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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 the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against several Oklahoma tribes alleging their payday lending businesses are illegally levying costs against customers. The U.S. Supreme Court asked the U.S. solicitor general to file briefs on the water dispute between Oklahoma and Texas, which increases the likelihood that the Court will take the case. StateImpact Oklahoma examines how completing the Keystone XL pipeline could increase gas prices for Oklahoma consumers.
A Senate panel voted to create an appeals process for students who are denied diplomas because they haven’t been able to pass end-of-instruction tests. A House subcommittee passed a revised measure Monday that would require the state to pay the $5,000 stipends for public school teachers attaining National Board Certification for the next 10 years. NewsOK criticized legislators’ unwillingness to adopt an ethics code or put themselves under open records laws.
The Oklahoma City Community Foundation launched a website geared toward helping working adults complete a college degree. The OK Policy Blog shares data showing that Oklahoma is attracting businesses and creating jobs, income tax and all.
The Number of the Day is Oklahoma’s national rank for the first year retention rate of our colleges and universities. In today’s Policy Note, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explains why the Tax Foundation’s “Tax Freedom Day” report is deeply misleading about how much taxes families actually pay.
In The News
Oklahoma tribes named in payday lending lawsuit
The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit Monday against several Oklahoma tribes alleging their payday lending businesses are illegally levying costs against customers. FTC officials filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, naming several Oklahoma tribal entities as defendants, including the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma’s AMG Services and Tribal Financial Services, and the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma’s Red Cedar Services. A call to Miami Chief Tom Gamble was not returned Monday, and a spokeswoman for the Modoc Tribe said they had “no comment.” Also named as defendants are Internet-based loan sites Ameriloan, UnitedCashLoans, USFastCash and 500FastCash. Payday loan companies have come under fire for allegedly masking fees, violating legal lending practices and falsely threatening customers with arrest and imprisonment for failing to pay back bills, according to the lawsuit.
Read more from The Tulsa World.
U.S. Supreme Court shows interest in Oklahoma-Texas water dispute
The Tarrant Regional Water District’s 5-year-old lawsuit against Oklahoma isn’t over, as the U.S. Supreme Court asked the U.S. solicitor general to get involved Monday. In the latest twist, the Supreme Court issued a one-sentence statement that said: “The Solicitor General is invited to file briefs in these cases expressing the views of United States.” The water district sued Oklahoma in January 2007, seeking to divert more than 130 billion gallons from river basins just north of the Red River as part of a long-term water supply for North Texas. Court observers said the Supreme Court’s action is noteworthy because it seeks the solicitor general’s advice an average of only 12 times a year, according to a 2009 George Mason University Law Review study. That same report found that about 1 percent of all cases appealed to the Supreme Court are accepted but that those in which the solicitor general is invited to offer an opinion stand a 34 percent chance of getting before the justices. Even more important is what the solicitor general recommends, as the justices follow that opinion 79 percent of the time in rejecting or accepting a case.
Read more from The Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Will new OK pipeline increase gas prices?
Crude oil production is up, and there’s a glut of oil bottle-necked in Cushing storage tanks. New pipeline projects — the Keystone Gulf and the Seaway — are in the works to bring the oil from Oklahoma to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast. Producers want free-flowing oil, but some refiners say the pipelines might mean higher prices at the gasoline pump. For a long time, the price of oil in Cushing — which is known as the West Texas Intermediate — was higher than its sweet light sibling, the Brent Crude, which comes from the North Sea. That discrepancy is costly. Mid-continent producers make less money. So does Oklahoma itself. That price difference means the state is losing about $100 million in gross production taxes, Oklahoma Energy Secretary Michael Ming said. Mid-continent producers say new pipelines will help close the gap between the two crude prices without increasing gasoline prices. But refiners like Valero say the price gap is the very reason Oklahoma and the rest of the Mid-continent have such relatively low gasoline prices. If the price of West Texas Intermediate increases, regional pump prices might follow.
Read more from StateImpact Oklahoma.
Senate votes to allow appeals of graduation test requirement
A Senate panel passed a bill Monday that would create an appeals process for students who are denied diplomas because they haven’t been able to pass four out of seven end-of-instruction tests. House Bill 2970, by Sen. Josh Brecheen, R-Coalgate, passed the Senate Education Committee and now heads to the Senate floor. To graduate, students must not only pass their classes but also must pass at least four out of seven end-of-instruction exams. This is the first year the rule applies to those seeking to graduate. Students and administrators have said the new requirement is not fair to students who have completed the coursework to graduate. The bill would require the State Board of Education to adopt rules to establish an appeals process for students who are denied diplomas because they failed to pass the exams.
Read more from The Tulsa World.
House panel approves teacher bonuses bill
A week after voting down the same bill, a House subcommittee passed a revised measure Monday that would require the state to pay the $5,000 stipends for public school teachers attaining National Board Certification for the upcoming fiscal year and for the next 10 years. A budget subcommittee on education voted 10-1 to pass Senate Bill 1879. It now goes to the House of Representatives Appropriation and Budget Committee. Subcommittee members last week were concerned about a section of the bill that called for developing a performance pay system for teachers after the state stops paying for the National Board Certification in about 10 years. Rep. Ann Coody, House author of SB 1879, removed that portion from the bill and submitted a substitute measure to the budget subcommittee.
Ethics code? Oklahoma House can’t be bothered
A proposed ethics code for the Oklahoma House of Representatives bit the dust last week. Before it could be debated on the House floor, Rep. Fred Jordan moved that the bill be tabled, a majority of members agreed, and that was that. Why? Jordan, R-Jenks, said Republican caucus members had unanswered questions and wanted more time to discuss it. Jordan last year headed a special House investigative committee that looked into allegations against Rep. Randy Terrill. The committee said no action could be taken against Terrill unless he was convicted of a crime, and suggested that the House speaker assign another committee to develop ethics guidelines. The committee met publicly six times over the course of several months. Drafts of proposed ethics rules were made available to all members. We’re told the idea was discussed more than a few times in caucus meetings. Yet when it came time to address it on the House floor, the proposal was swiftly jettisoned.
Oklahoma City Community Foundation rolls out college completion website
A new website aims to be a one-stop resource for working Oklahoma City adults who are looking to complete college. The Oklahoma City Community Foundation launched a website — finishmydegreeokc.org — Friday geared toward working adults who have earned college credit but no degree, said Nancy Anthony, the foundation’s executive director. Those would-be students represent “low-hanging fruit” for efforts to increase the number of college graduates in the city, she said. Cathy Nestlen, foundation spokeswoman, said the website is meant to help older prospective students navigate college admissions processes that have traditionally been geared toward 18-year-olds. The site includes information about Reach Higher, an Oklahoma Regents for Higher Education initiative designed to help older students complete their degrees. It also offers information about financial aid and avoiding so-called “diploma mills,” or fraudulent, unaccredited schools.
For Oklahoma jobs, don’t mess with success
Despite rumors about the mystical, job-creating powers of eliminating the income tax, the numbers show that Oklahoma is attracting businesses and creating jobs, income tax and all. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in December 2011, the unemployment rate was 8.5 percent for the nation as a whole. In Oklahoma, it was 6.1 percent. In Texas, our notorious neighbor, the unemployment rate was 7.8 percent. Oklahoma’s personal income growth rate remains among the highest in the nation. Between the first quarter of 2010 and the third quarter of 2011, Tulsa was one of only 5 of the 100 largest metropolitan areas to experience manufacturing employment growth greater than 10 percent. Oklahoma City had manufacturing growth between 5 and 10 percent in the same period, according to Brookings. OK Policy has compiled job-creation data for the past three years (2009-2011) from Oklahoma Department of Commerce quarterly reports and press releases that provide a picture of Oklahoma’s strong job-creating performance.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
Quote of the Day
The reality is current funding levels for DHS are inadequate to implement these reforms. It will cost tens of millions of additional dollars. Yet even as this plan is being made public, there’s still a huge push to approve another income tax cut. I am concerned that it will be virtually impossible to do both. For the sake of the children of this state, it is time to get our priorities straight.
–Sen. Sean Burrage, D- Claremore
Number of the Day
48th
Oklahoma’s national rank for the first year retention rate of our colleges and universities; 28 percent of the state’s students do not enroll in a second consecutive year of higher education.
Source: CollegeMeasures.org
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Tax Foundation Figures Do Not Represent Typical Households’ Tax Burdens
The Tax Foundation released its annual “Tax Freedom Day” report today that, once again, leaves a strikingly misleading impression of tax burdens — announcing an “average” tax rate across the United States that’s likely higher than the tax rate that 80 percent of U.S. households actually pay. The Tax Foundation acknowledges this issue in a methodology paper accompanying its report, noting that its estimates reflect the “average tax burden for the economy as a whole, rather than for specific subgroups of taxpayers.” Consequently, those who report on “Tax Freedom Day” as if it represented the day until which the typical American must work to pay his or her taxes are misinterpreting these figures and inadvertently fostering misimpressions about the taxes that most Americans pay. Moreover, the Tax Foundation report suggests that people spend part of the year working for the government and part of it working for themselves, becoming “free” only when they get to work for themselves. In reality, taxes pay for services that benefit us every day and are central to our idea of freedom, from national defense to highways to health insurance for the elderly.
Read more from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
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