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In The News
Oklahoma Struggles over Teacher Pay Amid Legal Battles: Amid the ongoing legal and ballot challenges to the state’s recent tax hikes, Oklahoma districts are struggling to figure out how much compensation to offer teachers next year. As districts hash out upcoming budgets and offer teaching contracts, questions are surfacing if it’s fiscally prudent to incorporate the Legislature’s recent average $6,100 raise given the ongoing uncertainty, said Joy Hofmeister, the state’s superintendent of public instruction [US News & World Report]. ‘We are in a teaching crisis in this state’: Districts budgeting for teacher pay raises, but paying them isn’t a done deal [Tulsa World]. What we know – and don’t know – about the revenue bill veto challenge [OKPolicy].
California Bans State-Funded Travel to Oklahoma over Its Anti-LGBT Adoption Law: California on Friday announced a ban on state-funded and state-sponsored travel to Oklahoma in response to the state’s controversial LGBTQ adoption bill, USA Today reported. Under a 2017 California law, the state’s attorney general is required to keep a list of all states subject to a travel ban because of “laws that authorize or require discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra [The Hill].
Oklahoma Treasurer Launches Program for Residents with Disabilities: Oklahoma is launching a program aimed at helping individuals with disabilities and their families save and invest, State Treasurer Ken Miller announced on Thursday at the state Capitol. The program, called STABLE, provides tax-advantaged savings accounts for Oklahomans with disabilities to be used to pay for medical bills, education, housing and more [NewsOK]. New Oklahoma STABLE accounts will make it easier for Oklahomans with disabilities to save for the future [Amy Smith/OKPolicy].
After Federal Report, OU Working with the Oklahoma City VA to Repay for Residents’ Time: Two months after federal investigators found the Oklahoma City VA Health Care System improperly paid the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, the university has not yet repaid the VA or determined how much money it owes. On March 28, the VA’s Office of Inspector General concluded that at least a dozen OU medical students who were residents at the Oklahoma City VA Medical Center were paid for time when they were working at other, non-VA hospitals [NewsOK].
Oklahoma’s Medical Marijuana Law Would Be Unique: Oklahoma will become a groundbreaking pioneer if voters approve state-sanctioned medical marijuana June 26. It would become the first state to initiate a medical marijuana program without listing specific ailments for which doctors could authorize marijuana for their patients. The issue will be presented to voters as the result of initiative petition signed by 67,801 Okahomans and presented to state officials in August 2016 [NewsOK]. Key provisions of Oklahoma’s proposed medical marijuana law [NewsOK]. Bud on bud: Deep in the weeds on state question 788 [NonDoc]. Learn more about State Question 788, the Medical Marijuana Legalization Initiative, with our fact sheet [OKPolicy].
With the Rise of Legal Weed, Drug Education Moves from ‘Don’t’ to ‘Delay’: The PSAs that Gen-Xers may remember — the egg in a frying pan (“this is your brain on drugs”), or the boy calling out his dad’s drug use (“I learned it by watching you!”) — live on as memes, but they’re no longer used as messages. In a nutshell, the focus now is on facts, not fear. Also conspicuously absent are simplistic dictates like, “Just say no.” Instead, teachers spur students to examine data, speculate on motives, discuss risks, and deliberate on their own goals and values [KOSU]. State prepares for drug-impaired drivers as marijuana vote nears [NewsOK]. Cannabis expo organizers hope to change perception [News9].
Capitol Insider: Agency Audits, Amending Stand Your Ground, and Oklahoma’s New Secretary of State: On this episode of Capitol Insider, KGOU’s Dick Pryor and eCapitol’s Shawn Ashley discuss the Agency Performance and Accountability Commission, a special commission created to audit state agencies that will have to restart its work after violating the Open Meeting Act. Pryor and Ashley also review a decision from the Court of Criminal Appeals that will affect Oklahoma’s Stand Your Ground law, the future of the state’s opioid task force, and the newly appointed Secretary of State [KGOU].
First-Term Lawmakers Had to Learn Fast over the past Year: First-term lawmakers had to learn quickly over the past year — and may have to learn even more quickly in the year ahead, four of them said Friday. Even if every incumbent lawmaker running for re-election wins — and there’s a good chance some won’t — two-thirds of the House of Representatives and well over half the Senate will have entered the Legislature since 2014 [Tulsa World]. Capitol Update: A wild ride for first-term legislators [OKPolicy].
The 2019 Legislature Could Be Vastly Different: With just 12 percent of the Legislature safe in their seats without an opponent this year, the primary and general elections have a chance to shake things up at the Oklahoma Capitol. Political parties will select their preferred candidates in the primary election on June 26. Five months later, the Nov. 6 general election will finally settle deep questions about how voters judge the budget crisis and teacher walkout [NewsOK]. Major parties lose some ground as new Oklahoma voters register [NewsOK]. What we know about Oklahoma’s 2018 legislative elections [OKPolicy].
Robert L. Kerr: The Oklahoma Teacher’s Walkout Creates a Unique Opportunity for a New Tactic from Our Next Governor: First came this spring’s teacher rallies at the Capitol and national-television audiences coming to know Oklahoma as the place schools can’t afford to stay open all week, and students use duct-taped, Reagan-era textbooks. Then came the anti-tax lobby’s petition to roll back the Legislature’s education funding response. And in a few more weeks, primaries will start winnowing down the crowd of aspiring candidates for the state’s next governor [Robert L. Kerr/NewsOK].
From the Classroom to the Campaign Trail: Emboldened Teachers Run for Office: Teachers on both sides of the aisle are taking up the mantle, with some Republican educators campaigning on pledges to increase education spending and to slow the expansion of charter schools. In Oklahoma, more than one-third of the 97 teachers, former teachers and school administrators running for statehouse seats are Republicans [Washington Post].
Voters to Decide Future of Elections for Lieutenant Governor: Oklahoma’s gubernatorial elections could soon start looking more like presidential ones. Voters will decide, on an election date to be determined, whether the governor should choose a running mate. If State Question 798 passes, the lieutenant governor would cease to be an independent candidate with an independent race and instead run jointly with the governor [Journal Record].
Experience, Change Before Republican Voters in Commission Primary: Republicans voting in the June 26 primary for Oklahoma Corporation Commission are presented with a choice of experience or the promise of change. Commissioner Bob Anthony is the longest-serving elected commissioner of the three in office, and is running for a final time because of term limits. Brian Bingman, an oil and gas company executive and a former Oklahoma Senate President Pro Tempore, proposes to bring fresh perspective to the agency [NewsOK].
Oklahoma Commission on Opioid Abuse Wants to Continue Its Work: Members of the Oklahoma Commission on Opioid Abuse will recess over the summer but plan to meet again in the fall and ask lawmakers to extend the commission. The commission is due to sunset in July but has a “wind down” period of a few months. Its focus will shift to lessening demand for opioids, including asking insurance companies to cover alternative pain treatments, especially for patients with high deductibles or chronic injuries [Public Radio Tulsa].
Q & A with Sean McDaniel, New Supt, Okla City Public Schools: OKC Free Press sat down for a short Q&A with Dr. Sean McDaniel, the new superintendent of OKCPS, after his first Board of Education meeting, which was a work session. It was a lengthy session, packed with information, as several of his central office team made presentations looking back over the last school year and looking forward to the next [OKC Free Press]. Search underway for new Mustang leader [NewsOK].
Edmond Woman Protests Outside Oklahoma County Courthouse: Saying she failed to get the justice she deserves, Kathy Doyle is taking her dispute with the Oklahoma County Civil Courts public. Very public. Nearly every week for more than two months, Doyle, 56, of Edmond, has erected about two dozen, large poster boards on the sidewalk along the north side of the Oklahoma County Office Building at 320 S Kerr [NewsOK].
Court Says Tribal Nation Is Liable: A Dallas appeals court has upheld a $9.3 million verdict against the Choctaw Nation after finding the southern Oklahoma tribe liable for a charter bus crash that killed two passengers. The Oklahoman reports that the Court of Appeals for Texas’ 5th District unanimously dismissed the tribe’s appeal of a 2016 Dallas County ruling saying it was liable for the deaths of Alice Stanley and Paula Hahn [Public Radio Tulsa].
Quote of the Day
“For too long, Oklahomans with disabilities have been denied easy access to savings and investment opportunities, and that stops today.”
-Oklahoma State Treasurer Ken Miller, speaking about the state’s new STABLE accounts where Oklahomans with disabilities can save and invest without risk of losing their SSI benefit. [NewsOK]
Number of the Day
26%
Percentage of young children in Oklahoma (under age 6) living in families making less than the federal poverty level.
[National Center for Children in Poverty]
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Time to Rethink Probation and Parole: Several states have tried to reduce both the footprint and harmful outcomes of these practices. When Arizona gave people “earned discharge” time off their probation terms, the state not only reduced probation violations by 29 percent, but achieved a 21 percent decline in arrests of people on probation, realizing $392 million in averted costs. When Louisiana capped the amount of time someone could receive for technical violations at between 15 and 45 days, there was a 22 percent decline in returns to incarceration for new arrests, saving over 2,000 beds and $17 million [Larry Krasner/The Inquirer].
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