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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 Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that laws requiring women seeking abortions to have an ultrasound image placed in front of them while they hear a description of the fetus and that ban off-label use of certain abortion-inducing drugs are unconstitutional. Attorneys for the federal government said in a court filing that Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act is speculative, conjectural and fails to meet the test of law.
Gov. Fallin asked President Obama not to shift costs onto the states with federal budget reductions. OK Policy previously discussed what scheduled federal budget cuts could mean for Oklahoma and for education in Oklahoma. State Treasurer Ken Miller wrote a column in defense of conservatism from “ideologically-driven interest groups” like Americans for Tax Reform and the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs. A guest post on the OK Policy Blog explains why ALEC’s and Arthur Laffer’s recommendations are worthless for increasing prosperity in the states.
About 7,000 Oklahomans could lose extended federal unemployment benefits if Congress doesn’t renew the program by the end of the year. Oklahoma City attorney Jerry Fent told a state Supreme Court referee that a charter school bill amended in the final days of the 2012 Legislature to include a $30 million appropriation for textbooks is unconstitutional. The American Prospect has an in-depth profile of Oklahoma’s nationally leading universal pre-K program. Lottery officials said education in the state will receive nearly $500,000 less than estimated earlier.
Oklahoma is returning to a two-party state after election officials voted to no longer recognize the Americans Elect Party. A Cleveland County judge ruled in favor of Republican Rep. Aaron Stiles, saying he beat Democrat Paula Roberts for the House District 45 seat. Attorney Stephen Gold writes in NewsOK four reasons why the governor should reconsider her position on joining the Medicaid expansion. See resources from OK Policy on why expanding Medicaid in Oklahoma makes sense.
The Number of the Dayis the percentage of Oklahoma’s public school funding (K-12) that comes from the federal government. In today’s Policy Note, the Center for American Progress has released a major deficit-reduction plan that would achieve progressive, revenue-enhancing, efficient, simplifying, and pragmatic tax reform along with pragmatic spending cuts that do not undermine the middle class, the poor, or seniors.
In The News
Oklahoma Supreme Court rules two anti-abortion laws unconstitutional
Oklahoma laws requiring women seeking abortions to have an ultrasound image placed in front of them while they hear a description of the fetus and that ban off-label use of certain abortion-inducing drugs are unconstitutional, the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. The state’s highest court determined that lower court judges were right to halt the laws. In separate decisions, the Oklahoma Supreme Court said the laws, which received wide bipartisan support in the Legislature, violated a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court case. The Oklahoma court said it has a duty to “follow the mandate of the United State Supreme Court on matters of federal constitutional law.”
Read more from the Associated Press.
Federal attorneys say Oklahoma lawsuit against Affordable Care Act fails to meet test of law
While creative at points, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act – Obamacare – is speculative, conjectural and fails to meet the test of law, attorneys for the federal government say. In a Monday filing, the federal attorneys ask U.S. Eastern District Judge Ronald White to dismiss Pruitt’s suit against U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and allow the federal health-care law to move ahead as scheduled. The state lacks any legal standing to make its key claim that the law’s tax penalties against employers who fail to provide adequate health insurance to their workers can’t be enforced in Oklahoma, federal attorneys argue in their filing at the Muskogee-based court.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Gov. Fallin, Obama discuss fiscal cliff’s state impact
Federal budget problems can’t be solved by simply shifting all the costs to the states, Gov. Mary Fallin and delegation of fellow governors told President Barack Obama Tuesday. “We accept that there will be fewer federal resources in the future,” Fallin said in a conference call after the White House meeting. “We governors believe that we have a real stake in the federal debate over fiscal issues and policies. … We do have to balance our budgets. We can’t print money in our various states.” While the states can accept some federal budget cuts, Fallin said it is wrong for the states to bear a disproportionate share of the costs.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Previously: What the coming federal budget cuts could mean for Oklahoma from the OK Policy Blog; What the coming federal budget cuts mean for education in Oklahoma from the OK Policy Blog
Ken Miller: In defense of conservatism
If all your friends jumped off a fiscal cliff, would you do it too? The answer from Senator Tom Coburn and Representative Tom Cole is no. Though staunchly opposed to increasing tax rates, both men recently made national headlines; Coburn for his willingness to increase receipts by eliminating loopholes and preferential tax treatments and Cole for suggesting Republicans accept a compromise solution ensuring 98-percent of Americans avoid a tax hike. Grover Norquist claims both positions defy the anti-tax pledge, the revenue-neutral standard for tax policy changes made famous by his Americans for Tax Reform advocacy group. Until now, ideology-based conservatives like Norquist have defined conservatism by their own terms. Absurdly, yet expectedly, the conservative credentials of both Coburn and Cole are under fire. Such reality-based conservatives who dare step out, or in it, get branded with the M-word to be thrashed about in the public square clothed in the “moderate” label regardless of the fit.
Read more from The McCarville Report.
Guest Blog (Michael Lipsky): ALEC’s and Arthur Laffer’s worthless recommendations for prosperity in the states
For most of its history ALEC has operated in the background, but its influence recently drew the spotlight when its promotion of “Stand Your Ground” laws came to light in the wake of the killing of Trayvon Martin in Florida. Faced with the potential of consumer boycotts, corporate sponsors such as McDonald’s and Pepsi withdrew their support. Henceforth, the organization announced, it would concentrate on state economic policy. State legislators who might look to the organization for leadership on economic policies should be wary of following ALEC’s lead in this arena. A startlingly candid report, “Selling Snake Oil to the States,” just released by the Iowa Policy Project and the Washington-based Good Jobs First, shows that ALEC’s recommendations for producing economic growth in the states are essentially worthless.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
Oklahomans could lose extended unemployment benefits at year-end
About 7,000 Oklahomans could lose extended federal unemployment benefits if Congress doesn’t renew the program by the end of the year, the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission said Tuesday. Renewal of the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program is among several choices facing Congress in negotiations on the “fiscal cliff,” the catchall term for a package of tax increases and spending cuts that take effect at the end of the year. Extension of the emergency unemployment benefits program could cost $22 billion in fiscal year 2013 and $31 billion in 2014, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The federal program extends the regular, 26-week maximum state unemployment benefits in Oklahoma. It has several tiers of extensions based on a state’s unemployment rate. The first tier, which is still in effect, extends benefits for 14 weeks.
Attorney challenges Okla. charter school bill
An Oklahoma City attorney told a state Supreme Court referee Tuesday that a charter school bill amended in the final days of the 2012 Legislature to include a $30 million appropriation for textbooks is unconstitutional. Attorney Jerry Fent said that Senate Bill 1816, which was signed into law by Gov. Mary Fallin and went into effect on July 1, contains two subject matters in violation of the Constitution’s prohibition on logrolling, or passing legislation with multiple subjects. Fent said the practice gives lawmakers an all-or-nothing choice and that the entire bill should be struck down as unconstitutional. But Assistant Attorney General Nancy Zerr said the appropriation and the portion of the bill dealing with charter schools all deal with education and aren’t logrolling.
Read more from the Associated Press.
Pre-K on the Range
Despite growing evidence of the benefits of early education, nationwide only 28 percent of four-year-olds are enrolled in public pre-K. Among three-year-olds, a paltry 4 percent are enrolled in a public educational program. The numbers could decrease even more as pre-K falls victim to recessionary belt-tightening. Oklahoma has bucked the national trend. Seventy-four percent of four-year-olds—more than in any other state—are in high-quality pre-K. Virtually every parent who wants a spot can get one, whether in a public school or in a partner organization, such as Tulsa’s Community Action Project, which runs John Kaykay’s pre-K classroom. The effort has been so thorough and so widely embraced that, in effect, public school in Oklahoma begins at age four.
Read more from the American Prospect.
Lottery earnings for year lower than expected
Despite last month’s record Powerball jackpot spiking sales in Oklahoma, lottery officials Tuesday approved a revised budget that shows education in the state will receive nearly $500,000 less than estimated earlier. Latest estimates now show education getting $64.3 million from the lottery, down $433,650 from the $64.7 million figure lottery trustees approved in June. “We’re expecting sales to be down because of the prize payoffs on the instant tickets,” said Rollo Redburn, the lottery’s executive director. State law requires 35 percent of lottery earnings to go to public schools, higher education, the teachers retirement system and the school consolidation fund.
Oklahoma returns to a two-party state
The Americans Elect Party had a short run in Oklahoma. Several months after getting enough petitions to be recognized as a political party in the state, Oklahoma election officials voted Tuesday to no longer recognize it because it didn’t field a candidate in the November general election. Their decision leaves the Republican and Democratic parties as the only two recognized political parties to field candidates for partisan county, state and federal offices, including president. Organizers of the political party in March succeeded in getting enough signatures of registered voters to have the party recognized, but then national party officials failed to nominate a presidential and vice presidential candidate.
Incumbent Aaron Stiles ruled winner in HD 45
A Republican Oklahoma House member won his re-election bid against a Democratic challenger in a race decided by just 16 votes, a judge ruled Tuesday in a lawsuit brought by the challenger. Cleveland County District Judge Tracy Schumacher ruled in favor of Republican Rep. Aaron Stiles, saying he beat Democrat Paula Roberts for the House District 45 seat. Roberts had filed a lawsuit claiming ineligible voters were allowed to cast ballots while some valid registered voters were not. She also claimed that absentee ballots were improperly secured and that mistakes were made with both provisional ballots and voting machines. Her legal team wanted the court to count the provisional ballots that she claimed were improperly excluded. But Schumacher had said state law does not give her the authority to order the ballots counted.
Read more from the Associated Press.
Attorney: Oklahoma governor should reconsider her decision on Medicaid expansion
Gov. Mary Fallin has stated her opposition to expanding Medicaid health care to about 470,000 people in Oklahoma. All of these people have incomes of less than $14,859 a year or $1,238 a month (133 percent of poverty). Here are four reasons why the governor should reconsider her position: If Oklahoma expands Medicaid to these people in 2014, then for three years the federal government will pay 100 percent of all Medicaid costs for all 470,000 people and will pay slightly less in years four to seven. Basically, for the next seven years it is fully federally funded without a significant financial downside for the state.
Previously: Expanding Medicaid in Oklahoma makes sense from Oklahoma Policy Institute
Quote of the Day
In this case, Oklahoma asserts a position that is directly adverse to the approximately 381,500 Oklahoma residents who will receive a premium tax credit under the act, but who would not if Oklahoma were to prevail in this suit.
-Federal attorneys responding to Oklahoma AG Scott Pruitt’s lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act. Pruitt’s suit seeks to prevent a federally-established health exchange from providing tax credits to help Oklahomans purchase insurance.
Number of the Day
15 percent
Percentage of Oklahoma’s public school funding (K-12) that comes from the federal government, 13th highest among the states in 2010-2011
Source: National Education Association
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Reforming our tax system, reducing our deficit
Amending our tax system to raise more revenue progressively, simply, and efficiently, coupled with targeted spending reductions, are the keys to addressing our long-term fiscal challenges. These are challenges we must address or face a future in which critical public investments such as education and infrastructure will go underfunded; key national priorities such as strengthening the middle class, reducing poverty, and building a world-class infrastructure will remain unaddressed; income inequality will continue to rise; and confidence in America’s ability to govern its fiscal affairs will continue to fall. The report being released today outlines a plan that reduces the federal budget deficit by $4.1 trillion over the next 10 years while offering measures to boost the economy in the short run as we recover from the recession.
Read more from the Center for American Progress.
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