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What’s up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk shares our most recent publications and other resources to help you stay informed about Oklahoma. Numbers of the Day and Policy Notes are from our daily news briefing, In The Know. Click here to subscribe to In The Know.
This Week from OK Policy
This week, Criminal Justice Policy Analyst Damion Shade analyzed court data and found property crime decreased in Oklahoma after SQ 780 reduced minor property crimes to misdemeanors. In a new episode of the OKPolicyCast, Strategy and Communications Director Gene Perry spoke with Sterling Zearley, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Public Employees Association, about the biggest issues for state workers and what OPEA hopes to accomplish in next year’s legislative session.
Executive Director David Blatt noted that while the general election gave the appearance of politics as usual in Oklahoma, there were several important differences this year. In his weekly Journal Record column, Blatt pointed to initiative petitions as a way to bring about progressive change in Oklahoma. Steve Lewis’s Capitol Update gave us a forecast on four policy issues under Governor Stitt and a largely inexperienced legislature.
OK Policy in the News
Policy Director Carly Putnam spoke with Politico about the success of Medicaid expansion in red states and what that means for Oklahoma. Likewise, Blatt spoke with Healthcare Dive about the possibility of putting Medicaid expansion on the ballot in 2020. Perry spoke with Fox News and CBS News about the George Kaiser Family Foundation’s offer of $10,000 to relocate to Tulsa. Our annual State Budget Summit announcement was included in the Tulsa World’s Political Notebook.
Weekly What’s That
“Coinsurance” (or co-insurance) is an insurance term that means splitting or spreading risk among multiple parties. Expressed as a percentage, it describes what portion of health care costs will be paid by an insurance company after the insured person has exceeded their deductible up to the policy’s stop-loss (after which all related costs are typically covered).
Look up more key terms to understand Oklahoma politics and government here.
Quote of the Week
“Straight-party voting serves no purpose other than putting power in parties, not the candidates. It’s a passive approach to democracy.”
-Tulsa World columnist Ginnie Graham, on Oklahoma’s straight-party voting box that was checked by more than one in three Oklahoma voters last Tuesday [Tulsa World]
Editorial of the Week
Oklahoma optometrists, lawmakers should improve vision care access
In the wake of State Question 793’s narrow defeat, Oklahoma optometrists and lawmakers must now have the slit lamp turned directly on them. If SQ 793 was not the appropriate pathway to improving Oklahomans’ access to life-changing vision care, what can we do in 2019 to help our fellow citizens? … As things stand, Oklahoma has a vision care crisis complicated by lack of access, lack of a safety net and staggeringly high prices. Some people do not believe this for various reasons: 1) Such a narrative complicates their politics; 2) Such a narrative complicates their business interests; 3) Such a narrative is not easily backed up by PDFs found via Google searches. But I am here to tell you that this is true. Oklahoma does have a vision care crisis, and for the better part of a decade, we as a state have not done much about it. [NonDoc]
Numbers of the Day
- 28% – Percentage of Oklahoma prison inmates with assessed need of substance abuse treatment who received that care in 2017
- 21.5% – Percentage of Oklahoma children living in a household with income below the poverty line in 2017
- 22 – Number of Oklahomans who had their prison sentences recommended for commutation by the Pardon and Parole Board last week. All were serving sentences of a decade or more for crimes that are now misdemeanors with no prison time under SQ 780
- 58.1% – Among adolescents in Oklahoma who experienced a major depressive episode, the percentage who did not receive treatment (2011-2015)
- 40th – Oklahoma’s ranking out of all 50 states and Washington D.C. for the best states to work, based on wages, worker protections, and the right to organize
See previous Numbers of the Day and sources here.
What We’re Reading
- Trump rollback of disability rules can make doctor’s visits painstaking. [Kaiser Health News]
- Getting Back on Course: Educational exclusion and attainment among formerly incarcerated people. [Prison Policy Inititaive]
- As Medicaid work requirements spread, more expected to lose health care. [Governing]
- A smart city is an accessible city. [The Atlantic]
- ‘The single biggest risk factor in getting expelled is being a preschooler.’ [Governing]
