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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.
A group of Oklahoma lawmakers released a statement defending passage of an income-tax cut that is under review by the Oklahoma Supreme Court. OK Policy previously discussed how the Supreme Court decision could dramatically change the politics around tax cuts in Oklahoma. Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his case against federal health insurance subsidies at the same time justices consider a similar challenge from Virginia. If AG Pruitt’s lawsuit is successful, at least 55,000 Oklahomans could lose access to affordable coverage.
NewsOK shared the story of an Oklahoma City woman who is hoping for a path to legal work and residency by President Obama’s immigration executive action. Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn predicted a violent reaction to the President’s announcement. Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt said he is planning another lawsuit against the federal government over it. A group of Republican business owners in Oklahoma and Republican state Sen. Brian Crain called on Congress to pass an immigration bill that includes a path to legal status for some of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country.
Oklahoma City Public Schools kicked off a six month planning process to identify the most important issues the district will face over the next several years. In the Tulsa World, Kara Gae Neal described public education as the largest, overburdened, under-incentivized business in the state. A group of charitable foundations is meeting to come up with a plan to keep a Tulsa-area youthful offender center open through June. The group will seek to find short-term “bridge funding” to keep the facility open, but a long-term solution will require reversing state budget cuts. Bill Moyers reported that an Oklahoma City is running a food drive to help its own impoverished workers get through the holidays.
The Oklahoma State Department of Health will receive a $1.15 million federal grant to gather data on homicides and suicides in an effort to prevent those deaths. Oklahomans, particularly families with children, were more negative about the economy in October than their neighbors in Missouri and Arkansas, according to the Arvest Consumer Sentiment Survey. The Number of the Day is the total value of all goods traded between Oklahoma City and Tulsa in 2010. Both cities were each other’s second largest trading partner among major cities, with Dallas, TX as the largest trading partner. In today’s Policy Note, Vox explains what’s in President Obama’s new immigration plan.
In The News
Lawmakers defend tax cut as Oklahoma Supreme Court considers legal challenge
Lawmakers on Thursday defended passage of an income-tax cut that is under review by the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Last month, the court heard oral arguments in Oklahoma City attorney Jerry Fent’s challenge to the constitutionality of Senate Bill 1246. The bill, which was passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Mary Fallin in April, would gradually drop the personal income tax rate to 4.85 percent from 5.25 percent if state revenues are sufficient. Fent argues that the law is a revenue measure despite the fact that it would cut taxes. As such, it would have been required by the Oklahoma Constitution to originate in the House and receive at least three-fourths of the votes in both chambers. It did neither.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Previously: Tax cut legal challenges could be game-changers from the OK Policy Blog
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt seeks Supreme Court review of case against health care law
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his case against the federal health care law at the same time justices consider a similar challenge from Virginia. In a brief filed Wednesday at the high court, Pruitt argued that reviewing the Oklahoma and Virginia cases simultaneously would allow justices to get the perspective of a state on an issue that centers on the distinction between state and federal insurance marketplaces.
Previously: Misguided ruling could rob health care from 55,000 Oklahomans from the OK Policy Blog
Oklahoma City woman hopes immigration changes will help in her years-long wait for green card
Claudia has been waiting eight years to gain permanent U.S. residency status. She’s hopeful that immigration policy changes announced Thursday by President Barack Obama will protect her until her residency request is finally answered. Claudia, who asked that her last name not be used, babysits and cleans houses in Oklahoma City and is a member of the Mormon church. She came here with her husband and two boys on a six-month visitor visa from Colombia in 1998 to escape violence in that country.
Sen. Tom Coburn predicts violence after immigration order
Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn warns there could be not only a political firestorm but acts of civil disobedience and even violence in reaction to President Obama’s executive order on immigration Thursday, USA Today reports. “The country’s going to go nuts, because they’re going to see it as a move outside the authority of the president, and it’s going to be a very serious situation,” Coburn said on Capital Download. “You’re going to see — hopefully not — but you could see instances of anarchy. … You could see violence.”
See also: Pruitt planning lawsuit over immigration action from The Okie
Oklahoma GOP business leaders call for immigration bill
A group of Republican business owners in Oklahoma is calling on Congress to pass an immigration bill that includes a path to legal status for some of the estimated 11 million people in the U.S. unlawfully. Republican state Sen. Brian Crain of Tulsa joined with GOP business leaders from Oklahoma City for a news conference Wednesday that was held as part of a nationwide effort urging Congress to pass an immigration bill. Crain says his district is a mix of affluent and working class neighborhoods and that voters there overwhelmingly support changes to immigration law that include some way for people in the country illegally to become citizens.
Read more from the Muskogee Phoenix.
Oklahoma City school district kicks off Great Conversation to improve student achievement
Oklahoma City Public Schools Superintendent Rob Neu had a somber message Thursday for about 120 people gathered on the fourth floor of the Gaylord-Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum. “We have kids sitting in classrooms as we speak academically dying on us,” Neu told educators, parents, students, administrators and business and community leaders picked to develop a plan for improving learning and achievement. “At the end of the day what we have to do is we have to begin to understand that the system that was, that may have worked for us, is no longer,” he said. “The society the kids leave us and head into is no longer.”
Kara Gae Neal: Save Oklahoma’s biggest employer
The state and local Chambers of Commerce in Oklahoma would be apoplectic if any one of these companies and their college-degreed employees, earning upwards of $45,000 a year, threatened to leave the state or reduce their workforce. Yet the combined number of 39,880 employees in the state’s 20 largest private companies does not come close to Oklahoma’s single biggest public employer: Education. With 46,500 teachers, public education is the largest, overburdened, under-incentivized business in the state.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Charitable foundations mount effort to keep youthful-offender center open
A group of charitable foundations will meet with government officials and other interested parties after Thanksgiving to come up with a plan to provide the Tulsa Area Community Intervention Center with the funds it needs to stay open through the end of the fiscal year. Jim Walker, executive director of Youth Services of Tulsa, which operates the center, told city councilors that the center needs $115,000 or it will have to close in late February or early March. Lakin said he hopes the meeting will result in some “bridge funding” to keep the facility open through June. But he also encouraged the Community Intervention Center and other interested parties to push the state and other organizations that fund the center to increase their allocations next year.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Oklahoma City Wal-Mart holds food drive for its own impoverished workers
Around this time last year, the story of a Canton, Ohio, Wal-Mart running a food drive to help its impoverished “associates” get through the holidays became the symbol of how hard it is to make ends meet working for the country’s largest private employer. Today the group Making Change at Wal-Mart released a picture of an in-store canned food drive for employees of an Oklahoma Wal-mart. A spokeperson for the group told BillMoyers.com that the picture was taken recently by an employee who wished to remain anonymous. The location of the food bin was identified as the Wal-Mart “superstore” designated by the company as #3430 and located on NE 23rd Road in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Read more from BillMoyers.com.
CDC to provide $1.5 million to Oklahoma Health Department for violence study
The Oklahoma State Department of Health will receive $1.15 million during the next five years to gather data on homicides and suicides in an effort to prevent those deaths. The funding from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will allow the department to use the National Violent Death Reporting System that helps officials understand when and how violent deaths occur. Health department Injury Prevention Service director Sheryll Brown says knowing the circumstances of violent deaths will help identify where efforts to prevent the deaths should be focused.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Arvest report shows Oklahoma consumers less positive about the economy
Oklahomans, particularly families with children, were more negative about the economy in October than their neighbors regionally, according to the Arvest Consumer Sentiment Survey. The current consumer sentiment index for Oklahoma is 72.6, down from 76.4 in June’s inaugural survey, according to the latest survey results released Tuesday. The report is based on 1,200 phone surveys in September and October. Both Missouri and Arkansas, which also are part of the survey, recorded higher consumer sentiment indexes in October compared to June.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Quote of the Day
“My husband had an incident while traveling in Colombia. Guerrillas stopped his church group. They put them on the ground and threatened to kill them. They stole everything and left them stranded. After that we decided to come here to the States to give our kids a better future.”
-Claudia, an Oklahoma City woman said she who hopes President Obama’s recent executive order will allow her to come out of the shadows and obtain a green card legally. Claudia babysits and cleans houses in Oklahoma City and is a member of the Mormon church. She came here with her husband and two boys in 1998 (Source: http://bit.ly/1xJqjgE).
Number of the Day
$4.070 billion
Total value of all goods traded between Oklahoma City and Tulsa in 2010. Both cities were each other’s second largest trading partner among major cities, with Dallas, TX as the largest trading partner.
Source: Brookings Institute
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Obama’s new immigration plan, explained
President Obama will protect about 4.3 million unauthorized immigrants, including 4 million parents of legal residents, from deportation via a new “deferred action” program. The White House believes that nearly 5 million unauthorized workers will be protected in total, thanks to other reforms. He is also taking steps to facilitate legal migration to the United States, especially of skilled workers. Executive action fulfills a promise originally made in March, and twice delayed.
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