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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.
State finance officials announced that Oklahoma’s revenue projections have increased enough over the last year to trigger an income tax cut in 2016. The tax cut will go into effect even though officials are expecting more budget cuts to most state services next year. OK Policy previously analyzed how the tax cut would affect Oklahomans – 41 percent of Oklahomans will not see any tax reduction, and the average tax cut for middle-income families will be just $30. An error in the way state aid has been calculated for public schools across Oklahoma since 1992 is expected to cause as much as $18 million to be redistributed between school districts for the current fiscal year.
The Oklahoman editorial board argued that the state should not take away transportation funding to protect the budgets of other state services next year. Due to off-the-top transfers from the income tax, transportation has received large funding increases in recent years even while most state agencies absorbed funding cuts of over 20 percent. David Blatt’s Journal Record column examined the push to roll back tax breaks for the wind industry in Oklahoma. On the OK Policy Blog, we showed Oklahoma lawmakers passed a “work requirement” for food stamps that effectively did nothing, while stripping out funds for job training and education that could have actually helped the unemployed find work.
A Florida anesthesiologist testified that Clayton D. Lockett, whose botched execution in April led to a moratorium on the death penalty in Oklahoma, was most likely conscious, in intense pain and feeling the equivalent of “liquid fire” from the inappropriate use of drugs used to kill him. A prison warden who was supposed to be solely in charge of Oklahoma’s execution protocol testified Wednesday she had no role in drafting the protocol used to carry out a botched execution. Citing “tremendous need”, a Kentucky-based company plans to build a 72-bed mental health hospital in Oklahoma City.
The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality says a gauge containing radioactive material has been stolen from the parking lot of an Oklahoma City hotel. An official said the amount of radiation in the gauge likely would not deliver a lethal dose, but would be a health risk. State and local law enforcement authorities are working to eradicate feral swine that were illegally brought to the Oklahoma Panhandle and released and later tested positive for pseudorabies. The Number of the Day is the average premium increase of health insurance plans purchased on Healthcare.gov in Oklahoma if Attorney General Pruitt’s lawsuit against the health care law is successful ($75/month to $277/month). In today’s Policy Note, Wonkblog discusses evidence that the huge health care gap between whites and minorities is starting to narrow.
In The News
Oklahoma revenue projections sufficient to trigger tax cut
Oklahoma’s revenue projections have increased enough over the last year to trigger an income tax cut in 2016, state finance officials announced Wednesday. Secretary of Finance Preston Doerflinger announced the estimate for general revenue fund collections for the upcoming fiscal year is about $60 million more than the estimate made in February 2013, thus triggering the cut. The cut will drop Oklahoma’s top personal income tax rate from 5.25 percent to 5 percent, beginning in January 2016.
Read more from the Associated Press.
Previously: How the tax cut proposal would affect Oklahoma from the OK Policy Blog
Education leaders: Millions in state funding for schools could be redistributed
An error in the way state aid has been calculated for public schools across Oklahoma since 1992 is expected to cause as much as $18 million to be redistributed for the current fiscal year. That could mean an unexpected windfall for some districts and an unforeseen loss for others come January. No official notice has gone out to schools from the Oklahoma State Department of Education. But officials say anxiety is running high, with the annual midyear adjustments made to the initial state aid allocations that school districts receive in July due out any day now.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Road funding merits protection from Oklahoma lawmakers
Next year’s state budget picture is getting clearer — and not in a good way. A tight budget year likely lies ahead. State Finance and Revenue Secretary Preston Doerflinger has predicted “a flat budget at best” and perhaps “some slight reductions at agencies” based on revenue trends. Because lawmakers tapped many one-time sources of cash last year, they essentially start out in a hole this year. House Democratic Leader Scott Inman says legislators face an effective shortfall of around $400 million.
Reform winds are blowing
Leaders in the state House and Senate have recently said that tax credit reform is going to be among their top issues in the upcoming legislative session. While any number of tax breaks may end up in legislators’ crosshairs, tax preferences granted to Oklahoma’s wind industry are almost certain to be a prime target. Wind power is a growing energy source in Oklahoma and across the nation.
Read more from the Journal Record.
The ‘work requirement’ that wasn’t
Welfare as it exists in the minds of many Americans bears little resemblance to welfare as it exists in reality. The nation’s ‘welfare’ cash assistance program was functionally dismantled in the mid-1990s, but especially in Oklahoma, leaders still lean heavily on the specter of nanny state budget bloat and the work-shy freeloader.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
Doctors Say Flaws Led to Suffering in Oklahoma Execution
Clayton D. Lockett, whose botched execution in April led to a moratorium on the death penalty in Oklahoma, was most likely conscious, in intense pain and feeling the equivalent of “liquid fire” from the inappropriate use of drugs used to kill him, a Florida anesthesiologist testified here on Wednesday. At a hearing in federal court on whether Oklahoma should resume executions on Jan. 15, the anesthesiologist, Dr. David Lubarsky of the University of Miami, was highly critical of the three-drug cocktail used by Oklahoma officials in the execution.
Read more from The New York Times.
Warden testifies she had no role in drafting execution protocol
A prison warden who was supposed to be solely in charge of Oklahoma’s execution protocol testified Wednesday she had no role in drafting the protocol used to carry out a botched execution. Despite DOC policies stating the warden had sole discretion over execution protocols, Anita Trammell testified she did not draft them. Trammell testified that a former Department of Corrections general counsel Mike Oakley provided her an affidavit to sign about the protocol.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Citing ‘tremendous need,’ Kentucky-based company plans to build 72-bed mental health hospital in Oklahoma City
Over the next two years, Oklahoma City could see an increase of about 140 treatment beds for adults suffering from mental health and substance abuse issues. That news comes after officials from Springstone LLC, a Kentucky-based company, confirmed plans to build Oakwood Springs, a 72-bed adult mental health and substance abuse treatment hospital in northwest Oklahoma City.
Device Containing Radioactive Material Stolen From Hotel Parking Lot
The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality says a gauge containing radioactive material has been stolen from the parking lot of an Oklahoma City hotel near Interstate 40. The gauge is called a Humboldt Scientific 5001 EZ and is used to measure the moisture content and density of construction materials.
Feral Hogs And Pseudorabies A Threat To Oklahoma Panhandle
State and local law enforcement authorities are working to eradicate feral swine that were illegally brought to the Oklahoma Panhandle and released and later tested positive for pseudorabies. Pseudorabies is a viral disease that’s not considered a risk to humans, but can be transmitted to dogs, cattle, sheep, goats, cats and raccoons and can be fatal to those animals.
Quote of the Day
“The current and hopefully short-term price of oil, and the ongoing drought that continues to impact the agriculture sector of our economy, are reminders to us that the additional funds typically used to supplement the general revenue fund may not always be there at the levels seen in recent years.”
-House Speaker Jeff Hickman, warning that Oklahoma should expect further budget cuts to state services next year (Source: bit.ly/1zyjlt7)
Number of the Day
269%
Average premium increase of health insurance plans purchased on Healthcare.gov in Oklahoma if Attorney General Pruitt’s lawsuit against the health care law is successful ($75/month to $277/month).
Source: Center for American Progress.
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
The huge health care gap between whites and minorities is starting to narrow
In 2002, a landmark Institute of Medicine report awoke the world to shocking inequality in the health-care system. The report’s conclusion: racial and ethnic minorities tend to receive lower quality of care than whites do, even after accounting for factors like income and insurance status. The reasons for the disparity were complex and varied. The IOM pointed to differences in how minorities sought out health-care services, uncertainty among doctors on diagnosing and treating patients from different racial or ethnic backgrounds, and how health systems were financed and designed, among other reasons.
Read more from The Washington Post.
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