OKPOLICY.ORG
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, Executive Director David Blatt and Policy Director Gene Perry released our FY 2017 Budget Highlights, one of the most informative and accessible ways to track Oklahoma’s public spending. Blatt also compiled OK Policy’s highs and lows of Oklahoma’s 2016 legislative session. His Journal Record column detailed how lawmakers came close to making substantive criminal justice reforms, but undid some of that progress in the final days of the legislative session.
In her second guest blog post, Erin Taylor described how the budget fails thousands of Oklahoma families. Policy Analyst and Oklahoma Assets Network coordinate DeVon Douglass wrote that a recent housing study highlights the need for affordable housing in Oklahoma. Steve Lewis’s Capitol Update wondered if dissatisfaction with the legislature will translate to change in upcoming elections.
OK Policy in the News
This week, the local education blog Blue Cereal Education included several OK Policy links in a news round-up. NonDoc cited OK Policy in a discussion of the legislative session. NewsOK’s Scissortails blog mentioned OK Policy research on term limits. The blog post they referenced is available here.
Weekly What’s That
Emergency clause
The emergency clause is a provision included as part of a bill in the Oklahoma Legislature that allows it to become effective immediately upon the signature of the Governor or at a specified date. Emergency clauses require two-thirds approval by both houses and are voted on separately and subsequently to the vote in favor or against a measure. Read more.
Look up more key terms to understand Oklahoma politics and government here.
Quote of the Week
“Right now, I don’t know if there is anything I would do differently. I’m all about transparency, and I’m all about getting input, so even though nothing comes to mind now, I’m open to suggestions.”
– House Appropriations and Budget Chairman Earl Sears, R-Bartlesville, speaking about state budget negotiations that were closed to the public, the news media, and Democratic lawmakers until the final week of session (Source).
Editorial of the Week
Teresa Meinders Burkett, The Tulsa World
Oklahoma cannot adequately fund education, the largest consumer of our state budget, or any other core services, without additional revenues. We have demonstrated that we cannot cut our way to prosperity, or even livability. When people say they want schools and teachers to be funded, they need to realize that a revenue increase is needed to do that, and that means an increase in taxes.
Numbers of the Day
- 897.5 – Death rate per 100,000 people in Oklahoma in 2014, fifth highest in the US
- 61.4% – Percentage of Oklahoma smokers who attempted to quit smoking in the past 12 months (2014)
- 6,710 – Number of lawyers working in Oklahoma as of May 2015
- -66.2% – Decrease in state funding for OETA since FY 2009
- 12% – Percentage of Oklahoma adults who have been told by a doctor that they have diabetes
See previous Numbers of the Day and sources here.
What We’re Reading
- Prison phones are a predatory monopoly. One family fought back — and won. [The Verge]
- Americans Don’t Miss Manufacturing — They Miss Unions [FiveThirtyEight]
- When All Kids Eat for Free [The Atlantic]
- 13 Important Questions About Criminal Justice We Can’t Answer [The Marshall Project]
- At Risk [This Land]
