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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 phasing in of Oklahoma’s child welfare reform initiatives would be accelerated from five years to three years under a revised proposal. A DHS commissioner has issued a report recommending closure of a Pauls Valley residential care center for the developmentally disabled. Ginnie Graham profiled Oklahoma’s child abuse and neglect hotline. The Oklahoma Ethics Commission voted to withdraw its public reprimand of former DHS Commissioner Steven Dow.
Wayne Greene summarized the six state questions that will be on Oklahoma ballots this November. Tulsa-area leaders said proposed tax packages for airport infrastructure improvements need further scrutiny. Senate Republicans won’t allow a vote before November’s presidential election to confirm U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert E. Bacharach to a federal appeals court, despite Bacharach’s credentials and support from both Oklahoma senators.
Oklahoma Hispanics and immigration activists are cheering President Obama’s new policy to stop deporting and begin granting work permits to younger undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children. The number of Oklahomans with jobs set a record in May at 1.7 million. Prosperity in the local economy led to a net gain of 85 jobs in Oklahoma City’s government. StateImpact Oklahoma shares the 10 fastest growing industries in Oklahoma.
A NewsOK letter to the editor writes that Oklahoma’s elimination of funding for adult education will cost more in the long run to pay for welfare and incarceration. The Number of the Day is the amount funding for common education in Oklahoma for FY 2013 falls short of FY 2009 appropriation levels. In today’s Policy Note, The New Republic examines uninsured Americans in the South and West who would lose most if the Supreme Court strikes down the new health care law.
In The News
Revised proposal calls for accelerating DHS reforms in Oklahoma
The phasing in of Oklahoma’s child welfare reform initiatives would be accelerated from five years to three years under a revised proposal submitted Thursday to out-of-state experts overseeing the reform process. “There are no initiatives that begin in years four and five in the updated version,” said Deborah Smith, director of DHS’s family services division. DHS administrators and members of the three-person oversight panel agree on the urgency of making improvements as quickly as possible, Smith said. After the oversight panel withheld its endorsement of the original proposal, additional discussions were held and DHS officials agreed to “be more bold” in their time frames and attempt to “accomplish things faster,” Smith said.
DHS Commissioner recommends closure of Pauls Valley center for developmentally disabled
A DHS commissioner has issued a report recommending closure of a Pauls Valley residential care center for the developmentally disabled. Commissioners said they may vote on the proposal at their July 24 meeting, although the agenda for that meeting has not yet been set. Under Commissioner Michael Peck’s proposal, about 46 of the 124 residents of the Southern Oklahoma Resource Center in Pauls Valley could be transferred to the state’s other residential care center for the developmentally disabled in Enid. The rest would be transitioned into community-based homes. Peck said he is recommending closure of the Pauls Valley center by Aug. 13, 2013, because that’s the date the Oklahoma Health Department’s licensure of the institution as an intermediate care facility is scheduled to terminate if fire sprinkler systems have not been installed.
State DHS hotline rings with complaints of abuse, neglect
The call center resembles an office of people making sales, but operators actually are hearing horrific stories. “Are you suggesting he is slipping this into the child’s food?” asks one worker. “Where exactly is the child burned?” asks another. For Mary Gauss, she got off the phone with a man who cannot find his children and fears for their safety with his ex-wife. “This will be a hard one because he doesn’t know where she is living,” Gauss said. “The mom is not in communication with him, he doesn’t know where his children are, and he wants us to do a welfare check.” The child-welfare worker with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services joined the staff of the statewide child abuse and neglect hotline a year ago.
Ethics Commission withdraws reprimand of former DHS Commissioner Steven Dow
The Oklahoma Ethics Commission voted Friday to withdraw its public reprimand of former DHS Commissioner Steven Dow, citing newly discovered evidence that the alleged ethics violation was “inadvertent.” Dow resigned from the Oklahoma Commission for Human Services on May 30, one day after the Ethics Commission publicly reprimanded him for serving as a DHS commissioner at the same time he was the unpaid chief executive officer of the Community Action Project of Tulsa County, a nonprofit agency that contracts with DHS to provide day care and child education services. Dow’s attorney, Robert McCampbell, said the Ethics Commission’s reversal does not mean that Dow will get his DHS Commission job back, since Dow tendered his resignation to the governor. The Ethics Commission voted 4-1 to withdraw its public reprimand, with Commissioner Tom Walker casting the lone dissenting vote.
Voters to decide six state questions in November
The Nov. 6 general election will include six state questions with proposals ranging from a limitation on state affirmative action programs to the removal of the governor from the parole process for nonviolent offenders. Last week, proponents of an initiative petition to broaden retail sales of wine said they are putting their effort off until the 2014 election, meaning there are no other pending measures that could lengthen the ballot. Here’s a look at the pending proposals to be considered in November.
Tax plan for airport needs scrutiny, leaders say
Airport infrastructure improvements are needed but before any tax package proposal takes flight, funding options need further scrutiny, Tulsa and suburban leaders said Tuesday. “Putting a tax increase on the ballot in November in the reddest state in the country, when Barack Obama is at the top of the ticket, does not sound like a winning combination to me,” Tulsa City Council Chairman G.T. Bynum said. The Tulsa World revealed Tuesday that two funding options involving a countywide tax are being floated to area officials to benefit American Airlines and airport industrial facilities. A $329 million tax package is proposed for the Nov. 6 ballot including $254 million for airport improvements and a $75 million “deal-closing fund” to provide incentives for new businesses. Tulsa Metro Chamber officials released the numbers Tuesday.
Read more from The Tulsa World.
Senate Republicans to block vote on Oklahoma nominee for federal appeals court
Senate Republicans won’t allow a vote before November’s presidential election to confirm U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert E. Bacharach to a federal appeals court, despite Bacharach’s credentials and support from both Oklahoma senators, Sen. Tom Coburn said Thursday. Coburn, R-Muskogee, said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell told him Republicans were following a tradition used by both parties to block votes on circuit court nominees a few months before a presidential election. That means a vote on Bacharach, whose nomination to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, “is not going to happen,” Coburn said. Bacharach is “an awfully good candidate” for the circuit court position, said Coburn, who praised his character and judicial temperament. Bacharach, who has been a magistrate judge in Oklahoma City since 1999, was given a rating of “unanimously well qualified” for the appeals court position by the American Bar Association.
Many cheer Obama’s new immigration policy
Judith Huerta danced when she learned Friday that the Obama administration would stop deporting and begin granting work permits to younger illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children. Huerta, 21, of Oklahoma City, is one those children. Her family moved from Mexico when she was 2, and the United States is the only country she’s ever called home. “It’s definitely brought hope to a lot of us here,” said Huerta, her voice cracking with emotion. “I was dancing earlier, and crying. Most people don’t understand what this means for us — it means we have a better shot at a better future.” The policy change was announced Friday by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, and will affect as many as 800,000 immigrants nationally who have lived in fear of deportation. It also bypasses Congress and partially achieves goals of the DREAM Act, a long-sought plan to establish a path toward citizenship for young people who came to the United States illegally.
Oklahoma employment number sets record in May
The number of Oklahomans with jobs set a record in May at 1.7 million as the state’s unemployment rate fell to 4.8 percent, according to figures released Friday. The jobless rate declined 0.2 percentage points from the 5 percent rate of April, and is down 1.1 percentage points in the past year, the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission reported. “That’s pretty dadgum strong in this day and age,” University of Oklahoma economist Robert Dauffenbach said. The national unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage points to 8.2 percent in May. The U.S. Labor Department said that unemployment rates rose in 18 states, were unchanged in 18 and fell in only 14, including Oklahoma. In April, rates fell in 37 states.
Oklahoma increases government jobs to 10 year high in wake of economic growth
Prosperity in the local economy led to a net gain of 85 jobs for Oklahoma City’s government in the fiscal year that begins July 1. But even with the boost, the city is only just now approaching the same number of jobs it had 10 years ago. There are 4,511 city jobs in the fiscal year 2013 Oklahoma City budget, the most since the city cut more than 200 jobs from 2001 to 2003 because of a recession, according to city figures. From a low of about 4,300 jobs in 2003, Oklahoma City added jobs every year until the next recession cut them back down to near that level by fiscal year 2011. Conditions imposed by everything from global financial markets to the smallest parts of the local economy affect the city budget every year, city Budget Director Doug Dowler said.
Oklahoma’s 10 fastest growing industries
StateImpact has been gazing into the future for hints of what Oklahoma’s economy might look like. We already know that many of the fastest-growing occupations of Oklahoma’s future are health care-related, estimates from the Oklahoma Employment Security Office show. And looking at industry-by-industry growth — a pattern is starting to emerge. The single fastest-growing industry is specialty trade contractors, a subsector that includes plumbers, concrete pourers, electricians and heating and air-conditioning technicians. But health care and social assistance will likely be Oklahoma’s fastest growing “major industry” groups, according to commission data. More than 39,000 jobs in those industries will be added between 2008 and 2018, data show.
Read more from StateImpact Oklahoma.
Funding adult basic education costs less than welfare, incarceration
For the second consecutive year, the Oklahoma Board of Education has voted not to fund adult basic education in Oklahoma. I teach adult basic education classes in Shawnee. As a career teacher in Oklahoma — 26 years in public education, 11 years in career technology and two years in adult education — I know how complicated educational funding can be. I’m concerned about the future of the many young people who’ve dropped out of school before getting a high school diploma. The jobs available are few and far between. The state can either invest in educating these students and help them earn a GED and go on to further education or career training, or we can spend much more money on welfare and incarceration for the rest of their lives. Some of these young people made bad choices; some had no home support or encouragement. They’ve dropped out of school and their education needs to be funded. In the long run, Oklahoma would save money on every student who gets a GED and goes on to higher education, job training and better employment.
Quote of the Day
It’s definitely brought hope to a lot of us here. I was dancing earlier, and crying. Most people don’t understand what this means for us — it means we have a better shot at a better future.
–Judith Huerta, a 21 year old Oklahoma City woman who moved from Mexico to the United States when she was 2, on learning that the Obama administration would stop deporting and begin granting work permits to younger undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children
Number of the Day
$184 million
Amount funding for common education in Oklahoma for FY 2013 falls short of FY 2009 appropriation levels.
Source: Oklahoma Policy Institute
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
People who would benefit have little idea what they may lose if Supreme Court strikes down health care law
As Robin Layman, a mother of two who has major health troubles but no insurance, arrived at a free clinic here, she had a big personal stake in the Supreme Court’s imminent decision on the new national health care law. Not that she realized that. “What new law?” she said. “I’ve not heard anything about that.” Layman was one of 600 people who on a recent weekend came from across southeastern Tennessee for the clinic held by Remote Area Medical, a Knoxville-based organization that for two decades has been providing free medical, dental and vision care in underserved areas. Most everyone had spent the night in their parked cars, to get a good spot in line. Daybreak found them massed outside the turreted stone gymnasium of the 150-year-old college, the University of the South, some still wearing pajamas or wrapped in blankets, waiting quietly for the 6 a.m. opening of the doors. It was Remote Area Medical’s 667th clinic. But this one came at an unusual moment: as the Supreme Court deliberates whether to uphold the health care law that will have a disproportionate impact on the sort of people served by the organization.
Read more from The New Republic.
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