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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 about 15,000 Oklahomans have signed up for private health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s federal exchange, and another 6,476 Oklahoma applicants were found eligible for Medicaid. Oklahoma City’s interim public schools chief said he plans to fire several high-ranking administrators as early as this week. A federal report found that Oklahoma’s Mabel Bassett Correctional Center had the highest rate of sexual abuse or rape in the nation for female institutions.
The OK Policy Blog discussed how Oklahoma’s gas tax has not been adjusted for inflation in nearly three decades. County Commissioners are pushing for a tax on gravel mining, which they say is tearing up county roads and mostly being sold out-of-state. The Oklahoma State Regents’ are seeking a $76 million boost in appropriations for degree completion efforts. You can see a presentation on the Regents’ plan here.
A state senator has filed proposed legislation that would let the public vote to abolish the Oklahoma House. Oklahoma has seen a decrease in the number of residents developing lung cancer. The Number of the Day is the share of Oklahoma’s TANF or ‘welfare’ budget spent on child care assistance. In today’s Policy Note, a major new report from the Shriver Center assesses the financial vulnerability of women in America.
In The News
ACA sign-ups in Oklahoma reach 14,999
About 15,000 Oklahomans have signed up for private health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s federal exchange, according to information released Monday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Another 6,476 Oklahoma applicants were found eligible for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The figures are for Oct. 1 through Dec. 28. Individuals had to sign up by Dec. 23 to be guaranteed coverage beginning Jan. 1, and the deadline to avoid a tax penalty is March 31.
Read more from The Tulsa World.
Some Oklahoma City school administrators face termination, superintendent says
Oklahoma City’s interim public schools chief said he plans to fire several high-ranking administrators as early as this week, as part of a plan to shake up district operations and improve academic performance. Interim Superintendent Dave Lopez did not identify those facing termination, but he said Friday that as many as 10 executives would be relieved of their duties for poor job performance. Lopez unveiled a sweeping six-month transition plan for consideration by the school board that includes a recommendation to overhaul the administrative structure by relocating about 100 employees from district headquarters to individual schools.
Women’s prison in Oklahoma has highest rape rate in U.S.
Despite a federal report that found incidents of inmate-on-inmate sexual violence were double the national average at Mabel Bassett Correctional Center, representatives from the prison declined to testify at an annual Department of Justice hearing on the matter Wednesday. The 2012 Bureau of Justice Statistics report found 15.3 percent of the inmates surveyed at the female facility reported some form of sexual abuse or rape from another inmate. This rate was highest in the nation for female institutions.
Oklahoma’s gas tax needs a tune-up
In 1987, the median family made $21,691. Today they make more than twice as much. In 1987, the average gas price was $1 a gallon; today it is nearly $3. In that year, the Oklahoma Gazette voted Remington Park Race Track as the best “Evidence That OKC Is Coming Alive” and Liberty Tower (now Chase Tower) as the “Downtown Skyscraper.” Today we have the OKC Thunder, and the Devon Energy Center tops Chase Tower by more than 300 feet. In 1987, the state gas tax was set at 17 cents per gallon. Today, it is… 17 cents per gallon.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
Taxes proposed for state’s gravel mines
A tax fight is heating up in Johnston County and throughout the state. Johnston County Commissioners this week formally endorsed a new statewide organization designed to lobby for a tax on the production of silica, sand, gravel and other aggregates, which are mostly used in the construction of roads, bridges and other capital projects. Oklahoma Citizens for Aggregate Benefits will encourage county commissioners, county officials, rural fire departments and others to support HB 1876, which would allow counties to set a tax of up to 7 percent on the production of aggregates.
Oklahoma higher education seeks $76 million funding boost
State Chancellor for Higher Education Glen Johnson’s pitch to Tulsa-area legislators for money was pretty simple: It’ll pay off in the long run. Johnson made his case Monday to about a dozen lawmakers, along with Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett, County Commissioner Ron Peters and a contingent of higher education officials during a lunch meeting at the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa’s Schusterman Center Higher education is asking for an additional $76.3 million in appropriations for the budget year that begins July 1. That’s a 7.7 percent increase over the current year and would bring higher ed about level with its 2008 appropriation.
Senator proposes to abolish Oklahoma House
A state senator has filed proposed legislation that would let the public vote to abolish the Oklahoma House, making the Legislature unicameral. Sen. Patrick Anderson, R-Enid, said his Senate Joint Resolution 43 would reduce duplication in the legislative process, if approved by a vote of the people. The measure would generate more than $16.5 million in annual savings, Anderson said.
Read more from The Tulsa World.
Rate of lung cancer in Oklahoma drops
Oklahoma has seen a decrease in the number of residents developing lung cancer, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis released today. The state saw the largest decrease among men and women who were 55 to 64 years old. However, there was not a significant decrease seen among men in the 45 to 54 age group and among women in the 65 to 74 age group.
Quote of the Day
We found that the Mabel Bassett facility uniquely stood out as a high-rate facility. There’s no question that what we’re observing here is a significant amount of physical force, pressure, and coercion are involved.
-Allen Beck, a statistician with the Bureau of Justice Statistics, on an Oklahoma women’s prison that had the highest rate of sexual abuse or rape in the nation for female institutions (Source: http://bit.ly/1fukwTX)
Number of the Day
31 percent
Share of Oklahoma’s TANF or ‘welfare’ budget spent on child care assistance, versus 16 percent nationally
Source: CBPP
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
A woman’s nation pushes back from the brink
The most common shared story in our country today is the financial insecurity of American families. Today, more than one in three Americans—more than 100 million people—live in poverty or on the edge of it. Half of all Americans will spend at least a few months churning into and out of poverty during their lifetimes. This economic immobility and inequality is a systemic and pervasive problem that President Barack Obama recently described as “the defining challenge of our time.” The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Pushes Back from the Brink reveals this national crisis through the eyes of women.
Read more from the Center for American Progress.
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