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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 barely half of the citizen voting age population in Oklahoma cast ballots in the 2012 presidential election, the third worst turnout in the nation. An Oklahoma program that uses Medicaid funding to provide health insurance to 30,000 low-income Oklahomans must change in order to keep its funding, the federal government said this week, even as a legislative plan that tries to make those changes seems stalled.
Data released by the federal government shows huge variation in charges for the same procedures at different Oklahoma hospitals. Oklahoma Watch shared a database of the charges at Oklahoma hospitals. The OK Policy Blog explained what you need to know about the most recent state budget agreement. The Tulsa World writes that state troopers were stiffed in the budget. David Blatt’s Journal Record column discusses silver linings in the tax cut debate. A Tahlequah woman who says employers won’t hire her because of her back problems is concerned that a new bill creating work requirements for food stamps would prevent her from getting enough to eat.
Oklahoma City is planning for stricter restrictions on lawn watering in case of a brutally dry summer. The Oklahoma City Council must soon decide if it wants to shrink its bus system coverage area to improve bus frequency, leaving some transit-dependent residents without a ride. Oklahoma Secretary of Energy Michael Ming announced that he will step down to assume leadership of GE’s new energy research center in Oklahoma.
The Number of the Day is the number of homeless Oklahomans. In today’s Policy Note, a new report by the Government Accountability Office forecasts a gloomy outlook for state and local government budgets.
In The News
Oklahoma voter turnout third lowest in 2012 election
Barely half of the citizen voting age population in Oklahoma cast ballots in the 2012 presidential election, ranking it third worst among states, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released Wednesday. The 52.4 percent 2012 voting rate in Oklahoma beat only Hawaii and West Virginia and was 6.3 percent worse than in the 2008 presidential election. Meanwhile, the census study found that black people nationally, for the first time, voted at higher rates than whites in the 2012 election.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Feds say Insure Oklahoma program must change
An Oklahoma program that uses Medicaid funding to provide health insurance to 30,000 low-income Oklahomans must change in order to keep its funding, the federal government said this week, even as a legislative plan that tries to make those changes seems stalled. The Insure Oklahoma program needs a renewed waiver to use Medicaid funding to help some people pay for private insurance, which the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services denied earlier this year. CMS sent a letter Tuesday explaining the waiver’s denial to Oklahoma’s Health Care Authority, which runs the Insure Oklahoma program.
Read more from the Muskogee Phoenix.
Federal information shows cost variation among hospitals
A drive from Oklahoma City to Tahlequah down Interstate 40 would probably take about three hours. But it could possibly save you thousands of dollars if you’re looking for a place to have joint replacement surgery. The scenario is one of the take-aways from data released Wednesday from the federal government’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The information lays out the average amount of money hospitals across the nation bill Medicare and the average amount Medicare pays them for the care they deliver.
See also: Oklahoma hospital charges database from Oklahoma Watch.
What you need to know about the state budget agreement
Last week, Governor Fallin and legislative leaders announced a state budget deal for 2014 that is being considered by the Legislature as HB 2301. Here’s what you need to know. Although the nominal value of the appropriations budget is approaching the pre-recession high, this number does not reflect the actual size of our state government. Using real dollars (adjusted for inflation with the Consumer Price Index) shows that the state budget remains below every year from 2006, when Oklahoma was just coming out of a recession, to 2010, when the most recent recession hit. Next year’s appropriations will remain 8 percent below their pre-recession peak.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
Tulsa World: State troopers stiffed in budget
To hire and retain Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers, the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety needs to be able to pay its officers a competitive wage. DPS often loses officers to private security jobs because those officers’ state job – no matter how much they like it – pays thousands of dollars less annually than a much less stressful and far safer job in the private sector. Last week, Gov. Mary Fallin and legislative leaders unveiled a $7.1 billion budget agreement for fiscal year 2014 that didn’t include raises for any state employees. It did, however, include a $7 million increase for the Legislature for operations and remodeling.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Silver linings and tax cuts
After two years, Gov. Mary Fallin and legislative leaders finally succeeded last week in cutting Oklahoma’s top income tax rate. For those who have been actively opposing tax cuts as an unaffordable drain on our resources for schools and other vital services, the outcome, while certainly a disappointment, contains several silver linings. First, compared to last year’s proposal to slash the income tax immediately and then phase it out entirely, this tax cut is relatively modest. It lowers the top rate by a quarter percent, but not until 2015, with a further cut of two-tenths of 1 percent in 2016 if revenue grows.
Read more from the Journal Record.
Tahlequah mom: Injury, new law making getting enough food difficult
Misty Golden moved to Oklahoma six years ago to better her life and get off of government assistance. She was successful, until a back injury sent her back into unemployment. “Something popped in the middle of my back and I’ve since learned it’s a herniated disc,” Golden said. Golden hurt herself while working. She was eventually let go and since then she’s struggled to find a job in Tahlequah for 17 months. To help put food on the table, she’s had to rely on food stamps. Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin recently signed a new bill into law that could impact Golden. It requires any able-bodied person between 18- and 50-years-old who is not disabled or raising a child to work at least 20 hours per week in order to get food stamps. Golden said she’s not technically disabled, but she has physical limitations and says employers aren’t willing to take a risk with her.
With a weak public transit system, OKC officials consider controversial changes to get it back on track
Improving public transportation in Oklahoma City isn’t going to be easy. In fact, it might create the kind of controversy no one wants. Faced with a set of recommendations from transportation planning experts, the Oklahoma City Council must soon decide if it wants to shrink its bus system coverage area, leaving some transit-dependent residents without a ride. On the other hand, such a move would allow Metro Transit officials to increase bus stop frequency and potentially attract more riders, according to Tim Payne of Nelson- Nygaard Consulting Associates, a San Francisco-based transportation planning firm.
Read more from the Oklahoma Gazette.
OKC officials roll out a possible water conservation plan in case of a brutally dry summer
If drought conditions worsen in Oklahoma City, homeowners won’t be mowing thick, lush lawns this summer. Already, the city has implemented mandatory odd-even lawn watering, but even that could get more restrictive depending on the amount of rainfall received by OKC and its other water resources in southeastern and northwestern Oklahoma. Recent rains have replenished a portion of the city’s water supply with lake capacity now at 56 percent, City Manager Jim Couch said. But there’s still a need for a water conservation plan in case of a worst-case scenario this summer. As a result, the Oklahoma City Council last week approved a progressive, five-stage measure based on lake levels.
Read more from the Oklahoma Gazette.
Energy Secretary Michael Ming leaves cabinet for GE
Oklahoma Secretary of Energy Michael Ming announced Wednesday that he will leave his cabinet-level position by the end of the month to assume leadership of GE’s new Global Research Center to be located in the Oklahoma City metro area. In April, Ming joined Gov. Mary Fallin and GE CEO Jeff Immelt to announce the new research facility, which will focus on the oil and gas sector. The new center will be a showcase for GE customers from around the world and will create at least 125 jobs. At least one Democrat voiced what could be characterized as concerns about the potential conflict of interest. Oklahoma handed out more than $3 million in cash payments and tax breaks to GE to attract the research facility.
Read more from the Norman Transcript.
Quote of the Day
Oklahoma policymakers believe they are “tough on crime” when the state’s crime rate is 15%-20% higher than the national average, particularly for violent crime. They have achieved this higher-than-average crime rate with higher-than-average incarceration, as have virtually all the high crime, high incarceration states. The states with average or lower crime rates put together other packages of public safety spending with less emphasis on incarceration. They are “soft on crime.” Crime, meanwhile, is doing that LMAO thing about Oklahoma and looking to retire there when it gets tired of being Crime. It seems like a very hospitable place for Crime to live.
Number of the Day
4,600
The number of homeless Oklahomans, 2012
Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
GAO report paints bleak fiscal outlook for states, local governments
A new report by the Government Accountability Office forecasts a gloomy outlook for state and local government budgets, finding an ever-widening gap between projected revenues and expenses for years to come. States and localities will record operating balances with an aggregate deficit of 1.6 percent of gross domestic product this year, according to the report. Absent any reforms, the deficit will balloon to 2.7 percent within 30 years. Most notably, the report cites rising health costs as the primary driver of the sector’s long-term fiscal challenges.
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