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The Weekly Wonk is a summary of Oklahoma Policy Institute’s events, publications, blog posts, and coverage. 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, we proposed options for a balanced approach to solve Oklahoma’s budget gap. An upcoming event at TU on April 9th features Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, delivering “Inequality in American Society – Should We Blame the Market?” On the OK Policy Blog, we noted that with HB 1749, the Oklahoma legislature seems to be more focused on punishing teachers than helping them.
All Oklahoma college students are encouraged to apply to our 2015 Summer Policy Institute (SPI), an exciting three and a half-day public policy intensive. SPI offers participants the opportunity to become better informed about vital Oklahoma policy issues, network with fellow students and leaders, and prepare for their future studies and work in policy-related fields.
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In his Journal Record column this week, Executive Director David Blatt argued that a scheduled income tax cut should be stopped, on the grounds that the cut was never intended to be implemented under such dire fiscal conditions. Blatt was quoted by NewsOK in an article discussing how negative media attention hurts the state’s business prospects.
Weekly What’s That:
Coverage crater
This term refers to people in states that have chosen not to expand Medicaid who earn too much for traditional Medicaid but not enough to qualify for subsidies on the online health insurance marketplaces. Then the ACA was originally drafted, it was with the intention that all states would expand Medicaid eligibility to 138 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) – $27,310 for per year for a family of three in 2014. Read more here.
Look up more key terms to understand Oklahoma politics and government here.
Quote of the Week:
“Someone in Oklahoma City ought to have the sense God gave a goat, and understand the state government cannot continue to function with this type of shortfall.”
-The Tahlequah Daily Press, in an op-ed criticizing the Legislature for allowing another income tax cut to go forward while the state has a $611 million budget hole (Source)
See previous Quotes of the Day here.
Editorial of the Week:
Editorial Board, The Oklahoman
Democrats recently attempted to delay a tax cut, but were rebuffed by their Republican colleagues in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. GOP members quickly issued a news release touting the vote as proof that Republicans are fully committed to reducing Oklahomans’ tax burdens.
Despite that rhetoric, there’s reason for skepticism. Republican lawmakers have already considered legislation this session to delay another scheduled tax cut, potentially for years.
Numbers of the Day:
- 51.8% – Percentage of inmates in prison for nonviolent offenses as of December 31, 2014.
- $32,000 – Median annual earnings for women employed full-time, year-round in Oklahoma, lower than in 42 other states.
- 53% – Percent of students who graduated from 4 year above colleges or universities in Oklahoma with student loan debt in 2012. The national average is 60%.
- $477,000,000 – Net revenue of new immigrant owned businesses in Oklahoma in 2010, 5.3 percent of all net business income in the state.
- -2.20% –Average premium cost change for the lowest-cost silver-level plan available in Oklahoma’s health insurance marketplace from 2014 to 2015 (from $206 to $201, before subsidies).
See previous Numbers of the Day and sources here.
What we’re Reading:
- Several recent books examine income inequality in the United States, which has grown wider than in any other democracy in the developed world. (The New Yorker)
- Debtors’ prisons live on in America despite being ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. (The Marshall Project)
- Affordable Care Act costs continue to fall. Here’s why. (The Los Angeles Times)
- As part of a settlement between credit rating agencies and the New York Attorney General, the agencies have agreed to be more flexible about the effect of medical debt on credit scores. (Kaiser Health News)
- Decades of stagnant wages for workers is costing states and localities tax revenue. (Governing)
