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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 will ask state lawmakers to support legalization of cannabidiol, a medicine extracted from marijuana to treat seizure disorders, on a medically supervised, trial-only basis. She continues to oppose decriminalizing the drug or allowing use of medical marijuana more broadly. See the Governor’s statement here. OK Policy previously showed that Oklahoma’s marijuana laws are among the harshest in the nation. A former Oklahoma City doctor was sentenced to eight years in prison for over-prescribing pain and anxiety medications that killed eight of his patients. The OK Policy Blog discussed what’s behind recent large drops in tobacco tax revenue.
The Oklahoma Health Care Authority board voted to approve a new “health home” model established by the Affordable Care Act to provide integrated care for Oklahomans with serious mental illnesses. Tulsa World reporter Wayne Greene speculated about what may have been behind Governor Fallin’s refusal to release emails related to her health care policy decisions until recently. Governor Fallin declined a request from Oklahoma labor leaders to ask for the resignation of the three members of the Workers Compensation Commission. The first month of fiscal year 2015 saw state general revenue collections significantly exceed last year and the estimate for this year.
In the coming school year, Moore Public Schools will reopen a newly rebuilt Plaza Towers Elementary School following the 2013 tornado that killed seven students. An Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School faces an uncertain future due to unclear language in the bill that created it. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded $112,000 to the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma to administer the tribe’s environmental programs. OG&E filed an application to increase utility rates 15 percent by 2019 to pay for upgrades to meet national emissions standards and replace an aging Mustang natural gas plant.
David Blatt’s Journal Record column discusses the legacy of Henry Bellmon, Oklahoma’s first Republican Governor. A federal judge has scheduled a hearing for next month in a lawsuit filed by a group of death row inmates over Oklahoma’s execution procedures. The Norman City Council voted 5-4 to approve a zoning change that will allow a new Walmart Supercenter. The vote came at a meeting that lasted nearly 7 hours with numerous residents protesting against the Supercenter.
A year and a half long study by consultants hired by the City of Tulsa found that city employees are paid 5 to 10 percent below average of comparable workers in the private and public sector. Officials with the Oklahoma Arts Council and many others pleaded with lawmakers to keep the Arts Council as an independent agency. The Number of the Day is the average household income in Oklahoma in 2013. In today’s Policy Note, The New Republic examines how political changes in Alabama and other Southern states are rolling back gains of the Civil Rights movement.
In The News
Fallin supports medicinal use of cannabidiol oil from marijuana
Gov. Mary Fallin will ask state lawmakers to support legalization of cannabidiol, a medicine extracted from marijuana, on a medically supervised, trial-only basis, she said Wednesday. The announcement brought praise from relatives of children with seizure disorders who have lobbied for legalization of the medicine in Oklahoma. Research suggests that the marijuana component may be effective in treating children with rare conditions that cause seizures and strokes, according to Fallin’s office. It is not intoxicating or used as a recreational drug, her office said.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Read the Governor’s statement.
See also: While nearby states decriminalize, Oklahoma’s marijuana laws are among harshest in the nation from the OK Policy Blog.
Tobacco tax revenue declined last year. Here’s why that’s mostly good news.
In 2004, Oklahoma voters approved SQ 713, which increased the excise tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products while eliminating the state and local sales tax on these products. The new revenues from the increased taxes were dedicated to a variety of health-related purposes, including the Insure Oklahoma premium assistance program, a comprehensive cancer center, trauma care, tobacco cessation, and others. However, these revenues fell slightly in FY 2013 and then dropped dramatically by $18.3 million (13 percent) in the fiscal year that just ended.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
Oklahomans with serious mental illness who qualify for Medicaid to benefit from ‘health home’ model
Thousands of Oklahoma adults and children with serious mental illnesses will have more integrated Medicaid services, starting in January. The Oklahoma Health Care Authority board voted Wednesday to approve new rates to pay medical professionals to provide care in a “health home” model. The Affordable Care Act created an optional Medicaid plan benefit for states to establish health homes to coordinate care for people with Medicaid who have chronic conditions, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Oklahoma leaders chose to create a health home model for adults and children with serious and persistent mental health conditions.
FY2015’s First Month General Revenue Fund Collections Top Prior Year Income
Fiscal year 2015’s first month General Revenue Fund collections significantly exceeded those of the prior year and the estimate for this year, Secretary of Finance, Administration and Information Services Preston Doerflinger reported Tuesday that July’s General Revenue Fund collections of $471 million were $61.2 million, or 14.9 percent, above prior year collections and $69.6 million, or 17.3 percent, above the official estimate.
New Moore Elementary School Readying For Students
Officials with Moore Public Schools are preparing for the new school year with a newly rebuilt Plaza Towers Elementary School following the 2013 tornado that killed seven students. Officials with the school district and Plaza Towers led a media tour of the new school on Tuesday. Plaza Towers Elementary School was destroyed by an EF5 tornado on May 20, 2013. Seven students were killed.
Statewide Virtual Charter School Board Still Faces Problems
The board of The Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School faces an uncertain future in terms of their extended support from the State Department of Education due to unclear language in the bill that created it. The report to the board members was made Tuesday. The unclear bill, created two sessions ago, calls for the State Department of Education to provide staffing to the board until the end of this year but gives no indication as to whether the board has the authority to hire new staff or contract with the department for its current staff thereafter.
Why Gov. Fallin didn’t want you to know what she thought about ‘Obamacare,’ then did
Having made her point, Gov. Mary Fallin folded last week. In June, Fallin won an important — and dangerous — legal case in Oklahoma County District Court. At issue were 100 pages of electronic records Fallin refused to release to the media under the Open Records Act. To her credit, Fallin had released more than 50,000 pages of other records concerning a $54 million federal Affordable Care Act grant to create a state insurance exchange and “Obamacare” funding to expand the state’s Medicaid program.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
EPA environmental grant awarded to Chickasaws
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded $112,000 to the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma to use to administer the tribe’s environmental program and to help develop multimedia programs to address environmental issues. The funds may also be used for attending environmental training and conducting community outreach. Congress in 1992 passed the Indian Environmental General Assistance Program Act that authorizes EPA to provide grants to federally-recognized tribes and tribal groups for planning, developing, and establishing environmental protection programs in Indian country.
Ahead of his time
“Politics was never a dirty word. It was the art of accomplishing good for the society as a whole.” That was the attitude of Henry Bellmon, who served two terms as Oklahoma governor, sandwiched by two terms as U.S. senator, according to Andrew Tevington, his Washington press secretary and later his chief of staff. Tevington was part of a panel on the Bellmon legacy during a recent program organized by OK Policy.
Read more from the Journal Record.
Hearing Set In Lawsuit Over Oklahoma Executions
A federal judge has scheduled a hearing for next month in a lawsuit filed by a group of death row inmates over Oklahoma’s execution procedures. U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot on Tuesday scheduled a hearing for Sept. 18 in the case, which was filed by 21 inmates following the April 29 botched execution of Clayton Lockett. The inmates are trying to halt any attempt to execute them using the state’s current lethal injection protocols.
In highly contested vote, Norman City Council approves new Walmart Supercenter
Norman will get another Walmart Supercenter, despite protests from nearby residents that it will increase traffic, crime and pollution and is not what they signed on for when they bought their homes. Residents voiced concerns about the project during a city council meeting Tuesday that lasted nearly seven hours. In a 5-4 vote, council members approved a land use change from light industrial to commercial to allow construction of the supercenter.
OG&E files $1.1 billion application for environmental compliance, replacement natural gas plant
Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. filed an application Wednesday to recover $1.1 billion from ratepayers to pay for environmental compliance and the replacement of its aging Mustang natural gas plant. If granted by regulators, the costs could increase the typical residential customer bill 15 percent by 2019. More than half of the $1.1 billion would go toward environmental upgrades to meet emissions standards under the federal regional haze rule and the mercury and air toxics rule.
Fallin Gives Work Comp Commission Opportunity To Improve After A Request For Their Resignation
Governor Mary Fallin is not asking the three members of the Workers Compensation Commission to resign but will give them time to work toward their goals, according to her spokesman. Weintz comments came in response to Oklahoma State American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations’ President Jim Curry’s request that Fallin ask for the resignation of the Workers Compensation Commission’s three members.
Consulting firm study finds City of Tulsa employee pay below average
City of Tulsa employees aren’t making enough money, that is the result of a year and a half long study. To get an outside perspective of how the city is doing, leaders hired Fox Lawson and Associates, a consulting company. The consultants examined employees roles and their pay for the past year and a half. “We found that the city is paying a little bit less than the market. We looked locally, public sector, private sector, nationally,” said Jim Fox of Fox Lawson and Associates.
Study On State Arts Council Draws Supporters For Continued Independence
State officials with the Oklahoma Arts Council and many others pleaded with lawmakers Wednesday to remain an independent agency during an interim study before the House Economic Development and Financial Services Committee. Various art entities in the state, including the Arts and Humanities Council in Tulsa, the Red River Arts council in Durant and individuals like Enid-native opera singer Leona Mitchell also urged members of the House committee to leave the Arts Council as an independent agency, for fear of jeopardizing federal funds and politicizing the agency’s mission.
Former Oklahoma City doctor pleads guilty to eight counts of murder
A former Oklahoma City doctor has been sentenced to spend a year in prison for each person he murdered. William Martin Valuck, 71, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Oklahoma County District Court to eight counts of second-degree murder and was given an eight-year prison sentence by Special Judge Susan Johnson. Because of the nature of his crimes, he will have to serve nearly seven years before being eligible for parole. Valuck, a former osteopathic physician and surgeon, was accused by prosecutors of causing several deaths by over-prescribing pain and anti-anxiety medications to his patients.
Quote of the Day
“I do not support legalizing the recreational use of marijuana. Nor do I support a broadly-defined ‘medicinal’ marijuana use that makes it easy for healthy adults and teenagers to find and buy drugs.”
– Gov. Mary Fallin, in a statement asking lawmakers to work with her in the next legislative session to approve use of marijuana-derived medication to treat children with seizure disorders on a trial basis (Source: http://bit.ly/XiVuzZ)
Number of the Day
$61,178
Average household income in Oklahoma in 2013.
Source: Urban Institute.
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
The New Racism
Long before he became the most powerful man in the Alabama Senate, before he controlled billions of dollars in state money and had lobbyists, governors, and future presidents seeking his favor, Hank Sanders used newspapers and magazines as bathroom tissue. His mother would collect periodicals from the wealthy white family whose house she cleaned and bring them back for Sanders and his brothers and sisters. There were 13 children, all told, and they lived with their parents in a three-room shack that their father had built out of one-by-eight boards among the tall pines and chinaberry trees in Blacksher, a speck of a town 50 miles north of Mobile. This was Alabama in the 1950s, when Jim Crow reigned and a governor’s race was determined by which candidate managed to secure the endorsement of the Ku Klux Klan.
Read more from The New Republic.
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