OKPOLICY.ORG
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 after contentious debate, the House approved a bill to lower the income cap for families of students receiving the Oklahoma’s Promise college scholarship. The Tulsa World examined Kansas’ uncertain budget outlook following large income tax cuts. On the OK Policy Blog, we analyze the Oklahoma Senate Republicans’ tax plan.
The Oklahoma Commission on School Safety may call for statewide teams to hunt for potentially violent mental patients who have gone off their medications and talk them back into treatment; another evidence-based program for dealing with troubled people remains without funding outside Tulsa County. A spokesperson for Gov. Fallin said the governor supports implementation of corrections reform, despite her rejection of funding for it. The federal government faces a challenge of how to educate non-English speaking Oklahomans about the new health insurance exchanges.
State Treasurer Ken Miller said Oklahoma’s economic growth is slowing. Advocates held a press conference to criticize proposals in the Oklahoma Legislature to allow horses to be slaughtered in the state. The deputy director and chief financial officer for the Oklahoma Transportation Department will be taking over the agency following the retirement of Gary Ridley. The Number of the Day is the number of convicted felons in Oklahoma, who are ineligible to vote, unable to receive federal student loans, and barred from working in a litany of professions. In today’s Policy Note, the New York Federal Reserve presents interactive charts showing the rise of student loan debt in the United States.
In The News
Bill to lower income cap on Oklahoma’s Promise scholarship advances
House Democrats came up short Monday in their attempt to kill a bill that would lower the income cap on the Oklahoma’s Promise scholarship program for low-income students. Over a period that lasted more than two hours, Democrats accused Republicans of penalizing the college scholarship program by cutting its funding while at the same time seeking personal income tax cuts that would result in the state losing nearly 10 times that amount in revenue. HB 1721 would change the income requirements on the scholarship program, lowering the income cap for the families of students entering college on the scholarship from $100,000 to $60,000.
Kansas tax cuts raise budget concerns
Last year, Kansas did what Oklahoma talked about. It slashed personal income tax rates, from a top bracket of 6.45 percent to 4.9 percent, and eliminated income taxes altogether for nearly 200,000 farms and businesses. Kansas’ bold step was part of a broader attack against the income tax. For Kansas, the immediate result of income tax reform has been a $700 million hit to a $6 billion general fund, which projects out to a revenue loss of $2.5 billion through 2018. In January, Bloomberg reported Kansas’ uncertain budget outlook had hurt its standing in the bond markets.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
And in this corner: The Senate tax plan
Last year’s monumental tax debate was marked by a slew of competing proposals to reduce and potentially abolish the state’s personal income tax. After months of squabbling, the Governor and legislative leadership finally announced an agreement in the waning days of session that failed to gain final legislative support. This year, the Governor and legislative leaders are again seeking a cut in the state’s top personal income tax rate. Unlike last year, there are no serious proposals that would dramatically lower the top rate or phase out the income tax entirely. This year’s debate seems to be shaping up as a direct showdown between two distinct approaches: the Governor’s versus Senate Republicans’.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
Oklahoma’s school safety commission could endorse mental health proposal
The Oklahoma Commission on School Safety appears to be on the verge of calling for statewide teams to hunt for potentially violent mental patients who have gone off their medications and talk them back into treatment, but another evidence-based program for dealing with troubled people will probably remain restricted to Tulsa County. Tulsa County’s Community Outreach Psychiatric Emergency Services – COPES – is the state’s only fully actualized 24/7 emergency crisis response unit in the state. Mental Health Commissioner Terri White said a $4 million request for a network of 24/7 crisis response teams for the state has been pending for several years.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Spokesman says Gov. Fallin supports corrections reform, despite refusal of funding
Gov. Mary Fallin supports implementation of corrections reform, spokesman Alex Weintz insists, despite her rejection of anticipated federal funding. Weintz told CapitolBeatOK, “We are committed to this program. We want it to work. It is something the governor supports.” Weintz and other Fallin advisers defended her decision to rebuff a grant from the Council of State Governments (CSG) to finance training and technical needs arising from the state’s enactment of prison reforms. The governor’s legal advisor and her spokesman said government agencies have “buy-in” to the reforms. In the same discussion, Terri White, the head of the Mental Health department, said her agency has enough cash to finance new “crisis centers” to provide a safe and secure place for arrestees more in need of treatment than incarceration.
Oklahoma faces culture challenge with new health care law
Oklahoma officials said they’ve had no contact with the federal government about how to tell the state’s non-English speaking population about the federal health care overhaul. More than 276,163 Oklahoma residents, or 8.2 percent of the state’s population, speak a language other than English at home, according to 2007 estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau. Of those, 120,658 said they speak English less than very well. The vast majority of non-English speakers, more than 180,000, speak Spanish, and the Oklahoma Health Department provides bilingual translators in many county health departments to assist the Spanish-speaking community, according to agency spokeswoman Leslea Bennett-Webb.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Oklahoma economic growth slowing, reports show
Oklahoma’s economy is continuing to grow but at a more subdued pace, state Treasurer Ken Miller said Monday. “Our average growth rate between March 2011 and February 2012 topped 10 percent,” Miller said. “For the past 12 months, growth has averaged 2 percent.” February gross collections were down by 2.4 percent, or almost $20 million, from February of last year, he said. Oklahoma’s two biggest sources of revenue, income tax and sales tax, both grew; income tax grew by 1.4 percent and sales tax by 3.9 percent. Gross production, motor vehicle taxes and other sources were all reported as lower than the same month a year ago, Miller said.
Horse slaughterhouse opponents argue for options
Sabrina Hayes has seen horses live, she’s seen them die, she’s seen them rescued, she’s seen them sold. Monday, the Randlett horsewoman was in Oklahoma City supporting advocates who said they won’t tolerate seeing horses slaughtered for meat. At a news conference timed to coincide with a federal advisory panel’s meeting, leaders of three national organizations said they had evidence that wild horses protected under federal law were sold to “kill buyers,” who pay small sums for horses that are then shipped for slaughter to Mexico and Canada. They criticized proposals in the Oklahoma Legislature to allow horses to be slaughtered in the state, several years after the last U.S. slaughterhouses closed.
New director selected for Oklahoma Transportation Department
The deputy director and chief financial officer for the Oklahoma Transportation Department will be taking over the helm of the agency April 1. Mike Patterson, who has held both jobs since 2010, was named Monday by the Oklahoma Transportation Commission to head the agency. His annual salary will be $139,000. Patterson, 60, was among three key executive officers from the Transportation Department vying for the post. He will succeed Gary Ridley, who is retiring March 31.
Quote of the Day
You can’t tell me that’s the quality of life that Kansas wants. You want more people earning less money as you continue to cut state budgets so they can’t access the support they need to shore themselves up out of poverty?
–Annie McKay of the Kansas Center for Economic Growth, pointing out that income tax-free Texas has some of the highest poverty rates in the nation and more low-wage workers than any other state in the union.
Number of the Day
48,167
Number of convicted felons in Oklahoma, making them ineligible to vote, unable to receive federal student loans, and barred from working in a litany of professions.
Source: American Elections Project
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Household Debt and Credit: Student Loan Debt
Higher education is crucial to improving the skill level of American workers, especially in the face of rising skill premiums and a relatively unfavorable labor market for less skilled workers. Due to increasing enrollment and the rising cost of higher education, student loans play an increasingly important role in financing higher education, and student debt is the only kind of household debt that continued to rise through the Great Recession.
Read more from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
You can sign up here to receive In The Know by e-mail.
