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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 participants in a town hall meeting in Tulsa challenged Gov. Mary Fallin over education funding. Fallin she remains committed to education but stopped short of promising more money for it. Public Service Co. of Oklahoma plans to spend up to $350 million to remove coal from its Oklahoma generating fleet by 2026. A group backed by The State Chamber released its initial evaluation Wednesday of how the nine justices on the Oklahoma Supreme Court rule on liability cases.
KOSU reports on debate over State Question 762, which would remove the Governor from decisions about parole for non-violent offenders. The OK Policy Blog explains why it’s time to make this change. Find more on all of the state questions at OK Policy’s 2012 State Questions page. David Blatt’s Journal Record column asks how do we respond, as individuals and as a society, to those among us who are less privileged. In the wake of a 13-year-old killing himself at Stillwater Junior High, NewsOK examines the high rate of suicide among Oklahoma teens.
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker said war whoops, chants and tomahawk chops being used to taunt a Massachusetts U.S. Senate candidate are racist and offensive. Rep. David Dank questioned the growth in tax credits used by insurance companies and whether the state should be reimbursing counties and schools for tax revenue lost when property owners take exemptions. StateImpact Oklahoma shows what Oklahoma’s non-farm employment looks like in one chart.
The Number of the Day is how many states have gained back all the jobs lost during the Great Recession. In today’s Policy Note, Reason discusses how we could see the beginning of a rebellion against marijuana prohibition this year in three state referendums.
In The News
Fallin discusses education funding at town hall meeting
Gov. Mary Fallin said Wednesday she remains committed to education but stopped short of promising more money for it. “It is a priority for me and certainly for our administration that we do everything we can to see that our children get the best education possible,” Fallin said in response to Marlow Perkins Sipes, co-founder of the group 49th is Not OK, during a town hall with 11 of her Cabinet members at Oklahoma State University-Tulsa. “Education in our state is not a priority.” Sipes said. “Funding of education needs to become a priority to address many of the issues you’ve spoken about today.” Sipes asked Fallin for the governor’s plans to put more money into classrooms and to pay for “mandates you’ve provided without funding.” Fallin said her administration is about to commission a comprehensive study of the state education system to make it more efficient.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Public Service Co. of Oklahoma plans to spend $350 million for environmental compliance
Public Service Co. of Oklahoma plans to spend up to $350 million to put in place the terms of a settlement for environmental regulations that will remove coal from its Oklahoma generating fleet by 2026, the electric utility said Wednesday. PSO, a unit of Ohio-based American Electric Power that has more than 530,000 customers in eastern and southwestern Oklahoma, filed an environmental compliance plan with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. The plan deals with federal regulations on emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury and other air toxins. If implemented, the plan could raise customer rates by 11 percent starting in 2016, PSO representatives said. The plan came out of a pending settlement PSO has with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Sierra Club, the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality and Oklahoma Environment Secretary Gary Sherrer.
Group releases rating system of Oklahoma’s justices
A group backed by The State Chamber released its initial evaluation Wednesday of how the nine justices on the Oklahoma Supreme Court rule on liability cases, which include workers’ compensation and medical malpractice matters. Fred Morgan, president and chief executive officer of The State Chamber, said the information is being made available to help voters who will be asked whether to retain four of the justices in the Nov. 6 general election. The report consists of a zero-to-100 rating system; the lower the score, the more often the justice ruled in favor of expanding liabilities, which he said adversely affects economic development. The council plans to release a similar report in about two weeks on judges serving on the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals.
A look at State Question 762 on November’s ballot
A state question going before voters in November would streamline the parole process. State Question 762 removes the Governor from decisions about parole for non-violent offenders. One week a month, Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole Board meets to make decisions on the fate of state inmates. The five members of the board spend four days listening to the parole eligible inmates and their family members before making their decision. But they also listen to victims and prosecutors protesting the release of the prisoners. Newly elected Chairman Marc Drier says it’s not something they take lightly.
SQ 762: Is Oklahoma ready to be smart on crime?
State Question 762, on the ballot this November, would make paroles granted by the Pardon and Parole Board for non-violent offenders no longer require additional approval by the governor. Even though SQ 762 would take away some of her powers and responsibilities, Governor Fallin has endorsed it. It’s also supported by outgoing House Speaker Kris Steele, a leading champion of criminal justice reforms in Oklahoma. There are compelling reasons to make this change. Oklahoma is the only state in the nation where the governor must personally approve every parole. Partly as a result, Oklahoma’s parole rates have tended to be far lower than most other states, as seen in the above graph from a 2007 audit of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. With many other tasks taking precedence, Oklahoma governors have sometimes neglected their duty to make timely parole decisions.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
See also: 2012 State Questions page from Oklahoma Policy Institute
Prosperity Policy: Helping our neighbors
How do we respond, as individuals and as a society, to those among us who are less privileged and fortunate? Last week, the Census Bureau released the latest poverty numbers. Last year, more than one in six Oklahomans had incomes below the federal poverty level. That’s a little less than $20,000 for a family of three. The day before the release, I happened to begin reading a new book by Tulsa writer Ann Patton about Dan Allen, a Catholic priest who made it his life’s work to reach out to and embrace people in need. In the late 1960s, Father Dan established an amazing grass-roots movement for social justice in north Tulsa called Neighbor for Neighbor. Setting up roots in Tulsa’s poorest neighborhood, where many lived in ramshackle housing and encountered the lack of food, medical care, work and transportation on a daily basis, Neighbor for Neighbor opened its doors to anyone in need.
Read more from The Journal Record.
Stillwater is not alone in struggling with teen suicide
Once again parents and a community are left to grieve and grapple with questions after a young person violently ended his life. Cade Poulos, 13, shot himself in the head with a handgun 10 minutes before the morning bell Wednesday morning at Stillwater Junior High School, sending shocked students fleeing the grisly scene in a school hallway. His very public death highlighted the problem of teen suicide in a state that far exceeds the national average for this problem. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for Oklahomans ages 10-24, according to the state Health Department. It’s a complex problem requiring community involvement, said Ken Elliott, a licensed family and marriage counselor who serves as co-chairman of a suicide prevention task force in Edmond.
Cherokee chief calls tactics in U.S. Senate campaign ‘racist, offensive’
War whoops, chants and tomahawk chops used to taunt a Massachusetts U.S. Senate candidate are racist and offensive, Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker said Wednesday. “The Cherokee Nation is disappointed in and denounces the disrespectful actions of staffers and supporters of Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown,” Baker said. “The conduct of these individuals goes far beyond what is appropriate and proper in political discourse.” Baker called for an apology from Brown for the incident. At a debate last week, Brown brought up the issue forcefully, demanding to know whether Warren, who was born in Oklahoma, had used her claims of Cherokee heritage to get preferential treatment in college admissions or job applications. Warren said she had not.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Legislative committee chair criticizes growth of insurance premium tax credits
The head of a state House committee that’s scrutinizing millions of dollars in business tax credits questioned Wednesday the growth in credits used by insurance companies and whether the state should be reimbursing counties and schools for tax revenue lost when property owners take exemptions. Rep. David Dank, R-Oklahoma City, took particular aim at the home office tax credit, which he said is granted to insurance companies based in the state that employ a certain number of workers. The home office tax credit grew from about $8.5 million in 2006 to almost $17 million in 2012, he said during a meeting of the House Tax Credits and Economic Incentive Oversight Committee. “We don’t know who these employees are. Do they really work in a home office or do they count agents and other employees?” Dank said. “There is no pre-approval. We basically take their word for it in many respects.”
Read more from the Associated Press.
Oklahoma’s workforce in one chart
Last week we showed you the composition of Oklahoma’s economy by industry contributions to state domestic product. Here’s what Oklahoma’s economy looks like when you break it down by non-farm employment in major industry sectors. This 2011 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Services only reflects Oklahoma’s non-farm payroll, and only accounts for direct employment. Practically speaking, some of these industries are intertwined. Manufacturing and mining, for example. While only 3.3 percent of Oklahoma’s workforce is employed by mining — which, in Oklahoma, is synonymous with oil and natural gas — that industry has significant ties to manufacturing.
Read more from StateImpact Oklahoma.
Quote of the Day
What is the judge doing here? Is the judge trying to pursue a fair and just result or is it the responsibility of the judge to promote the special interest agenda of, in this case, businesses?
–Former Oklahoma Supreme Court justice Daniel Boudreau, on The State Chamber’s scores for Oklahoma judges based on how often they rule to reduce the legal liability of businesses.
Number of the Day
5
The number of states who have gained back all the jobs lost during the Great Recession – Louisiana, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas
Source: Joint Economic Committee
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
The Marijuana Rebellion
By the time the 21st Amendment ended national alcohol prohibition in December 1933, more than a dozen states had already opted out. Maryland never passed its own version of the Volstead Act, while New York repealed its alcohol prohibition law in 1923. Eleven other states eliminated their statutes by referendum in November 1932. We could see the beginning of a similar rebellion against marijuana prohibition this year as voters in three states—Washington, Colorado, and Oregon—decide whether to legalize the drug’s production and sale for recreational use. If any of these ballot initiatives pass, it might be the most consequential election result this fall, forcing both major parties to confront an unjust, irrational policy that Americans increasingly oppose. With six weeks to go before Election Day, Oregon’s Measure 80, which would establish a commission charged with licensing growers and selling marijuana through state-run stores, seems to be in trouble. But the other two initiatives are polling strongly.
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