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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. Click here to subscribe to In The Know and see past editions.
The number of state employees who worked 500 or more hours of overtime in a year doubled between 2010 and 2014, as state agencies are increasingly asking employees to work long hours to cover budget gaps [Tulsa World]. Every year, thousands of Oklahomans with mental-health or addiction problems call or show up at state-funded treatment centers and get little or no care, because Oklahoma’s mental health system limits most subsidized treatment to the seriously ill [Oklahoma Watch]. You can see a breakdown of how the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services prioritizes patients here. While analyzing where to make cuts within the state’s Medicaid agency budget, Oklahoma health leaders discovered millions of dollars being spent on expensive, medically unnecessary urine drug screenings [NewsOK].
The Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority on Wednesday approved next year’s jail budget despite objections from three mayors who sit on the authority, who said a lack of oversight and misspending of funds attached to the jail should delay budget approval [Tulsa World]. State Sen. Brian Crain is urging changes to Oklahoma’s police arbitration rules after another incident with an Owasso police officer who the city had unsuccessfully tried to fire four years ago due to excessive force complaints [Tulsa World]. Oklahoma State University Regents voted to raise tuition 4.5 to 4.8 percent for students at OSU’s five campuses. University of Oklahoma officials are proposing tuition increases between 4 and 5 percent [NewsOK]. Steve Lewis discussed more about why Oklahoma’s attempt to ban teacher payroll deductions may be unenforceable [OK Policy Blog].
After already struggling through severe drought followed by damaging floods, Oklahoma wheat farmers are facing another hurdle with a closed Port of Catoosa that usually carries their product to markets outside of Oklahoma [State Impact Oklahoma]. State Rep. Seneca Scott has proposed an interim study to focus an “e-construction” record-keeping alternative for the state Transportation Department, as well as “road diets” that would redefine existing highway lane space for uses such as bike lanes, pedestrian refuge islands, bus lanes and/or parking [CapitolBeatOK]. Turmoil continues within the Oklahoma Republican Party over a controversial hire by new party Chairman Randy Brogdon of a staffer who pled guilty to domestic violence charges [Tulsa World].
The Number of the Day is -1.4 percent – the drop in Oklahoma’s total employment outside the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metro areas since December. In today’s Policy Note, Nick Hanauer and David Rolf discuss how to protect the American middle class as the economy shifts to recasting full-time employees into contractors, vendors, and temporary workers [Democracy Journal].
In The News
State agencies increasingly turning to overtime to fill their budget gaps
The number of state employees who worked 500 or more hours of overtime in a year doubled between 2010 and 2014, a Tulsa World analysis of payroll data shows. Among the top overtime earners is a Corrections Department officer who has made over $150,000 in overtime pay since 2010. Then there is the 72-year-old, state-employed nurse who worked 13 16-hour shifts during a two-week period in 2014.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Oklahoma’s mental health system: Get sicker first
Every year, thousands of Oklahomans with mental-health or addiction problems call or show up at state-funded treatment centers and get little or no care. The message is: Until you get sicker, you will get minimal help from the state. That’s because Oklahoma’s mental-health system relies on a “triage” approach that limits most subsidized treatment to the seriously ill. The result is that many people are going without early intervention and then are seeing their troubles grow worse.
Read more from Oklahoma Watch.
See also: For state-paid treatment, who makes the cut from Oklahoma Watch
Oklahoma Medicaid agency sees soaring costs with drug testing
While analyzing where to make cuts within the state’s Medicaid agency budget, Oklahoma health leaders discovered millions of dollars being spent on expensive, medically unnecessary urine drug screenings. Nico Gomez, Oklahoma Health Care Authority CEO, said the agency has seen more than a 700 percent increase since 2011 in costs associated with urine drug testing. In 2011, the agency paid $3.7 million in urine drug testing claims. In 2014, the agency spent almost $30 million.
Tulsa County Jail authority approves budget despite mayors’ opposition
The Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority on Wednesday approved next year’s jail budget despite objections from three mayors who sit on the authority. A 40-page letter that reads like a lawsuit originated from Mayor Dewey Bartlett on Monday and was signed by three of the four mayors who sit on the authority, alleging a lack of oversight and misspending of funds attached to the jail should delay budget approval. But facing the beginning of the fiscal year in two weeks, Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority members moved ahead anyway with guarantees from legal counsel that the budget may be changed at any time through the year.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Sen. Brian Crain urges changes to police arbitration rules in excessive force cases
The purported actions of an Owasso police officer suspended on excessive force allegations speak to the value of a bill a state senator proposed regarding arbitration, the legislator said. Owasso Police Lt. Mike Denton was placed on paid administrative leave this week pending an internal investigation into whether he abused the department’s use-of-force policy. The city fired Denton for breaching the policy in 2011, but an arbitrator ordered him reinstated with a written reprimand. The municipality successfully challenged that decision in district court, but Denton won an appeal at the state level and returned to his job in September.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
OSU regents vote to raise tuition
The Board of Regents for Oklahoma State University and the A&M Colleges voted Friday to raise tuition at OSU’s five campuses. The proposed budget now goes to the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education for approval. In-state undergraduates would see a 4.5 percent increase, raising the cost of tuition by $336. Tuition for nonresident undergraduates would rise by 4.7 percent, or $951 per year.
Why Oklahoma’s attempt to ban teacher payroll deductions may not be enforceable
There’s an interesting legal battle brewing over whether HB 1749 by Rep. Tom Newell (R-Seminole) and Sen. Nathan Dahm (R-Tulsa) can actually be enforced once it goes into effect on November 1st. A law firm that represents a majority of the school districts in the state is advising the districts that the law was written in such a way as to make it unenforceable. The legal department of the Oklahoma Education Association, the state’s largest teacher association, apparently agrees.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
Closed shipping lanes pose yet another problem for Oklahoma’s wheat farmers
Slow moving storms that dumped record amounts of rain on Oklahoma in April and May killed the five-year drought, but damaged wheat crops in western Oklahoma. This after one of the worst wheat harvests on record in 2014. Now, as The Journal Record‘s Brian Brus reports, wheat farmers are facing another hurdle: A closed Port of Catoosa on the Arkansas River that usually carries their product to markets outside of Oklahoma.
Read more from State Impact Oklahoma.
Rep. Seneca Scott proposes Interim Study for ‘e-construction’ and ‘road diets’ in Transportation
State Rep. Seneca Scott, D-Tulsa, has proposed a legislative Interim Study to focus an ‘e-construction’ record-keeping alternative for the state Transportation Department’s 8-year plan. If approved by legislative leadreship, Rep. Scott also wants to examine “road diets” for route designs. E-construction is a paperless construction administration delivery process that includes electronic submission of all construction documentation. A paper-based system requires significant time and money to create, process and store documents.
Turmoil continues in Oklahoma Republican Party of Brogdon staffer
Turmoil continues within the Oklahoma Republican Party over a controversial hire by new party Chairman Randy Brogdon. Brogdon’s decision to place T.C. Ryan on the staff as political director caused controversy in some quarters of the GOP because of a domestic violence incident. Ryan pleaded guilty and was sentenced to probation in Tulsa County District Court in 2012 for domestic assault and battery in the presence of a minor child and interference with an emergency telephone call, according to court records.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Quote of the Day
“We have to serve those most in need because we have limited resources, so that’s how we have to prioritize. What that means is you go without until you get sick enough – which is a horrible way to do health care.”
-Terri White, commissioner of the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, speaking about how Oklahoma’s mental health providers are coping with an increaseing number of mentally ill people needing state-paid while state funding for core treatment services has fallen (Source).
Number of the Day
-1.4 percent
Drop in Oklahoma’s total employment outside the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metro areas since December.
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Shared Security, Shared Growth
The American middle class is facing an existential crisis. For more than three decades, declining wages, fraying benefits, and the rising costs of education, housing, and other essentials have stressed and squeezed middle-class Americans. But by far the biggest threat to middle-class workers—and to our economy as a whole—comes from the changing nature of employment itself. Gone is the era of the lifetime career, let alone the lifelong job and the economic security that came with it, having been replaced by a new economy intent on recasting full-time employees into contractors, vendors, and temporary workers.
Read more from Democracy Journal.
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