state values.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
See also: Oklahoma social studies standards developed with guidance of Religious Right activist from okeducationtruths
New Oklahoma DHS citizens’ advisory panels to meet
Members of four new state Department of Human Services citizens’ advisory panels will meet jointly for the first time Wednesday to be briefed on department operations and examine the challenges ahead of them. Oklahomans voted to authorize creation of the panels last November when they voted to abolish the Oklahoma Commission for Human Services, which had governed the state agency, and replace it with a system where the agency’s director answers to the governor. Three out-of-state experts selected to oversee DHS child welfare reforms as part of a settlement to a federal class action lawsuit are expected to be among those who will address new panel members.
Fallin’s special session order includes typo
Gov. Mary Fallin on Tuesday reissued a call for a special legislative session to address changes in Oklahoma’s civil justice system after she made reference to a part of the state constitution that doesn’t exist. Fallin issued an amended executive order on Tuesday that advised the Legislature not to violate Article 5, Section 57, which requires that each bill address only one subject. The Oklahoma Supreme Court referenced that section of the Oklahoma Constitution when they overturned a 2009 civil justice bill two months ago. But Fallin’s executive order issued on Monday urged legislators to draft bills in such a way as to ensure that “Article 5, Section 75” of the Oklahoma Constitution is not violated. There is no such section.
Summer Rerun: Low tax state for who?
Like most state tax systems, Oklahoma takes a much larger share from middle- and low-income families than from wealthy families, according to the fourth edition of “Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States,” released by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). The report measures the state and local taxes paid by different income groups in 2013 (at 2010 income levels including the impact of tax changes enacted through January 2, 2013) as shares of income for every state and the District of Columbia.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
NewsOK: Oklahoma lawmakers should take heed of attorney general’s plan
In his call to change the way mandatory-minimum sentences are used in federal drug cases, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said this: “We need to ensure that incarceration is used to punish, deter and rehabilitate — not merely to convict, warehouse and forget.” Oklahoma lawmakers should take heed. Holder is taking a reasonable approach to try to alleviate overcrowding in the federal system. He wants to give judges more of a say in how long to incarcerate nonviolent offenders who commit drug-related crimes. Now, judges’ discretion is limited by mandatory-minimum sentences that grew out of President Ronald Reagan’s “war on drugs” in the 1980s.
Quote of the Day
If your response is, ‘Well, the hospital closed because we couldn’t keep it open and the doctors are 80 miles away in this other town,’ as an employer I’m going to say, ‘Well, I’m going to move to this other town that’s 80 miles away because they’ve got a doctor.’ It is an economic development issue as much as anything else.
-Sen. Brian Crain, R-Tulsa, on why keeping rural hospitals open is important for Oklahoma’s economy. Hospitals will struggle with reduced reimbursements for treating the uninsured if Oklahoma does not accept federal funds to extend Soonercare or Insure Oklahoma. (Source: http://bit.ly/17oY6e5)
Number of the Day
1st
Oklahoma’s rank among the states for prescription painkiller abuse, which now kills more residents than motor vehicle accidents
Source: Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs via NewsOK
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
U.S. Population Distribution by Age, 1900 through 1960
As I follow up to my earlier post on the number of births in 2012, here is an animation of the U.S population distribution, by age, from 1900 through 2060. The population data and estimates are from the Census Bureau (actual through 2010 and projections through 2060). In 1900, the graph was fairly steep, but with improving health care, the graph has flattened out over the last 100 years.
Read more from Calculated Risk.
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