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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 a plan by Governor Fallin’s office to provide health coverage to 200,000 uninsured, working-class Oklahomans without expanding Medicaid likely won’t materialize before this year’s legislative session ends, and it still isn’t clear how any plan might work. Following large income tax cuts, Kansas is burning through its reserves and faces a $545M shortfall in 2015 if they do not increase taxes.
The Oklahoman editorial board writes that Oklahoma needs to significantly increase its investment in mental health treatment. The Oklahoman also wrote that it is time for a conversation to solve Oklahoma City’s transit shortcomings. Politico reports that Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas is resisting a move to impose work requirements for food stamps at the federal level, even as state lawmakers push for them in Oklahoma.
Aubrey McClendon is receiving a severance package from Chesapeake Energy worth about $35 million, including $11.1 million in cash paid out through July 2014 and access to up to $1 million worth of flights on a Chesapeake jet through 2016. The Texas plant that was the scene of a deadly explosion this week was last inspected by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 1985. House Majority Leader Dennis Johnson, R-Duncan, apologized on the House floor for making an ethnic slur against Jews.
The Number of the Day is the percentage of children in poverty in Oklahoma who are not enrolled in the state’s TANF or ‘welfare’ program. In today’s Policy Note, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explains why most of the people who would benefit from expanding Medicaid are working for low wages and still cannot obtain health coverage.
In The News
No plan this year for uninsured Oklahomans left out by refusal to accept Medicaid funds
A plan to provide health coverage to 200,000 uninsured, working-class Oklahomans without expanding Medicaid likely won’t materialize before this year’s legislative session ends, and it still isn’t clear how any plan might work. Gov. Mary Fallin and the Oklahoma Health Care Authority have been seeking ways to extend health coverage to those Oklahomans since shortly after Fallin rejected the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion last November. The OHCA approved a $500,000 contract with Utah-based Leavitt Partners to look into the matter in January, hoping a plan could be constructed before the legislative session ends in May. Authority spokeswoman Sasha Bradley told The Associated Press on Friday the company’s final report isn’t expected until late June, however, with only preliminary reports available before state legislators return home for the summer, dashing hopes of giving a proposal to the governor this year.
Read more from the Enid News and Eagle.
Lack of tax policy puts Kansas’ reserves at risk
If lawmakers walk away this year without an agreement to bring new revenue into the state by extending a temporary sales tax hike and cutting the value of popular tax deductions, the state could quickly fall into deep financial trouble, according to an analysis of new budget projections. An estimate by Gov. Sam Brownback’s budget division shows that Kansas would burn through all its reserves and have to cut $64 million in 2014 if no tax policy changes are approved. That would balloon to $545 million in cuts in 2015, the figures show. New state tax revenue estimates released Friday show the tax cuts Brownback signed into law last year will lead to sharp declines in income, which is the primary reason lawmakers are considering 2 percent to 4 percent cuts to higher education, reduced funding for aviation training and less money for the state’s courts system. Even with those cuts, the state could face a gap between anticipated revenue and spending in coming years.
Read more here from the Wichita Eagle.
Oklahoma can’t continue to roll the dice on mental health
Terri White uses the following analogy to illustrate how Oklahoma deals with people who need help for substance abuse or mental health problems: A person goes to the emergency room with chest pains and the doctor finds that the heart is 20 percent damaged. But instead of repairing the problem, the doctor tells the patient to return when the heart has worsened because limited resources dictate that only those with really bad hearts can be treated. As head of the state agency charged with providing resources to combat Oklahoma’s mental health and substance abuse issues, that’s a frustrating reality, one she has worked six years to improve. The good news is that improvements have been made. The agency’s Smart on Crime initiative, which provides treatment instead of incarceration for nonviolent offenders with mental illness or addictions, has been a success during its two years in place. At Gov. Mary Fallin’s urging, it got $3 million each of those years. That’s a far cry from the $100 million per year needed to really make a difference — not just in treatment, but in savings that would be realized on the back end — but White will take what she can get.
Time for a conversation to solve OKC’s transit shortcomings
Designing a better bus system for Oklahoma City is as tricky as solving a Rubik’s Cube. Perhaps some transit geniuses are out there who can do it, but most of us would give up after a few tries. A key problem is the grid system. Blame it on the Land Ordinance of 1785, which divided lands west of the Mississippi River into 6-mile-square townships. The 36 square miles in a township were separated on maps by section lines, which became section roads. As Oklahoma City grew, the section roads became major arterial streets such as NW 23 running east-west and May Avenue running north-south. It’s a clean system but a nightmare for transit planners.
New debate over working poor
“Where are the jobs?” Speaker John Boehner likes to ask. But do his fellow House Republicans really want to kick the unemployed off food stamps if they can’t find the jobs either? That’s the question behind a simmering farm bill battle over reimposing work requirements on millions of able-bodied adults enrolled in the nutrition program. Most have no reported earnings, and without added job training or workfare slots, the change could spell real hardship in today’s economy. For this reason, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) is resisting the move. But back home, the Oklahoma state Legislature recently took steps to reinstate work requirements. And the office of Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) has repeatedly raised the issue with Lucas as a way to win conservative votes for his farm bill, now slated for markup May 15.
See also: Poor judgement: Bills aimed at low-income Oklahomans move through state legislature from the OK Policy Blog.
Filing outlines details of Aubrey McClendon’s separation agreement with Chesapeake
Aubrey McClendon has left Chesapeake Energy Corp., but he’s keeping access to a private jet and will face fewer hurdles in his return to the oil and natural gas business, according to a separation agreement filed Friday.The Chesapeake co-founder also will receive a severance package worth about $35 million, including $11.1 million in cash paid out through July 2014. As part of the separation agreement, McClendon will have access to up to $1 million worth of flights on a Chesapeake jet through 2016.
Texas explosion seen as sign of weak U.S. oversight
The Texas plant that was the scene of a deadly explosion this week was last inspected by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 1985. The risk plan it filed with regulators listed no flammable chemicals. And it was cleared to hold many times the ammonium nitrate that was used in the Oklahoma City bombing. For worker- and chemical-safety advocates who have been pushing the U.S. government to crack down on facilities that make or store large quantities of hazardous chemicals, the blast in West, Texas, was a grim reminder of the risks these plants pose. And they say regulators haven’t done enough to tackle the problem.
Oklahoma lawmaker apologizes on House floor for ethnic slur
Rep. Dennis Johnson, who made an ethnic slur about Jews during floor debate earlier this week, went Thursday to the front of the House of Representatives chamber to apologize. “What I said was wrong,” said Johnson, R-Duncan. “What I said was hurtful to many good and decent people. My words were careless. They were unintentional and do not indicate what was in my heart.” Johnson made his apology shortly after the House Democratic caucus issued a statement apologizing to the Oklahoma Jewish community and the National Jewish Democratic Council sent out a release.
Quote of the Day
It’s easy to conclude that the difficulties of taking the bus are someone else’s problem. Yet we expect able-bodied people to work even if they can’t drive or can’t afford a car. Big league cities need public transit.
Number of the Day
92 percent
Percentage of children in poverty in Oklahoma who are not enrolled in the state’s TANF or ‘welfare’ program
Source: Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Want more low-income workers to have health coverage? Expand Medicaid.
Some opponents of health reform’s Medicaid expansion argue that the low-income adults who will qualify for the program are “able-bodied” adults who should be working and getting coverage on their own. But, as our recent fact sheet explains, most of these people are working or live in working families — yet they don’t generally have the same coverage options as the rest of the population: 60 percent of adults earning less than 138 percent of the poverty line (the Medicaid limit for any state that adopts the expansion) are working or are in families with full- or part-time workers. In dollar terms, 138 percent of the poverty line this year is roughly $16,000 a year for an individual and $27,000 for a family of three.
Read more from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
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