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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 cuts to Oklahoma’s income tax over the past 12 years have reduced revenues by nearly $2 billion annually, a University of Oklahoma economist told a House of Representatives panel Monday. The panel examined paying for further cuts to the income tax by instituting a sales tax on services or allowing local jurisdictions to increase property taxes. NewsOn6 reports that Oklahoma’s Quality Jobs Program has rewarded companies that cut jobs and even exported jobs overseas.
An Oklahoma law requires employers to give employees up to two hours paid time-off to vote. Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Keith Ballard has agreed to remain in his position for another year. So far this year, 188 special-needs students are using publicly funded vouchers to attend private schools. On the OK Policy Blog, we shared a presentation on the way our health is determined by the places that we live and work in every day.
A civil rights leaders writes in the Huffington Post that Oklahoma will suffer economically if we ban programs that expand opportunity. An Oklahoma native and air force veteran is being prevented from returning from the Middle East to visit his terminally ill mother. A lawsuit against the Tulsa sheriff’s office and the Tulsa jail’s private health care provider claims that a mentally ill man died after two days in an isolation cell without food, water, or medical attention.
The Number of the Day is the percentage of registered 18-29 year old Oklahomans who voted in 2008. In today’s Policy Note, Bloomberg reports that the economy is on course to enjoy faster growth in the next four years no matter who wins the election. If you still have questions about the state questions on the ballot today, see OK Policy’s summary and analysis.
In The News
Cuts to Oklahoma’s income tax have reduced revenues by $2 billion annually
Changes made to Oklahoma’s tax code the past 12 years have helped contribute to a nearly $2 billion annual reduction in tax receipts, a University of Oklahoma economist told a House of Representatives panel Monday. Robert Dauffenbach, associate dean and director of the Center for Economic and Management Research at OU’s Price Business College, said lawmakers who have talked of eliminating or reducing the personal income tax should step back and evaluate changes made to the state’s tax code in the past 12 years. House Speaker Pro Tempore Jeff Hickman said reducing and possibly eliminating the state’s personal income tax is not a quick fix. He led an interim study on the tax that brings in about one third of the money legislators appropriate each year.
Oklahoma’s Quality Jobs program: Corporate incentive or payoff?
A job incentive program that has created tens of thousands of good-paying jobs in Oklahoma has also rewarded companies that cut jobs and even exported jobs overseas, an investigation of the program has revealed. The Quality Jobs program has the unwavering support of the Oklahoma Department of Commerce and a majority in the Legislature for what they say is its proven track record of attracting and retaining good jobs. And yet the program has its detractors; lawmakers and jobless who believe it doesn’t measure up to expectations and needs to be revised, if not repealed.
Voters entitled to paid time-off on Election Day
An obscure Oklahoma law requires employers to give employees up to two hours off to cast ballots. “It’s just one more option to encourage voting rather than discourage voting,” said Jim Curry, president of the Oklahoma AFL-CIO, a national labor union. “We do inform our members about it because if you’re working a 10-hour shift, it makes it very difficult to go vote.” Under the state law, an employee is eligible for taking two hours of paid-leave on Election Day to vote, as long as the worker’s shift begins within three hours of polls opening or closing. Employees who start work before 10 a.m. and go home after 4 p.m. are eligible for the paid leave. The time must be requested 24 hours before the election, according to the law, and employers who refuse can be charged with a misdemeanor and fined $50 to $100.
Ballard to stay on as Tulsa superintendent another year
Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Keith Ballard has agreed to remain in his position for another year. After a special meeting Monday evening, the school board voted to authorize a one-year contract renewal with Ballard, who was expected to leave at the end of his current contract, which runs through June 30. Ballard thanked the school board for sticking to a strategic plan it developed almost three years ago but said “unfinished business” also factored into his own decision about whether to stay. The “unfinished business” Ballard said he wants to tend to are the district’s poor results on the most recent state tests as well as a continual decline in reading proficiency among Tulsa’s student population.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Conflict over special-needs scholarship law on hold for now
Controversy over a law that allows the use of public funds to send special-needs students to private schools may have died down for now. But it likely will flare up again if, or when, the Oklahoma Supreme Court decides to consider the case. Rep. Jason Nelson, R-Oklahoma City, and author of the legislation, recently told the Tulsa World that he has heard little about when the court might consider the case. So far this year, 188 students are in private schools using the vouchers, up from 149 students who participated in the program last year, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Education. Last year, the state spent $969,166.07 of common education funding for the scholarships.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Why place matters: Data on health, housing and equity
The variables that affect our individual health are too many to name or measure. Genetics and behavior are strong determinants for most of us. For some, mere chance can lead to contracting a deadly virus or suffering chronic pain from an accidental injury like a fall or a car accident. Less understood and attended to is the way our health is determined by our ‘place’ – the houses, streets, neighborhoods, cities and small towns that we live and work in everyday.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
Oklahoma Would Suffer Under Ban of Programs That Expand Opportunity
On Tuesday, Oklahoma voters will decide whether to ban programs that expand opportunity and create a broader middle class. Five states have adopted similar bans on affirmative action in education, employment, and contracting to the severe detriment of their residents and their economic future. Simply put, states that adopt these bans have fewer women and minority doctors, lawyers, college graduates, and successful businesses — and they have a harder time competing in an increasingly diverse global marketplace. Oklahoma would be wise to avoid going down the same path.
Read more from the Huffington Post.
Muslim man prevented from returning to Oklahoma to see ailing mother
An Oklahoma Muslim civil rights group is trying to help an Oklahoma native return from the Middle East to visit his terminally ill mother. Adam Soltani, executive director of the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said CAIR has surmised that Long is on a U.S. government “no-fly” list, but he has been unable to find out why so that he can respond to any allegations or mistaken information. He said Long was born and raised in McAlester, lived on the East Coast as a young adult and served in the U.S. Air Force for 10 years.
Mentally ill man dies, injured and alone, in a Tulsa jail cell
In a horrific story out of Oklahoma, lawyers representing the estate of a prisoner who was found dead in the Tulsa Jail have sued the local sheriff’s office and the jail’s private health care provider. In a motion just filed in federal court, attorneys have asked a judge to release a video made of the man’s final two days, during which he allegedly languished in an isolation cell without food, water, or medical attention. The lawsuit, which claims that Williams’s civil rights were violated, is reportedly “one of several filed by the attorneys alleging inadequate care and supervision in the jail’s medical unit.” Health care in that unit–and throughout the Tulsa Jail–are provided by a private company called Correctional Health Care Management.
Read more from Solitary Watch.
Quote of the Day
As Oklahoma’s population grows more diverse, the need to educate and provide more opportunities to every resident will only become more critical to the state’s future. Without that, the state’s rapidly growing Latino population, as well as its established American Indian and African-American communities, will be left behind – along with the potential economic growth that would benefit everyone, including Whites.
–Wade Henderson, President of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Number of the Day
48 percent
Percentage of registered 18-29 year old Oklahomans who voted in 2008, compared to 62 percent of those 30 years and older
Source: Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Economy set for better times whether Obama or Romney wins
No matter who wins the election tomorrow, the economy is on course to enjoy faster growth in the next four years as the headwinds that have held it back turn into tailwinds. Consumers are spending more and saving less after reducing household debt to the lowest since 2003. Home prices are rebounding after falling more than 30 percent from their 2006 highs. And banks are increasing lending after boosting equity capital by more than $300 billion since 2009. “The die is cast for a much stronger recovery,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist in West Chester, Pennsylvania, for Moody’s Analytics Inc. He sees growth this year and next at about 2 percent before doubling to around 4 percent in both 2014 and 2015 as consumption, construction and hiring all pick up.
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