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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 the House voted 84-0 to approve a resolution against gay marriage, as about a dozen members walked out in protest. Oklahoma Watch reports that Oklahoma has the fourth-lowest percentage of female legislators in the nation. Oklahoma residents might soon be able to direct a portion of their state income tax refunds to lawsuits against the federal government.
Gov. Mary Fallin vetoed a bill that would have increased fees Oklahoma consumers would have to pay for small loans, saying it could expand predatory lending practices. Oklahoma’s for-profit banks are critizing the tax-exempt status of credit unions. The OK Policy Blog features a TED Talk on how the way we think about charities is actually undermining the causes we care most deeply about.
The number of inmates in the Tulsa Jail could reach 2,000 by summer – 300 more than the facility was designed to hold. Oklahoma’s school testing company, CTB/McGraw-Hill, made a revision over the weekend that has area school districts rushing to reload testing content to school computers before state tests begin Wednesday. The League of Women Voters of Oklahoma is set to host a first-of-its-kind statewide webcast, called “Focu$ on Education,” this evening.
Former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating wrote a letter to the Oklahoman to push for repairing the state Capitol building. The Tulsa World writes that a bill to allow convicted felons an opportunity to prove their innocence with DNA testing deserves unanimous passage. The Number of the Day is how many Oklahoma small businesses are now eligible for a health insurance tax credit under the Affordable Care Act. In today’s Policy Note, the Economic Policy Institute shows that since 1979 the vast majority of wage earners have increased productivity and are working longer hours, but they have not been rewarded better earnings in return.
In The News
House members walk out over gay marriage vote
Weighing in on the recently energized debate around gay marriage, the Oklahoma House approved a resolution without opposition Monday to reaffirm marriage as a union between a man and a woman and support the federal Defense of Marriage Act. The resolution, which passed 84-0, now heads to the Senate. Democratic House minority leader Scott Inman and the chamber’s lone openly gay member joined about a dozen other representatives who walked out of the chamber instead of voting. The bill wouldn’t have the force of law if it also passes in the Senate, but the resolution’s authors said it was meant to send a message to President Barack Obama and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Oklahoma’s ratio of women in Legislature among nation’s lowest
Oklahoma has the fourth-lowest percentage of female legislators in the nation, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. There are four women among 48 Senate members, and 16 women among 101 House members. Altogether, women make up 13.4 percent of the state’s legislators, slightly ahead of Alabama, South Carolina and Louisiana. States with the largest shares of women are Colorado, 42 percent, and Vermont, 41 percent. In Congress, a record number of women — 98, or 18 percent — took office in January, but Oklahoma was not part of that trend. The state’s delegation has no women. Women comprise 51 percent of Oklahoma’s population.
Read more from Oklahoma Watch.
Okla. bill: Check here, fund fight vs. fed laws
Oklahoma residents might soon be able to direct a portion of their state income tax refunds to lawsuits against the federal government, an unintended consequence of a lawmaker’s tongue-in-cheek skewering of the cost of such court fights. Rep. Joe Dorman, a Democrat from Rush Springs, said he had grown tired of seeing Oklahoma spending millions of dollars defending its proposed laws in the courts, and suggested a tax form “check-off” as a way to draw voters’ attention to the costs of legal action. But the idea of aiding Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt in his defense against constitutional challenges and fighting federal statutes has been a hit. Instead of being shuffled off to a committee where it wouldn’t get a hearing, the measure sailed through the House last month on an 80-15 vote, and the Republican Senate sponsor said he intends to bring the bill to the full Senate for a vote — perhaps this week, right before federal taxes are due.
Read more from the Associated Press.
Fallin vetoes bill that would increase fees on high-interest loans
Gov. Mary Fallin has vetoed a bill that would increase the charges Oklahoma consumers would have to pay for small loans. Fallin said in her veto message on Monday that the bill could inadvertently expand predatory lending practices and take advantage of “financially vulnerable Oklahomans.” The bill by Tulsa Republican Sen. Dan Newberry passed unanimously in the Senate and cleared the House on an 86-8 vote. It targets smaller loans with principal amounts of under $1,410 that are typically high-interest, short-term loans. Fallin noted in her veto message that Oklahoma has a high usage rate for these types of loans and that overuse of these loans can lead to “dire” financial situations for borrowers.
Banks critical of credit unions’ tax-exempt status in Oklahoma
Credit unions in Oklahoma are growing at a faster rate than banks, which banks attribute to credit unions’ tax-exempt status, according to a new report from the American Bankers Association. Credit unions in the state posted annualized growth of 7.34 percent from 2002 to 2012, compared to 6.17 percent for Oklahoma banks, according to the report. Oklahoma banks paid more than $1.6 billion in state, federal and other taxes in 2012, the report said. Nonprofit credit unions don’t pay taxes. The banking industry has long taken issue with credit unions’ nonprofit status, said Roger Beverage, president and CEO of the Oklahoma Bankers Association.
Watch This: The way we think about charity is dead wrong
In this TED talk, AIDS Ride founder, activist, and fundraiser Dan Pallotta says the way we think about charities is actually undermining the causes we care most deeply about. In this eighteen-minute video, Dan identifies tendencies pervasive in nonprofit sector management that prevent it from attracting the best people, raising awareness, innovating, achieving scale, and attracting major sources of capital. In this bold talk, Dan challenges us to change the way we think about changing the world.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
Tulsa jail population could top 2,000 by summer
The number of inmates in the Tulsa Jail could reach 2,000 by summer – 300 more than the facility was designed to hold, Undersheriff Tim Albin said Monday. “It is a strain on the personnel; it is a strain on the facility; and it is a strain financially,” Albin said. “Every one of those inmates has to be fed, (their clothes) laundered, transferred to the courthouse. “The costs are astronomical.” The jail, which was designed to hold a maximum of 1,714 inmates, had 1,888 on Monday. Albin estimated that he has spent $200,000 on overtime pay in the past few months and said he could easily use 40 more detention officers. The jail has exceeded its official capacity every month since August, according to figures provided by the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Test revision has Union, Jenks school districts scrambling before statewide exams
Oklahoma’s school testing company, CTB/McGraw-Hill, made a revision over the weekend that has area school districts rushing to reload testing content to school computers before state tests begin Wednesday. “It’s frustrating when a company like this doesn’t give us any forewarning whatsoever. And the fact that we had to find out for ourselves is equally frustrating,” said Union Deputy Superintendent Kirt Hartzler. The tests are administered on computers, and Union had more than 1,000 computer workstations ready to go Friday after content delays and frequent revisions from the testing company. But Hartzler was alerted by his technology director that when staff tested the computers Monday morning, they received only error messages. They called CTB/McGraw-Hill and were informed that the company had updated its testing content again on Sunday.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
‘Focu$ on Education’ live statewide webcast today
The League of Women Voters of Oklahoma is set to host a first-of-its-kind statewide webcast, called “Focu$ on Education,” on Tuesday evening. The event will feature an Oklahoma City-based panel discussion about funding education reforms, but organizers wanted residents across the state to have access, so live broadcasts are being hosted by Tulsa Community College and colleges or technology centers in Ardmore, Ada, Lawton, Norman and Stillwater. Lindaman said the panelists were selected to bring a variety of perspectives to the conversation. Slated to appear on the panel are David Blatt with the Oklahoma Policy Institute; Lavena Brown, parent of an Oklahoma City Public Schools pre-kindergarten student; Terry Graham, Burlington Public Schools board member; Sharon Rodine with the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy; and Brad Williams, vice president of student services at Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating pushing hard for Capitol repair
Frank Keating had visited the state Capitol only once before he got his own office there, arriving in 1973 as a freshman member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives. He vacated his last Capitol office 30 years later, as a two-term governor. In between 1973 and 2003, a lot of good things happened to Oklahoma and a lot of good things happened to the Capitol building. Many good things are still happening to Oklahoma. But most of what’s happening to the Capitol is bad. “It looks like a crime scene,” Keating says. The crime is years of neglect compounded by months of inertia on what to do about the deteriorating Capitol and how to pay for it. The sensible solution — a bond issue — has been rebuffed repeatedly by Keating’s fellow Republicans.
DNA bill deserves unanimous passage
A measure making its way through the Legislature is one of the most reasonable pieces of legislation advanced this session. House Bill 1068, called the Post-conviction DNA Act, would provide another method by which defendants could show that they were wrongly convicted. Oklahoma is the sole state that does not have such an option. The measure would apply to defendants claiming innocence who were convicted of a violent felony and who received a sentence of 25 years or more. Under the measure the defendant could petition the sentencing court for DNA testing. The attorney representing the state would have 60 days to respond to the motion. The sentencing court would then hold a hearing to determine whether DNA forensic testing should be ordered.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Quote of the Day
Now look at it. In 10 short years, that extraordinary building is ringed by orange cones, papered with warning signs, an eyesore to proud Oklahomans. It’s an embarrassing genuflection to the ‘Grapes of Wrath.’
–Former Gov. Frank Keating, on the crumbling state Capitol building
Number of the Day
40,320
Number of Oklahoma small businesses now eligible for a new health insurance tax credit under the Affordable Care Act, a federal income tax credit worth $746/year on average for each worker provided health coverage
Source: Families USA
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Vast majority of wage earners are working harder, and for not much more
As is well-documented in The State of Working America, 12th Edition (Mishel et al. 2012), the U.S. economy over the past decade has worked primarily to the advantage of a small sliver of winners. Meanwhile, the vast majority of workers have not fared well—a trend that stretches back to the late 1970s. Contrary to some political rhetoric of late, this is not due to lack of effort; the broad middle class has increased its productivity, upgraded its educational attainment, and worked more hours. In other words, workers have been offering more to the economy and the labor market, and what they have received in return—particularly in the form of real hourly wages—has been very disappointing.
Read more from the Economic Policy Institute.
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It seems ironic that Oklahoma has a very high divorce rate among “Traditional” Couples and continues to block/unacknowledge gay couples that could possibly turn around the statistics.