Our new benefits simulator helps families understand assistance programs and helps support better policies

OK Policy’s simulator is a menu-driven Microsoft Excel worksheet in which users input details about a family to see how assistance programs help them at various hours of work and hourly wages. [More...]

Vape Taxes Aren’t the Answer for Medicaid Expansion

While there are arguments to pass a vape tax as a public health measure, it would likely be an insufficient and unstable way to fund a public program as crucial to our health as Medicaid. [More...]

Revenue estimates don’t make budgets. Leaders do.

The State Board of Equalization provided the revenue certification that will serve as the basis for Oklahoma’s budget year that starts July 1, 2021 (FY 2022). The news was better than expected, but doesn’t suggest the state’s long-term budget slide is over. [More...]

New report shows the importance of assistance programs to Oklahoma families

The report shows how many Oklahomans need assistance from these programs and how the programs lift many out of poverty. It shows how programs interact to make resources available to families. [More...]

New OK Policy report shows intricate, fragile interconnectedness of public assistance programs for Oklahomans in need

A new report from the Oklahoma Policy Institute — entitled “Plateaus and Cliff Effects in Oklahoma” —  is among the first of its kind to examine how public supports and income interact to impact low-income Oklahomans. [More...]

SQ 814: Decrease Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust Fund Payments and Fund Medicaid Program Amendment

State Question 814 would amend the Oklahoma Constitution to change the way Oklahoma’s tobacco settlement money is distributed.  [More...]

No matter how we fund it, Medicaid expansion will be the best investment we’ve ever made

Oklahomans on June 30 approved State Question 802, which amended the Oklahoma Constitution to expand Medicaid to low-income adults. Now it’s time to take the next step in implementing that promise. Funding expansion will be a key issue for the Legislature to tackle this spring. [More...]

FY 2021 Budget Highlights

State agencies will be appropriated a total of $7.715 billion in FY 2021. This is a decrease of $283.2 million (3.5 percent) compared to the initial FY 2020 budget approved last May, and just $46 million (0.6 percent) above FY 2019 (see Figure 1). [More...]

…and two steps back. First look at the state’s FY 2021 budget and what must happen next

In what was likely the most unusual — and contentious — budget process in state history, the Legislature passed the state budget for FY 2021, which starts on July 1. Most allocations to agencies are in the state’s General Appropriations bill (SB 1922), which the Legislature passed despite the Governor’s veto. [More...]

Rebuilding Oklahoma: Policy Recommendations to Respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic and Strengthen Our State for the Long Term

The Oklahoma Policy Institute has evaluated legislative and administrative actions — both state and federal — that will best prepare the state for a long-term recovery that benefits the health and well-being of all Oklahomans. [More...]