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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 Tulsa County Sheriff asked a court Tuesday to order the Department of Corrections to pick up all state inmates awaiting transfer to state prisons from the Tulsa Jail because of severe overcrowding. Graduates of the ReMerge prison diversion program said it has helped them rebuild their lives and become productive citizens. A state Supreme Court referee heard arguments on whether the recently passed income tax cut/Capitol repairs bill violates the state Constitution.
OK Policy analyst Kate Richey wrote a letter to the editor responding to the Oklahoman editorial board’s assertion that the large racial wealth gap in Oklahoma is due to minorities making bad decisions. See OK Policy’s report on the racial wealth gap here. Oklahoma Education Secretary Phyllis Hudecki announced that she is resigning from the Cabinet. Terry Smith has been named the new President and CEO of the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy.
Urban Tulsa Weekly examined the Leavitt Report’s findings that Oklahoma should accept federal Medicaid expansion funds through Insure Oklahoma. NewsOK reported on a Twitter debate between OK Policy analyst Gene Perry, OCPA’s Jonathan Small, and others over Oklahoma’s health care policy. The Number of the Day is the amount in premiums paid by Oklahoma small businesses in 2011 that went to their medical care, rather than insurer overhead and profits, because of a new rule in the Affordable Care Act. In today’s Policy Note, a new report by the Chicago Federal Reserve finds that increasing the minimum wage would boost the economy.
In The News
Sheriff asks court to order transfer of state inmates from Tulsa Jail
Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz asked a court Tuesday to order the Department of Corrections to pick up all state inmates awaiting transfer to state prisons from the Tulsa Jail. “We’re basically looking for some direction from the court to order DOC to take their inmates, which in turn will reduce our population to a manageable number,” said Undersheriff Tim Albin. The injunction request, filed in Tulsa County District Court, came on the 122nd straight day the jail has been over its 1,714-inmate capacity, according to the lawsuit. Albin said the jail’s inmate population as of mid-day Tuesday was 1,792, with 160 to 170 of the inmates being held for the Department of Corrections.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Graduates praise Oklahoma prison-diversion program
Tears streamed from Carrie Slaughter’s eyes as she stood before a crowd of family members, friends and supporters and contemplated the years of incarceration she faced before she entered a prison diversion program for mothers and pregnant women that she said had given her and others a new chance. Slaughter, 25, was among four women facing a total of more than 15 years of incarceration for a variety of offenses who graduated Tuesday from a prison diversion program for women designed to help them become productive citizens in their communities. Operated by ReMerge of Oklahoma County, the program holds participants accountable while providing services to support their recovery and promote responsible parenting.
Attorney maintains tax cut bill unconstitutional
A bill celebrated by Republican leaders that slashes Oklahoma’s personal income tax rate and funds repairs to the crumbling Capitol building is unconstitutional and should be thrown out, an Oklahoma City attorney argued on Tuesday. Attorney Jerry Fent, who has a long track record of successfully challenging legislative actions, argued before a Supreme Court referee that the bill is an example of “logrolling” because it violates a provision of the Oklahoma Constitution that requires acts of the Legislature to embrace only one subject. “The first part of the title is substantive law — reducing your income tax liability,” Fent told Supreme Court Referee Greg Albert. “The second section of the title is creating a fund and providing for an appropriation. “Here we have two subject matters as quickly as you can use your eyes to look at the title.”
Read more from the Claremore Daily Progress.
History affects generations of people
A report by Oklahoma Policy Institute outlines large and persistent gaps in wealth, income and opportunity between Oklahomans of different races and ethnic backgrounds. “Bigotry not to blame for Oklahoma’s shortcomings” (Our Views, June 24) takes issue with this report. The evidence of a racial wealth gap isn’t disputed. Rather, the editorial says blacks have higher rates for smoking, obesity, cancer, heart-disease mortality, incarceration and unemployment, and lower rates of education achievement, “largely” as a result of personal choices.
See also: Closing the Opportunity Gap: Building Equity in Oklahoma from Oklahoma Policy Institute
Phyllis Hudecki, Oklahoma’s education secretary, stepping down
A third member in as many months is leaving Gov. Mary Fallin’s Cabinet. Oklahoma Education Secretary Phyllis Hudecki announced Tuesday she is resigning her gubernatorial Cabinet post. Her resignation takes effect Monday. Hudecki, who has served on Fallin’s Cabinet since the governor took office in January 2011, said she wanted to resume full-time duties as executive director of the Oklahoma Business and Education Coalition, a group formed in 2000 with the intent to generate more involvement in education by the business community.
Child Advocacy Institute names new CEO
Terry Smith has been named the new President and Chief Executive Officer of the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy (OICA). The announcement made today by Kristin Alex Davies, President of the OICA Board of Directors, ends a lengthy search for a new leader for the state’s only multi-issue child advocacy organization. Smith has worked with Oklahoma children, youth and families for over 30 years. He has served as a Juvenile Justice Specialist, District Supervisor, Deputy Director and Training Director for the Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs. He also managed the State and Federal grants department and developed Medicaid funding systems for youth in the juvenile justice system.
Read more from the Norman Transcript.
Tiptoeing into expansion
Many have called it a step in the right direction. But the much-anticipated Leavitt Partners report still leaves plenty of unanswered questions. “If this was an attempt to make things more simple for people without insurance, I don’t think that was accomplished,” said John Silva, chief executive officer for Morton Comprehensive Health Services, a health care provider with clinics in Tulsa. About half of patients treated at Morton clinics have no health insurance, he said. In 123 pages, the Utah-based consulting group laid out recommendations for what’s known as a Medicaid demonstration proposal.
Read more from Urban Tulsa Weekly.
Twitter fight an example of contentious health care debate
I was waiting on the state Board of Health meeting to start today when I got a tweet about a news story from News Channel 4. The story was about the Surgery Center of Oklahoma, which posts its surgery prices on its website, which most hospitals do not do. The original tweet, sent at 10:31 a.m., launched a debate involving three Oklahoma Twitter users that have a range of viewpoints on whether Oklahoma should expand its Medicaid program.
Quote of the Day
The first part of the title is substantive law — reducing your income tax liability. The second section of the title is creating a fund and providing for an appropriation. Here we have two subject matters as quickly as you can use your eyes to look at the title.
-Attorney Jerry Fent, arguing before a state Supreme Court referee on why the income tax cut/Capitol repairs bill violates the single-subject rule in Oklahoma’s Constitution (Source: http://bit.ly/15w5V2N).
Number of the Day
$20.2 Million
Amount in premiums paid by Oklahoma small businesses in 2011 that went to their medical care, rather than insurer overhead and profits, because of a new rule in the Affordable Care Act
Source: The Commonwealth Fund
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Chicago Federal Reserve study finds minimum wage increase would boost economy
Since everyone knows that the real Fed hippies are in DC, a paper from the Chicago Fed highlighting the benefits of raising the minimum wage provides the argument with some conformist cred. According to economists David Aaronson and Eric French, Obama’s proposed minimum wage hike to $9 an hour would boost economic activity by 0.3 percent in the year following the raise, a stimulus that amounts to $48 billion. Their estimate is based on the multiplier effect of putting dollars in the hands of those most likely to spend them, a group, they argue, which includes 22 million low wage workers today.
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