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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 state Auditor recommends the Grand River Dam Authority’s activities be reviewed to determine if state laws were violated. A House Republican proposal to extend the payroll tax cut next year will also include a demand to speed up the decision on the Keystone pipeline. A state lawmaker is drafting a bill to eliminate the state’s personal income tax, without proposing offsetting tax increases to cover the lost revenue.
The state Transportation Department will proceed with a $71 million bond issue to complete an eight-year road and bridge construction-and-maintenance plan. Occupy OKC protesters dig in at a downtown park. A column in the OU Daily makes the case for a Chick-fil-A boycott to protest their continued support of anti-gay organizations and hate groups. An op-ed in the Tulsa World reflects on the life and times of Lt. Ronald Johnson, the first black trooper to serve in the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
The OK Policy Blog hosts a video about why we can’t afford to incarcerate so many elderly inmates who pose no threat to society. In Today’s Policy Note, the National Journal lays out the facts on the Keystone XL pipeline – what it is, whose it is, and what’s causing the delay. The Number of the Day is the percentage drop in the total mail volume of the U.S. Postal Service between 2000 and 2010.
In The News
Audit of Okla. agency questions some expenses
Oklahoma Auditor and Inspector Gary Jones released a performance audit of the Grand River Dam Authority Thursday that criticizes the state agency’s governing board and questions expenses and policies of the authority that produces electricity for a 24-county area in northeastern Oklahoma. The audit, requested earlier this year by Gov. Mary Fallin, recommends that several of its findings be reviewed by Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s office to determine if state laws were violated, including relationships between GRDA officials, including a former board chairman, and various vendors and contractors that were not disclosed and could have given the contractors an unfair advantage.
Read more from CBS News at http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162-57339866/audit-of-okla-agency-questions-some-expenses/
U.S. House Republicans want oil pipeline decision in exchange for extending payroll tax cut
House Republicans said Thursday that their proposal to extend the payroll tax cut next year will also include a demand that the Obama administration speed up the decision on a pipeline to carry oil from Canada, through Oklahoma, to the Texas Gulf Coast. The announcement came a day after President Barack Obama said he would veto any bill to extend the payroll tax cut that included a timetable for the Keystone XL pipeline decision. At a news conference, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said House Republicans had decided to make the pipeline part of their package to give the president some of his top priorities — extension of the payroll tax cut and extension of long-term unemployment benefits.
Read more from NewsOK at http://newsok.com/u.s.-house-republicans-want-oil-pipeline-decision-in-exchange-for-extending-payroll-tax-cut/article/3630449#ixzz1g2g2fybp
Okla. rep drafting bill to eliminate income tax
A state lawmaker is drafting a bill to eliminate the state’s personal income tax over the next decade. Owasso Republican Rep. David Derby said Thursday he will not propose any offsetting tax increases to pay for the lost revenue. The state’s income tax currently provides about one-third of the revenue that lawmakers appropriate for state functions like roads and bridges, public schools and public safety. Oklahoma’s top income tax rate is scheduled to drop to 5.25 percent during the 2012 tax year. Derby claims eliminating the state’s income tax will result in increased economic activity that will broaden the overall tax base and generate increased tax collections in other categories. Gov. Mary Fallin and GOP leaders in the House and Senate have endorsed a gradual reduction of the income tax.
Read more from the Associated Press at http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/669a2f11df664934965b7244cbf2baa6/OK–Income-Tax-Elimination/
Oklahoma road, bridge bond issue wins approval
The $71 million package is part of a budget deal that allowed legislators to use $101.7 million earmarked for the state Transportation Department for other purposes to help balance this fiscal year’s budget. The state Transportation Department won approval Thursday to proceed with a $71 million bond issue that keeps its eight-year road and bridge construction-and-maintenance plan on track. The proposal, which was a key negotiating part of this fiscal year’s state budget, stumbled briefly in the Legislature earlier this year. It won unanimous approval Thursday from the state Council of Bond Oversight.
Read more from NewsOK at http://newsok.com/oklahoma-road-bridge-bond-issue-wins-approval/article/3630447#ixzz1g2p1Cb2m
Occupy Movements in San Diego, Oklahoma City, Boise Dig in
This is Steve Bennett in Oklahoma City, where city leaders are now trying to evict Occupy OKC Protesters from a downtown park. The group has maintained a continuous presence in the park since October, but officials last week announced plans to enforce a curfew from 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m., citing what they say are safety concerns.
Read more from PBS at http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/july-dec11/occupy_12-08.html
COLUMN: Support for hate groups not appealing
This is not directed toward any specific Chick-fil-A location nor to our student employees. It is addressed to the corporation as a whole and to its charity arm, the WinShape Foundation. To Chick-fil-A, Truett Cathy and the WinShape Foundation: It is with a heavy heart that I write to you saying that I can no longer, in good conscience, patronize your establishment. Nor can I partake of your succulent, delicious, juicy chicken. I mean, I would like to. But the beef I have isn’t about your chicken, which is actually quite good. Your ongoing support of anti-gay organizations and hate groups, though, has left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
Read more from the OU Daily at http://www.oudaily.com/news/2011/dec/09/column-support-hate-groups-not-appealing/
Ronald Johnson: state trailblazer, hero
Among the thousands of artifacts on display at the J.M. Davis Gun and Historical Museum in Claremore are a service revolver and an Oklahoma Highway Patrol ID card that belonged to Lt. Ronald Johnson. He first became a trooper in 1968 and protected his fellow Oklahomans until his retirement in 1987. Thousands of Oklahomans have protected and served with dignity and bravery as members of the OHP, but Johnson was the first black trooper ever to serve in our state. Although he died last month at the age of 79, his courage and determination helped change Oklahoma for the better. When Johnson was born in Chouteau in 1932, he was born into a world where rights and opportunities were given or denied based not on ability, accomplishments or character, but simply because of the color of a person’s skin.
Read more from the Tulsa World at http://www.tulsaworld.com/opinion/article.aspx?subjectid=65&articleid=20111209_65_A25_CUTLIN186774
Watch This: Elderly parole
The Louisiana legislature passed a bill this summer to enable non-violent, non-sex offenders to go before a parole board upon turning 60 years of age, even if their original sentence did not include the opportunity for parole. The bill’s passage was the culmination of an unlikely partnership between the ACLU of Louisiana and Angola State Penitentiary Warden, Burl Cain. Their appeal to the legislature was simple: we can’t afford to incarcerate so many inmates who pose no threat to society. In Oklahoma, the number of inmates 50 and older is expected to grow by 48 percent between FY 2008 and 2013, nearly five times faster than the general prison population. This video, produced by the ACLU, interviews inmates and advocates to illuminate the implications of an aging prison population.
Watch this at the OK Policy blog at https://okpolicy.org/watch-this-elderly-parole/
Quote of the Day
It is with a heavy heart that I write to you saying that I can no longer, in good conscience, patronize your establishment. Nor can I partake of your succulent, delicious, juicy chicken.
JP Brammer, a professional writing junior at the University of Oklahoma
Number of the Day
18 percent
Percentage drop in the total mail volume of the U.S. Postal Service between 2000 and 2010
Source: United States Postal Service via Tulsa World
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Keystone XL Pipeline: Just the Facts
The Keystone XL pipeline is a 1,700-mile, $7 billion project that would bring 700,000 barrels of carbon-heavy tar-sands oil per day from Alberta, Canada, to refineries on the Gulf Coast. It would be an extension of a pipeline that became operational in June 2010 and already carries crude oil from Alberta to Illinois and Oklahoma.
Read more from the National Journal at http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/keystone-xl-pipeline-just-the-facts-20111208
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