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Today you should know that top state leaders announced a standstill state budget Monday with no new funding for public schools. Tulsa students, parents, and school officials expressed anger at the news amid continuing cuts to school programs. OK Policy released a statement that the budget deal means we will fall further behind.
Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett and the City Council held a press conference to to call for more education funding. House Republican support for the income tax cut proposal continued to lose ground as members learned the plan would have an especially adverse effect on middle-class Oklahomans with two or more children. The Oklahoman writes that the benefit of the tax cut plan is difficult to find. The OK Policy Blog discussed how the bill’s flawed trigger mechanism could lead to a tax cut even if revenues are falling.
Tulsa County voters will likely be asked to approve a roughly $340 million sales tax increase to benefit American Airlines and airport industrial businesses. A bill that opponents said would have allowed insurance companies to sell policies without providing required coverage for such procedures as mammograms has died in conference committee. OK Policy previously raised the alarm about this bill.
The state House narrowly approved a measure to continue allowing state employee United Way contributions, after a push to end them because some employees were contributing to Planned Parenthood. At least eight people were shot last night in Bricktown shortly after the Thunder game let out. One patient was critical late Monday, and the other seven were “stable.” Two suspected shooters are in custody.
In today’s Policy Note, Economix maps out when states are expected to return to their peak prerecession employment levels. The Number of the Day is the percentage of the tax cut being considered in the legislature (HB 3061) that will go to the top 4% of households.
In The News
Legislative leaders announce a standstill budget, with no new funding for public schools
Top state leaders announced a standstill state budget Monday with no new funding for public schools. The $6.8 million budget is 3.13 percent higher than last year’s budget, but when the cost of financing a road bond issue that was included in last year’s spending plan is taken out, the increase is only 0.32 percent. While public school funding won’t increase next year, the budget includes $52.4 million to fund teacher flexible health care benefits and merit bonuses for teachers who achieve national board certification – areas that required supplemental appropriations this year. The biggest single budget hike is a $50 million increase for the Department of Human Services, including funding for the first year of court-ordered improvements for children in state care. The budget does not include funding for state bond issues, but legislative committees are planning to take up three bond deals Tuesday afternoon: $200 million for repairs to the state Capitol complex, $40 million for the Native American Cultural Center in Oklahoma City and $20 million for a popular culture museum in downtown Tulsa, said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Earl Sears, R-Bartlesville.
Read more from The Tulsa World.
See also: Tulsa students, parents, and school officials angered at state funding deal for schools from The Tulsa World; STATEMENT: Budget leaves Oklahoma further behind from the OK Policy Blog
Tulsa mayor, councilors press for additional education funding
Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett and the City Council are joining the fight for restored state funding to public schools. At a Monday morning press conference, Bartlett and City Council Chairman G.T. Bynum signed a resolution seeking more education funding from the state for the 2012-13 academic year. The resolution was recently adopted by a unanimous vote of the City Council. Tulsa Metro Chamber officials also attended the press conference in support of the council resolution. Tulsa Superintendent Keith Ballard, as well as Kirby Lehman and Cathy Burden from the Jenks and Union school districts, thanked city leaders for their support. Ballard explained that after several years of dramatic state funding reductions, flat funding from the state for 2012-13 will result in further cuts because schools face increased costs of doing business every year.
Read more from The Tulsa World.
Support for proposed tax cut slips among House Republicans
House Republican support for a proposed personal income tax-cutting measure continued to lose ground Monday as members learned the plan — which would result in an increased tax burden for 24 percent of state taxpayers — would have an especially adverse effect on middle-class Oklahomans with two or more children. Details emerged Monday that married couples with four children who itemize with a federal adjusted gross income of $70,000 to $80,000 would see a tax increase of about $200, according to estimates prepared by the Oklahoma Tax Commission. Married couples with two children who itemize with an income of $70,000 to $80,000 would see a tax increase of about $100. At least 40 percent of those with a federal adjusted gross income between $8,000 and $25,999 would have an increased tax burden next year under the proposed plan. Estimates show 400,000 of the state’s 1.6 million personal income tax filers would see a tax increase.
See also: For some Oklahomans, benefit of tax cut plan is difficult to find from NewsOK
Flawed trigger proposal could create serious unintended problems
In addition to an immediate cut in the top income tax rate from 5.25 to 4.8 percent, the tax plan agreed to last week by Governor Fallin and legislative leaders includes an automatic future tax cut tied tied to revenue growth. This would result in an estimated revenue loss of $170 million. Previously we argued that triggers are bad policy. These kinds of concerns led a bipartisan group of 30 prominent business and civic leaders to urge the rejection of triggers. Regardless of the problems with triggers in principle, the specific trigger mechanism in the tax bill, HB 3061, is particularly flawed. The bill states that in December 2014, which is mid-way through FY 2015, the Board of Equalization will determine if FY 2014 revenues from the five identified taxes rose by 5 percent from FY 2013. If so, the income tax rate reduction will take effect on January 1, 2015. The Legislature has no involvement in authorizing or approving the cut. The problem with this approach is that it could lead to automatic tax cuts that will take effect even if the economy is faltering and revenue collections are beginning to fall. What if Oklahoma enters an economic downturn in June or September 2014?
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
Tulsa County may vote on sales tax to support airport businesses
Tulsa County voters likely will be asked on the Nov. 6 ballot to approve a roughly $340 million tax package to benefit American Airlines and airport industrial businesses, multiple sources said Monday. The total for what is now being called “Vision For Jobs” includes $260 million for airport-related infrastructure improvements and $80 million for a “deal-closing fund” that would be governed by an authority and doled out as business incentives, according to sources. Elected officials are still debating the funding mechanism. One option is to ask voters to approve a four-tenths-of a-cent tax increase for about seven years. It would basically amount to the Vision 2025 share approved by voters in 2003 to lure Boeing, but since Boeing never came, the tax was never collected. That would push the city’s tax rate to nearly 9 cents on the dollar. Another option is an early renewal of the Tulsa County Vision 2025 tax, extending it years beyond its 2017 expiration date so there’s no increase to the actual tax rate.
Read more from The Tulsa World.
House panel does not advance measure that would end insurance mandates
A bill that opponents said would have allowed insurance companies to sell policies without providing required coverage for such procedures as mammograms appears dead this year. Senate Bill 1059 received only three votes to advance from members of the House Conference Committee on Insurance and Economic Development. It needed six affirmative votes to advance. “This bill won’t be heard again,” said Rep. Randy McDaniel, R-Oklahoma City, committee chairman. SB 1059 would have allowed Oklahoma to enter compacts with other states that allow the sale of insurance products across state lines. Under the measure, out-of-state insurers would not have been required to offer state-mandated health benefits except for coverage for the treatment of diabetes. Rep. Lewis Moore, House author of SB 1059, said he plans to file a similar measure next year.
Previously: Legislature poised to limit access to mammograms, prostate screenings, immunizations & more from the OK Policy Blog
House narrowly approves measure to continue allowing state employee United Way contributions
The state House approved a measure that would continue the life of an oversight committee that handles state employee United Way contributions, despite arguments that it was a way of using state tax money to fund abortion. On a 52-34 vote — only two more than is necessary to pass a bill — the House approved final legislative language on House Bill 2714. Previously, the House had approved a bill to do away with the Oversight Committee for State Employee Charitable Contributions, which facilitates state employee United Way contributions, but HB 2714 would ensure its future. About $613,000 a year is sent to charitable groups through the state employees’ voluntary contributions every year, he said. Last year, state employees sent $2,900 to Planned Parenthood through the program.
Read more from The Tulsa World.
At least eight people shot in Bricktown after Thunder game
At least eight people were shot downtown shortly after the Thunder game let out Monday night, police said. About 11:35 p.m., shots were reportedly fired on Reno Avenue between Mickey Mantle Drive and Joe Carter Avenue, about three blocks east of Chesapeake Energy Arena. “Preliminary reports indicate that eight people were shot and one person suffered blunt trauma, and that person was a pregnant woman,” Oklahoma City police Capt. Dexter Nelson said. One person was shot in the back, another in the upper arm and a third in the hand, according to police radio traffic. The pregnant woman is thought to have been kicked in the melee, Nelson said. While one patient was critical late Monday, the other seven were “stable”, said Emergency Medical Services Authority spokeswoman Lara O’Leary. Two suspected shooters were in custody at the Harkins Bricktown Cinemas before midnight, Oklahoma City police Capt. Lisa Camacho said.
Quote of the Day
Some Oklahomans looking for the benefit of an income tax cut proposal might need more than glasses. Perhaps a microscope.
–The Oklahoman Editorial Board
Number of the Day
40%
The percentage of the tax cut being considered in the legislature (HB 3061) that will go to the top 4% of households.
Source: Oklahoma Tax Commission
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
How fast will states recover peak employment?
A new analysis by the forecasting firm IHS Global Insight shows which states have returned to their peak prerecession employment levels (Alaska, Texas, Louisiana, North Dakota) and offers a forecast of how soon the rest will do so. The optimistic report says that 16 states will regain peak employment by the end of next year, and that all but eight will do so by the end of 2015. Nevada, Michigan and Rhode Island are expected to be the laggards, not achieving peak employment until after 2017. What was the formula for success? “The states in the middle of the country have benefited from not being exposed to the housing boom and bust and also have gotten a kick from strong oil and gas demand,” said Jim Diffley, the chief regional economist at IHS.
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