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.
Today you should know that House Speaker T.W. Shannon and Governor Fallin were the top recipients of nearly $200,000 in campaign dollars and gifts given by the private prison industry since 2004. Governor Fallin asked the legislator to transform Insure Oklahoma into a smaller program using $50 million additional state-only dollars to avoid making changes requested by the federal government. Oklahoma Policy Institute released a statement that the governor’s proposal sacrifices taxpayers and the uninsured.
The Athens Banner-Herald has a Q&A with an administrator for the federally-run insurance exchange for Oklahoma, which will be operated out of Dallas. Oklahoma GOP legislative leaders are split on several issues they intend to take on in the final week of session: an override Gov. Fallin’s veto of a pension bill, common core standards, and funding for the American Indian Cultural Center and Tulsa Pop Museum. The Comanche schools superintendent writes that state budget cuts are pushing educators into early retirement. The okeducationtruths blog has an in-depth look at this year’s education budget.
State Superintendent Janet Barresi denied any involvement in the hiring of a testing company whose technical problems disrupted online tests for more than 9,000 students last month. The State Department of Education is investigating Jenks Public Schools to see if its parent-led movement to opt students out of tests was instigated or encouraged by district employees. The Tulsa City-County Library has cut more than $800,000 from its proposed operating budget due to the SQ 766 property tax cuts for large corporations.
Despite calls by several Oklahoma legislators to address hundreds of millions of dollars in state tax credits and exemptions for businesses and industries, little has been done as another session approaches its end. The conservative blogger OK Politechs writes that Governor Fallin, Speaker T.W. Shannon and others are making highly misleading claims about the recently passed income tax cuts. The Number of the Day is the percentage drop in the number of natural gas rigs drilling in Oklahoma over the past year. In today’s Policy Note, a University of Illinois law professor writes in the New York Times that the IRS scandal around Tea Party groups shows why we should eliminate 501(c)(4)s.
In The News
Lawmakers benefit from private prison donations
From a meal valued at $3.87 for one lawmaker to $22,500 toward T.W. Shannon’s Speaker’s Ball, private prison and halfway house influence has become well entrenched at the state Capitol. As the state’s prison population has climbed, so has spending on private prisons, which was nearly $73 million last fiscal year, up from slightly more than $57 million in fiscal year 2004. House Speaker T.W. Shannon, R-Lawton, is the top recipient of private prison-linked dollars. Shannon has received $34,950. Gov. Mary Fallin ranks No. 2 in private prison dollars. Private prison interests, which include employees, political action committees and lobbyists employed by the companies, have donated $33,608 to her campaigns.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Gov. Fallin calls for using state-only funds for Insure Oklahoma
Gov. Mary Fallin proposed a last-minute legislative change on Friday to the state’s Insure Oklahoma program that would direct $50 million in state tobacco taxes to pay for more than 9,000 people who are expected to lose their health insurance under the program. Insure Oklahoma currently uses federal Medicaid funding, state tobacco tax revenue and payments from workers and employers to provide health insurance to about 30,000 low-income Oklahomans, but the federal government notified Oklahoma last week that the program must change in order to qualify for federal funding. The program is expected to lose its federal funding on Dec. 31. Fallin released a statement Friday urging lawmakers to redirect the $50 million so Insure Oklahoma could continue to operate as a “smaller, more targeted program run with state dollars only.”
See also: Governor’s proposal for Insure Oklahoma sacrifices taxpayers and uninsured from Oklahoma Policy Institute
Q&A with Affordable Care Act insurance exchange expert
Oct. 1 is a big milestone for the Affordable Care Act. That’s when open enrollment begins for the “marketplaces,” the insurance exchanges where individuals and small businesses will get health coverage under the 2010 law. Renard Murray is well aware of the upcoming calendar. Murray is the regional administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in both the Atlanta and Dallas, Texas, regions. He will be in charge of the federally-run insurance marketplace in Georgia and six other states in the Southeast. And Murray, who hails from Louisiana, will be working with the exchanges in the Dallas region, which consists of Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma.
Read more from the Athens Banner-Herald.
Raucous week expected at Oklahoma’s state Capitol
A triumphant ending to this year’s session may transform into a final week of shenanigans, last-minute deals and reopening sore wounds. Instead of basking in their accomplishments, GOP legislative leaders are split on several issues they intend to take on this week: • Whether to attempt a veto override on a House measure concerning state pension plans; • Whether to eliminate common core curriculum standards legislators approved three years ago for public schools; • How to deal with two measures calling for providing money to two state museums.
State budget cuts push educators into early retirement
Oklahoma has made some of the deepest cuts in the nation in education funding in recent years, third only to Arizona and Alabama. According to the Oklahoma Policy Institute, “Over the last five years, the state has cut per-pupil education aid for primary and secondary schools by 20 percent, or $706 per student.” At Comanche Public Schools, those cuts translate to $770,000. Historically, Oklahoma is at or near the bottom in the nation in funding for schools and salaries for teachers. Cuts from those already low levels are impossible to absorb without negatively impacting students.
Read more from the Duncan Banner.
In-depth look at the education budget
As we approach the end of the legislative session this week, it is worth taking one last look at the $74 million being added to the education budget. From FY09 to FY14, the funding formula specifically has lost over $198 million. Restoring this amount would fund roughly 3,366 teaching positions. Unfortunately, even if all $74 million in new common education funding went into the formula, it would barely make a dent. That’s why everybody from administrators to teachers to school board members to parents is frustrated that the allocation includes a mere $21 million for the formula.
Read more from okeducationtruths.
Fallout of Oklahoma school testing glitch continues
The state’s schools superintendent said she was not involved at all in the hiring of a testing company whose technical problems disrupted online tests for more than 9,000 students last month. “I had zero involvement in the entire process from start to finish personally,” Janet Barresi said. The CTB/McGraw-Hill Education online testing system faltered April 29 and 30, forcing students to wait for hours or have to give up on exams, some of which are required for graduation. The company was hired after the state Education Department switched from another problematic testing company. McGraw was selected by Education Department staffers after a lengthy review process, Barresi said.
Jenks schools scrutinized by state education department over “field test” opt-outs
The Oklahoma State Department of Education is investigating Jenks Public Schools apparently to see if its parent-led movement to opt students out of “field tests” was instigated or encouraged by district employees, the Tulsa World has learned. The state enforces strict security protocols to ensure the reliability of testing results. Officials declined to provide more specific information about what rules they think Jenks administrators might have violated. Although state education officials declined to release specifics, it appears the investigation targets an opt-out movement among parents of Jenks Middle School students during last month’s testing period.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Tulsa library system takes hit from property tax cut
The Tulsa City-County Library has cut more than $800,000 from its proposed operating budget for fiscal year 2013-14 after State Question 766, which passed last year, reduced the amount of property tax revenue entities such as the library system receive. The state question exempts intangible personal property, such as trademarks, patents and customer lists, from ad valorem taxation. The tax was previously paid by large businesses such as pipelines, railroads and airlines whose business property moves across county lines.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Time waning for legislators to tackle Oklahoma tax credits
Despite calls by several Oklahoma legislators to address hundreds of millions of dollars in state tax credits and exemptions for businesses and industries, little has been done as another session approaches its end. And at the same time, other legislators are trying to write even more tax giveaways into state law for things like tickets and hospitality suites to sporting events and the sale of helicopters. “Once again a bunch of very questionable tax credits are emerging from the cracks in the walls of our crumbling state Capitol,” said Rep. David Dank, R-Oklahoma City, a longtime critic of tax credits. “There are stealth efforts underway to give away hundreds of millions of dollars at the end of a session when we told our state troopers and prison guards we had no money to pay them a decent salary.”
Read more from the Muskogee Phoenix.
Governor Fallin’s misleading tax cut
I don’t agree with much at all of what the Oklahoma Policy Institute puts out, but their information about the recent tax cut legislation passed by the Oklahoma legislature and signed into law by Governor Fallin is right on the money. Opinions about policy can vary, but numbers don’t lie. I’ve looked at the new tax rates in House Bill 2032 and I’ve run the numbers against the tax rates in this year’s form 511 – the Oklahoma individual income tax form. What the numbers tell me is that the things being said by Governor Fallin, Speak of the House T.W. Shannon and others are highly misleading.
Quote of the Day
She wants to use the $50 million in state taxpayer money, yet we passed up the opportunity to use 100 percent of federal match money. I don’t think her plan makes fiscal sense to me”
–Rep. Doug Cox, R-Grove
Number of the Day
53 percent
Percentage drop in the number of natural gas rigs drilling in Oklahoma over the past year (declining from 62 to 29 rigs since last April).
Source: Oklahoma Employment Security Commission
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Do away with 501(c)(4)’s
The best solution to the problems with 501(c)(4) organizations is to eliminate them completely. The problem with the (c)(4) designation is that it is essentially a charity that is permitted to engage in unlimited lobbying and some significant amount of political campaign activity (as long as that activity isn’t the organization’s “primary purpose”) in exchange for denying the organization the ability to receive deductible charitable contributions. The I.R.S. will never be able to satisfactorily police the line at which political activity becomes “primary.” But the Internal Revenue Service will never be able to satisfactorily police the line at which political activity becomes “primary.”
Read more from the New York Times.
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With some of the deepest cuts in the nation in education funding, having lost over $198 million in the last 5 years, this week’s news juxtaposition and irony are delicious.
Meanwhile, back at the capital, since 2004, House Speaker Shannon and Governor Fallin scored nearly $200,000 plus gifts from the private prison industry. At least it is a growing industry in the state. Kudos to the dignitaries of 23rd Street. Well done. Close schools and build prisons. Genius!
Surely this must be swirling vortex as America is sucked into a third world prison slave state. Serfs up dude !