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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 Senate approved a bill to reduce the state’s top income tax rate by one-half of 1 percent and offset some of the lost revenue by eliminating or changing tax exemptions. The House approved a bill to require any proposals for new tax credits to show how much they’ll cost and how they’ll help Oklahoma’s economy. A bill waiting to be heard on the House floor would help close the sales tax loophole for online retailers by broadening what it means to have a presence in Oklahoma.
Oklahoma is closer to getting a handle on its inventory of buildings and properties in order to sell unused and underused properties. Selling off properties has been suggested as a way to fund repairs to the crumbling state Capitol; it’s estimated that about $10 million could be raised through the sale of state properties and buildings, while needed repairs to the Capitol could cost as much as $160 million. The OK Policy Blog explained why House Speaker TW Shannon’s defense of restricting Oklahoma’s bond debt doesn’t match reality.
The Oklahoma Legislature was given a “D” grade by the Sunlight Foundation for how well legislative information is made available to the public. Oklahoma’s state senators were asked to reread their body’s rules and code of conduct in a secret meeting called near the end of day’s session. The House passed a bill to require able-bodied Oklahomans with no dependents to perform at least 20 hours of work activities to receive federal food stamps. Oklahoma Policy Institute is tracking bills that threaten the safety net for low-income Oklahomans.
The Tulsa Veterans Treatment Court Program is helping veterans charged with crimes to deal with issues that might have led to the crimes in the first place. The Tulsa World criticized a bill that would raise fees on Oklahomans convicted of crimes even further despite many being unable to pay. A bill to ban texting while driving will not receive a hearing on the House floor. Devon Energy Corp. has managed to make the task of complying with new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations into a moneymaking proposition.
The Number of the Day is how many Oklahoma business establishments were more than 10 years old in 2011. In today’s Policy Note, a report by the Center for Green Schools finds that $271 billion is needed nationwide to bring public schools up to working order and comply with the laws.
In The News
Senate approves plan to cut personal income tax, offset some lost revenue
A Republican-backed plan to reduce the state’s top personal income tax rate by one-half of 1 percent and offset some of the lost revenue by eliminating or changing dozens of exemptions in the tax code cleared the Oklahoma Senate on Monday. The Senate voted 33-13, mostly along party lines, for the bill sponsored by Sen. Mike Mazzei, R-Tulsa. The measure now heads to the House for consideration. The bill would reduce Oklahoma’s top personal income tax rate from 5.25 percent to 4.75 percent, beginning Jan. 1, 2015, and eliminate dozens of tax exemptions for businesses and individuals. The proposal would reduce state revenue collections by about $43.5 million in fiscal year 2015 and $108.7 million when fully implemented in fiscal year 2016, according to a fiscal analysis by the Oklahoma Tax Commission.
Read more from the Associated Press.
House votes to limit new tax credits
The Oklahoma House has approved a proposal to sharply limit the tax credits the state government can approve. Republican Rep. David Dank of Oklahoma City authored the bill and says it is the result of years of bipartisan work. The House approved the bill without opposition and sent it to the state Senate for consideration. The bill says the public can find out who benefits from every tax cut. It would also require any proposals for new tax credits to show how much they’ll cost and how they’ll help Oklahoma’s economy.
Lawmakers work to close Internet tax loophole
Oklahoma businesses are joining with its cities and counties to battle an increasing problem — loss of sales tax resulting from online sales. While much of the e-fairness battle is being fought in Washington, D.C., Oklahoma lawmakers are doing what they can to close that tax loophole. House Bill 1363 authored by Rep. Earl Sears, R-Bartlesville, amends the current Oklahoma Sales Tax Code by redefining and broadening what it means to have a presence in the state. “Basically, what the bill does is says if you have a presence in Oklahoma, you must pay sales tax,” Sears said. “A company may be in another state but may have a relationship in Oklahoma that ships it out.”
Read more from the Norman Transcript.
Effort to sell Oklahoma’s unused building, properties continues
Oklahoma is closer to getting a handle on its inventory of buildings and properties in order to sell unused and underused properties and could soon have one panel instead of nearly 200 state agencies negotiating building leases and managing building needs. It’s all part of a plan by House Speaker T.W. Shannon for Oklahoma, the single largest owner of buildings, land and leases in the state, to sell its unneeded property and underused buildings. Proceeds would be used to pay for maintenance costs of other state buildings, including repairs to the state Capitol. Eventually, an eight-year plan — similar to the long-range plans used by the state Transportation Department for road and bridge projects — would be developed to manage the state’s buildings and properties. Right now, 163 state agencies handle their own building needs.
Running government like a business means taking on debt
In recent years, debt seems to have become a dirty word in the Legislature. Lawmakers have refused to approve bonds for amenities like the unfinished American Indian Cultural Center in Oklahoma City and the proposed OK Pop Museum in Tulsa, and even dire needs like repairs to the crumbling state Capitol and a new Medical Examiner’s Office. This year, lawmakers have not been content with refusing to pass bonds in the present. Bills in the House and Senate seek to restrict future Legislatures from increasing bond debt beyond certain levels.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
Oklahoma receives ‘D’ grade for legislative openness
Despite recent upgrades in technology, the Oklahoma Legislature a national group has given the state a grade of “D” for how well legislative information is made available to the public. The nonpartisan, nonprofit group Sunlight Foundation released transparency report cards on Monday for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The group analyzed legislative websites to determine how readily legislative information is publicly available. Factors included completeness, timeliness, ease of electronic access, machine readability, use of commonly owned standards and permanence.
Oklahoma Senate meets in rare executive session for lesson on rules
Oklahoma’s state senators were asked to reread their body’s rules and code of conduct Monday in a secret meeting called near the end of day’s session. Reporters, staff and viewers in the gallery were asked to leave Senate chambers without warning as legislators invoked executive privilege for the first time in decades. The move came on the first day of Sunshine Week, a national acknowledgment of openness and transparency in state government. Both Bingman, R-Sapulpa, and Burrage, D-Claremore, declined to say afterward what prompted the rare session, but others in the room said it was simply a chance for them to remind lawmakers to follow the rules.
House approves bill making changes in food stamp program
A proposed law would require able-bodied Oklahomans with no dependents to perform at least 20 hours of work activities to receive federal food stamps. House Bill 1909 passed the House of Representatives on Monday after it was changed reducing the weekly work requirement from 35 to 20 hours. It would require people ages 18 to 50 who are not disabled or raising a child to perform at least 20 hours of work activities as a condition of receiving federal food benefits. Activities would include job seeking and career training, volunteer work and/or education directly related to employment opportunities.
See also: Threats to the Safety Net: Bills affecting low-income Oklahomans from Oklahoma Policy Institute
Court program helps veterans charged with certain crimes to move on, stay out of trouble
As Bruce Cato was congratulated by Maj. Gen. Myles Deering for reaching Phase 3 of the Veterans Treatment Court, he felt a swell of support and confidence to stay on track. It’s been hard, Cato said, but the treatment provided by the court program has helped him get to the best point he’s reached for some time. The Tulsa Veterans Treatment Court Program is one of the first special treatment dockets focused on veterans in the country. More than 70 people who have been charged with certain crimes in Tulsa County use the court to take care of the charges against them while receiving help in dealing with issues that might have led to the crimes in the first place.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Fund Internet crime investigations apart from fee system
At first blush a bill by state Sen. Dan Newberry, R-Tulsa, sounds like a win-win measure: Raise fees on certain criminal defendants when they’re convicted and apply that $10 toward investigating and prosecuting crimes committed on the Internet against children, such as child pornography. The measure unanimously passed the Senate and is headed for the House. Fees and fines are part of the price for conviction of a crime. But in recent years criminal fees have increased to the point that offenders often cannot pay these costs.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Bill would let parents opt out of schools with armed teachers
Parents who object to their local public schools’ arming teachers and administrators could send their children to private schools at state expense under legislation filed Monday by Rep. Mike Shelton, D-Oklahoma City. The proposal is in the form of an amendment to House Bill 1062 by Rep. Mark McCullough, R-Sapulpa. HB 1062 would authorize specially trained school personnel to carry firearms. Under the amendment, students in such schools would be eligible for private school vouchers valued at 95 percent of per-pupil funding in the students’ home districts or the cost of tuition and fees, whichever is less.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Bill to ban texting while driving all but dead
Efforts to pass a law to ban texting while driving appear to be on life support in the state House of Representatives. AAA Oklahoma spokesman Chuck Mai said Monday that House Speaker T.W. Shannon will not hear House Bill 1503 by Rep. Curtis McDaniel, D-Smithville. The measure would ban texting while driving with some exceptions. Mai said Shannon, R-Lawton, is worried that the measure could not be enforced. Shannon would not comment Monday.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Devon Energy makes money by following EPA rules
Devon Energy Corp. has managed to make the task of complying with new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations into a moneymaking proposition in western Oklahoma. The company has figured out a way to keep methane and other forms of carbon known as “volatile organic compounds” from leaking out of oil storage tanks in its operations in the Cana Woodford Shale. Devon is using vapor recovery units to compress the gas so that it can be placed into a pipeline to be sold. Otherwise, that gas would be burned off or simply leak out into the air. The EPA is cracking down on emissions of some volatile organic compounds, which can cause environmental or health problems.
Quote of the Day
There are companies out there that hold the TVs and the toasters. They send them an order, an invoice, that tells them to send this … The box will come and there it is. That’s a presence.
–Rep. Earl Sears, R-Bartlesville, on a bill that seeks to close a tax loophole for online retailers by broadening what it means to have a presence in the state.
Number of the Day
806,829
The number of private-sector Oklahoma establishments – physical locations of an economic enterprise (i.e. a factory, storefront, or office) – that were more than 10 years old in 2011, up 5.8 percent since 2007
Source: OESC
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Taking a look at the state of our nation’s school facilities
Everywhere I go, I see schools falling apart. On my way to work in D.C., I pass schools with broken windows and crumbling bricks. In the Bronx, I’ve been inside schools where only one out of four bathroom stalls is even remotely usable. In Georgia, I’ve met students and teachers forced to take time away from the classroom to treat headaches and asthma attacks. But I, along with parents, elected officials and taxpayers alike, have no way of knowing just how much fixing there is to do. That’s why we’ve released our 2013 “State of our Schools” report, which brings to light the fact that a whopping $271 billion is needed to bring public schools in the United States up to working order and comply with the laws.
Read more from the Center for Green Schools.
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