What really happened with WIC?

The Oklahoma State Health Department (OSDH) recently terminated Planned Parenthood’s contract to administer a federal program called Women, Infants & Children (WIC).  The notification letter sent to Planned Parenthood does not provide a reason for ending the contract.  Planned Parenthood… Read more [More...]

The Weekly Wonk – February 3rd, 2012

What’s up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk is dedicated to this week’s events, publications, and blog posts. This week OK Policy and the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) co-released the 2012 Assets and Opportunity Scorecard, which… Read more [More...]

The Weekly Wonk – March 4, 2011

What’s up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk is dedicated to this week’s events, publications, and blog posts. While tax day is still over a month away, the state tax structure got some serious attention this week… Read more [More...]

There's something happening here: The new Oklahoma political media landscape

Two years ago this month, the Oklahoman and Tulsa World announced a content-sharing agreement in which each paper would carry some stories created by the other. The papers also said they would “focus on reducing some areas of duplication, such… Read more [More...]

Cutting budgets AND cutting taxes?

Today’s Tulsa World has a strong editorial opposing legislative proposals to enact further restrictions on property taxes.  For those who haven’t been following, this week has seen a public flare-up of a long-simmering internal battle within the House Republican caucus… Read more [More...]

Tax cuts and consequences

Plunging state tax collections are wreaking havoc on the state budget and having increasingly painful effects on public services in Oklahoma. Initial estimates were for tax collections for the current year, FY ‘10, to be more than $600 million below… Read more [More...]

Faces of the recession

If  you did not see last Sunday’s Tulsa World, it is well worth checking out their front-page profile of families hit by the economic downturn, titled “Faces of the Recession”. Reporters Ginnie Graham and Mike Averill tell the stories of… Read more [More...]

New remittance law shows why transparency might be a good idea

In the last days of this year’s legislative session, House Bill 2250 passed with little fanfare. HB 2250 puts a  tax on wire transfers–$5 plus one percent on the amount over $500, with proceeds going to the Bureau of Narcotics… Read more [More...]

Updates from Stimulusland

OK Policy is pleased to launch a new monthly Stimulus Update publication. Each month we will take a quick look at one set of federal stimulus (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA) programs. Each issue includes a short review… Read more [More...]

Managing the fiscal pain

Last week I sat down with the editorial board of the Tulsa World to discuss the state’s worsening fiscal outlook. Julie Delcour’s column in today’s Opinion section sets out some of our main messages about the severity of the problem… Read more [More...]