OKPOLICY.ORG
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 blogged about how a flat education budget for FY 2013 will affect public schools. We hosted a guest post from State Treasurer Ken Miller on the need to expand the tax reform discussion beyond the personal income tax.
The OK Policy blog also hosted a story from Voices of Oklahoma on Henry Bellmon, the state’s first Republican Governor. We shared a video on the status of the American Dream and the availability of equitable opportunities to get ahead.
The Tulsa World profiled Oklahoma Policy Institute’s role as, ‘the little think tank that could’ in this session’s tax reform debate. The Oklahoman Editorial Board joined OK Policy in calling for more honest and realistic conversations about how the state will fund its obligations and choose its fiscal priorities. Our Director David Blatt wrote in The Journal Record about the need to reform state laws governing employment opportunities for ex-felons.
- $81.1 million – Amount of state and local taxes (sales, income, and property) paid by undocumented immigrants living in Oklahoma in 2010
- 55 percent – Percentage of Oklahoma’s babies and toddlers who live in low-income families, compared to 46 percent nationally, 2011
- 2nd – Oklahoma’s rank nationally for the rate at which its residents die from heart disease, 2007
- 46 of 78 – The number of state agencies, of those that receive appropriated funds, that were allocated the same or less for FY 2013 compared to the previous year.
- 676 – The average credit score in Oklahoma, 44th lowest among the states
In The Know, Policy Notes
- Governing presents a state-by-state breakdown of public and private sector employment changes between 2008 and 2012.
- Demos explains why 401(k) retirement plans have been a failure that could push millions of middle class boomers into poverty.
- A Pew Center on the States report shows that the length of time served in prison has increased markedly over the last two decades.
- The Center for Public Integrity has an in-depth report on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s inability to act with urgency on well-known workplace hazards.
- Economist Nancy Folbre discusses how social spending promotes families.
