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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 hundreds of firefighters from across the state rallied at the state Capitol to oppose changes to their pension plans and legislation that would reduce awards to injured workers. CapitolBeatOK investigated what’s behind the controversy between criminal justice reform advocates and the governor’s office. The Oklahoma Association of Chiefs of Police announced it would support the inclusion of Oklahoma’s mental health records in the federal background check database system.
The OK Policy Blog shares a personal story of what it’s like trying to live on minimum wage in Oklahoma. Oklahoma will receive a $5.5 million federal grant to spend on turnaround programs in the state’s lowest-performing schools. The board responsible for the new statewide virtual charter school met for the first time Monday morning — just months before classes are set to begin.
Oklahoma’s Ken Miller was one of several state treasurers to meet with Obama administration officials to discuss the economy. Oklahoma’s unemployment rate held steady in January at 5.1 percent, compared to 7.9 percent nationally. Scott Meacham writes that encouraging new business start-ups in Oklahoma is the most important factor for long-term economic growth.
The Number of the Day is the number of Hispanic Oklahomans living in non-urban counties, nearly a third of the population of the state’s rural/mixed-rural counties. In today’s Policy Note, The American Prospect finds that the United States stands almost alone in not guaranteeing workers paid time-off when they are sick, but momentum is building around the country to change that.
In The News
Hundreds of firefighters rally at Capitol to protest pension and workers comp changes
Hundreds of firefighters from across the state converged Monday on the state Capitol to oppose changes to their pension plans and legislation that would reduce awards to injured workers. “They are really getting crazy on the workers compensation bill,” said Joe Hamby of Broken Arrow, a retired captain who spent 34 years with the Tulsa Fire Department. He said workers injured on the job already have a tough time getting by. “They are getting ready to make it a lot worse,” Hamby said. The measure would cut death benefits to spouses and children, according to attorney Bob Burke, who represents injured workers and is a former state commerce secretary.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Oklahoma prison plan at center of controversy between reform advocates and Governor’s staff
Advocates of the historic criminal justice system reforms approved in 2012, widely known as the “justice reinvestment” initiative (JRI), are reeling over a variety of changes in the program – and over the resignation of JRI author Kris Steele, former speaker of the state House, from the inter-agency and private sector working group that was overseeing implementation. Gov. Mary Fallin‘s legal counsel, Steve Mullins, has guided major shifts in administration and oversight in recent weeks, effectively gutting the infrastructure that led implementation until mid-February. Corrections officials said only a handful of parole violators were in the agency’s pipeline for intermediate sanctions (short of a return to full-fledged imprisonment) for what were described as technical rather than substantive or deliberate parole violations.
Oklahoma police chiefs endorse mental health checks for gun buyers
A federal database that tracks people prohibited from buying a firearm may soon include the names of Oklahomans with certain mental health issues. A bill that would require the state’s county court clerks to submit to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System the names of those adjudicated mentally incompetent has passed the House and is awaiting Senate approval. Monday, the Oklahoma Association of Chiefs of Police announced it also would support the inclusion of the state’s mental health records in the federal background check database system.
She works hard for the money (Guest Post: Camille Landry)
Darcy Johnson is 31 years old. She has an 11-year-old son and is raising her 10-year-old nephew. Darcy spent a couple of semesters at a community college. Then she found out she was pregnant. The baby’s father promised to stick by her and help raise the child. “That didn’t pan out so well,” Darcy said. “After about a year, he just left.” She worked full time and attended classes throughout her pregnancy but quit school after her son was born. ”My son was in daycare but when I was called in to work a later shift, I’d have to leave him with my mom or my sister because the daycare closed at 6.” She stopped attending classes.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
Oklahoma will receive more federal funds to improve schools
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Monday that Oklahoma will receive additional federal funds this year through the School Improvement Grant program. Four states will receive new funding, Duncan announced Monday. Six states, including Oklahoma, received continuing funding for programs that already are running. Oklahoma will receive $5.5 million to spend on turnaround programs in the state’s lowest-performing schools. That brings the total of School Improvement Grant funding in the state to $50 million, most of which has been distributed to the state’s two largest districts.
Oklahoma’s statewide virtual charter school board begins work
The board responsible for the new statewide virtual charter school met for the first time Monday morning — just months before classes are set to begin. After being hung up by a legal challenge, the school board has a chance to hear for the first time about all the decisions it will be making in the coming weeks. The school board should submit its charter school application to its sponsoring board — the state Board of Education — by the end of April, said Kim Richey, general counsel for the state Education Department. Contractors that will provide classes need to be found immediately if school is to start in the fall, she said.
Oklahoma state Treasurer in economy talks with White House
Oklahoma’s Ken Miller was one of several state treasurers to meet with Obama administration officials Monday to discuss the economy. Miller is a member of the executive committee of the National Association of State Treasurers. The treasurers met with White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and the president’s economic team, including the Council of Economic Advisors, the National Economic Council and senior officials from the U.S. Treasury Department and Office of Management and Budget.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Oklahoma jobless rate holds steady
Oklahoma’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate held steady in January at 5.1 percent, compared to 7.9 percent nationally, according to jobs data released Monday. However, job growth in the state shrank slightly for the month. Seasonally adjusted unemployment for the state fell slightly in January, shedding 760 unemployed Oklahomans, a 0.8 percent decrease for the month, according to data released Monday by the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission. For the year, seasonally adjusted unemployment fell by 5,290 or 5.4 percent.
Scott Meacham: Entrepreneurs set deep roots with location of home office
The holy grail of all economic development activity is the home office. Company headquarters have the decision-makers who control budgets and make the bigger salaries. These locations tend to have the higher paying managerial and functional jobs in engineering, product design and business development. Think about where home offices are. They usually end up where the company was started — Microsoft in Washington; Walmart in Arkansas, and Pixar Animation in California. It’s difficult, costly and seldom successful to convince a company to move its headquarters to another state; that’s why where a company first puts down roots is so important.
Quote of the Day
I think, for people who have paid sick days, who tend to be the opinion makers and voters, there’s a feeling that having low-income workers unable to take time off to care for themselves doesn’t seem right.
-Sherry Leiwant, co-founder and co-president of A Better Balance, a group that advocates for guaranteed paid sick days and family leave.
Number of the Day
19,244
Number of Hispanic Oklahomans living in non-urban counties, nearly a third of the population of the state’s rural/mixed-rural counties (64,958) in 2011
Source: Rural Family Economic Success Action Network
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Forty years behind on sick-leave policy, but catching up
It’s too late for Tonisha Howard, the mother of three in Milwaukee who was fired for leaving work to be with her hospitalized two-year-old. And for Felix Trinidad, who was so afraid of losing his job at Golden Farm fruit store in Brooklyn that he didn’t take time off to go to the doctor—even after he vomited blood. Trinidad, a father of two who had stomach cancer, continued to work until just days before his death at age 34. But for workers in Portland and perhaps Philadelphia, paid sick days just got much closer to becoming reality. Part of the reason for the recent successes may be that the earliest paid-sick-days laws—starting with San Francisco’s, which went into effect in 2007—have now been in place long enough for people to feel their effects. And there haven’t been very many negative ones.
Read more from The American Prospect.
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History is repeating itself all over the mid-west. Look at Scott Walker, Michigan and other ALEC controlled ststes. All this is a plan Coup of the whole country. They have the money and time to get it done. Now look at history. Benito Mussolini took over the same way. First the same towns, the citys, the county’s in a few years he alone with the Fascist marched into Rome Italy and took controll of the whole country; Hitler even stated he used Mussolinis plan to take over Germany. Now for the big sory. In 1934 a group of Wall Street bankers, Corporate leaders with advise from Italy and Germany, layed out plans to have a Coup in the USA. Like Hitler and Mussolini they hated unions, labor laws protecting workers, social programs like SNAP and SSI. It was later called the “Business Plot” in the media. Just thank God a retired Marine General and J Edger Hoover on top of the plot. We came close to losing our Democracy and becoming a Fascist State.