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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.
A Huffington Post examination of more than 50,000 previously released emails from the Governor’s Fallin’s office, as well as record requests from multiple states and the Department of Health and Human Services, found that state officials did not once consider that if they chose not to run their own health care exchanges, their citizens would not be eligible for the tax credit subsidies. Nearly 100,000 Oklahomans could lose access to affordable health care if a Supreme Court case claiming the subsidies are only available on state exchanges succeeds. In a Tulsa World op-ed, OK Policy analyst Carly Putnam wrote that if Governor Fallin is serious about her goal of improving Oklahoma’s health, she needs to stop opposing affordable health insurance. On the OK Policy Blog, Carly discussed how Kansas is considering accepting federal funds to expand health coverage as a way to reduce the state’s budget shortfall.
The Tulsa World reported that after years of doing just about all it could to restrict voting, the Oklahoma Legislature is now trying to encourage it. Several of the proposals moving through the Legislature to encourage voter participation were recommended by OK Policy’s report on repairing Oklahoma’s broken democracy. A bill to move Oklahoma’s 2016 presidential primary back a month was laid over after running into stiff opposition in a House committee. A Senate panel on Thursday is now expected to take up a measure banning texting while driving.
The Senate Appropriations Committee questioned Oklahoma’s $2.9 million support for Amtrak service between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth. The Oklahoman editorial board defended the scheduled $59.7 million increase in roads funding next year that will bring Oklahoma’s annual off-the-top funding for roads to $472 million. NewsOK reported that numerous proposals from Democratic lawmakers died without getting a hearing in Republican-controlled committees, including a bill that could have produced $150 million in federal funds for Native American health care at no cost to the state.
Together Oklahoma is asking Oklahomans to contact lawmakers and ask them to halt an income tax cut scheduled for next years that is adding tens of millions to the state’s already large budget shortfall. A Together Oklahoma general meeting will be held next Thursday in Oklahoma. In the Journal Record, David Blatt encouraged Oklahomans to join the March 30 rally at the capitol in support of public education and good teachers. Tulsa World columnist Ginnie Graham wrote that if you don’t rally for education, then at least write a letter or make a call.
A review website ranked the Tulsa Union high school cafeteria fourth best out of nearly 4,000 districts across the country. The Delaware Tribe of Indians’ Tribal Council passed legislation to increase the minimum wage for the tribe’s employees to $1.25 more than the federal minimum. As earthquakes continue to surge in Oklahoma and seismologists warn of more frequent and more damaging shaking, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission is issuing new orders to companies operating wells in seismically active regions of the state. A former University of Oklahoma student captured on video leading a racist chant apologized Wednesday at a joint event with African-American community leaders.
The Number of the Day is the value of ornamental fish sold in Oklahoma in 2012. In today’s Policy Note, Mother Jones discusses how Utah has decreased the number of homeless by 72 percent—largely by finding and building apartments where they can live, permanently, with no strings attached.
In The News
Fallin emails undercut lawsuit against Obamacare
Were the six critical words of the Affordable Care Act — “an Exchange established by the State” — meant to be restrictive? Or were they merely oddly worded, and only being goosed up now to muddy the well-understood intent of the law? Over the past year, The Huffington Post has filed public record requests with multiple states and the Department of Health and Human Services to see if there was ever any discussion among federal and state officials about this very topic. In addition, HuffPost looked at more than 50,000 previously released emails from the governor’s office in Oklahoma.
Read more from the Huffington Post.
To improve Oklahoma’s health, Gov. Fallin should drop opposition to affordable health insurance
Gov. Mary Fallin has opened her second term with a bold new vision for a healthier Oklahoma, where Oklahomans aren’t at the bottom of nearly every national health ranking and where fewer lives are cut short by preventable illnesses. Yet the governor’s steadfast opposition to the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of health coverage directly contradicts that vision.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Kansas is considering expanding health coverage. Oklahoma should, too.
It’s no secret that Kansas’s budget is in crisis. Following years of tax cuts and fiscal mismanagement, the state finds itself in a $600 million budget shortfall. The state is scrambling to fill the gap, including across-the-board budget reductions and further cuts to public schools that the Kansas Supreme Court has already ruled are constitutionally underfunded.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
See also: Medicaid Expansion’s Track Record Shows It’s a Good Deal for Oklahoma from OK Policy.
Voter encouragement: Oklahoma Legislature doing about-face on election reform
After years of doing just about all it could to restrict voting, the Oklahoma Legislature is now trying to encourage it. Historically low voter turnout last year prompted lawmakers to come forward this session with dozens of election reform proposals. About a half-dozen remain in play. The proposals range from increasing the number of absentee ballots a notary public can notarize to an 80-percent reduction in the number of signatures needed for a political party to gain access to the ballot.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
See also: Repairing Oklahoma’s Broken Democracy from OK Policy.
Bill that would move Oklahoma’s presidential primary away from Super Tuesday held over in committee
A bill that could fundamentally change Oklahoma’s 2016 Republican presidential primary was laid over Wednesday after running into stiff opposition in a state House of Representatives committee. Senate Bill 233, by Rep. Brian Crain, R-Tulsa, would move the state’s presidential primaries from the first Tuesday in March — so-called “Super Tuesday” because of the number of primaries that day — to the first Tuesday in April.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Anti-texting bill to be heard Thursday
A Senate panel on Thursday is expected to take up a measure banning texting while driving. House Bill 1965 was added Wednesday to the agenda for the Senate Public Safety Committee. The panel meets at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Capitol. Commitee chairman Sen. Don Barrington, R-Lawton, originally said the measure would not get a hearing but has since changed his mind.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Lawmakers questions state support for Amtrak service to Texas
Some senators are questioning state subsidies for train services between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth. The state of Oklahoma provides a $2.9 million subsidy to Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer, and that figure is expected to rise to $3.2 million, according to the Oklahoma Department of Transportation’s budget presentation to the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Oklahoma road funding providing much benefit
During the past decade, Oklahoma’s transportation system has been provided a guaranteed and slowly increasing amount of state funding. This year’s budget shortfall has led some to suggest a portion of those funds should now be diverted to other needs. The needs of nontransportation agencies are often legitimate. Still, lawmakers should think long and hard before stalling or reversing the progress made in Oklahoma’s transportation system.
Myriad proposals by Democrats died without ever receiving a hearing
House Democrats saw a host of their proposals in the areas of health care, energy production, education, politics, insurance, and motor vehicle operations die in Republican-controlled committees this year. Those measures included proposals to exempt purchases of hearing aids from sales taxes, outright bans on texting while driving, allowing “death with dignity, imposing limits on college tuition increases, establishing barriers between oil/gas wells and nearby homes, raising the minimum wage, and a measure that would have produced perhaps $150 million in federal funds for Native American health care at no cost to the state.
Together Oklahoma Update: Spring into action!
It’s spring! There are 9 weeks left in session, and the Oklahoma state budget is in crisis. Really important decisions are being made right now about next years budget. Put in your address at http://togetherok.org/halt-the-tax-cut/ to get connected with your legislators and find sample language for a letter to them. RSVP and invite folks who care to our Together Oklahoma General Meeting on Thursday, April 2nd.
Read more from Together Oklahoma.
Prosperity Policy: A show of support
On Monday, thousands will be at the state Capitol to rally for public education. The event, organized by the Oklahoma PTA and supported by numerous education groups, is especially intended to provide a strong show of support for Oklahoma’s beleaguered teachers. These are very tough times for teachers, who feel squeezed from every direction.
Read more from the Journal Record.
Ginnie Graham: If you don’t rally for education, then at least write a letter or make a call
Don’t waste a day on Monday. Do something in the name of civic duty. Tulsa Public Schools is using its last snow day to allow teachers, staff, parents and students attend an education rally at the state Capitol. Television news anchors promoted the story with phrases like “You will need to get a babysitter” or lamenting the need to take off work. That’s a pretty cynical take on what is an important issue.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
No mystery meat here: Union’s cafeteria food wins national recognition
On any given day at Union High School, students can choose from nine places to eat. That’s more options than some colleges offer. On Wednesday, some students had their trays loaded with sesame honey chicken and sticky rice, sweet potatoes and sugar snap peas from the school’s Asian food line, Wok Works.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Delaware Tribe raising wage by $1.25 over the federal minimum
Another area tribe is upping its minimum wage. The Delaware Tribe of Indians’ Tribal Council passed legislation last week to increase the minimum hourly wage for the tribe’s employees. At the recommendation of the council’s personnel committee, all Delaware employees will now make $1.25 per hour more than the federal minimum effective immediately.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Regulators Issue Tougher Disposal Well Directives as Oklahoma’s Quake Risk Rises
As earthquakes continue to surge in Oklahoma and seismologists warn of more frequent and more damaging shaking, the state’s oil and gas regulator is issuing new orders to companies operating wells in seismically active regions of the state. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission’s new requirements, known as directives, were mailed March 18 to 92 people or companies operating 347 Arbuckle formation disposal wells in quake-prone regions of the state.
Former University of Oklahoma Student Apologizes for Racist Chant
A former University of Oklahoma student captured on video leading a racist chant apologized Wednesday, saying he was sorry for his role in the incident and ashamed that he participated. The words in the chant “were mean, hateful and racist,” said the former student, Levi Pettit, who was surrounded by African-American community leaders at the Fairview Missionary Baptist Church.
Read more from The New York Times.
Quote of the Day
“In Oklahoma and across the United States, we had this frantic, contrived debate about voter fraud. We’re finding out … that all of the arguments for the need for these laws were completely conflated and false. It was all designed to attack a problem that did not exist. I think the lawmakers of Oklahoma looked up and correctly surmised that they could march to the past with a new version of Jim Crow, or they could look to the future and the inherent intelligence and ability of the Oklahoma voter to go to the polls and cast a ballot.”
-Keith Gaddie, head of the University of Oklahoma Political Science Department, speaking about bills moving through the Legislature to encourage voter participation in Oklahoma (Source)
Number of the Day
$47,000
Value of ornamental fish sold in Oklahoma in 2012
Source: USDA.
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Room for Improvement
Clean up cities. Give the homeless a place to live. And save money too? The shockingly simple, surprisingly cost-effective solution that won over a bunch of conservatives in Utah. n the past nine years, Utah has decreased the number of homeless by 72 percent—largely by finding and building apartments where they can live, permanently, with no strings attached. It’s a program, or more accurately a philosophy, called Housing First.
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