OKPOLICY.ORG
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.
After a rocky first year, the state Workers Compensation Commission is going through a major shakeup, with the chairman resigning and a second commissioner being replaced by Gov. Fallin. A bill that gives the Legislature the authority to dramatically alter state agency rules and regulations probably won’t be heard this session. A Senate panel on Wednesday passed a measure that would prohibit cities and towns from banning drilling activities. A bill putting more reporting requirements and siting restrictions on wind farms in Oklahoma passed out of a House committee.
On the OK Policy Blog, we discussed how despit popular rhetoric about Oklahoma’s relatively low unemployment rate, the state is still 74,300 jobs short of what is needed to keep up with growth in the working-age population. A new report suggests slow economic growth is ahead for nine Midwestern and Plains states including Oklahoma. Oklahoma City’s top economic development officer said that taxpayers would have to subsidize a luxury hotel to ensure success of the $287 million MAPS 3 convention center.
David Blatt’s Journal Record column examines how after failing to repeal the income tax all at once, lawmakers are tearing it down through numerous smaller cuts and exemptions. The Tulsa World editorial board wrote that changing the Legislature’s attitude about education will take consistent, disciplined effort by activists. Several Oklahoma bills targeting LGBT residents have been set aside in the wake of backlash in Indiana. Oklahomans would have the opportunity to reassert support of executions through a proposed state constitutional amendment that advanced from a state House of Representatives committee Wednesday.
A Washington Post columnist wrote that Oklahoma is the best state to avoid election campaigns due to our very low levels of political engagement. An OK Policy report previously looked at signs that democracy is broken in Oklahoma. Gov. Mary Fallin has requested a federal disaster declaration for Tulsa and Cleveland counties after last week’s deadly tornadoes. NewsOK reported on how a handful of small privately owned railroads still play an important role in the economy of rural Oklahoma. A new poll found that nearly 60 percent of Oklahomans favor legalizing the use of marijuana for medical use. While nearby states have legalized marijuana, Oklahoma’s marijuana laws remain among the harshest in the nation.
The Number of the Day is the percentage of working Oklahoma families of color living at 200% of the federal poverty level or less (about $39,000/year for a family of three). In today’s Policy Note, ProPublica details how states across the nation have been dismantling their workers’ compensation systems, with disastrous consequences for many of the hundreds of thousands of people who suffer serious injuries at work each year.
In The News
Governor’s office replacing two of three Workers Comp commissioners
After a rocky first year, the state Workers Compensation Commission is going through a major shakeup, with the chairman resigning and a second commissioner being replaced Wednesday. Gov. Mary Fallin’s office issued a news release announcing the replacements of Chairman Troy Wilson and Commissioner Denise Engle on Wednesday, after the Tulsa World requested Wilson’s resignation letter.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
See also: The end of the ‘grand bargain’ on workers’ compensation? from the OK Policy Blog.
Bill Allowing Lawmakers to Alter Agency Rules Dies
A bill that gives the Legislature the authority to dramatically alter state agency rules and regulations probably won’t be heard this session. The measure failed to receive enough votes in the House Administrative Rules Committee. Senate Bill 308 would have allowed the Legislature to alter any ruled developed through the Administrative Procedures Act.
Read more from Oklahoma Watch.
Bill prohibiting cities from banning drilling activities passes Senate panel
A Senate panel on Wednesday passed a measure that would prohibit cities and towns from banning drilling activities. The Senate Energy Committee passed House Bill 2178 by a vote of 10-1. The legislation heads to the Senate floor. The measure comes after studies linking seismic activity to injection wells. The state has seen sharp increase in the number of earthquakes during recent years.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Oklahoma bill puts siting restrictions and reporting requirements on wind farms
A bill putting more reporting requirements and siting restrictions on wind farms in Oklahoma passed out of a House committee Tuesday. Senate Bill 808 would stop any wind turbines from being erected within 1.5 nautical miles of an airport, public school or hospital. It also would require developers to submit information to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission within six months of when they plan to begin construction on a wind farm.
Oklahoma’s (other) deficit and why it matters
As plummeting oil prices trigger layoffs in Oklahoma’s oil and gas sector, the job market is beginning to receive more scrutiny from the media, elected officials, and business leaders. Yet there was reason to be concerned about the state’s employment picture long before oil prices started to dip. We just haven’t been paying close enough attention.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
Report Says Weak Growth Ahead For Oklahoma And Region
A new report suggests slow economic growth is ahead for nine Midwestern and Plains states. The survey report issued Wednesday says the overall Mid-America Business Conditions Index dropped to 51.4 in March from 57 in February. The January figure was 54.8.
Oklahoma City council debates subsidizing luxury hotel
Oklahoma City’s top economic development officer said Tuesday that taxpayers would have to subsidize — in some form — the luxury hotel seen as a necessity to ensure success of the $287 million MAPS 3 convention center. Cathy O’Connor discussed the hotel project as the city council approved $265,000 to renew the search for a convention center site.
Prosperity Policy: Sledgehammer and chisel
Several years ago, some legislators and Gov. Mary Fallin went after Oklahoma’s income tax with a sledgehammer, pushing proposals to repeal the tax entirely over several years. That effort failed over mounting skepticism at the claim that you can eliminate the state’s largest revenue source and still pay for critical public services. Since then, opponents of a state income tax have dropped their sledgehammer in favor of a chisel.
Read more from the Journal Record.
See also: Lawmakers pushing another unproven tax break with no idea what it will cost from the OK Policy Blog.
Changing Legislature’s attitude about schools will take consistent, disciplined effort
Here’s something every good teacher knows: Repetition is a key to learning. No one intuitively knows their multiplication tables, for example. No one picks them up on one review. It takes time and consistent effort. That’s true of elementary students and legislators. If the teachers and parents who took part in Monday’s rally want to improve the performance of lawmakers, they need to keep after them.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Oklahoma lawmakers seem reluctant to face Indiana-style backlash on anti-LGBT bills
Oklahoma started the legislative session with more than a dozen proposed laws targeting gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender residents. Now the number is whittled down to three. Two of those proposals deal with the same issue — reiterating that clergy cannot be forced to marry anyone. The other bill would end the practice of marriage licenses being issued by court clerks.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Proposal for state constitutional amendment reaffirming capital punishment advances in House
Oklahomans would have the opportunity to reassert their support of capital punishment through a proposed state constitutional amendment that advanced from a state House of Representatives committee Wednesday. Proponents say Senate Joint Resolution 31, by Sen. Anthony Sykes, R-Moore, is a response to recent challenges to Oklahoma’s method of carrying out death sentences through lethal injection.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
See also: Does the death penalty cost more than it’s worth? from the OK Policy Blog.
Best state to avoid election campaigns: Oklahoma
You could be forgiven for 2016 campaign fatigue. The presidential election is more than a year and seven months away, but the starter pistol has already been fired. So, what’s a non-politico to do during election season? Here’s an idea: Escape to Oklahoma, the best state to get away from the political circus. Oklahomans consistently rank near the bottom on a variety of measures of political obsession — or engagement, depending on your perspective.
Read more from the Washington Post.
Oklahoma governor requesting disaster declaration for Tulsa, Cleveland counties
Gov. Mary Fallin has requested a federal disaster declaration for Tulsa and Cleveland counties after last week’s deadly tornadoes that ripped through two mobile home parks near Sand Springs and another tornado that raked Moore and heavily damaged an elementary school. Fallin’s office announced the request Wednesday, saying the designation would provide federal assistance to individuals and businesses in the tornado-ravaged areas.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Hauling the freight: Oklahoma’s short-line railroads keep economy rolling in rural areas
Listening to Chad Donoley talk of the A-OK Railroad you could tell that he is extremely proud of his family’s short-line railroad. Founded by his father David Donoley in 1996, with only 70 miles of track, the A-OK (Arkansas Oklahoma) Railroad now has 60 employees operating 12 locomotives covering more than 100 miles of track as it runs two lines — one from McAlester to Howe, and the other line from Shawnee to Midwest City.
Medical marijuana group says it has public’s support
Nearly 60 percent of Oklahomans favor legalizing the use of marijuana for medical use, an organization that advocates for just that said Tuesday. Oklahomans for Health cited a survey taken in February by SoonerPoll.com as it prepares to launch a new campaign to get medical marijuana on the ballot in Oklahoma.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
See also: While nearby states decriminalize, Oklahoma’s marijuana laws are among harshest in the nation from the OK Policy Blog.
Quote of the Day
“The state legislature definitely has broken down the morale of teachers, and it’s becoming such a problem that not only are they leaving the profession, there are several that you don’t hear about that think about it every day.”
– Emily Durbin, first-year Teach for America teacher at Tulsa’s Nathan Hale High School, discussing the state’s teacher shortage. (Source)
Number of the Day
57%
Percentage of working Oklahoma families of color living at 200% of the federal poverty level or less (about $39,000/year for a family of three), compared to 31% of white families
Source: The Working Poor Families Project.
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
The Fallout of Workers’ Comp ‘Reforms’: 5 Tales of Harm
An investigation by ProPublica and NPR earlier this month detailed how states across the nation have been dismantling their workers’ compensation systems, with disastrous consequences for many of the hundreds of thousands of people who suffer serious injuries at work each year.In some states, the cuts have been so drastic that injured workers have plummeted into poverty, losing their cars and even their homes. In others, workers spend years battling insurance companies for the surgeries, prescriptions and basic help their doctors recommend.
You can sign up here to receive In The Know by e-mail.
