OKPOLICY.ORG
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.
The Satanist who held a “black mass” at the Civic Center Music Hall touched off an hourlong lockdown at the state Capitol on Wednesday when fear arose he was delivering letters containing dangerous powder. Hazardous materials experts failed to find anything of danger in the letters, which were protesting a bill that would put an end to marriage licenses in Oklahoma. David Blatt’s Journal Record column examines how although Governor Fallin laid out important goals in her State of the State speech, her budget shows why they will be very difficult to achieve any of them. On the OK Policy we shared four takeaways from the Governor’s budget.
Education leaders in the state House and Senate said they don’t expect funding for Oklahoma’s college-completion efforts to be available this year. An angry Oklahoma County judge Wednesday threatened to jail the state’s mental health commissioner because a mentally ill criminal defendant did not get treatment for six months. Between 700,000 and 950,000 Oklahomans are in need of mental health or substance abuse treatment. Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett said Tulsa County officials cannot be trusted to provide accurate information for an ongoing financial audit of the Tulsa Jail.
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt vowed to sue the Obama administration over pending Clean Water Act rules. Two Oklahoma City-based energy companies have announced hundreds of layoffs this week. Since late January, more than 105,000 Oklahomans have selected or re-enrolled in insurance on the Affordable Care Act marketplace. A bill to further restrict abortion in Oklahoma and another to make embryonic stem cell research illegal both cleared a House committee on Wednesday, despite concerns from a doctor on the panel.
A Moore Social Studies teacher responded to claims being made by Oklahoma lawmakers who are seeking to ban the teaching of AP US History. KFOR looked at a bill to legalize medical cannabis oil in Oklahoma. The Washington Post shared a map of all the bridges in America that have been deemed “structurally deficient,” including thousands in Oklahoma. The governor of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes said three fires set at tribal buildings were an attack on the tribe. The Oklahoma Insurance Department on Wednesday started offering a new tool to help Oklahomans find life insurance payments they may be owed.
The Number of the Day is the share of Oklahoma’s income growth since 1979 that went to the wealthiest 1 percent of households. In today’s Policy Note, the Washington Post discusses why conservatives should get behind Obama’s push for universal Pre-K.
In The News
Satanist’s letter over no-marriage-licenses bill prompts evacuation of Oklahoma Capitol
The Satanist who held a “black mass” at the Civic Center Music Hall touched off an hourlong lockdown at the state Capitol on Wednesday when fear arose he was delivering letters containing dangerous powder. Oklahoma Highway Patrol Lt. John Vincent said hazardous materials experts failed to find anything of danger in the letters and the building was reopened at 3:30 p.m. Contacted by telephone and informed of the lockdown, Adam Daniels, the Satanist, said he didn’t realize he had caused a disturbance and his intention was merely to deliver letters complaining about a piece of legislation.
Prosperity Policy: Mixed messages from Mary
On Monday, Gov. Mary Fallin delivered her State of the State address and proposed a state budget for the coming year. Her speech emphasized the need to address hurdles in the areas of education, health and criminal justice that are impeding the state’s progress. Yet at the same time, her budget showed why it’s going to be very difficult for Oklahoma to move forward in any of these areas. Under the governor’s budget plan, most agencies would absorb 6.25-percent cuts.
Read more from the Journal Record.
Four takeaways from the Governor’s budget
On Monday, Governor Mary Fallin delivered her State of the State address and FY 2016 Executive Budget. Her speech emphasized the need to address hurdles in the areas of education, health, and criminal justice that are impeding the state’s progress. However, since the December meeting of the Board of Equalization, which certified some $300 million less revenue for next year’s budget, it’s been clear that efforts to tackle these priority areas would be limited by continued lack of funding.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
Funding for Oklahoma’s college-completion efforts unlikely this year
Education leaders in the state House and Senate say they want to provide more money for Oklahoma’s college-completion efforts, but they don’t expect those extra dollars to be available this year. The State Regents for Higher Education approved a budget in November that seeks an increase of $98.7 million — almost 10 percent more than fiscal year 2015 funding. Most of that increase is targeted for additional courses, faculty and counselors to support Oklahoma’s Complete College America goals. But those additional dollars aren’t included in the fiscal year 2016 budget submitted this week by Gov. Mary Fallin.
Delay in mental health placement frustrates Oklahoma County judge
An angry Oklahoma County judge Wednesday threatened to jail the state’s mental health commissioner because a mentally ill criminal defendant did not get treatment for six months. District Judge Ray C. Elliott said Commissioner Terri White blatantly ignored his July 24 written order committing the jail inmate to a state mental health facility in Vinita for treatment. The judge did not accept the attorney’s explanation that the inmate was not moved until this week because the Oklahoma Forensic Center in Vinita had no space.
County can’t be trusted with jail audit figures, Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett says
Tulsa County officials cannot be trusted to provide accurate information for an ongoing financial audit of the Tulsa Jail, Mayor Dewey Bartlett said this week. In an email to the Tulsa World, Bartlett cites a court document in which a former jail worker claims that Sheriff Stanley Glanz and Undersheriff Tim Albin directed deputies to falsify and hide inmate files and move inmates out of the Tulsa Jail prior to a 2007 audit of the facility’s health-care unit.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
How to advocate for better mental health services in Oklahoma
As the 55th Oklahoma legislative season begins, mental health and substance abuse advocates are preparing to take a position on legislation and on funding the budget being proposed. Between 700,000 and 950,000 Oklahomans are in need of mental health or substance abuse treatment, according to the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse.
Oklahoma attorney general vows to sue Obama administration over Clean Water Act rule
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt vowed Wednesday to sue the Obama administration if a pending regulation on clean water isn’t modified. Testifying at a Senate-House committee hearing, Pruitt said the state has already filed its objections to the proposed rule. The hearing focused on a rule that Pruitt and other critics claim would give the federal government jurisdiction over almost any body of water in the United States. The Obama administration counters that the rule is intended to regulate pollution only in waters that could affect traditional navigable waters and interstate waters.
Chaparral Energy And SandRidge Energy Announce Layoffs
Oklahoma City-based Chaparral Energy is the second energy company in the city to announce layoffs this week. Chaparral announced Tuesday that it is laying off 121 employees at its Oklahoma City headquarters. Chaparral CEO and Chairman Mark Fischer said low oil prices is a reason for the layoffs. Chaparral’s announcement came a day after Oklahoma City-based SandRidge Energy Corp. said it plans to close the Odessa, Texas, office of its subsidiary Lariat Services Inc. and eliminate all 265 positions there.
More than 105,000 Oklahomans are signed up for Obamacare coverage
Since late January, more than 105,000 Oklahomans have selected or were automatically re-enrolled in private health insurance plans through the health insurance marketplace, federal data shows. The health insurance marketplace, available through HealthCare.gov, was created through the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, to offer residents options to buy private health insurance plans. In the first two months of open enrollment, 81 percent of Oklahoma consumers who selected health insurance plans were determined eligible for financial assistance to lower their monthly premiums.
Panel Passes Abortion, Stem Cell Research Ban Bills
A bill to further restrict abortion in Oklahoma and another to make embryonic stem cell research illegal both cleared a House committee on Wednesday, despite concerns from a doctor on the panel. While activists gathered at the Capitol for the annual anti-abortion Rose Day rally, the House Public Health Committee voted mostly along party lines to approve both bills. An exception was Rep. Doug Cox, a Grove Republican and an emergency room physician who opposed both measures.
The legislative APUSH push-back: a teacher’s perspective
I’ve been wanting to write about the APUSH legislation proposed in each of Oklahoma’s legislative houses, but I’ve been tied up with my arm in a sling for the better part of two weeks. Given the lengths of some of my rants, I didn’t want to type it all one-handed. Since I’ve been sidelined, I have asked a teacher I respect tremendously to give me his thoughts on the bills. David Burton is the Social Studies department chair at Southmoore High School and a long-time APUSH teacher. He was also the Moore Public Schools Teacher of the Year last year.
Read more from okeducationtruths.
Bill might legalize medical cannabis oil in Oklahoma
A medicine linked to marijuana could soon be legal in the Sooner State. The lawmaker says this is not a bill to legalize marijuana. The author of Katie’s Law says many people want to associate it with a step towards legalizing marijuana, but he makes it clear that it is anything but that. Instead, it’s a medicine, a hope for his family that could mean the difference between life and death.
Mapping America’s most dangerous bridges
Yesterday I put all of America’s 600,000 bridges on a map with an eye toward visualizing the scope of what we fight about when we fight about American infrastructure. Today I want to dig a little deeper into the question and look at the condition of these bridges — take a look at the map above. It shows the regions in the U.S. with the highest percentage of bridges deemed by the Federal Highway Administration as “structurally deficient.”
Read more from the Washington Post.
Cheyenne and Arapaho governor calls fires an attack on tribe
The governor of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes on Tuesday said fires set at tribal buildings were a “heinous crime” and an attack on the tribe. The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are investigating three fires set at tribal buildings about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday. The tribal courthouse building, a newspaper office building and a maintenance barn were damaged by three separate fires, the tribe’s Gov. Eddie Hamilton said Tuesday. In addition to the fires, the tribe’s economic development center was damaged when a tanker truck ran into it.
New service helps Oklahomans find lost life insurance money
To help Oklahomans find insurance they may be owed, the Oklahoma Insurance Department on Wednesday started offering a new tool. The Lost Life Policy Locator Service is designed to help Oklahomans find a life insurance policy or annuity contract left by a deceased loved one. After the necessary information is submitted, OID will contact all state-licensed life insurance companies asking them to search their records for any life insurance policies or annuity contracts insuring the decedent.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Quote of the Day
“This is not about the department failing. This is a result of a lack of funding for services. Obviously, we understand the gravity of the situation and the court’s frustration because we share that frustration.”
– A spokesman for the state Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, speaking after a district judge threatened to jail department commissioner Terry White because an inmate was not moved to a mental health facility until 6 months after the judge ordered he be transferred there. ODMHSAS said the move did not happen until this week because the facility had no available space. (Source: bit.ly/1CwVheo)
Number of the Day
67.9%
Share of Oklahoma’s income growth since 1979 that went to the wealthiest 1 percent of households.
Source: Economic Policy Institute.
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Why conservatives should get behind Obama’s push for universal Pre-K
President Obama’s 2016 budget includes a renewed push for the broad liberal priority of universal preschool. The budget would invest in a “preschool for all” initiative trying to expand access to high-quality Pre-K programs for 4-year-olds from poor and moderate-income families, and it includes $750 million in grant funding to help states create and expand such programs. Universal preschool isn’t a new proposal for Obama — he’s has been talking about it since 2013 (related debates over universal child care in America also go back decades).
Read more from The Washington Post.
You can sign up here to receive In The Know by e-mail.
