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A New York Times investigation found that Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s letter challenging federal regulations of natural gas drilling was written by lawyers working for Devon Energy and delivered to him by Devon’s chief of lobbying. Oklahoma State Treasurer Ken Miller warned that energy-related revenues are feeling the squeeze from lower oil prices. Through the first four months of FY-15, allocations for the General Revenue Fund exceeded the estimate by $82.4 million or 4.7 percent. Economists at the Oklahoma Economic Outlook Conference said the decline in oil prices could result in the loss of as many as 1,000 energy sector jobs. Bloomberg explained why gas fell below $2/gallon in Oklahoma City before anywhere else in the country.
House Speaker Jeff Hickman has announced several appointments to leadership positions in the Republican-controlled House. Democratic House Minority Leader Scott Inman said he believes the 29 members of his caucus can be relevant, especially when it comes to politically difficult issues like criminal justice reform and funding to complete the unfinished Native American museum in Oklahoma City that may divide the GOP caucus. Rep. Dennis Casey, R-Morrison, said there’s talk among members of the Oklahoma House Republican Caucus about the need to “get out of the way” when it comes to some education issues.
Sen. Patrick Anderson, R-Enid, has filed a bill that seeks to exempt firearms manufactured in Oklahoma from all federal regulations. Rep. David Dank, R-Oklahoma City, wrote an op-ed criticizing the rise of “dark money” campaigns allowed by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. On the OK Policy Blog, Steve Lewis discussed why the stars may be aligning for action on criminal justice reform in Oklahoma. Tulsa County officials say the Tulsa County Jail has become the state’s largest mental health facility. Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz wrote an op-ed questioning Oklahoma’s practice of jailing the mentally ill. A Tulsa World series examines challenges faced by the city’s homeless population.
On the OK PolicyCast, we spoke about the roots of Oklahoma’s racial wealth gap. Joining protests across the nation in the wake of the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, students at Oklahoma State University held a ‘die-in’ on campus. The Oklahoma Department of Human Services is looking for volunteers to open their homes on Christmas Day to children staying in emergency shelters across Oklahoma. The Number of the Day is how many people workers as embalmers in Oklahoma in 2013. In today’s Policy Note, USA Today examines the impact of a growing number of rural hospitals that are shutting down.
In The News
Energy firms in secretive alliance with Oklahoma Attorney General to fight regulation
The letter to the Environmental Protection Agency from Attorney General Scott Pruitt of Oklahoma carried a blunt accusation: Federal regulators were grossly overestimating the amount of air pollution caused by energy companies drilling new natural gas wells in his state. But Mr. Pruitt left out one critical point. The three-page letter was written by lawyers for Devon Energy, one of Oklahoma’s biggest oil and gas companies, and was delivered to him by Devon’s chief of lobbying.
Read more from The New York Times.
See also: A Letter From Oklahoma’s Attorney General, Written Almost Entirely by Energy Company Officials from The New York Times.
Lower oil prices start to pinch Oklahoma state revenues
Oklahoma’s energy-related revenues are feeling the squeeze from lower oil prices and if the price remains low, it could hit income and sales tax revenues if energy workers have less money to spend, the state’s treasurer said on Friday. Lower oil prices are expected to boost some states’ sales revenues, as they give people more discretionary spending power. That is tempered by the impact lower prices have on energy-focused states.
State Treasurer Monthly Report for October Says Revenues Climb
Through the first four months of FY-15, allocations to the General Revenue Fund (GRF) exceed the estimate by $82.4 million or 4.7 percent, according to the Office of Management and Enterprise Services. Net income tax, a combination of personal and corporate income taxes, are above the estimate by $90.3 million or 12.6 percent.
Falling Oil Prices May Mean Cuts In Energy Sector Jobs
Falling oil prices are raising concerns about Oklahoma’s state budget. Economists at the Oklahoma Economic Outlook Conference say the decline in oil prices could result in the loss of as many as 1000 energy sector jobs, and a loss of severance tax revenue used to fund state government. They also say educational standards must be rigorous enough to meet the demands of business and industry.
Why Oklahoma City Gets $2 Gasoline Before Rest of U.S.
Of all the filling stations in all the U.S., $2 gasoline showed up at Oklahoma City’s first. Why? Three words: Location, location and taxes. About 70 miles away, in Cushing, Oklahoma, lie the nation’s biggest stockpiles of oil, just a short pipeline ride away from the state’s refiners.
Hickman Names 4 to Oklahoma House Leadership Posts
House Speaker Jeff Hickman has announced several appointments to leadership positions in the Republican-controlled House. Hickman on Friday named Representative Charles Ortega of Altus as his majority floor leader, the person responsible for reviewing bills and determining which measures will be heard on the floor.
Read more from Public Radio Tulsa.
Oklahoma House Democrats say minority is relevant
With Republican supermajorities in the Oklahoma House and Senate and a GOP governor, it’s easy to think Democrats in the Legislature have been marginalized. With 29 Democrats in the 101-member and now just eight senators in the 48-member Senate, there aren’t enough Democratic votes to pass a bill or sustain a veto without help from Republicans.
Read more from the Associated Press.
Oklahoma lawmakers say they “meddle” too much in some education issues
There’s talk among members of the Oklahoma House Republican Caucus about the need to “get out of the way” when it comes to some education issues, Rep. Dennis Casey, R-Morrison, told a group of educators Friday. This and several other statements by Casey — a longtime educator who was elected to the House in 2010 and currently serves on its Common Education Committee — were met with applause.
Read more from the Jenks World.
Bill Calls For Deregulation Of State-Produced Firearms
A recently filed bill would allow state gun owners to own firearms made and kept in Oklahoma without registering them with the federal government. SB0010 was filed by Sen. Patrick Anderson, R-Enid. It would create the Firearms Manufacturer Relocation to Oklahoma Act, which would exempt guns made and sold in the state from any federal law, taxation or regulation under the authority of the United States Congress to regulate interstate commerce.
Time to shine the light on ‘dark money’ efforts
In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that campaign contributions are a legitimate form of free speech, regardless of the source. The Citizens United ruling opened the door to new players in campaigns, including corporations and labor unions — not a bad thing as long as those privileges aren’t abused. Unfortunately, that’s precisely what’s happened as so-called “dark money” efforts began to appear in this year’s elections.
Stars could be aligning for criminal justice reform in Oklahoma
It looks like the stars could be aligning to do something next session to make Oklahoma’s criminal justice system fairer and less expensive. According to a story in The Oklahoman and the Tulsa World, the governor’s office has been in contact with the Council of State Governments Justice Center, the same organization that helped the state write the Justice Re-investment Initiative (JRI) in 2012.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
See also: Has Governor Fallin turned a corner on criminal justice reform? from the OK Policy Blog.
Official: Tulsa Jail has become ‘state’s largest mental health facility’
Beams of sunlight that streak into the pod from high above a tiny indoor “activity room” are tantalizingly out of reach for the inmates housed in the Tulsa Jail’s mental health unit. For 23 hours a day, these 20 inmates are alone, confined in small, gray, graffitied cells behind heavy steel doors and thick glass that is often spiderwebbed with cracks inflicted by previous occupants.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
See also: Why are we jailing the mentally ill? by Tulsa County sheriff Stanley Glanz in the Tulsa World.
Struggling with mental illness, many count on downtown services to get through
A few days before Thanksgiving, Morgana Blevins packed up the flowered hatbox holding her treasures, fetched her three cats from a pet shelter and moved into her own place. For the past few months, she’s lived at the Tulsa Day Center for the Homeless. This was not the first time in her life she’s lacked a place to call home.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
See also: Homelessness in the Long Run: Why Oklahoma needs long-term solutions from the OK Policy Blog.
OK PolicyCast Episode 15: Oklahoma’s Racial Wealth Gap
Each week, the OK PolicyCast brings you the most important news about Oklahoma and what it means. In this episode, we talk with Kate Richey about what’s created the huge wealth gap between whites and people of color in Oklahoma.
Listen to the podcast from the OK Policy Blog.
Student Group Holds ‘Die-In’ On OSU Campus
As protests continued across the nation in the wake of the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, students at Oklahoma State University spoke out on those events and others on their own campus. More than 35 students of all races gathered to march right with the same message heard from coast to coast: All lives matter.
Oklahoma DHS asks volunteers to open their homes to shelter-bound children on Christmas Day
Ronda and Keith Davis have plenty of love to go around this holiday season. They have lots of kids, too. The Owasso couple are parents to seven children, including two foster children, who range in age from 12 to 23. Still, that doesn’t stop the Davis’ from opening their home on Christmas Day to children who’ve been separated from their families because of abuse or neglect.
Quote of the Day
“When you use a public office, pretty shamelessly, to vouch for a private party with substantial financial interest without the disclosure of the true authorship, that is a dangerous practice. The puppeteer behind the stage is pulling strings, and you can’t see. I don’t like that. And when it is exposed, it makes you feel used.”
-David B. Frohnmayer, a Republican who served a decade as attorney general in Oregon, speaking about revelations that Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s letter challenging federal regulations of natural gas drilling was written by lawyers working for Devon Energy (Source: http://nyti.ms/1u9prf5)
Number of the Day
160
Number of people working as embalmers in Oklahoma in 2013.
Source: OESC 2013 Wage Report.
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Rural hospitals in critical condition
Stewart-Webster Hospital had only 25 beds when it still treated patients. The rural hospital served this small town of 1,400 residents and those in the surrounding farms and crossroads for more than six decades. But since the hospital closed in the spring of last year, many of those in need have to travel up to 40 miles to other hospitals. That’s roughly the same distance it takes to get from Times Square to Greenwich, Conn., or from the White House to Baltimore, or from downtown San Francisco to San Jose. Those trips would be unthinkable for city residents, but it’s becoming a common way of life for many rural residents in this state, and across the nation.
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