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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.
We released our 2018 Policy Priorities this week! Click here to read all about the issues we'll be focusing on this legislative session. Executive Director David Blatt broke down the budget plan recently proposed by the Step Up Coalition. Blatt's Journal Record column focused on the larger-than-usual number of women running for public office this season.
Steve Lewis's Capitol Update argued that Oklahoman's are no longer willing to pay what it costs to incarcerate so many. Policy Analyst Courtney Cullison warned us that new protections for payday borrowers now appear to be under attack - by the agency that made the rules.
We held our 5th Annual State Budget Summit this week, and Public Radio Tulsa was there to cover it - according to Blatt, Oklahoma's budget outlook is slowly improving. Public Radio Tulsa also reported on OK Policy's analysis of felony case filing data, which indicates that felony filings for drug possession are down since the implementation of SQ 780. The Christian Science Monitor pointed out a new challenge that has resulted from these changes - without a felony threat, it may be more difficult encourage offenders to enter drug treatment.
Ad Valorem Manufacturing Exemption
In 1985, Oklahoma voters approved State Question 588 by a 69.7 percent majority. This created the ad valorem manufacturing exemption. Under Article X, Section 6B of the Oklahoma Constitution, all real and personal property that is necessary for the manufacturing of a product and facilities engaged in research and development, which meet certain requirements, receive a five-year exemption from ad valorem (property) taxes. Since 1985, the range of entities eligible for the exemption has been expanded. Click here to read more.
Look up more key terms to understand Oklahoma politics and government here.
“As our state continues suffering the effects of an unprecedented teacher shortage, Oklahoma cannot afford to ignore the results of this survey. Pay is no cure-all to staving off this shortage, but without regionally competitive compensation, we are trying to win a home run contest with one arm held behind our back.”
– State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister, commenting on a survey that showed that 48 percent of former teachers chose low pay as the most important factor in quitting the profession (Source)
Those who care about Oklahoma have good reason to be deeply worried about the future of our state. With the state ranking at or near the bottom in education, health care and quality-of-life factors, Oklahoma is not a magnet for newcomers. No major business would want to come to a place with four-day school weeks, teacher shortages and funding levels that threaten critical institutions like colleges and universities. Rather, states that invest in themselves are favorable to economic development.
See previous Numbers of the Day and sources here.
The post The Weekly Wonk: OK Policy’s 2018 Legislative Policy Priorities appeared first on Oklahoma Policy Institute.
Steve Lewis served as Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1989-1991. He currently practices law in Tulsa and represents clients at the Capitol.
In preparation for the upcoming session, Corrections Director Joe Allbaugh appeared before the House and Senate appropriations subcommittees that are responsible for crafting next year's DOC budget. He cited Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics showing Oklahoma is again number 2 in overall incarceration of our citizens and number 1 in incarcerating women. We are holding in prison 673 per 100,000 Oklahoma residents. The national average is 397 per 100,000. If Oklahoma incarcerated our people at the national average, there would be 11,020 fewer inmates in our prisons at a cost of $48 per day. Doing the math, if we were just average in incarceration, neither high nor low, the savings to the state budget would be $193 million!
As a life-long Oklahoman, I doubt that either a disproportionately high rate of crime or an excessively punitive attitude toward offenders by Oklahomans would justify an incarceration rate over 40 percent higher than the average state. And it is apparent, based on the actions of our state government over the past decades, that Oklahomans are unwilling to pay the tab for this level of incarceration. As a result, Director Allbaugh has consistently warned that our corrections system is a time bomb just waiting to explode. He says keeping up with the current trend will require a $1.53 billion investment next year.
The problem is not with DOC. The problem is that our laws, and the way they are implemented, incarcerate too many Oklahomans in DOC. More than most states, Oklahoma puts individuals on a path that ends in lengthy, counterproductive prison sentences.
Oklahomans recognized this when they passed SQ 780 at the polls reducing simple drug possession from a felony to a misdemeanor. There are currently 855 inmates in DOC who are still serving sentences imposed before SQ 780 was passed. Sen. Roger Thompson has filed a bill to give those inmates who are serving a sentence no longer possible under current law an opportunity to go back to court and ask the judge to re-sentence them. DOC has estimated that just this bill could save $9.8 million. If legislators want to bring Oklahoma more in line with national norms and follow the will of the people, this is a common sense beginning.
The post Oklahomans don’t want to pay what it costs to keep incarcerating so many (Capitol Update) appeared first on Oklahoma Policy Institute.
Number of approved foster care beds in Oklahoma in FY 2017, up from 2,310 in FY 2012
The post 5639 appeared first on Oklahoma Policy Institute.
“We stopped the movement for income tax repeal, and we’ve seen growing recognition … that there is a structural budget deficit, that we do have a revenue problem, that we need more revenue. And we have seen real, unprecedented openness to new taxes in the state.”
– David Blatt, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Policy Institute, speaking at our annual Budget Summit on the state of the Oklahoma Budget as we begin a new legislative session (Source)
The post QOTD (1/26/18) appeared first on Oklahoma Policy Institute.
