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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.
Gov. Mary Fallin offered a 2016 budget proposal on Monday that cuts most state agencies’ budgets by 6.25 percent. You can read the governor’s budget proposal here. OK Policy released a statement that while Governor Fallin has identified important goals for Oklahoma, she is leaving Oklahoma’s best tools to accomplish these goals on the shelf. NewsOK shared other reactions from state leaders to the governor’s State of the State address. You can read the full text of the governor’s speech here. On the OK Policy Blog, we shared six recommended priorities for Oklahoma lawmakers in the coming year.
Gov. Mary Fallin and key lawmakers are pushing new legislation this year that would require Oklahoma doctors to check an online database before writing prescriptions for addictive painkillers and other frequently abused drugs. Oklahoma district attorneys are upset by a bill that would prohibit them from prosecuting elected state officials for a public offense, allowing only the state’s attorney general to file criminal charges. KGOU continued an investigation series on how Oklahoma has increasingly turned to fines and fees from court cases to pay for the court system itself, and in the process burying those who get in trouble with the law in mountains of debt.
Tulsa County leaders okayed a new, higher rate for municipal inmates in the jail. Some Oklahomans expressed concern that the state’s decision to close a Tulsa emergency shelter for abused and neglected children is being made too quickly and could lead to unintended side effects. All two dozen teachers in attendance at a Tulsa School Board meeting walked out in protest after the board announced they had chosen Deborah Gist as the district’s new superintendent. A new analysis from the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity shows the top single donor to a state-level election in Oklahoma was former Republican State Superintendent Janet Barresi, who gave $1.3 million to her own unsuccessful re-election campaign.
The Number of the Day is the average length of stay for an incarcerated woman in Oklahoma released in 2013. In today’s Policy Note, the Texas Observer gives an up-close-and-personal view of family detention in a for-profit lock-up in South Texas.
In The News
Fallin proposal cuts most state agencies’ budgets by 6.25 percent
Gov. Mary Fallin offered a 2016 budget proposal on Monday as austere as the state’s general revenue prospects. It recommends small increases for a handful of agencies, no change for 10 and reductions of 6.25 percent for more than 50. Fallin’s budget assumes revenue of $7.2 billion, including $300 million from agency revolving funds. The total is about $50 million more than current-year appropriations, an increase of 0.7 percent.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Read the Governor’s budget here.
STATEMENT: Governor Fallin’s proposed budget leaves Oklahoma’s best tools on the shelf
Governor Fallin rightly recognizes that Oklahoma needs to boost education funding, reduce incarceration, rein in tax breaks, and improve our citizens’ health, and her push to evaluate government programs using clear metrics may be very beneficial. Unfortunately her budget leaves on the shelf the best tools we have to accomplish these goals.
See also: Other reactions to Oklahoma’s State of the State address from NewsOK
Read the Governor’s speech here.
Priorities for Oklahoma lawmakers in 2015
Oklahoma’s 2015 Legislative session kicks off today with a State of the State address from Governor Mary Fallin. OK Policy and the Together Oklahoma coalition have identified six priorities for the coming session that are practical, politically achievable steps to move Oklahoma toward lasting, broad-based prosperity. Read on for brief summaries of our priorities and links to a fact sheet for each one.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
Compromise Bill Requires Prescription Checks
Gov. Mary Fallin and key lawmakers are pushing new legislation this year that would require Oklahoma doctors to check an online database before writing prescriptions for addictive painkillers and other frequently abused drugs. The compromise bill currently being negotiated with physician groups would require doctors to check the database the first time they write a new prescription for three classes of addictive drugs and at least once every 180 days after that.
Read more from Oklahoma Watch.
Bill Would Bar Local Prosecution of Elected State Officials
Oklahoma district attorneys are upset by a bill that would prohibit them from prosecuting elected state officials for a public offense, allowing only the state’s attorney general to file criminal charges. The bill by state Rep. Kevin Calvey, R-Oklahoma City, would cover state elected officials, legislators, district court and appellate judges, and appointees to state boards and state commissions. It does not specify what would be considered a public offense.
Read more from the Associated Press.
Physically Free But Financially Imprisoned, Offenders Struggle After Incarceration
Over the years, Oklahoma has increasingly turned to fines and fees from court cases to pay for the court system itself. But a joint investigation between KGOU and Oklahoma Watch reveals that as many inmates regain their freedom, they’re still imprisoned by mountains of debt. The cost shift is leading some to question the long-term sustainability of a crime-funded judicial branch.
Tulsa County Leaders Okay Higher Municipal Inmate Rate
Tulsa County leaders okay a new, higher rate for municipal inmates in the jail. Ron Peters led negotiations for the county in recent contentious talks over what the city of Tulsa should pay for inmates. He says the new resolution changes rates because the U-S Marshal’s Service now pays more, $69 a day per inmate, and negotiators agreed to pay whatever the Marshal’s Service pays. City leaders haven’t signed off on the jail deal, still disputing several aspects of the contract.
Read more from Public Radio Tulsa.
Laura Dester Shelter closing leaves Tulsans with questions
The decision to close the Laura Dester Shelter hits Aneta Wilkinson a little harder than others. As a member of the oversight commission of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, she was a leader in the planning for the $12.4 million shelter, which opened in December 2010 at 7318 E. Pine St. She met with donors, contributed to the capital campaign and helped choose the location and design of the campus.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Teachers walk out in protest as Tulsa school board names Deborah Gist superintendent
Deborah Gist is the Tulsa school board’s unanimous pick for superintendent. The Tulsa native currently serving as Rhode Island’s education commissioner accepted the board’s job offer via telephone during a special board meeting late Monday. The selection does not come without controversy. After school board members expressed their support for Gist one by one, the roughly two dozen teachers in attendance all walked out of the meeting room before the vote was taken.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Barresi tops list of political donors in Oklahoma
While national groups like governors’ associations were among the top donors for state-level elections across the country in 2014, in Oklahoma it was candidates themselves who spent the most money trying to win elections last year. A new analysis from the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity shows the top single donor to a state-level election in Oklahoma was former Republican State Superintendent Janet Barresi, who gave $1.3 million to her own unsuccessful re-election campaign.
Read more from the Associated Press.
Quote of the Day
“We’re dealing with people who have no credit history, who work minimum wage jobs or are not well-to-do. To expect them to support the entire judiciary of the state of Oklahoma, or even a significant part of it would be a mistake, just like it’s a mistake to think the emergency room could ever support the entire hospital.”
– Oklahoma County Special Judge Donald Easter, speaking about Oklahoma’s increasing reliance on large fines and fees to fund the court system as support from tax revenue dwindles (Source: bit.ly/1zARvhS)
Number of the Day
2.02 years
Average length of stay for an incarcerated woman in Oklahoma released in 2013
Source: Oklahoma Department of Corrections.
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Seeking Asylum in Karnes City
To get to Karnes City, we drove through a town that smells of smoking beef and a town that smells of oil. Approaching Karnes City, we passed eternal-seeming flames spouting from far-off drilling rigs and trailer parks that house the people who work on those fracking sites. We were headed to an outpost of another big Texas industry—the Karnes County Residential Center, a civil detention center run by the private prison corporation GEO Group Inc.
Read more from the Texas Observer.
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