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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 lawmakers and the governor will have $214.6 million more to build into the state budget for fiscal year 2014, according to early estimates of revenue the state is required to certify Thursday. Oklahoma’s personal income growth rate held steady at 0.7 percent for the quarter and ranked 13th in the nation. Oklahoma scored six out of 10 in a national report on public health emergency preparedness.
David Blatt’s Journal Record column discusses the tale of Tulsa’s competing Christmas/Holiday parades. The OK Policy Blog shares a documentary on how the Great Recession and years of stagnate wages have put working people in an increasingly precarious financial position. The American Independent spoke to David Blatt about Arthur Laffer’s tax cut roadshow.
A judgment signed Wednesday by a federal judge upheld a block on two provisions in Oklahoma ‘s 2007 immigration law. The Oklahoma Gazette profiled the tough decisions and controversy surrounding Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater. A federal judge recommended a New York-based child advocacy group be awarded $7 million in attorneys’ fees and expenses for its work on a lawsuit that forced reforms to Oklahoma’s child-welfare system.
The Oklahoma State Department of Education plans to post demographic reports to go along with each grade card issued for all Oklahoma schools. Governor Fallin is encouraging school officials to take security training seminars offered by the Oklahoma Office of Homeland Security. The Tulsa Kids magazine editor’s blog criticized proposals for school personnel to have guns in the classroom.
The Number of the Day is amount slated to be cut from senior welfare programs in Oklahoma if across the board federal budget cuts are not averted. In today’s Policy Note, the National Women’s Law Center lists 5 problems with House Speaker Boehner’s ‘Plan B’ to avoid the fiscal cliff.
In The News
Oklahoma estimated to have $214.6 million more for state budget; oil and gas producers get breaks
Lawmakers and the governor will have $214.6 million more to build into the state budget for fiscal year 2014 than they did in the current budget, according to early estimates of revenue the state is required to certify Thursday. “This isn’t a typical certification because of the uncertainty surrounding the fiscal cliff,” said Preston Doerflinger, state finance secretary. Nonetheless, Doerflinger expressed optimism about the extra cash that is projected to come to state government in 2014 largely due to gains in personal income, corporate income and sales taxes. The state’s budget committee — the Equalization Board — will meet Thursday to certify the numbers for use in the state budget.
Oklahoma personal income up on construction, agriculture
Construction and agriculture were the two largest industry contributors to Oklahoma personal income in the third quarter, according to a report Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Overall, the state’s personal income growth rate held steady at 0.7 percent for the quarter and ranked 13th in the nation. Personal income, a measure of the income received by all residents from all sources, grew to $148.7 billion in Oklahoma, up from $147.7 billion in the second quarter. Oklahoma’s personal income was $143.8 billion in last year’s third quarter. Oklahoma was one of five states in which the growth rate was unchanged for the quarter. Growth slowed in 34 states and increased in 11 others.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Oklahoma scores 6 out of 10 for public health emergency preparedness
A national report released Wednesday ranked Oklahoma six out of 10 in key indicators of public health preparedness, meaning its ability to respond in case of widespread emergency. Thirty-five states and Washington, D.C., scored a six or lower on the report by Trust for America’s Health, something that concerns the organization’s executive director. Overall, one of the report’s biggest critiques is the continued funding cuts at the local, state and federal level. In 2011, Oklahoma cut public health funds by 10.6 percent, according to last year’s report. Levi said these cuts put the success that public health has seen at risk. One example of this type of budget cut in Oklahoma is the funding cut made to the state’s surveillance of mosquitoes.
Prosperity Policy: A tale of two parades
This month, the “war over Christmas” played out on the streets of Tulsa. At 6 p.m. on a Saturday night (coinciding with the first night of Hanukkah), thousands gathered downtown to celebrate the Holiday Parade of Lights. Ten miles away at a south-side shopping mall, thousands more came together for the Tulsa Christmas parade. One city, one festival season, one night, two parades. For decades, Tulsa’s downtown December event was known as the Christmas Parade of Lights. When its traditional sponsor pulled out, new sponsors came forward and renamed it the Holiday Parade of Lights (full disclosure: my organization’s board chairman is a primary sponsor of the downtown parade). They’ve reached out to include participation from the city’s Jewish and Muslim communities, as well as Christian churches and civic groups. Initially, the name change attracted little notice.
Read more from The Journal Record.
Watch This: The Line
The Line documents the stories of people across the country, from the suburbs of Chicago to the economically devastated Gulf Coast, living at or below the poverty line. Emmy Award-winning producer Linda Midgett chronicles poverty in America straight from the source, and illuminates how the Great Recession and years of stagnate wages have put working people in an increasingly precarious financial position. As one film subject explains, ”The line. The place the people on the bottom are trying to get to, and the place the people on the top are trying to keep from going below.”
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
Arthur Laffer’s dynamic roadshow
On January 19 of this year, Kansas state Sen. Julia Lynn offered an exuberant greeting to renowned tax-cutting enthusiast Arthur Laffer. “What an honor and privilege to have you here in Kansas,” Lynn said, welcoming the fabled former Reagan economic advisor to an informational meeting of the senate’s assessment and taxation committee. Les Donovan, the committee chair, raised the roof for their “special guest who has proven expertise in the field of economics going back decades.” Basking in the dynamic glow of Laffer’s supply-side prestige, Lynn, Donovan, and their Republican colleagues hoped he would offer his blessing for a plan that would slash income taxes and eliminate a number of tax credits and deductions, per the wishes of Gov. Sam Brownback. But Democrats like Kansas Sen. Tom Holland weren’t buying it.
Read more from the American Independent.
Judge OKs deal on Oklahoma immigration, blocks two provisions
A judgment signed Wednesday by a federal judge upheld a block on two provisions in the Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007, ending a lengthy legal battle over an anti-illegal immigration law described by many as one of the harshest in the nation. A third provision, which requires contractors working for public entities to use electronic employment authorization services such as E-Verify, was upheld in the judgment. One of the provisions permanently blocked by the judgment would have allowed civil penalties for “any employer who discharges an authorized employee while retaining an unauthorized employee,” court records show. The other would have required businesses to verify that all “individual independent contractors” had legitimate authorization statuses before hiring them.
Term of District Attorney David Prater marked by tough, often controversial, decisions
It was a sunny May morning in 2009 and Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater had just finished dropping off his daughter at school when his cell phone rang. Rowland was at the Oklahoma City Police Department’s homicide division; there was a video he wanted Prater to see. A few days prior, Prater had heard about two people trying to rob a local pharmacy, but that a pharmacist named Jerome Ersland had shot and killed one of the pair. At first, it sounded like a case of self-defense. When Prater watched surveillance video footage of the incident at the police department, however, he began to suspect things were more complicated.
Read more from the Oklahoma Gazette.
Judge recommends $7 million to attorneys who filed Oklahoma child welfare lawsuit
A federal magistrate judge on Wednesday recommended a New York-based child advocacy group be awarded $7,031,928 in attorneys’ fees and expenses for its work on a lawsuit that forced DHS to make reforms. Children’s Rights asked in June for $9,520,419. The Department of Human Services in October argued the group should get only $2.6 million to $3.7 million “if the court determines that the plaintiffs are entitled to an award at all.” The child advocacy group sued DHS officials in 2008 in federal court in Tulsa. The class-action lawsuit was settled this year and DHS already is making major changes to its child welfare practices.
Oklahoma Education Department to post school demographic reports
The Oklahoma State Department of Education plans to post a demographic report online to go along with each grade card issued for all Oklahoma school districts and school sites. Maridyth McBee, assistant state superintendent of accountability and assessment, told the state Board of Education on Wednesday that the reports would include the number of students who are living in poverty, the number who are on individualized education plans because of a disability, and the ethnic breakdown of students. McBee said state officials are meeting with stakeholders to see how the state can tweak definitions and make changes that will improve the report card system.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Fallin encourages school officials to train with Homeland Security
In the wake of the tragic shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, Governor Mary Fallin is encouraging school officials and law enforcement officers to take advantage of security training seminars offered by the Oklahoma Office of Homeland Security. At the seminars, Oklahoma homeland security officials cover a wide variety of topics with school officials, including the importance of developing, updating and exercising an emergency response plan. Additionally, the training includes instruction for school officials on how to conduct a security survey to help identify and correct any potential security gaps. The two-day seminars are provided at no cost and held at various locations around the state.
Teachers Packin’ Heat. Seriously?
Two Oklahoma State Legislators want to introduce a bill that would allow teachers and other public school personnel to have guns in their classrooms. Is this really Oklahoma’s answer to the tragedy in Newtown? Is this our State’s call to action? Surely we can do better for our children. Will having more easily accessible guns prevent another mass shooting by a mentally ill person? Don’t we, as parents, make sure that our children aren’t going over to play at a house with accessible guns? I know I wouldn’t allow my children to go to a friend’s house if that house had unsecured guns. And, with 40 percent of American households having guns, it’s a good idea to ask. Why in the world would we want our children to go to school every day knowing that there were loaded guns in the teachers’ desks?
Quote of the Day
What’s scary about this kind of situation is — we don’t know what we don’t know. If we don’t have the resources to do the kind of surveillance and have real-time situational awareness, our response will always be behind the curve.
–Jeffrey Levi, executive director of Trust for America’s Health, who says state, local, and federal funding cuts to disease monitoring are putting public health at risk
Number of the Day
$1,362,465
Amount slated to be cut from senior welfare programs in Oklahoma if across the board federal budget cuts, or ‘sequestration’, is not averted by Congress
Source: National Council on Aging
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Top 5 problems with Boehner’s ‘Plan B’
You may have heard that House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has introduced a tax bill that is now being referred to as “Plan B” — that is, a backup plan of sorts if the negotiations with President Obama to resolve the “fiscal cliff” break down. The House is scheduled to vote on it tomorrow. But Plan B is a bad deal for women and their families. Here are the top five reasons why: Plan B raises taxes for 25 million low- and moderate-income families. By ending important improvements to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC), and eliminating the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) for college expenses, Plan B takes tax benefits away from the families who need them most. NWLC has calculated that ending the improvements to the EITC and CTC would take $12.6 billion in tax credits from hardworking families — and women would bear two-thirds of those losses.
Read more from the National Women’s Law Center.
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