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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 Oklahoma voters approved all six state questions on the ballot yesterday. Tulsa County voters rejected the Vision2 sales-tax package. All judges on the Oklahoma judicial retention ballot were allowed to stay in office. With victories in open seats by Jim Bridenstine and Markwayne Mullin, Republicans captured all of the state’s five congressional seats. The OK Policy Blog shared links to our posts on the issues at stake in the election.
Republicans picked up two seats in the state Senate, which will be 36 Republicans to 12 Democrats in the upcoming session. House Republicans will pick up at least one seat, which would give them a 71-30 majority. Despite voting machine troubles for the second election in a row, Republican Katie Henke won the House District 71 race. In a recount of House District 45, Republican Aaron Stiles beat challenger Paula Roberts by 18 votes.
The state’s gross revenue collections for October rose by 9 percent compared to 2011, the highest percentage increase in eight months. Kansas estimates that the state will have to make up for a $327 million shortfall due to tax cuts. Greater localized control of a variety of issues and help with the completion of the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum are among items at the top of the Oklahoma City Council’s list of legislative goals for the next year. The Oklahoma Gazette reports that five years later, the impact of HB 1804 on Oklahoma City’s Hispanic community seems minimal.
The Number of the Day is the number of children in Oklahoma living with grandparents who are responsible for their care. In today’s Policy Note, Wonkblog discusses how President Obama’s reelection means the Affordable Care Act will fully come into effect, and now states need to make it work.
In The News
Oklahoma voters approve all six state questions
Oklahoma voters approved all six ballot measures on Tuesday, including a proposal to wipe out affirmative action programs in state government that the plan’s supporters say are no longer needed. State officials believe the change would have a minimal impact, mainly on some scholarships that target women or minorities. Also approved by voters were proposals to remove the governor from the parole process, limit annual property valuation increases from 5 percent to 3 percent, exempt intangible personal property from property tax and change the way the Oklahoma Department of Human Services is governed. Voters also approved a question that allows the Oklahoma Water Resources Board to issue bonds.
Read more from the Enid News and Eagle.
Tulsa County voters reject Vision2
Tulsa County voters strongly rejected Tuesday the $748.8 million Vision2 sales-tax package backed by many government and Tulsa Metro Chamber leaders. “I don’t even know what to say because I’m so incredibly disappointed,” Tulsa County Commissioner Karen Keith said at the somber Vision2 supporters’ watch party at the downtown Holiday Inn. “We are going to have to go back and figure out how we get some of these critical needs taken care of.” Incomplete totals gathered from polling locations showed both Vision2 proposals had failed.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
All judges on Oklahoma judicial retention ballot retained
Twelve members of Oklahoma’s appellate courts accumulated similar and comfortable margins of voter support Tuesday in winning the right to remain in office. With 1,707 out of 1,960 precincts reporting in statewide voting, all justices and judges on the retention ballot were getting approval margins ranging from 65 to 67 percent. Only majority voter support was necessary for them to keep their jobs. Four justices on the nine-member Supreme Court — Noma Gurich, James Edmondson, Yvonne Kauger and Douglas Combs — got the voter support needed under a “yes-no” system to remain on the bench of the state’s highest court. The remaining five justices were not up for retention this election.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
GOP captures Oklahoma Congressional seats
Republicans completed a takeover of Oklahoma politics Tuesday, capturing the state’s five congressional seats and handing Mitt Romney seven electoral votes with a victory over Barack Obama in a contest where the biggest suspense was whether the president could carry any of the state’s 77 counties. Plumbing company owner Markwayne Mullin, a political neophyte from Westville, claimed for Republicans a U.S. House seat in eastern Oklahoma given up by retiring Rep. Dan Boren, a Democrat. Navy pilot Jim Bridenstine won a seat in Congress from the Tulsa area for the GOP. With victories by incumbent Reps. Tom Cole, James Lankford and Frank Lucas, the GOP now controls all of Oklahoma’s Washington delegation, all statewide offices and both chambers of the state Legislature.
Read more from the Enid News and Eagle.
In case you missed it: The issues at stake in today’s election
Need a distraction from frantically refreshing the election results? Want to know more about what the final outcome could mean? Here are several OK Policy Blog posts about the issues at stake in today’s vote.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
GOP picks up two seats in Oklahoma Senate
Republicans picked up two seats in the state Senate on Tuesday in one of the unlikeliest of places — a longtime Democratic stronghold in rural southeast Oklahoma. The new composition of the Senate will be 36 Republicans to 12 Democrats, a growing supermajority from what the GOP had at the end of May. The party also picked up two seats in the primaries where Democrats failed to field candidates to defend seats vacated by liberal incumbents. Democrats were able to easily hold onto seats where they had incumbents in office.
Oklahoma House Republicans to control record number of seats
House Republicans will have a record-high number for next year’s legislative session by posting wins Tuesday in 24 of the 34 contested seats based on unofficial returns. House members will pick up at least one seat, which would give them a 71-30 majority in the 101-member House of Representatives when they convene next year. Their previous high was 70 after the 2010 elections; a death and two vacancies put the tally at 67-31 at the end of this year’s session. Fifteen of the 16 House Republicans and all seven Democratic House members either had won or were ahead, based on incomplete returns. Republicans appeared headed to win nine of the 11 open seats.
After two tries, Republican Katie Henke wins clear victory in House District 71
Despite voting machine troubles for the second election in a row, Republican Katie Henke won the House District 71 race Tuesday. Results in one precinct were frozen much of the night, forcing a hand recount, Assistant Tulsa County Election Board Secretary Shelly Boggs said. Eleven voting machines countywide were unable to report results, requiring recounts, Boggs said. Despite Tuesday night’s problems, the results were clear. Henke had a margin of about 900 votes with only about 600 votes unaccounted for in the troubled machine.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Recount reported in House District 45
Problems at the polls have been reported in Cleveland County, and one race had to be recounted Wednesday, local TV stations report. House District 45 was recounted overnight, TV stations report Wednesday morning. Recount results show incumbent Republican Aaron Stiles beat Democrat Paula Roberts by 18 votes, the stations report. Late Tuesday, officials reported Stiles was losing to Roberts in a tight race.
Oklahoma state revenues jump by 9 percent in October
The news for Oklahoma’s economy is good and that in turn may translate into more money for the state Legislature to appropriate next year to desperately needed areas such as education. The state’s gross revenue collections for October rose by 9 percent compared to 2011, the highest percentage increase in eight months. What prompted this positive report? State Treasurer Ken Miller credits the uptick primarily to growth in personal income tax collections, up by more than 20 percent, and better gross production numbers, which earlier this year had fallen as much as 54 percent below previous year collections.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Kansas tax cuts may lead to $327 million shortfall in 2014
The state will need either a big economic boost or some serious cuts to government in order accommodate the income tax cuts Gov. Sam Brownback and state lawmakers approved earlier this year, according to estimates released Tuesday. The consensus revenue estimates show the state will have to make up for a $327 million projected shortfall in its 2014 fiscal year. That’s assuming the state spends down all of its reserves, keeps base state aid to students steady and allows a 6/10ths of a cent sales tax to expire on time in July 2013.
Read more from the Wichita Eagle.
Oklahoma City Council outlines legislative goals for coming year
Greater localized control of a variety of issues and help with the completion of the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum are among items at the top of the Oklahoma City Council’s list of legislative goals for the next year at the state and national levels. Council members have advocated for more control over everything from local election finance disclosure rules to the length grass can be on private property before code enforcement officers can mow it. Smoking laws also have been cited as something some Oklahoma City Council members would like to have more control over. Transit investment, water supply security and economic development tools are among the council’s other agenda items for legislative lobbying.
Five years later, impact of HB 1804 on OKC’s Latino community seems minimal
The Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007, better known as House Bill 1804, was tough for its day. It remains the gravitational center of illegal immigration arguments in Oklahoma, even as it has been dissected by lawsuits, eclipsed by bills in other states and rendered less relevant by an increasingly young and legal Latino community. But when it was signed into law five years ago, HB 1804 sparked “sheer panic in the community,” said Pat Fennell, former president and CEO of the Latino Community Development Agency (LCDA). Many immigrants fled the state immediately. Those who stayed lived in fear. In the time since, the measure has lost some of its teeth. Although many elements of the original bill remain on the books, Latino immigrants, both documented and undocumented, have returned to the state, in part because the controversy cooled, Fennell said.
Read more from the Oklahoma Gazette.
Quote of the Day
There is now a massive baby boom that’s going to overshadow that other baby boom.
–Ruben Aragon, CEO of the Latino Community Development Agency, speaking about the growing Hispanic population in Oklahoma City
Number of the Day
45,633
Number of children in Oklahoma living with grandparents who are responsible for their care, 2010
Source: AARP
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Obamacare stands. Now states need to make it work.
The Affordable Care Act’s fate has been in limbo since the day it became law. The Supreme Court could have wiped it off the books. A President Romney could’ve repealed it. But that’s all over now. President Obama’s reelection means that his signature legislative accomplishment, the Affordable Care Act, will fully come into effect. That’s what we know for sure. We know a lot less, however, about how that happens. The federal government has never tried to expand private insurance coverage to 30 million Americans, and it will now need cooperation from some very uncooperative states. The health-care law’s requirement to purchase insurance — and insurance subsidies for millions of Americans — both roll out Jan. 1, 2014. The laundry list of what needs to happen between now and then is pretty massive.
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