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Today In The News
Correction: Yesterday’s In The Know erroneously referred to SB 1324, a bill that would end universal pre-k in Oklahoma, as HB 1324. We regret the error.
Lawmakers push social agenda amid budget crisis: The difficult task of plugging a $900 million hole in the state budget has not deterred conservative Oklahoma lawmakers from pushing their social agendas on abortion, gun rights and same-sex marriage. Dozens of measures have been filed during this legislative session that support conservative social causes, including the expansion of gun rights and bills that gay rights advocates say unfairly target members of the LGBT community for discrimination [Associated Press].
Prosperity Policy: A smarter approach: As legislators grapple with a crushing budget shortfall, we can expect the new legislative session to overflow with acrimony and apprehension. But there is one area that offers real potential for collaboration and progress: criminal justice reform. Oklahoma’s long-standing “tough-on-crime” approach to criminal justice, including imposing prison sentences on many low-level drug and property offenders, has led to our state having the highest incarceration rate for women in the nation and the second-highest rate overall. The cost has been great – both on the budget and on society as a whole [David Blatt / Journal Record]. OK Policy is part of Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform, a coalition working to put reforms on the ballot this year [KGOU].
Plan would bring state law enforcement agencies under one leader: One of the biggest problems state Sen. Ralph Shortey said he sees as a budget writer for law enforcement is that the agencies fight over limited cash. At the same time that the Oklahoma Highway Patrol wants a pay increase, he said, the state’s drug enforcement agency is angling for a technology upgrade. Consolidating the state’s major law enforcement agencies would help fix that problem, he said [Journal Record]. Steve Lewis wrote about law enforcement consolidation on our blog last fall [OK Policy].
Getting executions right is focus for Oklahoma AG’s office: Five executions are now pending in Oklahoma, after the state Court of Criminal Appeals agreed last week to hold off on setting execution dates for two more death row inmates. The move by the court was proper and not surprising. That’s because the next time Oklahoma executes an inmate, everything about the procedure must be beyond reproach. That didn’t happen in recent examples, leading Attorney General Scott Pruitt to investigate via a multicounty grand jury [Oklahoman Editorial Board].
Oklahoma Lawmaker: Small Businesses Back Asset Forfeiture Reform: An Oklahoma state lawmaker has filed a bill that would reform Oklahoma’s civil asset forfeiture law, an effort he says is supported by small businesses in the state. In May 2015, Sen. Kyle D. Loveless (R-Oklahoma City) filed Senate Bill 838, the Personal Asset Protection Act, which he says has been the subject of intense debate during the interim [Insurance Journal]. A group of unlikely allies including the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs and OK Policy also support the reforms [OK Policy].
Rural Wagoner County school district looks to deter violence with guns, signs: A rural school district in Wagoner County has taken up arms in an effort to deter school violence. Okay Public Schools erected four signs on campus this week, warning visitors bent on breaking the law that they might want to think otherwise. The signs, reading “Please be aware that certain staff members at Okay Public Schools can be legally armed and may use whatever force is necessary to protect our students,” are a follow-up to a school gun policy approved by the school board in August, McMahan said [Tulsa World].
State must be true to the promises it has made to it retirees: Abraham Lincoln said, “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” Until recently, the decisions impacting the state pension system provided a clear example of not heeding this sound logic. In the past, as pension finances started to improve, resources would be cut to fill different budget holes and new unfunded benefits would be given [Randy McDaniel / Tulsa World].
Panel looks at effect of cuts on Oklahoma mental health agency: Thousands of Oklahoma children and adults with mental illness and substance use disorders will continue not getting the care they need, as state money for that care continues to shrink, an agency leader said Wednesday. The Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, like many other agencies, will likely see a budget cut in the coming fiscal year [NewsOK].
SandRidge lays off 172 at OKC headquarters: SandRidge Energy Inc. this week laid off 172 people at its Oklahoma City headquarters, the most recent cuts coming Wednesday morning, spokesman David Kimmel confirmed in an email message to The Journal Record [Journal Record].
Quote of the Day
“Where we are right now as a state, if we don’t make the right changes in the long term, it will bring about the ultimate demise of the death penalty. I don’t think we’re there yet.”
-Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, discussing problems with executions and the possibility of establishing a compounding pharmacy to produce its own execution drugs (Source)
Number of the Day
5th
Oklahoma’s ranking for beef and veal exports in the US in 2014, with $351.4 M in exports.
Source: USDA.
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
The big paradox of criminal justice in America: In 1970, there were about 4 violent crimes per 1,000 Americans. In 2014, there were 3.75 violent crimes per 1,000 Americans. America is essentially as safe today as when VW Beetles ruled the road and Simon and Garfunkel ruled the radio. Surprised? If you are under 40 years old, you’ve never lived in a safer country than America is today [Washington Post].
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