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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. E-mail your suggestions for In The Know items to gperry@okpolicy.org. You can sign up here to receive In The Know by e-mail.
Today you should know that legislative leaders postponed consideration of a health insurance exchange bill until after the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the Affordable Care Act. Former State Superintendent Sandy Garret responded to a report that implicates the Oklahoma Department of Education in the misuse of funds. SB 1571, a bill to phase out the state income tax, was held up in the Senate for failure to provide a fiscal impact statement but will likely be heard again next week.
The House approved a bill to put two more agencies under the authority of the Office of State Finance. A letter to the editor of the Edmond Sun rejected tax cuts for the top income bracket at the expense of the poor and the elderly. A bill to improve employment opportunities for active duty military members and their spouses during and after a deployment was approved unanimously by the state Senate.
An Oklahoman editorial pressed lawmakers to pay attention to the consequences of underfunding treatment for mental illness. A decades-old network of education centers that has worked to increase the supply of primary care providers in Oklahoma’s rural and underserved communities will close because of inadequate funding.
In today’s Policy Note, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights released new data revealing that minority students face harsher and disproportionate discipline in schools, including more suspensions, expulsions, and referrals to the police. The Number of the Day is the number of Oklahoma College Savings Plan accounts that have been opened since the program’s inception.
In The News
Oklahoma’s GOP lawmakers abandon plan for state health insurance exchange
Faced with political realities, Republican legislative leaders dropped a plan for a state health insurance exchange Thursday. The news was greeted by the most strident opponents of the federal Affordable Care Act as the death of the Oklahoma face of “Obamacare,” but a leading Democrat said it abandons all hope that the state can shape its own future on the issue. In a press release, backers of Senate Bill 1629 announced that they would put off consideration of the legislation until after the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of the federal health-care law.
Read more from the Tulsa World at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20120309_16_A1_CUTLIN528957
Former State Superintendent Responds To Education Audit
Former State Superintendent Sandy Garret responded today to the investigation that implicates the Oklahoma Department of Education’s misuse of funds. State Superintendent Janet Barresi asked the state auditor to investigate irregular travel claims, which resulted in a larger investigation. The findings implicate Garrett in misusing $2.3 million of state funds. Garrett says the funds were private funds and adamantly denies claims of wrongdoing. “There was not a dime that was spent that was not audited,” Garrett said.
Read more from News9 at http://www.news9.com/story/17115919/former-state-superintendent-responds-to-education-audit
Adelson slows anti-income tax bill
A bill that would phase out the state income tax hit a speed bump in the Senate on Thursday. Sen. Clark Jolley, R-Edmond, laid the bill over for consideration later after Sen. Tom Adelson, D-Tulsa, said its failure to provide a fiscal impact statement violated Senate rules. Jolley, the Senate Appropriations Committee’s chairman, is the author of the measure, which is expected to be taken up again next week, possibly on Monday. Senate Bill 1571 would gradually reduce the income tax rate, now at 5.25 percent. The rate would drop to 2.5 percent in tax year 2013, with further reductions until it is reduced to zero in 2022.
Read more from the Tulsa World at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=336&articleid=20120309_16_A8_CUTLIN331155
Oklahoma House approves measure to add two more agencies to state finance office
The House approved a measure Thursday to add two more agencies to the state finance office, despite concerns the consolidation will create a “gorilla” agency. The House of Representatives voted 60-32 on a mostly partisan line to pass House Bill 3053; only two of the 68 Republicans voted against it. The bill now goes to the Senate. HB 3053 would consolidate the Merit Protection Commission and state bond adviser office into the state finance office. The state finance office would be renamed the Office of Management and Enterprise Services.
Read more from NewsOK at http://newsok.com/oklahoma-house-approves-measure-to-add-two-more-agencies-to-state-finance-office/article/3655909#ixzz1od8V583a
LETTER: Income tax plan may hurt low-income families
In case you haven’t heard, the governor and many in the Oklahoma Legislature want to phase out the state income tax during a 10-year period. Oklahoma is already suffering from a lack of revenue to fund important and necessary programs. It just does not make sense to do away with state taxes, when now more than ever we need a steady revenue stream to make our state a great place to live. It seems that some in our state just want to be able to say that we do not have a state income tax here in Oklahoma. I guess that makes for a nice sound bite or slogan, but I’d rather have a sound revenue source for our state, which will do a lot more than a sound bite to make Oklahoma great.
Read more from the Edmond Sun at http://www.edmondsun.com/opinion/x426434839/LETTER-Income-tax-plan-may-hurt-low-income-families
Post-military jobs bill heads to House
Many military veterans struggle to find work after retirement and their spouses sometimes have a hard time finding a job after a base transfer, but legislation that was approved unanimously Wednesday in the Senate could make their search much easier. Senate Bill 1863, by retired Army Lt. Colonel Sen. Steve Russell, creates the Post-Military Service Occupation, Education and Credentialing Act. “Many military men and women have applicable military education, training, and experience which could qualify for an occupational license or certification, or which could provide academic credit toward college, university or technical degree requirements, but most employers won’t acknowledge this type of alternative education or training,” said Russell, R-Oklahoma City.
Read more from the Shawnee News Star at http://www.news-star.com/newsnow/x1957361501/Post-military-jobs-bill-heads-to-House
More mental health beds needed in Oklahoma
What’s to be done when there’s no room in the inn? For a law enforcement officer summoned to transport someone with a mental health crisis to the nearest stabilization center, there’s only one viable option. Find another inn. The nature of these emergencies makes advance reservations and waiting lists impossible. But the shortage of mental health beds creates an unfavorable chain reaction. “When we have to transport these patients halfway across the state, it takes at least two officers off the streets,” said Bixby Police Chief Ike Shirley. “Anything we can do to get more of these mental health beds in communities statewide is going to help law enforcement immensely.”
Read more from NewsOK at http://newsok.com/more-mental-health-beds-needed-in-oklahoma/article/3655773#ixzz1oczEBrFz
Dismantling the rural health workforce pipeline
For the past 27 years, a statewide network of Area Health Education Centers (OKAHEC) has worked to increase the supply of primary care providers and improve access to health care in Oklahoma’s rural and underserved communities. Now this program is going away, another victim of the state fiscal crisis and of our failure to provide adequate funding of services that help make us a healthier, better educated, and more prosperous state.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog at https://okpolicy.org/dismantling-the-rural-health-workforce-pipeline/
Quote of the Day
I guess that makes for a nice sound bite or slogan, but I’d rather have a sound revenue source for our state, which will do a lot more than a sound bite to make Oklahoma great.
Mark Lash, to the editor of the Edmond Sun protesting a plan to eliminate the state’s income tax
Number of the Day
46,000
Number of Oklahoma College Savings Plan accounts that have been opened since the program’s inception in April 2000
Source: Oklahoma Economic Report
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Black Students Face More Discipline, Data Suggests
Black students, especially boys, face much harsher discipline in public schools than other students, according to new data from the Department of Education. Although black students made up only 18 percent of those enrolled in the schools sampled, they accounted for 35 percent of those suspended once, 46 percent of those suspended more than once and 39 percent of all expulsions, according to the Civil Rights Data Collection’s 2009-10 statistics from 72,000 schools in 7,000 districts, serving about 85 percent of the nation’s students.
Read more from the New York Times at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/06/education/black-students-face-more-harsh-discipline-data-shows.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail0=y
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