Site Articles

Income tax receipts boost government revenue in April

Thu, 16 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Secretary of Finance and Revenue Preston L. Doerflinger announced this week that collections to the General Revenue Fund (GRF) totaled $700.9 million in April, an increase of almost $90 million or 14.7 percent from the same month a year ago.

Income tax collections accounted for most of the gain as total income tax receipts beat the official estimate for the month by 15.1 percent.

Total GRF collections for the first 10 months of the fiscal year are $4.6 billion, which is $40 million or about 1 percent above total collections for the same period a year ago, and $50.7 million or 1.1 percent higher than the official estimate upon which the Fiscal Year 2013 state budget is based.

“The economy is kicking and revenues are right on pace,” Doerflinger said. “Oklahoma’s economy has shown real resilience in its ability to withstand challenges like federal defense and aerospace sector cutbacks and continued natural gas revenue losses. It instills confidence to have a steadfast economy like ours in times like these.”

Compared to the same month last year, net income tax collections to the GRF were up by nearly 20 percent, with individual income tax collections up 14 percent and corporate income tax collections up 50 percent following a 40 percent increase in March. Year-to-date income tax collections are $2.1 billion, or 13.5 percent above projections.

“When Oklahoma citizens and companies do well, so do state revenues,” Doerflinger said. “Last month’s income tax aberration was just that, as we said, and shows why we always emphasize that income taxes can fluctuate greatly from month-to-month. The big picture shows this year’s income tax revenues are trending higher than anticipated.”

In addition to general growth, April’s income tax collection increase was also spurred by the Oklahoma Tax Commission reporting that it received several large payments from individuals who filed for extensions in 2012, driving collections up for the month.

With a 5 percent unemployment rate that is 2.6 percent lower than the national rate and lowest of any of its six bordering states, Gov. Mary Fallin said Oklahoma is poised for more growth.

“Pro-growth public policy pays dividends to the public and private sectors alike,” Fallin said. “Oklahoma is already doing well economically, and we’re on the cusp of doing better. Our ability to retain and attract new businesses was strengthened even more this legislative session through income tax reductions, investments in education and long-needed reform of our workers’ compensation system. We’re in a fantastic position to expand on the economic success we’ve seen these past few years.”

The balance in the state’s constitutional Rainy Day Fund is $577.5 million, a near record, after totaling just $2 when Fallin took office in January 2011.

“Another good indicator of the state’s solid financial position is that it’s looking more likely each day that the Rainy Day Fund will soon surpass $600 million for the first time ever,” Doerflinger said.

Sales tax and motor vehicle tax collections decreased in April by 3.4 percent and 12.9 percent, respectively, compared to prior year collections. The Tax Commission reported that the sales tax revenue reduction is partly tied to companies receiving higher than usual refunds that are linked to various sales tax exemptions.

“Declines in these areas are likely also influenced by our thousands of federal employees who are understandably holding back on spending in light of the federal budget uncertainty caused by sequestration. The sequester is a slow drip that we’re continuing to monitor closely,” Doerflinger said.

Doerflinger is director of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services, which issues the monthly GRF reports. The GRF is the state’s main operating fund and is made up of about 70 revenue sources. It is where all state taxes and fees flow, except those dedicated or earmarked to specific programs.

Major tax categories in April contributed the following amounts to the General Revenue Fund:

• Income taxes – The total collected from individual and corporate income taxes in the month of April was $427.6 million, which was $70.6 million or 19.8 percent more than prior year collections and $56.2 million or 15.1 percent above the estimate.

Individual income tax receipts of $346.5 million were $43.5 million or 14.4 percent more than the prior year and $26.6 million or 8.3 percent above the estimate.

Corporate tax collections in April contributed $81.1 million to the GRF, which was $27 million or 50 percent above collections for the same month of 2012 and $29.6 million or 57.5 percent above the estimate.

• Sales tax – The Tax Commission apportioned $153.3 million in sales tax collections to the GRF from April collections, which was $5.3 million or 3.4 percent less than the prior year and $15 million or 8.9 percent below the estimate.

•Gross production tax – Gross production tax collections from April contributed $34.5 million to the GRF after rebates. This amount is $19.6 and 131 percent above April collections from 2012 and $8.7 million or 20.2 percent below the estimate.

Collections from natural gas accounted for $8.3 million, which was $6.6 million or 44.5 percent below prior year collections and $0.2 million or 2 percent below the estimate.

Collections from gross production oil taxes contributed $26.2 million to the General Revenue Fund. No oil collections were deposited into the GRF in April of 2012. The oil tax contributions were $8.6 million or 24.6 percent below the estimate.

• Motor vehicle taxes – Motor vehicle taxes produced $16.9 million from April collections, which was $2.5 million or 12.9 percent less than the prior year and $2.8 million or 14.2 percent below the estimate.

• Other revenue – Other revenue produced $68.7 million for the GRF in April. This amount was $7.7 million or 12.6 percent more than the prior year and $5 million or 7.8 percent above the estimate.

State Legislators ponder veto overrides

Thu, 16 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – Members of the state House of Representatives are pushing their Speaker to allow an attempt to override Gov. Mary Fallin’s veto of a pension reform bill, House Bill 2077. Override of the chief executive’s veto of Senate Bill 907, to create an accountability panel to oversee executive agency spending, is also being discussed but seems less likely.

In response to questions from CapitolBeatOK, legislative leaders restated their support for both of the vetoed measures.

In his weekly briefing with members of the Capitol press corps, House Speaker T.W. Shannon, R-Lawton, said members of his GOP caucus had asked to discuss the issue at Monday’s Caucus meeting, likely to be the last gathering of the group before this year’s adjournment.

Meeting with reporters late on the afternoon of May 16 (Thursday), Speaker Shannon said he was “really disappointed about that veto.” He said a possible override “will be part of the discussion” this Monday. “This issue is that important” to some of his members, Shannon said.

The speaker did not commit to support an override, saying he wanted to hear from members before deciding the issue.

Thursday morning, Senate President Pro Temp Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, said an override attempt is “always possible, but I would hate to end on a negative note at the end of the session.”

At his weekly encounter with the press corps, Bingman declined to agree with a reporter who wondered aloud if the veto was an example of the governor “using her muscle” to push back because legislators never acted on her idea for consolidation of administrative functions across the multiple state government retirement funds.

Failure of that gubernatorial objective likely contributed to Fallin’s decision to veto a reform that for the first time in state history would have shifted some government employees away from the defined benefit system pension many analysts contend is unsustainable.

Reiterating his support for both the pension plan in H.B 2077 and the joint legislative panel that would have been created by S.B. 907, Bingman told reporters, “I voted for both bills. I don’t agree with the vetoes, but I think we’ll come back next year and work on that.”

Sen. Bingman said further pension reforms should be “one of the priorities” in the 2014 session.

In a separate session with reporters, House Minority Leader Scott Inman, D-Del City, said he was “a little puzzled” by Fallin’s vetoes. “She’s vetoing Republican bills. I’m curious whether they’ll try to override.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Senate clears omnibus budget, Gov. Fallin will sign soon

Wed, 15 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – The general appropriations budget funding Fiscal Year 2014 passed the state Senate 28-20 on May 14 (Tuesday). Having cleared the state House of Representatives last week the massive spending package now goes to Gov. Mary Fallin, who is expected to sign it soon.

House Bill 2301 establishes the state budgeting framework for next year. It includes spending increases for education, child welfare, and state infrastructure needs.

A press release from President Pro Temp Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, described the plan as “a balanced budget with a focus toward basic priorities.”

In a statement sent to CapitolBeatOK, Bingman said, “This is a responsible and fiscally conservative budget, with increases targeted to core government services — education, infrastructure and human services. The budget includes more than $90 million of additional funding for common education — money to keep the promises we’ve made to support historic education reforms, to fund benefits that our teachers depend on every month, and to put more dollars in the classroom.”

According to a staff summary, spending hikes include:

· $91 million for common education, including: $74 million in FY 2014 to support reform efforts and get more resources into classrooms; a $17 million supplemental for common education to fund teacher health benefits and other costs in FY 2013

· $33 million for Higher Education and $3 million for Career Technology to support operations and the goal of awarding more degrees and career certificates

· $40 million for the Oklahoma Health Care Authority to support operations, including Sooner Care

· $1.2 million for the Department of Health to support infant mortality reduction initiatives and to implement new inspections of long term care facilities for veterans

· $17.4 million for the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse to support initiatives including suicide prevention, prescription drug abuse prevention and treatment, counseling for children with mental illnesses, and “smart on crime” initiatives like the Justice Reinvestment Act

· $44 million for the Department of Human Services to support operations, including the implementation of the Pinnacle Plan and the reduction of the waiting list for services offered to individuals with developmental disabilities

· $30 million to the Maintenance of State Buildings Revolving Fund and $60 million for repairs and renovation of the State Capitol.

Expressing disappointment with the 2014 budget was Sen. Sean Burrage, D-Claremore, the Minority Leader. He said, “This budget bill is just another example of our legislature lacking the political courage to tell Oklahomans exactly how and where we are spending their money.

“Last week, we passed a politically motivated tax cut while, at the same time, hiking fees on hard working Oklahomans. Tuesday, we handed over $30 million to the State Buildings Revolving Fund with no plans for how that money will be spent. In addition, we shortsightedly took bond issues off the table because it’s not the ‘fiscally conservative’ thing to do, despite it being the perfect economic climate to take on that kind of debt.”

Burrage also disagreed with plans to spend $7 million for office renovations at the Capitol.

The minority caucus assistant leader, John Sparks, D-Norman, commented on a specific budget decision in a statement sent to CapitolBeatOK: “Today, we allocated an additional $13 million to the OSU Medical School in Tulsa. This is in addition to the other state money regularly provided to the program through the Regents for Higher Education. This is at least the third time such a special expenditure has been requested and granted.

“Each time, it has been approved with the understanding that it would be the last bailout needed. And each time, they are approved because the program purports to provide doctors for rural Oklahoma.

“However, these physicians graduate with $200,000 to $225,000 in debt. This is two to three times the amount of debt accrued by students at medical schools in the surrounding states. With that much debt, these physicians are practically forced to find work in high-revenue practices so they can repay their loans.

“If our goal is to get doctors into rural Oklahoma, we could take the $13 million from this line item and agree to pay off the loans of medical school graduates if they provided healthcare in rural Oklahoma.

“For example, with $13 million we could go to Baylor Medical School in Dallas and recruit 140 physicians who could be deployed, debt-free, to rural and underserved areas of Oklahoma. The numbers are comparable for many of the medical schools in Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas.

“These doctors would have no student loan debt pushing them away from lower-paying practices in underserved areas. The current scenario is not resulting in a good return on the investment of taxpayer dollars.”

The budget is the third consecutive increase in state spending since Republicans took control of the state government after the 2010 election. This year’s budget hike is just more than a quarter-of-a-billion dollars.

Eight Senate Republicans joined all 12 Democrats in opposition to the budget. On the House side, 12 Republicans opposed the budget.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

COMMENTARY: Don’t make the perfect the enemy of the good

Wed, 15 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – One of Gov. Mary Fallin’s recent vetoes kills an incremental pension reform; another smothers performance audits of government agencies. This is conservatism?

Last week, the governor vetoed House Bill 2077, a desperately needed installment in Rep. Randy McDaniel’s push to bring discipline to state pensions. McDaniel wrote the historic reforms that trimmed billions from unfunded pension liabilities in 2011.

Fallin’s veto stops a pilot switch from defined benefits (in which retirees more of less get a guaranteed return regardless of how markets perform) to defined contributions (where markets matter, and an employee’s own willingness to pay in feeds the ‘corpus’ of a retirement fund).

McDaniel’s bill would have put all elected officials into a defined contribution system, while giving new state employees the option to join – a step appealing to younger workers.

But Fallin apparently vetoed it because her proposal to consolidate a half-dozen employee pension funds did not get past discussion stage.

She and state Treasurer Ken Miller want to put all the state funds into a single unit, saving a big chunk of change each year. It’s not a bad idea, but its failure is a damn poor excuse for her veto.

Government pensions are, as Sen. Mike Mazzei, R-Tulsa, has put it, “the issue that could implode us.” McDaniel’s past efforts dramatically improved pension funding ratios. H.B. 2077 was needed now -- after a year in which liabilities jumped $1 billion.

Fallin’s insistence on administrative consolidation now – to which she and her staff devoted little real energy – leaves the failing status quo in place for another year. This is not conservatism.

This week, Gov. Fallin vetoed Senate Bill 907, which would have created a Joint Legislative Committee on Accountability, to undertake review of executive branch agencies -- and request performance audits.

After three straight budget increases -- despite campaigning as a government “right-sizer” -- Fallin should have welcomed the help. Instead, she said the measure was unnecessary because a governor can request an audit and legislative leaders can ask for special audits.

Sometimes, where you stand depends on where you sit, I guess.

Five years ago, then-Senate President Pro Temp Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City, expressed disappointment when Brad Henry, a Democrat, vetoed Senate Bill 1865, which would have created … a legislative committee on accountability.

Coffee said, “A lot of good ol' boys at the State Capitol oppose the Senate Republicans' efforts to make state government more open, more efficient, more accountable, and more innovative.”

Not only that, “Gov. Brad Henry is apparently one of them.”

That was then. This is now. Coffee was Fallin’s first Secretary of State. I’d be disappointed if he’s changed his mind about keeping an eye on executive spending, but he left state office last winter.

Gary Jones, the Republican who now serves as auditor and inspector and would have been the guy to do performance audits, is a conservative disappointed in Fallin’s veto. He challenged her assertion that S.B. 907 was inconsistent with commitments to create streamlined and efficient government. Jones said:

“It is flawed logic to think this will occur without a systematic review of state government performance conducted under government auditing standards by qualified professionals. Different people have been giving this issue lip service for 20 years. This veto really amounts to little more than ensuring that nothing is really going to change.”

Lip service, indeed. When is something really going to change?

Morton Blackwell of the Leadership Institute played a role in events that took me to the nation’s capitol in the 1980s. He often said, in conversations about incremental reforms, “Do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”

S.B. 907 and H.B. 2077 might not be perfect in Fallin’s mind, but they qualify as “the good.”

We’re down to the last few days of the 2013 legislative session. Government has grown for the third year in a row, and tax cuts have been delayed for at least two years.

If the Legislature is serious about fiscal conservatism, they need to send Fallin a message, and now. The Legislature should override these ill-advised vetoes.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Federal meddling and intra-tribal fights impede western Oklahoma economy

Wed, 15 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

This is a review and analysis of a story about power – Federal power, Tribal power, State power and the power of economic interests, including lawyers, to impact all of the above, and more.

In western Oklahoma, tension and drama seem perpetually to surround the governance of the Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes. The events of 2013 are maintaining that baneful tradition.

Local operatives of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) have gummed up the operations of the common government of the Two Tribes, preventing the administration of Governor Janice Prairie-Chief Boswell from operating independently.

According to the federal government – as in the Interior Department in Washington, D.C., ostensibly the managing unit over BIA -- Janice Prairie-Chief Boswell was legitimately elected as the governor of the C&A Tribes in January 2010. Her victory ousted a scandal-tainted incumbent, Darrell Flyingman.

At the time the Tribes' Supreme Court, led by OCU law professor Dennis Arrow, had been called into question by three BIA P.L. 93-638 federal funding reports in 2007, 2008, and again later in 2010. (These reports are generated in compliance with the Nixon-era self-determination act, which allows tribes to contract with the federal government to manage disbursement of federal funds.) These federal reports questioned whether or not the tribal court had been legitimately appointed.

Immediately following the report in 2010, then-new Gov. Boswell appointed a new tribal High Court, led by Chief Judge Dan Webber, a respected attorney. (Mr. Webber practices in Blaine County, has represented several Tribal members over the years and is the father of the former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.)

The opposing faction in the Tribes' legislature tried to stop the Webber appointment. It became nonetheless effective because there was no formal objection within the thirty day prescribed period in the Tribes' 2006 Constitution. Ironically, the so-called default appointment was the same way the previous governor, Flyingman, had named a lower court judge in 2008.

The legitimacy of Mr. Webber's court was then questioned by the competing court, which immediately thereafter recognized an impeachment proceeding against Gov. Boswell by a minority faction of the Tribes legislature.

That faction was loyal to the Tribes' former Gov. Flyingman and then-new Lt. Gov. Leslie Harjo. Harjo had turned against her boss Gov. Boswell, by chairing a meeting for Boswell's impeachment.

This resulted in the BIA local and regional offices -- who had long tilted toward the Flyingman Administration of the past – to effectively question the elected leadership of the Tribes for purposes of crucial federally funded P.L. 93-638 programs.

Eventually, Interior Department appeals ensued. The Agency, on an interim basis, recognized Boswell as governor for the execution of tribal P.L. 93-638 programs. This action, however, didn't end the dispute.

Since appeals began, lower levels of the BIA bureaucracy have continually sowed confusion by sending some of the Tribes' funds from federally lands and mineral rights -- held in trust for the benefit of the C&A peoples -- to the Harjo faction. This action apparently took place to create a legal situation of confusion, where higher administrators for BIA might have to, as a practical matter, accept Harjo and the anti-Boswell impeachment effort as de facto legitimate, thus avoiding or confusing impending Cobell-style litigation (i.e. for having sent tribal funds to the wrong person or persons).

Betty Tippiconnic, Agency Superintendent, took no blame for the matter because she was in Washington D.C. The local office's number two person, Scott McCorkle, initially stated that Ms. Tippiconnic had told him to send the funds to the wrong person (Harjo) - but reversed course, revising the story and calling it a clerical error.

Sure enough, Cobell-styled litigation then ensued. Boswell's Attorney General, Charlie Morris, filed suit in federal court for the return of funds locked up in a bank in Ada, Oklahoma. Millions in the Tribes' trust funds remain effectively frozen because of the matter (At that point, it was about $2 million, but the amount has grown.)

Meanwhile the Harjo faction has continued to fight the issue, with the help of the Tribes' bank in Clinton Oklahoma, First National Bank. The bank was able to get another $6.4 million, consisting of largely of P.L. 93-638 program funds, locked up in a Custer County court while the dispute over C&A leadership is on appeal.

This confusion and overreach continues, even though the BIA has long since recognized Boswell as -- at least on an interim basis until appeals are over -- proper signatory for the funds.

The bank's law firm, Crowe & Dunlevy, and counsel Scott Meacham, asked the state court to make a decision on who the funds should be sent to -- and then asked the court to appropriate funds for legal fees for the bank's lawyers.

As for that bank, it is led by Barry Sewell, who is now facing serious charges involving a drunk driving arrrest and was recently charged with bribery in connection thereto.

In that Custer County case regarding the funds, the bank has asked the court to let it release the funds to the Tribes' treasury at Concho. Good.

However, denial of funds to the Harjo faction resulted in an appeal to the state Supreme Court. That case now sits awaiting decision.

The C&A Tribes employ 1,600 people – 1,300 of whom are tribal members – but presently cannot access most of the funds to pay bills.

Payroll is effected, and that means the regional and state economy is hurting. Payroll represents 75 percent of the C&A Tribes' total yearly budget. The valid government of the C&As has had to reduce employees to 32 hours a week and lay off others while millions in federal trust and program funds are essentially frozen in the court.

Is all this delay and maneuvering part of an effort to influence the next tribal election, returning the discredited Flyingman faction to power?

Typical BIA leadership appeals do not get resolved prior to pending elections. The problem with this one is it has spawned two tribal Supreme Courts and two Election Commissions which figure to hold their own elections unless the BIA rules before the next scheduled election this fall.

The Harjo faction “attorney general,” Jeremy Oliver of Pauls Valley, faces felony allegations of sexual misbehavior. Harjo herself allegedly assaulted a Boswell adviser. As mentioned above, the head of the bank that has tied up the Tribes' funds faces drunk driving and bribery allegations.

Meanwhile the local BIA offices in Concho and Anadarko – packed by supporters of with former Governor Flyingman and disputed Lt. Gov. Harjo -- say they don't recognize that anyone is in charge of the tribes' government, even though Washington D.C. says Boswell is the recognized governor, pending appeal, on an interim basis.

All this drama and tension unfolds against the backdrop of a tribal government that has grown from 60 federally funded jobs just 20 years ago to become west central Oklahoma's leading employer. With those 1,600 jobs, and a payroll that is 75% of its overall budget, the C&As are now “players” in the regional and state economy.

For Oklahoma and the region it makes sense, at the least, to let that impact continue and even finds ways to enhance it.

As for the BIA's role in gumming up tribal administration, and the role of bankers in blocking legitimate access to tribal resources these are the equivalent of conpiracy in practical effect, if not in legal effect.

How's that for paternalism? This is a matter that should raise the concern of everyone interested in state-tribal relations, the growing economic clout of the Oklahoma's Tribes in general and the C&As in particular, and just plain good government.

There is no magic wand to cure federal BIA dysfunction, which is historic and ongoing. But a few intermediate steps could help – starting with the state Courts restoring access to bank funds for the recognized leadership of the Cheyenne & Arapaho peoples.

NOTE: McGuigan is associate publisher of The City Sentinel , where this analysis first appeared online. He is also the editor of CapitolBeatOK. McGuigan writes frequently on water policy, state-tribal relations and the Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. This spring, his coverage of the Tribes won first place in the Diversity Reporting category from the Society of Professional Journalists, Oklahoma pro chapter.

Gov. Fallin signs income tax cut to take effect in 2015

Tue, 14 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – Gov. Mary Fallin signed into law a .25 percent income tax reduction that will take effect on Jan. 1, 2015. If the state economy cooperates with continued economic growth, the rate would be trimmed another .15 percent in 2016.

Upon full implementation in three years, the cut would put $237 million back into taxpayers’ pockets in the Sooner State. House Bill 2032, co-sponsored by the Republican legislative leadership, nips the top rate from 5.25 to 5.00 percent; the second contingent cut could take the levy to 4.85 percent.

Fallin has touted the reduction as “landmark.” In a May 13 (Monday) release after she signed the legislation without holding a public ceremony, the state chief executive said, “One of the first questions I get when I am talking to business owners throughout the country is, ‘if I come to Oklahoma, are you going to raise my taxes?’ Passing a significant and responsible tax cut will help us to recruit these businesses and retain the ones we already have. Our tax cut will ultimately lead to more job opportunities for all Oklahomans.”

Gov.Fallin said the income tax reduction will eventually offset federal payroll tax hikes that occurred in January. However, the second cut is contingent on revenue growth in Fiscal Year 2016 equaling the fiscal impact of the .15 reduction.

“We want to cut taxes responsibly. No one wants to starve state government of the resources it needs to fund priorities like education. The language of this tax cut bill was crafted in a way to ensure that we have enough growth revenue to pursue a significant tax cut,” Fallin said in the statement sent to CapitolBeatOK.

The tax cut legislation included authorization of state Capitol repairs, leading Oklahoma City attorney Jerry Fent and other critics to assert that H.B. 2032 amounted to “log-rolling” – the unconstitutional combination of two issues in a single measure. However, the governor’s legislative allies, including state Sen. Clark Jolley, R-Edmond, say the single subject rule does not extend to appropriations measures.

Also touting enactment of the tax cut were Speaker of the House T.W. Shannon, R-Lawton, and Senate President Pro Temp Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa.

Shannon, commenting on a day that included a private skull session with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, said, “The way you grow an economy is by letting hard working people keep more of their hard earned money. Oklahoma has proven this conservative principle to be true over the past 15 years. By lowering the income tax rate, we are attracting skilled and educated workers to our state and making Oklahoma a leader in business and economic growth.”

During his stop in Oklahoma, Priebus touted both Fallin and Gov. Falllin as examples of the kinds of “transformational” leaders the Republican Party needs to succeed nationwide.

In his statement sent to CapitolBeatOK, Sen. Bingman said it is “the right time to responsibly reduce the tax burden on Oklahoma families. Businesses in the private sector are looking for certainty in this economy especially with so much uncertainty coming from our nation’s capital. By passing a tax cut now, the state of Oklahoma is sending a clear signal to businesses around the country looking to expand or relocate. We’re committed to lower taxes, to limited government, and we are open for business.”

Delaying effective date of the two-stage income tax reduction served as preface to passage of a quarter-billion increase in state spending for Fiscal Year 2014.

Despite this year’s spending hike, legislative Democrats have fiercely criticized the income tax cut.

In the final stages of budget debates (expected to wrap up this week in the Senate), Democrats have advocated higher increases for K-12 education, Higher Education and for targeted pay increases for state troopers, Corrections Department employees and other state government workers.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Gov. Fallin vetoes pension reform bill, H.B. 2077

Tue, 14 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Gov. Mary Fallin wanted to consolidate Oklahoma's half-dozen employee pension funds, but that goal did not advance this year.

Failure of that gubernatorial objective likely contributed to a decision to veto a reform that for the first time in state history would have shifted some government employees away from the defined benefit system pension many analysts contend is unsustainable. An attempt to override her veto may seem like a long-shot, but is not out of the question.

Fallin made the case for administrative consolidation in February, but did not press the issue until March.

Consolidation never made it into a “live round” bill during this year’s process. Fallin and state Treasurer Ken Miller estimate the Sooner State could save 15 percent by establishing one set of managers across the seven government pension funds. State employee groups were uneasy, with firefighters the most vocal in direct opposition. This month, Miller told reporters consolidation would have to wait until 2014 because time had run out.

In a surprise, Fallin last week vetoed House Bill 2077, a measure which would have put all elected officials in a defined contribution plan – and allowed new state employees that option. A defined benefit system typifies the vast majority of current state employees, but some younger workers want choice.

A news story in The Oklahoman hinted the veto was driven by her frustration over lack of progress for consolidation.

This week, most legislative Republicans are reluctant to talk about the veto, and spokesmen for the legislative leadership would not comment Tuesday (May 14) on the likelihood of a veto override.

However, Rep. Randy McDaniel, R-Oklahoma City, sponsor of H.B. 2077, told CapitolBeatOK the governor’s veto was “disappointing. The bill offered a new defined contribution plan available to all future state employees that participate in OPERS (the Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System), the state’s largest government pension fund.” Many younger workers want the portability of a 401-K style system, and do not plan to spend entire careers in public service. And, such plans are on sounder actuarial footing.

Pension portability was the key feature of H.B. 2077, which McDaniel said was designed “to improve mobility, freedom and economic opportunity.” In the wake of 2012’s grim actuarial reports – when it was revealed that unfunded pension liabilities had jumped nearly $1 billion -- employee groups actually supported McDaniel’s option for new hires.

In its final form, H.B. 2077 had 72-20 backing in the House and unanimous support in the Senate. McDaniel crafted historic reforms Fallin signed two years ago, trimming unfunded liabilities from more than $16 billion to under $11 billion. Then, liabilities jumped last year due to poor stock market performance.

Fallin’s spokesman Alex Weintz explained her veto of H.B. 2077 this way:

“Governor Fallin believes that addressing the $11 billion of unfunded liability in Oklahoma state pension systems is critical. The governor feels that state leaders have an obligation to ensure that our employees have a fiscally sound retirement, which they have earned and deserve.

“Failing to address this issue also stands in the way of Oklahoma achieving a AAA bond rating. In fact, it puts the state in jeopardy of being downgraded by rating agencies, which will cost the state additional dollars. For all of these reasons, Governor Fallin is and will remain a strong advocate for significant pension reform.

“Unfortunately, HB 2077 qualifies as window-dressing, not real reform.”

The state’s leading conservative policy think tank, the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, would not comment for or against the chief executive’s veto of H.B. 2077. In a May 14 “blog post” OCPA commented:

“Had the bill become law, [new] employees would have had the opportunity to choose between this new defined-contribution plan and the current Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS), a defined-benefit plan.

“For years OCPA has made the case for a defined-contribution plan. We believe that pension reform must:

• Ensure that current OPERS employees and retirees get the retirement they were promised;

• Set in motion a plan to pay down OPERS’ unfunded liabilities, ensuring that funding for core government services is not endangered by out-of-control retirement debt; and

• Establish a new retirement savings plan for state employees that fairly compensates them, ensuring that the state’s retirement contribution is comparable to that of private-sector employers.

“There is no doubt that pension reform will continue to be discussed in 2013 and will be a hot topic during the 2014 legislative session. The question is whether the solution that emerges will be a half-measure (such as a “cash balance” plan, or a defined-contribution plan which is merely optional) or a robust solution that brings Oklahoma into the 21st century: a defined-contribution plan.”

Fallin’s veto means that the incremental reform envisioned in H.B. 2077 will be delayed – unless legislators attempt to override her veto. In any case, the stage is getting set for a higher stakes battle over consolidation – and its potentially greater savings -- next legislative session.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

RNC’s Priebus says Oklahoma is model for “transformational” Republican Party

Mon, 13 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), visited Oklahoma May 13 (Monday). Maintaining “transformational people” are essential for future Republican success, he said the Sooner State has such leaders in Gov. Mary Fallin, House Speaker T.W. Shannon, U.S. Sens. Tom Coburn and Jim Inhofe, and U.S. Rep. James Lankford.

Introducing Priebus at a Capitol press briefing, Speaker Shannon said the pair had met to discuss “growing the party, improving the party.”

Saying the visit was part of a “Growth and Opportunity Project” (GOP) launched last winter, Priebus told the Capitol press corps, “This is a state that gets it. T.W. Shannon is an example of the kind of Republican we’re looking for to build the party for our entire country. We want to build a party around people like this.”

Last year “was almost like a tale of two parties,” Priebus said. “One is the party in the states that wins almost everything imaginable, governorships, legislatures and other offices. The other is a party that, let’s face it, hasn’t won a presidential election decisively in 24 years.

We have to be there on the ground. We want to include Hispanics and all Americans. Need a permanent party on the ground. We can’t be a five-month party and expect to win.

CapitolBeatOK asked the Republican leader about “ground game” failures, particularly in Florida where application of voter data to turnout operations collapsed around noon on Election day 2012. He responded, “There is a data-scraping piece, to be sure.

It’s not so much a data problem for us as it was a data-sharing problem. We’re turning the RNC into a digital operation.”

“Data-scraping” refers, among other things, to the process of searching wide sets of online information to learn voter tendencies and issues that “move” voters. Political analysts credit the 2012 Obama campaign with effective use of the Internet and data; Mitt Romney’s campaign much less so.

In a story for Salon.com, Lois Beckett took note of the “big data” embrace taking place at the RNC and reported: “Obama’s data team … generated individualized predictions about voters. The team calculated, among other things, which people were most likely to be persuaded to support Obama based on a conversation about a certain policy issue — information that then allowed field organizers to be more strategic about the houses they visited and the phone calls they made.”

Priebus maintained, “Let’s be honest. The DNC (Democratic National Committee) is not our competition. Our competition was Barack Obama in the presidential campaign. They had a very good data-scraping operation.”

In a follow-up, CapitolBeatOK asked Priebus how he and other leaders might avoid the “echo chamber” effect of the 2012 election’s closing days – when evidence against GOP euphoria was discounted or ignored. He replied:

“Go back and look at the 1988 electoral map. That’s where we start. We make ourselves competitive everywhere or nearly everywhere. Now, we’ve got a carnival game set up, one that we can’t win. Our question is how to get blue states back into the red column. It seems to me it’s blocking and tackling. Be there at community events. Be in the neighborhoods. Don’t take anything for granted.”

In 1988 – with George H.W. Bush as the nominee – Republicans carried 426 electoral votes, winning Vermont, California, Florida, Ohio and much of the northeast U.S.

Also at the Capitol briefing were Oklahoma’s RNC members, Steve Fair and Carolyn McLarty. Priebus praised state Republican leaders, including Fair and McLarty, saying Oklahoma “didn’t happen overnight. You’ve had several leaders in a row, who built a solid operation over time. These people understand you have to have infrastructure, messaging and operations.”

Priebus also pointed to his hiring of Matt Pinnell, the former state chairman who guided the historic 2010 surge. For several years the youngest Republican state chairman in the U.S., this spring Pinnell was hired by the RNC to focus nationwide on state party effectiveness.

One reporter asked about whether divisions among Republicans might limit future prospects. Priebus replied, “we don’t want to have a party where there’s no room for conversation. On immigration, whether you agree with him or not, (Florida U.S. Sen.) Marco Rubio is leading a conversation that matters. We’ve got a party that’s willing to lead.

You know, presidential elections are about politics and policies. They are also about culture. Every presidential election is a cultural election. Presidential elections are huge cultural events. We want to be big and bold.”

Priebus challenged the current presidential primary structure. Further, he said, “I’m not sure we want to continue with presidential debates where people who are responsible for making news are the moderators.”

He praised Shannon as “an example of the kind of Republican we’re looking for to build the party for our entire country. We want to build a party around people like this.” He said the Lawton Republican would be traveling as part of targeted efforts to expand the GOP base.

Concerning 2012, Priebus asserted it was “was almost like a tale of two parties. One is the party in the states that wins almost everything imaginable -- governorships, legislatures and other offices. The other is a party that, let’s face it, hasn’t won a presidential election decisively in 24 years. We have to be there on the ground. We want to include all Americans.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

State House sends $7.2 billion budget to Senate, ‘early’ adjournment discussed

Fri, 10 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

House Bill 2301, the general appropriations budget for Fiscal Year 2014, has advanced to the Senate, which is expected to pass it next week. The measure boosts state government spending by a quarter of a billion dollars.

If the budget passes the Senate, it will be the third straight increase in state spending since Republicans took over every part of state government in 2010. State spending in the Sooner State never declined, even at the peak of the Great Recession.

Funding hikes include $91 million for common education, $44 million for the Department of Human Services (including implementation of the “Pinnacle Plan” operational reforms) and a total of $90 million for maintenance and repairs of state property, most of that for Capitol Building improvements.

In a statement to CapitolBeatOK, Speaker of the House T.W. Shannon, R-Lawton, touted the measure as “a sensible budget that does not increase the tax or debt burden on the people. Oklahoma will not go down the path of other states and spend away the people’s opportunity for prosperity.”

House Appropriations and Budget Chairman Scott Martin, R-Norman, asserted the budget will “uphold core government services” and demonstrates the GOP majority exercised good stewardship “of the taxpayers’ money and infrastructure.”

The massive budget measure passed 59-40, with only two members not voting. In the end, an eclectic mix of 12 urban and rural Republicans joined all 28 Democrats present in opposing the budget.

In a joint statement after the May 9 vote, House Democrats said the Republican budget “was written without the input of the vast majority of the legislature. Agencies that have taken on draconian cuts since 2008 will continue to struggle under this budget. Our schools will continue to struggle to keep the doors open and class sizes will continue to grow under this budget. The staffing and security crises in our correctional facilities will continue under this budget.

“Our university systems and college students will continue to take on debt because the costs of higher education will continue to escalate without alleviation under this budget. The services for our veterans will continue to disintegrate under this budget. Republicans would rather direct money to renovate buildings and office space than truly meet the needs of core state agencies. This short-sighted budget will only harm Oklahoma’s future by failing to adequately reinvest in services like our education system, public safety, and our veterans.”

While the outcome of the budget vote was always certain, passage of the omnibus spending plan only came after several hours of debate, some of it fractious.

House Democrats unveiled an alternative spending plan Thursday morning (May 9) with much millions of dollars in higher proposed expenditures for K-12 education and Higher Education, as well as pay hikes for state Highway Patrol Troopers and Corrections Department employees, a one-time bonus for other state workers, and several hundred thousand dollars for veterans’ services.

Minority Leader Scott Inman, D-Del City, and Mike Brown of Tahlequah, the ranking Democrat on the appropriations and budget panel in the House, were joined by a dozen colleagues to unveil the budget alternative this week.

Over the last two weeks, Democrats have repeatedly complained they were not included in the budget negotiations. A few Republicans have seemed restive over the projected expenditures, but few spoke for attribution, outside of the floor debate this week.

At his weekly press briefing with Capitol reporters, Senate President Pro Temp Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, told CapitolBeatOK he supports the practice of an up-or-down vote on a unified state budget, rather than consideration of spending plans in smaller segments.

Bingman noted the 2013 session began with more than $1.2 billion worth of requests for spending hikes. He said he expects the budget to pass next week. Another 18 or so additional pieces of legislation remain “alive” for possible enactment this year, Bingman told reporters.

Legislative leaders have discussed early adjournment – conceivably by next Friday (May 17) but almost certainly by May 24.

Pressed for a date certain, Bingman quipped that Sen. Mike Schultz, R-Altus, the majority floor leader, has given him a “firm promise we’ll be done by May 31.”

The last Friday in May is the date mandated in state constitutional provisions for “sine die” adjournment every year.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

COMMENTARY: Wishy Washy ObamaCare Buddies

Fri, 10 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

The poor and the sick folks who currently make too much money to qualify for Medicaid in Oklahoma have pooled their meager resources to lobby hard for Medicaid expansion, buying expensive media ads under the name, “Oklahomans for a Healthy Economy.”

O.K. Enough sarcasm.

These ads are funded by those who would benefit from more taxpayer Medicaid loot — the big hospitals. If the poor had organized this push, for instance, they would not have minded mentioning the word “Medicaid,” which, of course, the ads never do.

I wish these hospitals would make up their mind. On the one hand, they claim that Medicaid payments (more than what Surgery Center of Oklahoma has listed online) (http://www.surgerycenterok.com/pricing.php) are killing their profits, set way below their costs forcing them to shift the losses to other patients/payers. On the other hand they want to expand this program. This is kind of like, “… Our emergency room is a loss leader, but we are going to build on to it.” None of this adds up.

The hospital lobby is pushing hard in Oklahoma because the governor of the state has taken a stand, a hard stand, to reject the Obamacare exchanges and its expansion of Medicaid. Even our local media, heavily funded by corporate medicine, has turned on the hospitals, one media outlet recently characterizing the Obamacare vehicle these hospitals want so badly, as a Ford Pinto. The editorial in the Sunday Oklahoman asks essentially if Oklahomans want to ride as a passenger in such a vehicle.

Sometimes I think that these hospital folks have forgotten some of the lessons of childhood, where, for instance, the more a child begs at the grocery store for a candy bar at the check out counter, the less likely they are to get one as the parent’s frustration with them grows.

I hope that our governor’s disgust with the hospital whining helps her to grow even more resolute in her stance. This is politics, though, and while the governor has remained strong, the Republican version of crony politics continues to raise its head, attempting in new devious and renamed ways to funnel money to their hospital pals.

The hospitals aren’t the only ones who can’t make up their minds, though. Remember the government promise that the uncompensated care scam would end with Obamacare? Remember the hospitals begging for Medicaid expansion because of the end of this revenue stream? Well, it turns out that the hospitals are going to get to keep their uncompensated care scam, after all!

You would think that this would dampen their media and political push for Medicaid expansion. Nope. And that’s not all.

Remember the Medicare payment cuts that were going to hit the hospitals as part of Obamacare? Remember the hospitals using this, as well, to bolster their arguments for the need for an expansion of Medicaid? Well, it turns out that they are now getting a raise from Medicare!

Why can’t any of these hospital or government folks make up their minds? I’m thinking that the question most commonly asked at the Obamacare drawing board was perhaps, “… How much do you think we can get away with?” All of this wishy-washiness then makes sense.

NOTE: Dr. Smith is founder of Surgery Center of Oklahoma.

Oklahoma’s dynamic Medicaid discussion includes Florida pilot program

Fri, 10 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – This week, even as Oklahoma got a major slap-down from President Barack Obama’s health care regulators state policymakers began to look at dynamic market-oriented reforms taking hold in at least three states -- changes which have secured federal waivers from Medicaid administrators.

Florida’s Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA), with the help of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA), organized a May 8 seminar for Oklahoma legislators to highlight reforms in the Sunshine State, and in Louisiana and Kansas.

In those states, market forces are being used to improve medical care for Medicaid recipients, at lower costs to taxpayers, advocates say.

“Star” of the state Capitol seminar was a triple-amputee who encouraged legislators to create an Oklahoma version of what is called a “new Medicaid” model.

Moise Brutus, now a college student in Florida, lost both legs and part of his left arm in a 2010 motorcycle accident. He endured months of frustration when his recovery was supervised by what he deems “Old Medicaid.”

Brutus, the subject of a five-minute video posted online recalled that traditional Medicaid “kept giving me bad prosthetics, and those kept breaking.” When his case was transferred to WellCare, part of the “Medicaid Cure” pilot program in Florida, things changed for the better.

His care administrator, Catherine Martinez, transformed his therapy and health regimen. For starters, “They got the prosthetic right in the first place.” He believes his change in fortune was driven by the difference between a “one-size-fits-none” mindset, and the dynamic, competitive approach available in Florida’s “Medicaid Cure.”

Brutus said, “The government helped me get on my feet, yes. To me, the object is to move away from, to get off, government dependency.”

He continued, “There are others like me who can’t better themselves within the systems where there is no flexibility. I think the idea is to get people to a point of caring for themselves.” He told the Oklahomans he is now at that point.

Concerning defenders of standard or “Old Medicaid,” Brutus asserted, “from my point of view it hasn’t worked, and it’s not going to work. So, it’s time to try something new. I’m going to school, then I’m going to get a job, then I’m going to pay taxes.

“I’m already giving back with involvement in bicycle races to support this cause. I see myself, in five years, having the horizon open to me. Whatever happens in my life will be good. Who knew this could turn out so well for me?”

FGA arranged Brutus’ visit to Oklahoma. The group has described traditional Medicaid structures as embodying a top-down “pay and chase” structure (i.e. pay claims, chase fraud) without the discipline of market competitiveness among providers.

Tarren Bragdon, FGA’s president, said the Florida pilot program, which began in 2005 under former Gov. Jeb Bush, incorporates choice, customized benefits, incentives for health rather than the convenience of providers, and accountability for all actors in the system – including plans, providers and patients.

Pivotal to the “Medicaid Cure” program is that patients (consumers) can choose among competing managed care businesses.

Spending in the “Medicaid Cure” counties runs nearly $700 per person less than in the state’s traditional Medicaid programs, Bragdon reports. Florida officials estimate $118 million in system-wide savings have already been achieved, and projects that more than $900 million a year could be saved when the reform model is expanded statewide.

This week’s presentation included, via telephone, Maddie McAndrew, administrator of Louisiana’s “Bayou Health” program patterned on the Florida reforms.

McAndrew said the early transition away from traditional Medicaid, which began just over a year ago, “was chaos, but now it’s working. Our emphasis has included risk adjustments for each recipient.” McAndrew said the program is succeeding, as it did in the Florida program, because administrators have listened “to the stakeholders -- the patients, the providers.”

The managed-care programs from Florida, Louisiana and Kansas, focused on Medicaid-eligible populations, are the basis for House Bill 1552 in the Oklahoma Legislature.

Insurance programs within the envisioned Oklahoma system would include long-term care, allowing some distinctions between urban and rural care systems. While the legislation will not advance in this legislative session, it remains a “live round” and could provide a vehicle for changes to Oklahoma’s system in 2014.

Among the two dozen legislators who met with Brutus and leaders of FBA were state Sen. AJ Griffin, R-Guthrie, a co-sponsor of H.B. 1552.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

State officials deliberate on ways to preserve Insure Oklahoma

Fri, 10 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma leaders remain cautiously optimistic about preserving a popular insurance premium support program, designed and implemented in 2004 with bipartisan support, which benefits the working poor.

This week, on May 9, Leavitt Partners, a consultant to Oklahoma’s Health Care Authority (HCA), encouraged state officials to extend Insure Oklahoma, despite the Obama Adminisration’s decision to spike the program’s Medicaid revenue stream.

In a presentation to HCA, Leavitt’s Michael Deily recommended several possible steps to increase health insurance access for low income Oklahomans. In some scenarios, the state could revise Insure Oklahoma to meet requirements of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

After Leavitt’s “power point” presentation, Nico Gomez, chief executive officer at HCA, said he was interested in the recommendation to preserve Insure Oklahoma, “We have a state innovative program called Insure Oklahoma that we’ve had since 2004 and we’d like to figure out a way to keep that operation because it’s doing exactly what the Affordable Care Act is attempting to do but in a more responsible way.”

However, other analysts caution against any form of “ObamaCare” implementation. Some have suggested the state decouple Insure Oklahoma from federal Medicaid funding, instead using exclusively resources from the Tobacco Settlement fund to preserve the acclaimed program that provides insurance premium assistance to approximately 30,000 of the Sooner State’s the working poor.

In response to question from CapitolBeatOK, Gov. Fallin’s spokesman explained a comment on low income health care she made in a speech to the spring task force of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

Alex Weintz, communications director for the chief executive, said she would be reviewing the Leavitt Partners recommendations, but “She has not proposed using Medicaid dollars to purchase private insurance, although she is aware that others have.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Gov. Fallin signs workers comp, infrastructure bills

Wed, 08 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – Gov. Mary Fallin has signed House Bill 1910, forming the Long-Range Capital Planning Commission and creating a long-term plan to maintain state assets. The chief executive has also signed Senate Bill 1062, forging the most significant changes to workers compensation insurance in state history.

H.B. 1910, a priority for Speaker of the House T.W. Shannon, R-Lawton, was co-sponsored by Senate President Pro Temp Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa. The measure envisions repairs to the state Capitol and development of an eight-year plan to address maintenance repair and infrastructure issues. The commission will also have authority to recommend liquidation, reuse or reallocation of government property.

In a statement after Fallin’s signature was affixed to H.B. 1910 on May 7 (Tuesday), Speaker Shannon said the legislation “shows this legislature’s commitment to becoming better stewards of the people’s buildings and the taxpayers’ money. Oklahoma now has a process in which responsible decisions can be made on repair and maintenance issues without taking on unnecessary debt which will burden future generations of Oklahomans.

“Oklahoma has a chance to prove to the country that conservative values lead to prosperity. If we are to succeed, we must show that we as lawmakers value the very infrastructure we have asked the people to invest in.”

Pro Temp Bingman commented, “The people of Oklahoma are the owners of buildings like the state Capitol, and they simply deserve better than an endless carousel of deterioration and depreciation. We can no longer wait to begin critical repairs to the state Capitol and other public assets in need of immediate rehabilitation.

“This Eight-Year Plan is a conservative, methodical approach to responsibly maintain these buildings and ensure the people of Oklahoma see a return on the investment they’ve made.”

The governor, who signed the two measures without public ceremonies, said in a statement sent to CapitolBeatOK: “It’s important we maintain and improve state assets, rather than watching them deteriorate. House Bill 1910 puts us on a path to ensure state infrastructure and buildings like the Oklahoma Capitol are well-maintained and cared for. My thanks go out to the Oklahoma Legislature for working with me to develop a plan to address the state’s many infrastructure needs.”

On May 6 (Monday), S.B. 1062, the workers’ comp bill -- virtually certain to reduce insurance costs for state businesses – became law with the governor’s signature.

The measure was the pro temp’s top priority this session. In a statement sent to CapitolBeatOK, Bingman said “Oklahoma’s runaway workers compensation court has been the number one roadblock to job growth for decades, and today, we’re finally putting the brakes on these costs. Replacing our broken workers’ compensation system is historic.

“The Administrative Workers’ Compensation Act sends a clear signal to job creators that Oklahoma is truly open for business. This bill is especially needed to help us control the year-to-year fluctuation of costs, and to help us compete for good manufacturing jobs while making sure injured workers are treated fairly.”

Bingman thanked members of the Senate, as well as the governor and the speaker, for helping to press the measure into law.

In his statement on S.B. 1062, Shannon said, “Oklahoma has finally found a modern solution to an old problem. For too long, workers and businesses have been subjected to an archaic and inefficient workers’ comp system. This monumental shift from an adversarial judicial system to an administrative system will lower costs for businesses and get injured workers the quick relief they need.”

Gov Fallin thanked the Republican leaders for sending the bill to her desk. She asserted, “S.B. 1062 completely overhauls our flawed workers’ comp system, dramatically reducing the costs to businesses and freeing up private-sector resources that can be invested in jobs rather than lawsuits. Additionally, our reforms ensure injured workers are treated fairly and given the medical care needed to return to work.

“This is an important pro-growth policy that will help us attract jobs and build a stronger and more prosperous Oklahoma

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Obama administration denies extension of Insure Oklahoma program for working poor

Wed, 08 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Obama administration has denied the state of Oklahoma’s request to extend the life of Insure Oklahoma, a program of premium assistance benefitting the Sooner State’s working poor.

Cindy Mann, director of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services at the U.S. Department of Human Services, based in Baltimore, Maryland, delivered the death sentence to the Oklahoma program -- created in 2004 by a popular vote, and fashioned by a bipartisan consensus – in a May 7 letter received by the state government on Tuesday afternoon.

Referencing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Mann wrote, "The new law will mean that an extension of the Insure Oklahoma program without any changes is not possible."

In her letter, Mann contended the federal government is “committed to working with you on approaches that work for Oklahoma.” However, she continued, the SoonerCare section 1115 demonstration (No 11-@-00048/6) includes enrollment caps which “will not be approved.”

Mann suggested the program, which has provided access to the insurance market for thousands of low-income working Oklahomans could be revised to include “products available in the individual and small business insurance market.” She wrote the federal agency “would welcome working with you … consistent with our guidance.”

Despite the agency’s refusal to approve extension of Insure Oklahoma, Mann wrote, “should the state decide to phase out the Insure Oklahoma program at the end of 2013, a phase out plan as provided for in paragraph 9 of your approved Special Terms and Conditions is due … by July 1, 2013.”

In a blunt reply to the letter from Mann, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin said on Wednesday (May 8):

“Insure Oklahoma is a program that has been providing affordable health insurance to approximately 30,000 low-income Oklahomans since 2005. It is exactly the kind of successful, state-based solution to health care needs that the federal government should be encouraging. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration seems intent on dismantling the program, as evidenced by the recent denial of Insure Oklahoma’s Medicaid waiver. As a result, Insure Oklahoma will cease to exist at the end of this year and 30,000 Oklahomans will lose their current health care plans.

“This is the latest bad news in the ongoing train wreck that is the Affordable Care Act. It is outrageous that President Obama is actively dismantling the successful health care programs established by states in order to force citizens onto Obamacare health insurance plans.

“The president promised the American people, ‘if you like you’re health insurance, you can keep it.’ He has not kept his word. Thirty thousand Oklahomans participating in Insure Oklahoma – and many more Americans across the country – are being forced off their health insurance plans.

“The president also promised the nation’s governors his administration would grant states the flexibility to pursue state-based solutions rather than one-size-fits-all policies. Again, that has proven to be untrue, as Oklahoma and other states are now finding their programs and waivers under assault by the Obama Administration.”

Fallin concluded her statement, sent to CapitolBeatOK on May 8 (Wednesday): “I encourage the president to keep his promises and reverse his decision to gut one of Oklahoma’s most successful health initiatives.”

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

COMMENTARY: From the Heartland, competitive federalism, where everything old is new again

Wed, 08 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Everything old is new again. The “old” is the idea that the American government has limited powers, and that those powers are mostly reserved to the states, where “the people” can put strict limits on their exercise.

The “new” is an effort to give fresh meaning and renewed impetus to the foundational principles that the central (read: federal) government — now drawing more and more power to the nation’s capital in Washington, D.C. — can and should be cautious in exercise of power, and sensitive to the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, the last two articles in the Bill of Rights.

The all-but-sainted David Brown, trustee emeritus of the Heritage Foundation and founder of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA), is advancing these ideas on all fronts, including through the recently established Liberty Foundation (libertyfound.org).

In that group’s new treatise, “Competitive Federalism,” OCPA research fellow Matt A. Mayer makes a bold case for operational reforms that could, if implemented, amount to constitutional reforms. Rather than attempt to undo the federal Leviathan all at once, he proposes a restrained set of changes that would, nonetheless, make a real difference in real time (a decade or two, in my estimation).

His idea? Let’s pull these three specific areas of public policy out of federal control, returning them to the states and the people: Medicaid, education, and transportation.

As Mayer notes, Americans sent $2.331 trillion to the federal government in 2010. The U.S. government sent $564 billion of that back to the states for spending in Medicaid, education, and transportation.

Mayer summarizes a bill of particulars: “The ‘progressive’ vision of a centralized administrative state has left us with health care outcomes that are actually regressive, costing too much and delivering too little,

schools that fail to educate children, and transportation policies that place the whims of special interests ahead of the needs of America’s drivers.”

His bold ideas, one by one, follow.

Medicaid is now the top cost-driver in state governments. (This took place just four years ago in Oklahoma, when health costs soared past common education as the top annual cost-increase sector.) In 2010, the feds sent roughly $285 billion down to the states for Medicaid, while spending another $120 billion on their own. Why not have the states take over the whole thing?

Federal education spending and liabilities placed on the states amounted to $204 billion in 2010. In “visioning” a brighter future, Mayer soars: “Imagine if federal education spending never left the states, but went directly into our classrooms.” Not Lennon-esque, but a nice image.

Then, there’s transportation, where the feds allocated more than $75 billion for projects around the country. Mayer’s analysis concludes 35 cents of every federal transportation dollar is siphoned off for other purposes.

Mayer makes his case pragmatically, but distills his underlying points from the wisdom of James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and other founders.

Mayer distills some 150 years of history this way: “The nationalization of our lives implicitly contained an anti-competitive mentality. Liberal-progressive adherents abhor competition and seek to mandate an equality of outcomes in both our public and private lives.” This is taking us toward the European Union model, rather than a 21st century version of competitive federalism.

One of Mayer’s best sentences is a study in the wisdom of brevity: “Confrontation divides us; competition energizes us.”

During my years in Washington, D.C., I often observed — in debates with advocates of powerful, centralized government — that the main street in Stillwater, Oklahoma, looked and “felt” different than the waterfront in San Francisco, California – and that’s just fine.

The framers envisioned that the American states could and would be “laboratories of democracy.” In an age of diversity, what’s wrong with that?

As OCPA president Michael Carnuccio observes in an introduction to Mayer’s report, “Americans understand competition.”

Yet every year, it seems more and more areas of governance are pulled to D.C., and away from the states, and the people. Although it may seem so, there is nothing inevitable about this.

Millions of Americans understand that something is broken in our modern system. They just might be ready to take a fresh look at leaving at least many powers to “the states, and the people.”

After all, as Carnuccio puts it, “the states had to ratify the Constitution for it to take effect.”

Americans need educational reminders that federal power is best limited to “certain enumerated powers only,” as James Madison put it in Federalist 39.

The closest any American president has come to getting this right in my lifetime was Ronald Reagan, who often said, “The states created the federal government, not the other way around.”

The subtitle of Mayer’s excellent report is “Leveraging the Constitution to Rebuild America.”

Sign me up, and let’s get to it.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Gov. Fallin and legislators ponder next steps on state Medicaid program

Tue, 07 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – Gov. Mary Fallin was for Medicaid expansion before she was against it.

Still, for nearly two years now, she has stuck to her more conservative inclinations – often restating her intention for Oklahoma to go its own way. Fallin says she wants to improve health outcomes for Oklahomans, without the explosive costs envisioned under the Affordable Care Act.

Two legislators have developed a proposal to increase premium assistance under a homegrown program dating back to 2004. Known as Insure Oklahoma, it has notable bipartisan support, but is destined for the ash heap of history under provisions of the ACA.

Some foes of “ObamaCare” fear Sooner State leaders may be inclined to implement the president’s agenda in a round-about manner.

In a recent speech at the spring task force meeting for members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Fallin reiterated her opposition to “ObamaCare” Medicaid expansion, but said officials were working on a plan for Oklahoma that would involve waivers.

In response to questions about possible evolution in her position, Fallin spokesman Alex Weintz told CapitolBeatOK, “The short answer is, nothing has changed about the governor's decision not to expand Medicaid as outlined in Obamacare. Her thinking on the issue has not changed.”

In recent weeks, state Sen. Brian Crain, R-Tulsa, and Rep. Doug Cox, R-Grove, have fashioned Senate Bill 640, which Cox said would offer “premium assistance” for purchase of health insurance, along the lines of Insure Oklahoma -- explicitly designed to assist the working poor with access to health insurance. Crain and Cox want to sustain Insure Oklahoma, while expanding its reach to children and mothers with children.

However, unless it grants a waiver, the Obama administration has slated programs like Insure Oklahoma for termination on Dec. 31. Crain and Cox say the state could seek a waiver, along the lines advanced in Arkansas legislation on April 23. Crain and Cox say their plan is targeted, and not a wholesale expansion of Medicaid as envisioned in the ACA.

In a statement sent to CapitolBeatOK, Sen. Crain said, “We are currently discussing a waiver request for Insure Oklahoma that would provide federal support for premium assistance to low income applicants who are working, looking for work, going to school or caring for a child at home.”

Under a voter-approved referendum in 2004, Insure Oklahoma helps low-income workers to purchase private insurance. It is financed by Medicaid dollars. Voters have also allowed use of tobacco settlement funds and taxes for health improvements.

In an editorial, The Tulsa World characterized the Crain-Cox idea as “a decent compromise”. The state’s largest newspaper, The Oklahoman in Oklahoma City, said the state-based idea has some appeal, but that “ObamaCare” remains a bad idea.

As for the activist community, Michael Carnuccio of the free market “think tank,” Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA), says the Arkansas plan is still “fool’s gold.”

“Oklahoma lawmakers should advance their own solutions to the problems dealt by the ACA. However, with a $16 trillion federal deficit, it may be unwise to build any Oklahoma solution on a broken federal treasury. And it is unclear that HHS in Washington will give states like Arkansas all of the free-market reforms they’re looking for,” said Christie Herrera, policy vice president at the Florida-based Foundation for Government Accountability.

She told CapitolBeatOK, “It’s important for Oklahoma to examine reforms like the one that passed the Florida House this year, which offered limited, targeted premium assistance to working young adults and low-income parents with state-only dollars.”

Supporters of Medicaid expansion, more broadly, include members of the Oklahoma Council of Churches. Nearly two dozen leaders of varied faith communities signed a joint letter in late April. At a Capitol press briefing, organized by OCC’s Dr. William Tabbernee, a diverse group of ministers made the case for Medicaid expansion.

Even if the governor gravitated toward some new steps on Medicaid, she would need the support of legislators. Peter J. Rudy of Oklahoma Capitol Source, an independent online news organization, reported results of a survey of Oklahoma legislators.

Of the 41 responses Rudy garnered, 28 legislators opposed taking additional federal funds for Medicaid, nine supported Medicaid expansion as envisioned in “ObamaCare,” and four said they preferred using federal funds for an Oklahoma-developed plan. There are another 22 legislators on-record as supporting Medicaid expansion.

While all this discussion continues, the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, which administers state Medicaid programs, is awaiting a report from the Leavitt Group, a private consulting firm that has undertaken a comprehensive study of low-income health care in Oklahoma. That report won’t be circulated until after this year’s legislative session ends late this month.

During the 2010 debate on the Affordable Care Act, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and President Barack Obama said Americans who liked their insurance plan could keep it – a commitment challenged by several developments in recent months. For thousands of Oklahoma’s working poor, their “current plan” is Insure Oklahoma.

One question could be whether, in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision allowing the state’s flexibility in Medicaid management, a federal “waiver” could be as simple or elegant as approval current funding levels to sustain a program like Insure Oklahoma, allowing state legislators more time to consider a fresh cycle of homegrown approaches.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

House Democrats designate 2015-16 Leadership

Tue, 07 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

This week, Oklahoma House Democrats elected their leadership team for the 2015-2016 legislative session.

Rep. Scott Inman, D-Del City, was reelected by unanimous consent to serve his third term as Democratic Leader.

Should the partisan makeup of the House change after the 2014 elections, Rep. Jeannie McDaniel, D-Tulsa, will serve as House Speaker Pro Tempore. McDaniel, currently serving her fifth term in the state House, was elected without opposition.

Rep. Jerry McPeak, D-Warner, won re-election as Caucus Chair. Also serving his fifth term in the House, McPeak was elected to serve his third consecutive term as Caucus Chairman.

House Democrats elected Rep. Steve Kouplen, D-Beggs, to replace Rep. Joe Dorman, D-Rush Springs, as Caucus Vice Chair. Dorman is term limited in 2014. Kouplen previously served as Assistant Floor Leader.

“I am honored and humbled to once again receive the support of the members of our House Democratic Caucus to serve as their leader,” said Rep. Inman. “I look forward to fighting alongside my Caucus as we push to advance our agenda of improving our public schools, the lives of our seniors and veterans, and our state’s infrastructure, and to increase pay for our public safety officers.”

“I am honored by this nomination from Leader Inman to be Speaker Pro Tempore,” said McDaniel. “I value the respect of my fellow Caucus members for their confidence that they would support me to represent them in this prestigious position. It is my goal to continue to be a voice for my district and a friend to all who serve here in the House.”

“I work to keep the lines of communication open within the House Democratic Caucus,” said McPeak. “I hope to do right by our outstanding members and to ensure that each of our members’ voices and concerns are heard. I am honored to continue to work with my colleagues in this capacity.”

“I’ve come to know my colleagues over the past five years and I am gratified with their support to serve as Caucus Vice Chair,” said Kouplen. “My job will be to support and help the caucus represent those Oklahomans who make this one of the greatest places on earth to live and raise a family.”

“With Rep. McDaniel’s compassion, Rep. McPeak’s’ firm hand, and Rep. Kouplen’s calm head, House Democrats have another phenomenal leadership team in place,” Inman said. “We have a dynamic, enthusiastic caucus and our leadership team will work to capitalize on that energy in ways that benefit not only our constituents, but all Oklahomans.”

Oklahoma’s gross revenue sets record high in April

Sat, 04 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – Driven by a spike in income tax collections, Oklahoma monthly gross revenue reached an all-time high in April, Oklahoma state Treasurer Ken Miller said as he released, on May 3, the April gross receipts to the treasury report.

Total collections of $1.273 billion exceed the previous record of $1.16 billion set five years ago in April 2008 by almost 10 percent.

April’s strong performance brings 12-month collections of $11.222 billion to within one percent of the peak of $11.283 billion set in December 2008.

“These numbers indicate Oklahoma’s economic expansion continues,” Miller said. “April collections are obviously good, but just as we wouldn’t make too much of one decidedly negative month, we should not read too much into this one.”

Income tax collections were the primary driver of the increased monthly collections, Miller said. Those receipts were more than $100 million higher than in April of last year and accounted for 53 percent of total collections from all sources, he said.

The tax commission reports the jump came from estimated tax payments for personal and corporate income taxes. Personal estimated payments were up by 28 percent, including several payments that were submitted along with tax year 2012 filing extensions. Corporate estimated payments rose by 44 percent over the prior year, including three large payments totaling $30.5 million.

Sales tax collections rose modestly during the month, up by about 3 percent from last April. Gross production and motor vehicle collections were below prior year collections by 7.8 percent and 4.1 percent respectively.

Other indicators

Oklahoma’s unemployment rate continues to reflect the strength of the economy, Miller said. The state’s 5 percent March unemployment rate compares to a national rate of 7.6 percent.

March unemployment in the Oklahoma City metro was set at 4.6 percent, down from 4.9 percent in February. It is the lowest jobless rate out of the nation’s 49 largest metropolitan areas.

The Business Conditions Index for Oklahoma remained above growth neutral for April, dipping slightly to 59.8 from March’s 60.0. The survey indicates growth for the next three to six months will be positive.

April collections

The revenue report for April shows gross collections at $1.273 billion, up $116.96 million or 10.1 percent from April 2012.

Gross income tax collections, a combination of personal and corporate income taxes, generated $668.58 million, an increase of $103.2 million or 18.3 percent from the previous April.

Personal income tax collections for the month are $561.9 million, up $72.08 million or 14.7 percent from the prior year. Corporate collections are $106.67 million, up by $31.12 million or 41.2 percent.

Sales tax collections, including remittances on behalf of cities and counties, total $357.4 million in April. That is $10.11 million or 2.9 percent above April 2012.

Gross production taxes on oil and natural gas generated $57.14 million in April, a decrease of $4.83 million or 7.8 percent from last April. Compared to March reports, gross production collections are down by $9.74 million or 14.6 percent.

Motor vehicle taxes produced $54.34 million, down by $2.31 million or 4.1 percent from the prior year.

Other collections, consisting of about 60 different sources including taxes on fuel, tobacco, horse race gambling and alcoholic beverages, produced $135.96 million during the month. That is $10.8 million or 8.6 percent more than last April.

Twelve-month collections

Between May 2012 and April 2013, gross revenue totals $11.222 billion. That is $274.64 million or 2.5 percent higher than collections for the previous 12-month period.

Gross income taxes generated $4.116 billion for the period, reflecting an increase of $298.28 million or 7.8 percent from the prior 12 months.

Personal income tax collections total $3.47 billion, up by $183.35 million or 5.6 percent from the May 2011 to April 2012 period. Corporate collections are $646.13 million for the period, an increase of $114.92 million or 21.6 percent over the previous period.

Sales taxes for the period generated $4.196 billion, an increase of $219 million or 5.5 percent from the prior 12-months.

Oil and gas gross production tax collections brought in $705.7 million during the 12 months, down by $266.77 million or 27.4 percent from the previous period.

Motor vehicle collections total $687.92 million for the period. This is an increase of $5.62 million or 0.8 percent from the trailing 12 months.

Other sources generated $1.515 billion, up $18.5 million or 1.2 percent from the previous 12 months.

Driven by education and health care, OK government spending to jump at least $250 million

Thu, 02 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – A government completely dominated by conservative Republicans will increase spending by at least $250 million next fiscal year, if the plans of the governor and legislative leaders are sustained in the budget process.

At the state Capitol Blue Room, the widely anticipated spending increases were outlined May 2 (Thursday).

As notable as the spending figures in the Capitol press briefing was the apparent sharpening of knives concerning the future employment of Corrections Department Director Justin Jones.

Gov. Mary Fallin, Speaker of the House T.W. Shannon, R-Lawton, and Senate President Pro Temp Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, joined with appropriations chairmen and other Republicans from both chambers to give the budget information to members of the state Capitol press corps.

Line items in the budget accord add up to a 4.1 percent increase in spending for Fiscal Year 2014. Net expenditures will jump $267 million over the current fiscal year – a total that includes $17 in supplemental spending, the officials said. Approximately $50 million in one-time money (from special or reserve funds) is built into the total.

Spending hikes to be finalized in the next two weeks project $74 million more for common education (K-12), $33.3 million for Higher Education, and $3 million for CareerTech.

State officials previously announced the $17 million supplemental for the current fiscal year, to cover teacher benefits and ad valorem reimbursements to local districts. That brings the common education boost to $91 million.

The Health Care Authority will get $39.7 million “to improve operations and Medicaid coverage,” according to a summary of the agreement. Other health care spending hikes include $13 million for the Oklahoma State University Medical Authority “to maintain and secure operation partnership at Tulsa’s OSU Medical Center.”

The state Department of Human Services lands $44 million in additional resources to focus on implementation of the Pinnacle Plan, a reform of children’s services flowing from a lawsuit settlement reached in 2012.

Officials had also previously disclosed a spending boost for the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services; the May 2 (Thursday) accord among state leaders put the total hike at $17.4 million.

As part of a “pay-as-you-go” infrastructure agreement (fashioned as an alternative to bonded debt), $30 million will be added for maintenance in the State Buildings Revolving Fund. Another $60 million is planned to pay for state Capitol building repairs and refurbishment.

Other spending increases include $3 million for the governor’s closing fund (an economic development tool Gov. Fallin requested in 2011), $3 million in additional drought relief funds, and $1.5 million in startup money for the newly-created administrative system for workers’ compensation.

Many questions at the briefing focused on the Corrections Department and Director Jones, embroiled in controversy in recent days for having – other state officials say – more in operating and reserve funds than previously believed.

In response to a question from CapitolBeatOK, state Finance Secretary Preston Doerflinger said the “discrepancy” between the agency’s actual reserves and previously disclosed accounts amounted to some $6 million. State Sen. Clark Jolley, R-Edmond, said he believes “the dates of encumbrances” are an issue of “greater concern” than the total.

In response to direct questions, Gov. Fallin explicitly refused to give Corrections Director Justin Jones any vote of confidence, saying she wanted to give her recent appointees to the Corrections Department board time to evaluate the agency’s operations.

Gov. Fallin and Speaker Shannon said the appropriation to infrastructure might emerge as a method to finance a “state share”

for completion of the Native American Cultural Center on the Oklahoma River.

Despite the increased spending, Democratic critics faulted the budget accord as inadequate for state needs.

At his weekly briefing for the Capitol Press Corps, House Minority Leader Scott Inman, D-Del City, assailed the “fiscally irresponsible” income tax cut slated to take effect in 2015 and 2016.

Joined by state Reps. James Lockhart, D-Heavener and David Perryman, D-Chickasha, Inman said the state should have instead increased spending for health care, education and other areas of government.

Inman characterized the $74 million boost for public education as “wholly inadequate.” He asserted the total means K-12 education will face a “net cut” in real dollars this December.

Inman and his colleagues also said all government employees deserve pay hikes.

Doerflinger and Fallin said the administration would wait on pay proposals until completion of a study he is guiding. Democrats argued strongly for pay hikes for state Troopers, Corrections officials and others, as prelude a wider pay increase.

House Democrats supported the health care spending increases for Tulsa-area facilities. Inman and his colleagues said they “didn’t play much of a role” in budget negotiations. Inman also said the majority of House Republicans had no budget details until a caucus meeting on Thursday morning.

Michael Carnuccio of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA), the state's leading free market think tank, told CapitolBeatOK, "For the third budget cycle in a row, Republican control of state government has produced increased government spending, no immediate tax cuts for families, and continued earmarks for pet projects."

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

House Speaker’s infrastructure plan goes to Gov. Mary Fallin for enactment

Wed, 01 May 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – House Bill 1910, giving legislative form to Speaker of the House T.W. Shannon’s vision for a “pay-as-you-go” infrastructure financing plan, is on its way to Gov. Mary Fallin’s desk.

H.B. 1910 is one of the “big three” enactments approved last week in an accord announced by the governor, the speaker, and President Pro Temp Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa.

The measure cleared the House on May 1 (Wednesday) after a 74-23 vote. The emergency clause (allowing the measure to go into effect immediately upon the governor’s signature), then prevailed 68-25.

Speaker Shannon has long championed the idea of financing infrastructure improvements from the state government’s revenue stream, rather than with resort to bond issues. He listed the idea as one of his top personal priorities in a pre-session interview with CapitolBeatOK.

If signed by the governor, H.B. 1910 makes a few changes to the Long-Range Capital Planning Commission (LRCPC), directing the agency to guide state Capitol repairs, then develop an eight-year plan for other state maintenance issues.

The commission is also directed to work with the Office of Management and Enterprise Services (formerly the Office of State Finance) to sell underused state assets previously identified in the Omnibus Asset Consolidation Act.

Gov. Fallin is expected to sign the legislation.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Cops gone wild: Rocky Mountain lows, and OK Great Plains blues

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – Every year, I judge a range of competitions among professional journalists. Recently, reading news reports and commentaries from mainstream newspapers in the Mountain Time Zone, an undeniable theme emerged, to wit: abuses of power by and among law enforcement agencies are an increasing reality, raising concern in some of America’s most pro-cop and pro-law enforcement jurisdictions.

The Salt Lake Tribune newspaper, in a lengthy news story printed last November detailed shocking abuses within the ranks of the Utah Highway Patrol (UHP).

Tribune Reporters Nate Carlisle and Cimaron Neugebauer reviewed an incident involving two patrolmen who broke into a locked office at a state police academy, where they altered their timecards.

When the wrongdoing was discovered, one officer was demoted with his pay reduced; the other officer got a 40-hour suspension.

Two other Utah officers sought felony counts against man in possession of small amounts of drugs – for which he had valid prescriptions. And, there’s the case of a woman named Utah’s Trooper of the Year – two years before she was found to have falsified arrest reports and lied under oath.

Carlisle and Neugebauer said the real problem is that every single one of the cases revealed UHP’s “blind spot: patrolling itself.” Those and other Utah scandals are the tip of an ugly proverbial iceberg.

In Denver, commentator Vincent Carroll last year reviewed the Mile High City’s “shabby farewell” to a law enforcement watchdog. Richard Rosenthal worked as an internal brake on corruption within the Denver Police Department. Among other things, he had insisted “cops who lie about serious matters” have to be fired.

This earned the ire of department brass and/or of the police union. On his way out the door last year, Rosenthal was rhetorically kicked in the ass by city hall, rather than lauded for his service to good government.

And then, there’s a local story I’ve worked on for months. Details forthcoming, but here are the essentials.

In 2010, an Oklahoma City schoolteacher was asked to meet her principal and another administrator after returning from lunch. When she met them, they were in the company of an Oklahoma City police officer, and two officers from a Texas jurisdiction.

The teacher was arrested on a murder charge by the two Texans, who had no warrant. Taken to our local city-county jail, she was held overnight and told investigators believed she had killed her former roommate.

She asked for legal counsel of her choice, but was told that was not an issue in her extradition to Texas. She was never “Miranda-ized,” and never tried. She was held in jail 18 months, half of that time in solitary confinement, the other half in a diversion program intended for those who have been convicted. She was never tried, and never received a formal copy of the dismissal of her charges.

After this odd sequence of events, this lady returned home to Oklahoma City, free from incarceration but not from the effects of false charges and 18 months in jail.

She is now another 14 months into a struggle to regain her right to teach. Her family still hopes somehow to offset the effects of an initial burst of publicity that led many to believe she had committed murder, which she had not.

She endured -- unjustly -- events that the righteous should not wish upon their worst enemy.

Steven Greenhut of Watchdog.org and a few others have been raising an alarm bell about grants of unquestioned new powers and resources to law officers in contemporary America.

There have always been police scandals – witness the true stories behind “Serpico” and “Code of Silence,” among others. But this new wave is leaping off the pages of newspapers, coursing through the sinews of the Internet and moving across the broadcast spectra.

The best way to support the honorable and the ethical among U.S. cops is to shine a bright light on those who are neither.

America’s founding generation included the father of our Constitution, James Madison. He wrote:

If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.”

Madison wrote those words as an anonymous newspaper commentator -- “Publius” (the public) in The Federalist Newspapers (#51).

Your humble servant plans to delve into matters Brother Greenhut and others don’t have a chance to reach.

The muse is not whispering, but shouting. Madison would approve.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Check It Out -- Kansas’ economy shows growth in first quarter of 2013

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Topeka, Kansas -- Kansans taxpayers not only have more money in their pockets from this year’s income tax rate reduction, but the state’s economic growth is offsetting the fiscal year 2013 impact of those cuts.

April’s revenue receipt collections for the Sunshine State, released Tuesday, showed individual income tax receipts had grown almost 6 percent from the prior fiscal year to date. Overall, the state collected $25 million more in individual income tax receipts in April 2013 versus April 2012.

Corporate income tax receipts for April 2013 are also about 44 percent more than those for April 2012.

Overall, the state collected $41.7 million more in revenue receipts for April 2013 compared to April 2012.

“We’ve predicted that a fiscal environment where Kansans get to keep and invest more of their paycheck would bring economic growth to the state,” said Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan. “The first quarter of 2013 met those expectations.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and a coalition of legislative allies successfully pushed for the income tax reductions in 2012.

The Kansas Department of Revenue has also processed almost 40,000 more tax return payments this year than in 2012 and there is about one week of checks still left to process. That revenue will be included in May’s report. Tax balance due amounts are averaging 40 percent more than those filed in 2012.

‘Workers Comp, not lawyers’ comp’ -- administrative reform nears passage as business advocates cheer, legislative Democrats holler

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Legislation soon headed to Gov. Fallin would make dramatic changes to the Sooner State’s workers’ compensation insurance system. Legislators have pretty much had their say on it, save for what is expected to be brief final deliberations in the state Senate in the next week or two.

Given Republican unity and their overwhelming majority at the state Capitol, legislative Democrats and their allies are going to lose this battle, but in the walk-up to the final vote, perhaps as soon as next week, foes of the bill continue to make their case passionately.

Key regulators in statewide elective offices praise the bill’s shift from a litigious system to an administration structure.

Commissioner of Labor Mark Costello deemed the legislation, Senate Bill 1062, “historic. Oklahoma’s new administrative system means that worker comp lawyers will no longer trump the well-being of the injured and job creators. The adversarial system in Oklahoma has until now been an injustice to the injured worker and a hindrance to job creation.”

He praised the legislation’s framework for “adopting best practices from neighboring states, placing Oklahoma in competition for new and better paying jobs while retaining existing jobs.”

Commissioner of Insurance John D. Doak recalled, “Workers’ Compensation reform is a subject that I identified as critical and important to our state from the moment I was elected. Oklahoma has one of the highest average costs of Workers Compensation benefits in the nation at a rate of $830 per employee. Because Arkansas and Texas are under $300 per employee, this has not only had an impact on our state economy, but also limits the growth of local businesses.”

Senate President Pro Temp Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, hinted the upper chamber will accept House revisions to his original bill, saying, “Putting the brakes on the runaway cost of workers’ compensation is the single most important thing we can do to encourage job growth and economic development.”

House Democrats were furious over late changes that came early this week, making the bill even friendlier to business interests. The “floor substitute” for earlier language came on Monday evening. The revisions led state Rep. Richard Morrissette, D-Oklahoma City, to assert, “The winners were the biggest, wealthiest corporations of this state. The losers were Oklahoma families and small businesses.”

James Lockhart, a Heavener Democrat, observed on Wednesday, “A 200-page document was filed at 7 p.m. Monday evening and we’re voting on it less than 48 hours later. How can we make an educated vote on something that will affect every working Oklahoman? No Democrat was part of this working group that wrote this bill. I voted for a lot of worker’s comp reform in the past, but I will not vote for a bill if I can’t make an educated decision.”

When the substitute language was considered, state Rep. Leslie Osborn, R-Mustang, moved to “advance the question.” That ended debate and precluded a cluster of 14 amendments Democrats had prepared which focused on medical costs and reimbursement rates.

State Rep. Emily Virgin, D-Norman, maintains the language will reduce benefits by 30 percent, asserting, “most of the cost savings in this bill come from cuts to the benefits to injured workers.”

Rep. Ben Sherrer, D-Pryor, reflected, “It’s a hazard of the majority to do something just because you can, not because you should.”

Now that the bill is expected to make its way through final Senate consideration, arguments are turning to what the financial effect of the reform will be.

Andrew Spiropoulos, an Oklahoma City University law professor, noted in a March commentary that the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) had “scored” annual business savings of $138 million, lowering workers’ comp costs an impressive 14.2 percent if the measure passes.

However, the State Chamber says savings will be almost twice as high – perhaps $260 million – because of savings anticipated from the new administrative system.

Rep. Morrissette was frustrated in this week’s three-hour floor debate because the majority prevented consideration of the bevy of Democratic amendments. He asked, “Why not let the legislative process work?” At one point Morrissette credited the Insurance Department for hearings and information forums held to detail the emerging changes.

Democrats had to make their case without Minority Leader Scott Inman, D-Del City, who left the Capitol after his mother was injured in an accident.

Commissioner Costello summarized what might, politically, be the most significant thing about anticipated passage of the administration system, telling CapitolBeatOK, “The days where trial lawyers dominated Oklahoma politics for their own economic interests are at an end. After all, it is workers’ comp, not lawyers’ comp.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Business group counters AFL-CIO critique of likely workers’ compensation reforms

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY -- It is not a surprise that the Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce disagrees with the Oklahoma AFL-CIO about the merits of House Bill 1062, the workers’ compensation reform bill that went from the House back to Senate this week.

The state AFL-CIO has decried virtually every aspect of the shift toward an administrative system, particularly the “Oklahoma Option” advocates praised but the union described as an “opt-out” provision.

Speaker T.W. Shannon, R-Lawton rebutted the labor union contentions, saying companies who create an alternative workers comp structure must provide the same benefits as companies in the broader system.

The measure is widely anticipated to clear the state Senate within a few days, then head to Gov. Mary Fallin for her anticipated signature.

Early in this year’s debate, the labor union summarized its opposition to the administrative reforms and other provisions with these “bullet points”--

* Bill does away with felony penalty for employers guilty of fraud

* No duty to rehire or retrain an employee whose position is no longer available

* No award for disability of disfigurement if injured employee returns to work

* Opt-out

* Takes away the injured employee’s right to judge and jury trial

* Disability weekly payments to injured workers in recovery cut by 30 percent

Michael Seney, the State Chamber’s vice president and a veteran lobbyist, assailed virtually every particular in the Labor Union’s critique; if he did agree with the union summary in a couple of cases, he had a much different conclusion on the merits.

In response to questions from CapitolBeatOK, Seney reponsed with this analysis of likely new law:

Bill does away with felony penalty for employers guilty of fraud – Wrong – See Section 6

“ ‘A. 1. a. Any person or entity who makes any material false statement or representation, who willfully and knowingly omits or conceals any material information, or who employs any device, scheme, or artifice, or who aids and abets any person for the purpose of:

(1) obtaining any benefit or payment,

(2) increasing any claim for benefit or payment, or

(3) obtaining workers' compensation coverage under this act, shall be guilty of a felony.’ “

No duty to rehire or retrain an employee whose position is no longer available – That’s current law

Title 85. Workers' Compensation

Chapter 15 - Compensation and Benefits

Section 341 - Retaliatory Discharge of Employee or Termination of Health Insurance - No Duty to Rehire or Retain in Certain Circumstances - Damages

“A. No employer may discharge or, except for nonpayment of premium, terminate any group health insurance of any employee because the employee has in good faith:

1. Filed a claim;

2. Retained a lawyer for representation regarding a claim;

3. Instituted or caused to be instituted any proceeding under the provisions of this act;

4. Testified or is about to testify in any proceeding under the provisions of this act; or

5. Elected to participate or not to participate in a certified workplace medical plan as provided in this act.

B. No employer may discharge any employee during a period of temporary total disability solely on the basis of absence from work.

C. After an employee’s period of temporary total disability has ended no employer shall be required to rehire or retain any employee who is determined to be physically unable to perform assigned duties. The failure of an employer to rehire or retain any such employee shall not be deemed a violation of this section.”

No award for disability of disfigurement if injured employee returns to work – Wrong – See Section 45

“F. Disfigurement.

1. If an injured employee incurs serious and permanent disfigurement to any part of the body, the Commission may award compensation to the injured employee in an amount not to exceed Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00).

2. No award for disfigurement shall be entered until twelve (12) months after the injury.

Takes away the injured employee’s right to judge and jury trial – Article 23, Section 7 of the Oklahoma Constitution gives the Oklahoma Legislature authority over workers’ compensation cases and the ability to provide “exclusive remedy”. Current Law – 85.303J states that the judges shall hear the case without a jury.

Disability weekly payments to injured workers in recovery cut by 30 percent – Wrong – TTD maximum was cut from 100% of the State’s Average Weekly Wage to 70%. Not all employees make the same amount of money. This was done to bring our benefits back in line. Currently Oklahoma employers pay $622 per employee in workers’ compensation benefits. Arkansas is at $180 and Texas is at $190. …Kansas is only $323 per employee.

Seney’s boss at the State Chamber of Commerce is President Fred Morgan. In a statement sent to CapitolBeatOK, Morgan said, “This is the most important piece of reform legislation to our state’s workers’ compensation system in more than two decades. In fact, it is one of the most important pro-business bills passed in the history of our state.”

Morgan, a former member of the Legislature, said he hopes the Senate quickly accepts changes to the original bill, so the measure can advance to the governor for her signature.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan, Oklahoma city bureau chief for the Watchdog.org network, at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Reps. Pittman, Matthews assume leadership of Legislative Black Caucus

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

State Rep. Anastasia A. Pittman, D-Oklahoma City, will serve as the caucus chair and said she will continue in her “collaborative and community-sensitive” approach to serving the diverse communities of Oklahoma. State Rep. Kevin Matthews, D-Tulsa, who will serve as chair-elect and treasurer, said he brings his business background and strategic approach to the efforts of the caucus.

Oklahoma House Speaker T.W. Shannon, R-Lawton, praised the new leaders of the caucus.

“I am proud to serve alongside Representatives Pittman and Matthews on the House Floor, and both have shown strong commitment to serving their districts and the people of Oklahoma.

“Rep. Pittman is a personal friend and she has proven time and time again to be a woman of unwavering compassion and the ability to lead. Rep. Matthews has shown a true passion for helping to create a better Oklahoma for future generations. I look forward to their input on policy and issues in the time ahead.”

Concerning Pittman, Matthews said, “Our styles complement one another. Rep. Pittman is an educator and I am strategic. We each bring a different skill set to the table, but we do have a lot in common as well. We both are driven by our faith as members of the Church of Christ and we both want to create more opportunities for Oklahomans.”

Pittman, a former Oklahoma Senate employee, said her interest in public service started at an early age and was encouraged by mentors and former senators, such as Vickie Miles-LaGrange, Angela Monson and Enoch Kelly Haney.

“My leadership style is focused on community input and collaboration, it comes from having a strong foundation in faith,” she commented in a statement sent to CapitolBeatOK.

“My faith teaches me to see each person’s potential and encourage that potential.”

Matthews, a businessman and former administrative fire chief from Tulsa, said he felt called to serve when current state Sen. Jabar Shumate vacated his House seat.

I’ve admired the work of the members of the Black Caucus, but I’ve also seen where I could contribute economic development ideas because of my business background,” said Matthews. “I’ve learned through my faith that blessings should go through you, not to you and the power is in giving, so after my retirement, I decided to give my time and serve.”

The caucus will serve a dual role, Pittman said.

We will pursue a strong agenda that will address the needs of our communities that will include education issues, economic development programs, healthcare accessibility, public safety, and corrections. We will also host conversations with the Caucus through town hall meetings, a retreat for members, activities to build relationships with community partners and host an Oklahoma Legislative Black Caucus Prayer Breakfast to kick-off our next legislative session.

We will be focused on legislation and on policy, but we will also be focused on solutions that do not require legislative action. The role of the Caucus is to support community efforts and to recognize the accomplishments of African Americans to help provide the positive role models and bridges to the next generation of local leaders.

OK Department of Human Services seminar on ‘opportunity gap’ slated

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – A luncheon lecture entitled “Closing the Opportunity Gap: Building Equity in Oklahoma” is slated for April 25 (Thursday).

Kate Richey, analyst with the Oklahoma Policy Institute, a progressive think tank based in Tulsa, will speak as part of the “Practice and Policy Lecture Series” for the Office of Planning, Research and Statistics at the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. The agency sponsors the series along with the University of Oklahoma’s Center for Public Management.

According to a release sent to CapitolBeatOK, the series is intended “to provide thought-provoking presentations on Oklahoma’s emerging policy issues, trends and best practices.” The goal is “providing the best educational opportunities available in a forum that offers participants an opportunity to question, share and learn from each other.”

The agency release said Richey “will present data and analysis on the racial wealth gap in Oklahoma – from home and business ownership to savings, investments, and other assets vital to long-term financial security. This research points to deeply entrenched gaps in wealth, income, and employment between white and nonwhite Oklahomans. Without equitable economic growth at the state level, broad-based prosperity and the ideal of the American dream will become increasingly out of reach.”

The release from Mark K. Beutler of the state Department of Human Services, office of communications, said “Richey will present solutions for closing the wealth gap and fostering equitable access to income, assets, and opportunity in Oklahoma.”

Richey has worked for Oklahoma Policy since January 2011, focusing on health care, immigration, poverty, race and economic issues in the Sooner State.

The lecture series is free and open to the general public. It will be held at the Oklahoma History Center, 800 Nazih Zudih Drive in Oklahoma City

Information is available by telephoning 405-521-3552; or register at the website for the lecture series:

COMMENTARY: The stage is set: unimpressive tax cut, big jump in spending

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – No doubt, I often err. My beloved wife sometimes reminds me of her favorite among my thousands of Chinese fortune cookies: “Firm in opinion, always in the wrong.”

I am but a lowly scribe, whose policy views incline to the Right – a reporter, analyst, commentator, pundit.

Every now and then, my hunches are on the mark. I always feared Republicans didn’t mean it when they promised to cut taxes and reduce spending.

Gov. Mary Fallin, Senate President Pro Temp Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, and Speaker of the House T.W. Shannon, R-Lawton, on April 23 (Tuesday) announced agreement on three important issues.

One is for a “pay-as-you-go” approach to infrastructure, including the state Capitol; a second points to a new era for workers’ compensation, ending “dialing for dollars” in the litigious comp courts with a new administrative system, a shift toward the model pursued in states with lower system costs than Oklahoma’s.

Fair enough. Those fall within the framework of things promised or implied in the campaigns that brought all three people to statewide power. But then, there’s that income tax cut agreement.

The proposal they all support will nip the top rate from 5.25 percent to 5.0 percent – effective January 1, 2015. A second cut of .15 percent will come on January 1, 2016, contingent on revenue growth in Fiscal Year 2016 being equal to or greater than .15 percent.

It might all happen, and relief for taxpayers will be welcomed when it comes. Nonetheless I, for one, am not impressed with a plan that essentially says Oklahoma workers will get a break so long as they continue to drive an economy that is the envy of the nation.

What’s border-line infuriating is the sense of self-congratulation conveyed,

as if GOP leaders have done something that will have a dramatic effect.

These are good people who have talked themselves into believing they are doing something historic -- but I am not persuaded.

To a man and a woman, Republicans wanting jobs in the Legislature and executive offices in recent years were elected while promising to cut taxes and make government smaller. A year ago, they were talking about a glide path to abolition of the state income tax.

Under this tax accord, Fallin will be a few days away from taking the oath to start her second term before she implements her first legislation lowering taxes.

Senate Republicans made it clear they did not want any government revenue cuts this year. Their line in the sand took the form of explicit promises to boost certain funding categories.

When they did not have the muscle to force reforms of tax credits and business incentives, they held tax cuts hostage unless effective dates were far in the future. The Speaker and the chief executive went along.

I’m not always right, but was when I wrote this month (and last year):

“Proposals to cut spending come and go, but the permanent government and its allies in the government-dependent private sector go on forever. Distrust of government is high, and voters long (theoretically) for restraints on taxes and spending, yet government spending at all levels has risen. It took an unwelcome Great Recession to moderate the pace of growth, but the direction thus far remains inexorable.”

Now past the immediate need for budget discipline to finance the $140 million or so annual impact of this modest tax cut, the Big Three can start the horse-trading that has characterized every legislative session since Republicans took control, after promising they would govern differently than Democrats.

These points bear repeating:

* Education bureaucrats have little or nothing to fear from Republicans. Both common and higher education will get some budget budget lovin.’

* Selected government employees will get pay hikes – even as thousands of working Oklahomans in the private sector run in place, at best.

* The state will carry through, as it must, on financing for the “Pinnacle Plan” legal settlement for human services.

* State spending has never, ever gone down in Oklahoma, even during the Great Recession (see accompanying chart).

*And so it goes.

Republicans are snatching a tie from the jaws of victory. We’ll stay in the income tax “sandwich” (Kansas to the north with lower rates; Texas to the south with no income tax at all) Gov. Fallin once said she feared.

In terms of income taxes, it’s as if OU football Coach Bob Stoops held a press conference at halftime of a game against Norman Middle School, to announce: “We had no penalties or interceptions, and we’re ahead 49-0.” Imagine, Coach Stoops then grins, waiting for reporters and fans to cheer.

This is not high drama. It’s more like musical comedy.

Here they come, walkin’ down the street. Get the funniest looks from, every conservative they meet: Hey, hey, it’s the Repubs.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

CapitolBeatOK writers garner honors from Society of Professional Journalists

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – Writers for CapitolBeatOK won a total of five awards at the annual awards banquet of the Society of Professional Journalists, Oklahoma Professional Chapter.

Patrick B. McGuigan -- Oklahoma City bureau chief for the Watchdog.org system, editor of CapitolBeatOK, associate publisher of a community newspaper and a television commentator for News9 – finished third in the competition for best reporting portfolio.

Stacy Martin, now managing editor of The City Sentinel, won third place in the newspaper competition for investigative reporting, recognizing her report on Oklahoma's Quality Jobs Program. Martin's report was initially posted on CapitolBeatOK.com.

McGuigan's five submissions in the portfolio competition for newspaper reporters consisted primarily of stories adapted from CapitolBeatOK for The City Sentinel. McGuigan also won a first place award for Diversity Reporting, and second place awards for health reporting and commentary.

McGuigan's reporter's portfolio submission for 2012 included his tribute to a Cheyenne & Arapaho leader and news reports adapted from CapitolBeatOK on Medicaid expansion, the Women in Recovery program providing alternatives to incarceration for non-violent offenders, and an investigative piece on missing memorabilia from the legendary Oklahoma athlete and Olympian, Jim Thorpe. The package also included a news story on the charitable good works of Olivet Baptist Church on Oklahoma City's near west side.

One of McGuigan's second place award in the category of science, technology, health and environmental reporting consisted of news reports on the impact of the Affordable Care Act, widely known as “ObamaCare,” and its impact on Oklahoma state government. In addition to postings on CapitolBeatOK, those stories ran nationwide on the Watchdog.org Online news platform, and were printed in The City Sentinel.

McGuigan's other second place recognition came in the commentary category, for “Telling a Story and Giving Thanks – To all those who give a damn.” In an essay first posted on Watchdog.org which ultimately appeared in several other venues, McGuigan's relections focused on 2012 general election early voting in Oklahoma City, primarily by supporters of Barack Obama, door-to-door activism in Colorado by Mitt Romney supporters from Oklahoma, and the writer's memories of his tenure as former Delaware Gov. Pete du Pont's deputy policy director during the 1988 presidential primary campaign in New Hampshire.

McGuigan's first place recognition, in the category of Diversity Coverage, came for his report on the life of Archie Hoffman, an activist and member of the Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma who pressed for recognition of land rights in western Oklahoma. Hoffman challenged the Clinton administration to keep a treaty promise to the Two Tribes to return certain lands to their control when the land was no longer required for U.S. military use.

After initially appearing in The City Sentinel and on CapitolBeatOK , McGuigan's obituary/tribute about Hoffman appeared nationwide on Native American-focused websites and in other Oklahoma newspapers. The judge who afforded McGuigan the first place recognition wrote, “A powerful tribute to a great community leader. I expect there are other, equally inspiring people still alive who can be featured for their contributions to diversity.”

An update on the Hoffman story appeared nationwide this week on the Watchdog.org news platform, and at the CapitolBeatOK.com website, and is forthcoming in other publications, including The City Sentinel, where McGuigan is associate publisher and Martin is managing editor.

Founded in 2009, CapitolBeatOK is a non-partisan news website and a project of the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity, a 501 c 3 tax-exempt and educational organization providing news, analysis and commentary of national, state and local governments, with an emphasis on waste, fraud and abuse.

NOTE: An award-winning journalist, Rodely is an occasional contributor to CapitolBeatOK. She is moderator of the weekly “Capitol Watch” podcast, a past president of the Oklahoma City Gridiron Club and a member of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame.

Governor, Speaker, Pro Temp announce accord on taxes, workers’ comp and infrastructure

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin, Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, and House Speaker T.W. Shannon, R-Lawton, have announced agreement and impending action on key legislative items, including income tax cuts, workers’ compensation reform and a plan to address long-term infrastructure needs. Three bills were identified as having the support of both the governor and majorities in the House and Senate.

The announcement on April 23 (Tuesday) fulfilled recurring hints over the past two weeks that the “Big Three” were nearing agreement on key elements in all three areas of policy they had identified as the “big ticket” items for the 2013 Legislature.

House Bill 2032 would cut the top income tax rate from 5.25 percent to 5.0 percent on January 1, 2015. It would cut the rate further, to 4.85 percent, on January 1, 2016.

However, the second cut is contingent on total revenue growth in FY 2016 being equal to or greater than the FY 2016 fiscal impact of a 0.15 percent tax cut. The bill also provides for a total of $120 million to fund repairs to the Oklahoma State Capitol.

While the most aggressive tax cut activists have questioned the reasoning for a delay in implementation, defenders of the state’s reliance on the income tax have challenged the wisdom of a projected $140 million annual revenue impact as the state continues to emerge from the aftermath of Recession.

Senate Bill 1062 reforms the workers’ compensation system in Oklahoma. According to the governor’s office, the measure will reduce legal costs, medical costs, and “excessive payouts to workers that have driven up costs for Oklahoma businesses and encouraged fraud.”

The measure will move Oklahoma from a litigation-based workers’ compensation system to an administrative system. Advocates contend this will reduce the adversarial nature of the system and reduce time needed to process claims.

Critics not only oppose the shift to an administrative system, they also contend that reforms enacted in recent legislative sessions have not a chance to take hold, and that creation of parallel workers’ comp systems will create confusion and delay.

House Bill 1910 creates a Pay-As-You-Go Infrastructure Plan and forms the Long-Range Capital Planning Commission which will first address the repair of the state Capitol and later develop an 8-year plan to address the state’s other maintenance issues.

The commission’s plan will create a system for maintenance to address the state’s needs without incurring unnecessary debt. It will also include recommendations on reallocation, reuse or liquidation of state properties.

Gov. Fallin said she looked forward to signing the measures into law, saying the announcement set the stage for a productive legislative session.

“My thanks go out to the Speaker and the Pro Tem for working together with my office on these important issues,” Fallin said. “Delivering a responsible, meaningful tax cut will boost our economy and help us to create more jobs and bring more businesses to Oklahoma. Likewise, overhauling our flawed workers’ comp system will reduce costs to employers and allow them to invest in jobs and growth rather than lawsuits.

“Finally, our long-term infrastructure improvement plan will ensure we are maintaining and improving state assets, rather than watching them deteriorate. Today’s announcement represents an exciting, important step forward for Oklahoma. I look forward to signing these three measures into law.”

Bingman said that workers’ compensation reform would address the state’s greatest obstacle to job growth.

“Today’s announcement shows our commitment to government that is smaller, simpler, and smarter,” said Pro Temp Bingman. “Our broken workers’ compensation system is Oklahoma’s greatest obstacle to job growth, and I believe the time has finally come to put the brakes on our runaway costs.

“Moving to an administrative system will attract quality manufacturers back to Oklahoma, and together, our tax cut and workers’ compensation overhaul plans are an important step toward creating more certainty in Oklahoma’s business environment.

"Additionally, our long-range infrastructure plan shows a forward-thinking approach to good stewardship of taxpayer-owned assets. I am thankful for the leadership shown by Governor Fallin and Speaker Shannon as we have worked to craft agreements on issues of such importance to Oklahoma’s future.”

Shannon said the three bills would support Oklahoma growth and prosperity.

"Our offices have come together to ensure a better future for Oklahoma,” said Speaker Shannon. “These three crucial measures prove that the conservative leadership of this state is committed to government efficiency, reducing the tax burden and becoming better stewards of our citizen-funded infrastructure.

"Through implementing monumental workers’ comp reform, cuts in the personal income tax, and a Pay-As-You-Go infrastructure plan, we are moving forward with responsible policies that will produce growth and prosperity for the people of our great state. As I have said many times before, we will not go down the same path of Washington, D.C., by continuing an endless cycle of taxing, spending and borrowing against the future of our children.”

NOTE: Editor Pat McGuigan contributed to this report.

Doing some good: Slowly, Archie Hoffman’s dreams for Oklahoma’s Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes coming true

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Archie Hoffman’s dreams for Oklahoma’s Cheyenne & Arapaho (C&A) Tribes are slowly coming true. As the late activist’s hopes are shaping public policy both in “Indian Country” and the rest of America, his patience might serve as a model for relations between sovereign tribes and state/federal governments.

This month, C&A Gov. Janice Prairie-Chief Boswell inked agreements with Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, historic accords in which each side gave something up. Hoffman, who died last year, would have approved. A dreamer and a doer, Archie understood, "You don't get something for nothing. Not in this world."

As the narrator for an NBC News Report put it in the 1990s, the C&As have fought for more than a century to get back portions of tribal lands: “They tried lobbying, they tried the courts, and then, in 1996, after a meeting with some local Democratic officials, they tried something as old as American politics itself -- they wrote a check.”

The story detailed behind-the-scenes efforts by Hoffman and others to regain land around historic Fort Reno, an area in western Oklahoma the U.S. government had long promised would – if the facility ever stopped being a military installation – be returned.

Hoffman had noticed the increasing clout of larger tribes – influence garnered in part from significant campaign contributions to both major political parties. He and other leaders of smaller Indian Nations were frustrated by the ability of the larger tribes to leverage sovereign rights, leavened with those significant political gifts, to gain local and national market advantages.

Hoffman was told political money -- a tribal contribution of $100,000 to the national Democrats' drive for President Bill Clinton's 1996 reelection -- would grease the skids for a look at the merits.

In a meeting with the president, one of Hoffman's close allies later said, Clinton affirmed “something to the effect” of “I'll see what can be done about it." Hoffman's friend, Charles Surveyor, later recalled that Clinton fundraiser Terry McAuliffe promised “the president says he['s] gonna do something, he's gonna do it.”

After getting dunned by national Democrats, the Tribes sent $87,671.74 – all they had in their bank account. Later, the contribution reached $107,671.74, but McAuliffe denied to reporters he had ever made the promise on Clinton's behalf.

Senator Fred Thompson, who later led a lengthy investigation of campaign finance, sympathetically concluded, “We know what was in the minds of the men from the tribe. And that is they thought that they had done themselves some good."

Rebuffed in the Clinton deal, the Tribes returned to the courts. A few years ago, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. ruled the tribal land claim was time-barred, although lawyers entered evidence that status of the property had been deemed classified for fifty years after going on standby military status in the 1950s.

Which brings us to the new Oklahoma-C&A agreements. The accords, signed April 5, ban in-state Internet gaming while establishing a new state revenue stream, establish a tobacco compact, and an agreement on outdoor burn bans as part of joint efforts to battle drought.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin and Gov. Janice Prairie-Chief Boswell of the Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes negotiated the deals. While banning on-line gaming for in-state residents, among other provisions, the gaming settlement could send the state 20 percent of revenues generated from international gaming. A complex deal, it is a true compromise.

Archie Doyle Hoffman, Sr. deserves credit for keeping his eyes on the prize, even as many others in the Two Tribes obsessed over power games. The most effective C&A leader of the modern era, Archie was never chief (governor) of the Tribes, but was an elected officer for a time.

A military veteran, Archie served an overseas tour before his honorable discharge. With practical skills learned as an Air Force mechanic, he made his way in the broader Oklahoma culture while retaining love for the old ways, including service as a representative for the Native American Church.

Weeks before his death a year ago, he appeared before a federal commission, confident that one day the Cheyenne & Arapaho peoples would gain justice from America.

Archie was a legend for many deeds, but his people (and non-tribal admirers) remember him for the pressure on Clinton. It must be noted that the courts have never ruled directly on the merits of that Cheyenne & Arapaho land claim, yet Gov. Boswell and her allies believe Archie’s patience and methodical pressure are a model that will endure.

Gov. Fallin deserves applause for working cooperatively with these and other tribes, without surrendering the state government’s legitimate claims. I am confident Hoffman would have approved of the recent work of both of these ladies.

Note: This is adapted from a story first posted on CapitolBeatOK in 2012. McGuigan’s coverage of Archie Hoffman and the Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes won first place in Diversity News Reporting from the Society of Professional Journalists, Oklahoma Professional Chapter, at last weekend’s awards banquet.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Citizenship dinner to honor Ed Feulner, former Sen. Jim DeMint to give keynote address

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA) hosts its 2013 Citizenship Dinner Thursday, May 9 at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. The event features keynote speaker Sen. Jim DeMint, newly elected president of the Heritage Foundation and the 2013 Citizenship Award Recipient, Dr. Edwin Feulner, founder of the Heritage Foundation.

OCPA and the Heritage Foundation have a long-established relationship beginning with Dr. David Brown, who helped found OCPA and is a long time Heritage board member and former chair. OCPA and the Heritage Foundation work to formulate and promote public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values and a strong national defense.

Senator DeMint has been a great leader for our country, leading us in the direction of free-market principles that help grow and sustain our economy,” said Michael Carnuccio, president of OCPA. “This opportunity to hear from him and former Heritage President, Ed Feulner on how limited government, individual liberties and free enterprise principles can help get our country back on track will help lead to Oklahoma’s success.”

Sen. Jim DeMint served South Carolina as United States Senator from 2005 to 2013 and previously in the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to 2005. On April 4, Sen. DeMint replaced Ed Feulner as successor of the Heritage Foundation. Sen. DeMint will share his thoughts on the importance of individual liberty, the success of free-market and his new role at the Heritage Foundation.

In a press release, OCPA said the Citizenship Award is given to a national leader that exemplifies the most important duty as an American – being a servant to the country so many call home. OCPA extends this award to a deserving recipient at the annual Citizenship Dinner. This year’s Citizenship Award recipient is Dr. Ed Feulner. Dr. Feulner has spent the last 36 years leading the 40-year-old organization, which he helped found in 1973. The Heritage Foundation has grown to be one of the largest think tanks in the United States.

“OCPA was founded in 1993 and the Citizenship Dinner kicks-off our 20-year anniversary celebration,” continued Carnuccio. “Though the times are vastly different, our commitment to our principles remains the same and our devotion to Oklahomans has not waivered.”

The reception begins at 6 p.m. with the program starting at 7 p.m. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.ocpathink.org or contact Rachel Hays at 405-602-1667

Editor’s Notebook: Johnson’s apology, foreign laws, tightening ROPE

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

From an editor’s notebook, an Oklahoma representative apologizes for uttering words widely considered anti-Semitic, Gov. Mary Fallin signs a new law banning the application of foreign laws and precedents in Oklahoma courts, and tightening the ROPE.

* * *

State Rep. Dennis Johnson, R-Duncan, took the podium at the Oklahoma House of Representatives to apologize for comments made during legislative debate on April 17 (Wednesday).

House Democrats and the National Jewish Democratic Council had issued statements decrying Johnson’s statement that customers of his small business might “Jew me down on a price.” House Speaker T. W. Shannon and Senate President Pro Temp Brian Bingman also criticized Johnson’s comments, with Bingman saying the phrasing “personally offended” him.

Speaking to a hushed House chamber Thursday afternoon, Johnson said, “What I said was wrong. What I said was hurtful to many good and decent people. My words were careless. They were unintentional and do not indicate what was in my heart.

“This was a serious offense and I have no excuse for using such a thoughtful phrase. It will not happen again. I am sorry and I ask the forgiveness of the House, this chamber. It does reflect on us negatively. I accept that.”

House Minority Leader Scott Inman, D-Del City, said Johnson’s actions “are the restitution that’s necessary to move us forward.”

* * *

Gov. Mary Fallin has signed House Bill 1060, state Rep. Sally Kern’s measure prohibiting the application of foreign laws and precedents when that would violate either the state or federal constitution. The Oklahoma City Republican’s proposal passed overwhelmingly in both the House and Senate last week, despite strong opposition from the Sooner State’s Muslim community and civil libertarians.

The Legislature’s counter-terrorism caucus had encouraged Fallin to sign the legislation, which applies to all foreign laws. In 2010, state voters had given overwhelming popular approval to a state question with similar language which, however, specified Islamic “Sharia” law.

* * *

During the remaining Wednesdays of the 2013 legislative session, the grass roots conservative group Restore Oklahoma Public Education (ROPE) plans a series of events aimed at sustaining opposition to state implementation of the “Common Core Curriculum.”

Members of the group are scheduled to visit the Capitol on April 24 and May 15, and engage in letter-writing, phone calls or “social media” activity for May 1, May 8, May 22 and May 29.

ROPE members held a well-attended Capitol rally on March 27, and state Rep. Gus Blackwell, R-Laverne, the group’s legislative champion, wrote a commentary for the state’s largest newspaper, The Oklahoman, this week.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Legislative leaders, Gov. Fallin say income tax cut, workers’ comp reform likely

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Both a major change in state workers’ compensation insurance provisions and a moderate income tax reduction and are within reach at the Oklahoma Capitol, top lawmakers say.

The items are key elements in the oft-stated conservative Republican agenda for the 2013 Legislature, which has seemed to be on shaky ground in recent weeks. With the clock ticking for the final weeks of this year’s deliberations, House Speaker T.W. Shannan, R-Lawton, and Senate President Pro Temp Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, told Capitol reporters they are “close” to agreements on the “big ticket” items.

The two men also said, in a review of legislative progress, that Speaker Shannon’s proposal to make infrastructure improvements on a “pay-as-you-go” basis will also make it into law.

Gov. Mary Fallin says her bottom line is she wants a tax cut on her desk this year, whether the effective date is Jan. 2015 or sooner. Thus, the real question seems to be how quickly a new income tax cut might take effect.

Rep. Shannon reiterated his insistence that any delay before July 1, 2013, in the effective date of a lower income levy means it should be deeper than the .30 percent reduction proposed by the Senate. Shannon is determined, he says, to get the top rate from its current 5.25 percent to as far under 5 percent as possible.

Sen. Bingman, with a slight grin on his face during his briefing, told reporters he expects agreement on final language for House Bill 2032 “by next Thursday” – that is, April 25 -- the date by which the next round of procedural steps for this year’s enactments is absolutely required.

Pressed for elaboration, he explained, “I’m not going to announce there is common ground on anything; until we have consensus I’m reluctant to start talking about the details.”

The Senate has made some important changes in H.B. 2032, the income tax vehicle, eliminating certain transferable tax credits and delaying the effective date of the legislation.

Casting a pall over the prevailing sense of optimism among the “Big Three” (the governor, president pro temp and speaker) is the “epic fail” of 2012, when an income tax cut package fell apart in the last few days of the session.

Perhaps with that in mind, Gov. Fallin’s spokesman, Alex Weintz, told reporters a few days ago, “The governor and her team want a tax cut this year. Her preference, and she said it in the state of the state speech, is for 1/4th percent right now. She wants something now. Her priority is she is asking for the Legislature to get a tax cut bill to her desk this year.”

Shannon endorsed supply-side orthodoxy in a recent interview, saying, “If we cut taxes it will grow revenue. If we delay and don’t implement this year – not saying I want a delay – then I think there should be a deeper tax cut.”

Bingman, in another discussion of the issue, summarized his perspective: “I have a good relationship with the governor and with the speaker and we’re headed in the same direction. I want to be responsible in what we do. I’d like to look some at tax credits and tax reform.”

Turning to a proposed shift away from the state’s present litigation-centered system of workers’ compensation, Speaker Shannon said, “It’s hard work because we’re going to a whole new system. My bottom line is reducing the premiums our businesses have to pay, and going to an administrative system. I anticipate the bill will be considered in the calendar committee on Monday (April 22).”

When one reporter asked Bingman if he was concerned over House “tinkering” with his original Senate version of workers’ compensation reform, the Senate leader commented, “That is part of the process. It think at the end of the day what we’ll have will be good for business, a win-win for Oklahoma.”

One envisioned change in workers comp is to allow what the two legislative leaders call “The Oklahoma Option.” Critics decry that as an “opt-out” provision to benefit only large business concerns.

Bingman disagreed with that characterization, telling reporters, “It’s the Oklahoma Option, giving options to businesses in Oklahoma. Even under alternative forms of coverage, they would still have to have benefits [for injured workers] that are now in state law.”

Among other matters debated this week, the Senate extended the so-called SHOPP, the Supplemental Hospital Offset Payment Program fee, one method for funding for the state’s health care system. The hospital provider “assessment” or fee (some still deem it a tax) first passed in the 2011 session.

In this week’s meeting with the press corps, Bingman disagreed with critics who have characterized the SHOPP as a Medicaid expansion that is “hypocritical.” He commented, “It extended current state law, the current statute. That is not hypocritical.”

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok

Legislative leaders chide legislator for comments on House floor

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Senate Bill 550 cleared the Oklahoma House of Representatives this week, and seems headed to Gov. Mary Fallin’s desk for her signature and likely enactment into law.

The bill reacts to what critics say deem predatory pricing tactics by so-called “Big Box Stores” such as Wal-Mart.

For now, at least, the measure may be most remembered not for its substantive provisions, but for comments made by state Rep. Dennis Johnson, R-Duncan, in the course of debate on the House floor.

Rep. Johnson said the bill is not really about a fight between large retailers and small businesses. A small business owner himself, Johnson said, “I get a lot of repeat business from ‘big box’ stores … they don’t drive everybody of business, I’ll tell you -- They drive the bad actors out of business.”

He continued, “If Wal-Mart is trying to drive small business out of business, they have failed. … I don’t need an advantage like this bill is talking about. … Small retailers, folks.

“They know how to take care of their customers. Big box stores, cheaper price, bad customer service. … Have I said anything that’s not true, so far, folks? … There’s such a thing called niche marketing. You find out what you do better than anybody else, then that’s what you do.”

At around the 2:22 mark of House video of floor proceedings on Legislative Day 43, Rep. Johnson referred to customers who come into his place of business, saying, “They might try to jew me down on a price, and that’s fine. You know what? That’s fine. That’s all right, that’s the free market, as well.”

Within a minute after that comment, a colleague near him on the floor apparently raised the word usage with Rep. Johnson. He looked toward the colleague and continued, “Did I? I apologize to the Jews. They’re good small businessmen, as well.”

The comment quickly drew critical scrutiny in news reports. On Thursday morning, April 18, some characterized Johnson’s comments as invidious stereotyping and anti-Semitic word usage.

During a review of the legislative week on April 18 (Thursday), House Speaker T.W. Shannon, R-Lawton, said, “Rep. Johnson came in to see me after the comments on the floor. He was most regretful and deeply sorrowful.”

Responding to a question from CapitolBeatOK, Shannon continued, “It helps if you know people’s heart, and I know his heart. He is a genuine caring guy who said something he shouldn’t have said.”

A few minutes later, in his regular discussion with Capitol reporters, Senate President Pro Temp Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, responded to CapitolBeatOK’s question on the matter with these words:

“These comments were very unfortunate. I was personally offended. We all have to be careful about what we say, especially in the Legislature. An apology was made. It’s just unfortunate that it happened.”

S.B. 550, sponsored by state Rep. Tom Newell, R-Seminole, cleared the House on a vote of 63-29, with nine members not voting.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

COMMENTARY: Earth Day Exposes the Ironies of the Left’s Trendy Environmentalism

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

On April 22, in cities across America, some environmental activists will celebrate Earth Day, claiming only increased government control can protect the environment. Those celebrations will expose ironies.

First, many activists will arrive in a Toyota Prius, which has become the symbol of environmental consciousness. Ironically, however, the Prius is not a triumph of political planning but of the free market.

In the 1990s, while California was requiring “zero-emission” vehicles, leaders at Toyota and Honda saw an opportunity to sell cars to people who want to spend less on gasoline, drive a car that emits less carbon dioxide, or both. Thus was born the hybrid vehicle. Even though they did not meet California’s regulation, hybrids sold well, causing Golden State politicians to change the law.

Jumping on the bandwagon, politicians began to give preferences to hybrids. Politicians did not lead, but followed the innovation of the free market. Most Prius drivers, however, don’t know that history and some will spend Earth Day opposing the free-market policies that created the car they are so proud of.

Many activists on the left will also spend Earth Day complaining that people who see the benefits of the free market don’t care about the environment. A look at the national political map, however, tells a different story.

Across the country, the parts of the nation that most consistently support free-market candidates are those surrounded by stunning natural beauty. The most vocal environmental activists — who are quick to lecture others about caring for nature — tend to live in cities, where nature has been thoroughly controlled, constrained and paved.

How, we should ask, can environmental activists get away with this? How can they continue to advocate top-down policies that don’t help the environment? How can those who live where nature has been subjugated lecture those who live in it and with it every day?

Environmentalism has become trendy and a way to show you are a good person, rather than actually helping the environment. Environmental activists and politicians choose government-mandated approaches not because they help the environment, but because the policies make them feel good about themselves and make them look good to others.

The strategy is as simple as the fourth-grade playground: Build up your own environmental credentials by tearing others down and calling names.

Rather than pointing out these ironies, however, free-market conservatives often fall into the trap of arguing there are no risks to the environment, fitting perfectly into the stereotype imposed on them by the left. Some conservatives fear that by admitting they care about the environment, they must then endorse a range of left-wing policies they oppose.

In fact, a strong concern for the environment is part of believing in personal responsibility and the free market. Conservatives believe people have freedom, but must take responsibility for the impact they cause. If you commit a crime, you don’t get to blame society. A reason conservatives live near nature is that we love to hike, hunt, fish and marvel at the awe-inspiring natural beauty with which our nation is so blessed.

Finally, the free market is the greatest system for allocating scarce resources and doing more with less, both of which are at the heart of a true environmental ethic.

Rather than forcing behavior change, conservatives promote technological solutions that respect the freedom of individuals while reducing environmental impact. Rather than falling for the latest trendy environmental policy, conservatives demand that the government measure success or failure.

Better yet, we promote the creative competition that discovers options that we never imagined. As politicians spend billions on rail and buses that carry few people, the market is creating driverless, fuel-efficient cars that will more efficiently take people exactly where they want to go.

For energy efficiency, clean air, clean water and smart resource use, the free market combines prosperity and innovation to successfully protect natural resources.

April 22 may be a one-day event for some, but for those who embrace the free market and its push to do more with less, every day is Earth Day.

NOTE: Todd Myers is director of the Center for the Environment, Washington Policy Center, and an editorial associate for the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA). He is a leading expert on free-market environmental policy. Todd is the author of “Eco-Fads: How the Rise of Trendy Environmentalism is Harming the Environment,” and is designated a Wall Street Journal Expert panelist for energy and the environment.

House Bill 1419 could curb ‘doctor shopping’ prescription drug abuses

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

A bipartisan effort to curb prescription drug abuses in the form of “doctor shopping” has cleared the Oklahoma Legislature and is headed to Gov. Mary Fallin for her consideration.

The legislation aims to address shocking statistics in the form of a National Survey on Drug Use and Health that found Oklahomans 12 years and older exceed the national average for consumption of painkillers “for non-medical use” by 232 percent.

State Rep. Richard Morrissette, D-Oklahoma City, is House sponsor of the legislation, which has been carried in the upper chamber by state Sen. Rob Standridge, R-Norman.

Morrissette, in a statement sent to CapitolBeatOK, thanked Standridge “for honorably representing his profession as a pharmacist and as a legislator, willing to meet in the center aisle for the sake of this important issue. Pharmacists are the first line of defense to insure that medications are available to those that need them while ensuring that those struggling with addiction are protected from self-destruction.

Senator Standridge and I are working to preserve the good health of all Oklahomans and certainly not to punish anyone in need of health services.”

Using both email and U.S. mail, House Bill 1419 could trigger “real-time” reporting to physicians by the state Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs to “red-flag” duplicate prescriptions.

Morrissette said, in his release, he had worked on the issue for three years, saying he was motivated by the state’s unenviable position as a leading home for abuse of prescription pain pills. He said, “With these negative numbers, there isn’t a person in the state who hasn’t been impacted by RX abuse. Identifying those who ‘doctor shop’ in real-time provides for intervention early in the addiction scenario to immediately interrupt the process.”

Rep. Morrissette said he will continue to work on the issue: “Next, we need to increase funding for in-patient treatment of addiction and to replicate other programs of drug counseling.” He thanked Dr. Terrill Hulson of Mercy Westbrook for counseling and advising him on the legislation.

COMMENTARY: After the bomb, actions were louder than words

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY -- It was 9:01 a.m. Late for the daily editorial meeting with E.L. Gaylord, publisher of The Oklahoman, I was rushed.

The elevator I entered on Ninth did not stop until reaching the ground. About fourth or fifth floor, there was a slight sway in the vessel. A random thought went through my mind: after four years, the device was showing signs of age.

When the elevator doors opened at 9:03 a.m., I heard voices down the hall exclaiming over something. Walking into the break room, I saw cartoonist Jim Lange, seated at our customary table.

He asked, "Did you hear that?"

"What?" I responded "Like a sonic boom, but a hell of a lot louder." He pointed south, toward downtown.

To the east, helicopters lifted off first one, then another, then a third. Jim and I walked to the windows and concluded it was the SkyCam units for TV stations along Britton Road and points north.

Looking south, we saw a dark plume rising.

Ed Kelley, executive editor, walked in, found the clicker and put the television on the CBS affiliate. One helicopter camera was already focused on the gaping and jagged scar that now marked the face of the A.P. Murrah Federal Building.

I talked to Mr. Gaylord and we began to absorb what had transpired just two blocks from the building where we worked until 1991.

In a few minutes, it hit me: my wife had planned to go to the Federal Employees Credit Union, in the Murrah Building, to make a deposit. I called; all lines were busy for hours. We finally talked in early afternoon; she told me the bomb sounded like our neighbor’s home had collapsed.

It was days before I told her I had feared she was at the credit union. Dead were 168 people, including 21 at the credit union.

I read stories by friends in our newsroom. I worked late that night, seeing bright lights at the Murrah site reflect off the skyscrapers.

After seeing me on the “NewsHour,” National Public Radio’s "Fresh Air" had asked for an interview. It was dark and I was tired. I described what I had seen, heard and read that first day.

Bikers in leather, chains dangling, standing next to lawyers in impeccably-tailored men’s suits, as hundreds waited in long lines to donate blood.

A nurse who ran into (not away from) the building to rescue someone she did not know. When she raced in a second time, falling debris struck her. Moments later, she collapsed and died.

A firefighter holding a baby -- an image that became a Pieta-like icon.

A group of Boy Scouts marched from MidTown to the edge of the carnage, wanting to help recover bodies. Officials had them work traffic flow, instead. The boys walked home that night, knowing they had done something practical.

Everyone wanted to help, and found a way to do so.

I’ve never listened to the Fresh Air archives from that day. I remember expressing admiration for people acting with kindness and compassion.

A stranger called to say it was the first time they had heard a Christian witness on NPR. I do not deserve credit, save as a willing vessel.

Later, our state’s First Lady (Cathy Keating) and a corps of volunteers placed roses placed on the pillows and cots of rescuers, including those from towns “Back East” (as we still deem it) -- places like New York and Boston.

For those who did not lose a loved one, the hardest time after the bombing was the sequence of funerals. Every one distilled broken hearts and continued anguish.

Weeks after, a local woman called me to describe the Jewish’s community’s plans to honor righteous Gentiles in conjunction with the Holocaust Remembrance. She expressed awe over seeing an entire city live in love. Our neighbors are living their faith, and it is inspiring.

Reading my columns and editorials, she knew I was worn with grief. We spoke words we could never have imagined saying to one another. We talked like old friends, crying and comforting each other.

I have trouble when I go the Oklahoma City Memorial, where portals mark minutes before and after the bombing. On my most recent visit, I met an Israeli couple to discuss the city’s recovery. A few minutes into our discussion, I had to stop for a bit to gather myself.

There are a million variations on this story. I am only one, but I am one.

Emerging from the malevolent bombing of a city and its people is a process. I once was a long distance runner, so there is appeal in the Marathon itself as a metaphor for Boston’s time ahead.

Simplistic overgeneralizations are not in order, so what is? It is hard to do better than patience, kindness, eloquent silence, presence, fortitude, and a thirst for justice.

For a time, let actions speak louder than words.

UPDATE: Senate toughens provisions against ‘Lifeline’ phone abuses

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY- On a 41-0 vote, a strong bipartisan majority in the state Senate has passed an amended version of House Bill 2165, legislation intending to improve regulations of the federal Lifeline Program, which is administered by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission.

Sen. Rob Standridge, R-Norman, told CapitolBeatOK that the Senate’s technical changes -- explicitly limiting participants to one device, and enhancing penalties for fraud could bring fiscal savings to the state administration of Lifeline.

Standridge commented, The state of Oklahoma doesn’t have a choice as to whether it participates in this program, but we should do whatever we can to ensure it is responsibly administered. Otherwise, it will only continue creating opportunities for fraud and abuse.

By establishing meaningful guidelines at the state level, we can help adequately regulate the program, ultimately saving taxpayer dollars. This is one instance where the state Legislature can do something to stem the tide of federal waste.

In a statement sent to CapitolBeatOK, House sponsor Rep. Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City, said, “This legislation gives the Oklahoma Corporation Commission some additional enforcement authority and creates badly-needed requirements for more information and verification of true eligibility from the phone service providers.

There is documented abuse of the program from providers who have given out duplicative lines and not done enough to verify the continuing eligibility of their customers served by the program.

In Oklahoma, two phone service companies TerraCom LLC and YourTel America Inc. paid a total of $1 million in fines to the Federal Communications Commission after investigators that the firms were issuing phones right and left without documentation of need. The Lifeline program has allowed companies to collect reimbursements ranging from $9 to $34 per subscriber.

During earlier House debate, Echols pointed to instances of individuals receiving phones who had not even asked for them. In 2012, the state commission says, $236 million was garnered for the Lifeline program, with those resources drawn from the Universal Service Fund, a tax on telecom subscribers.

One report found Lifeline spending had quadrupled form 2008-2012. Dramatic expansion of costs during the Obama administration has led some analysts to redub Lifeline the “Obamaphones” program.

Fraud potential is even higher in Oklahoma than other states, Echols has said, because the U.S. government program allows payment of extra dollars “to individuals living on land that was originally part of an Indian reservation, meaning there is more money to be had through fraud in Oklahoma than in many states.”

The amended version of H.B. 2165 is expected to pass easily in the state House, where Rep. Echols shepherded an earlier version of the bill to 92-0 passage.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Fallin signs School Security laws

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Gov. Mary Fallin has signed four new laws designed to improve school security. Joining her at a public bill signing was Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb, chairman of the Oklahoma Commission on School Security, other commissioners, and legislative leaders.

“The state of Oklahoma has a duty to do everything we can to keep our children safe,” Fallin said. “The bills signed into law today will ensure that schools are well prepared for emergencies of all kinds.”

The bills signed today by Fallin included:

· S.B. 256, requiring school districts to conduct lockdown drills in addition to fire, intruder, and tornado emergency drill

· S.B. 257, directing the Oklahoma Office of Homeland Security to designate a division within the agency as the Oklahoma School Security Institute – to act as a central hub of information and resources related to school security and risk assessments to campuses

· S.B. 258, creating an annual deadline of Nov. 1 for institutions of higher learning to provide reports to emergency responders and agencies with details of updated plans for protecting students, faculty and visitors from disasters and emergencies

· S.B. 259, requiring school authorities to immediately report to law enforcement if a firearm is discovered on a student that is not a minor or an adult that isn’t authorized to possess a firearm on school property. Also, the bill dictates the weapon in question to be delivered to law enforcement.

“I thank the Governor for her signatures on these bills which stemmed from the recommendations from the Oklahoma Commission on School Security,” Lamb said.

House Speaker T.W. Shannon, R-Lawton, sponsored the measures in House, and originally created the School Security Commission with President Pro Temp Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, and Lt. Gov. Lamb.

When the proposals passed the House, Shannon commented, “Our children are precious and we must take the necessary steps to protect them while they are spending the day at school learning.”

“My hope has been and continues to be the development of forward-thinking proposals to address the issues surrounding school safety. While recognizing no single policy proposal can prevent all potential acts of evil, I do believe we can be proactive in providing greater resources for teachers, administrators, and mental health professionals in Oklahoma schools,” said President Pro Temp Bingman when the commission’s report was released.

In a column released at conclusion of the commission’s work, Lamb recalled, “I previously served as a special agent with the United States Secret Service. As state senator, I was the principal author of the Oklahoma School Security Act. School security has been a focus of mine for many years.

“[Commission] members sacrificed their time and provided their expertise to conduct a several week comprehensive analysis of this very important issue. Meetings included speaker testimony and discussion on the various factors related to school security including but not limited to public safety, access control, physical assessments, training, mental health and local control.”

The 2013 Report of the Oklahoma Commission on School Security can be viewed in its entirety online at www.ok.gov/ltgovernor.

As state’s Higher Education officials tout economic impact, some doubts raised

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY- A study for the State Chamber of Commerce has concluded the Oklahoma public system of colleges and universities is both a bargain and a wise use of taxpayer resources. However, the analysis did not include a look at the number of sites, possible administrative efficiencies and other traditional concerns of critics.

The State Chamber study conducted by Battelle Technology Partnership, reached several positive conclusions, including an estimated return on investment of $4.72 for every $1 of tax funding.

Joshua Hall, analyst at the Center for College Affordability and Productivity (CCAP), challenged that high multiplier, observing, "Government spending does not come out of thin air. Every dollar spent by state government comes out of the private sector at some point. A dollar of public spending is estimated to cost anywhere from $1.25 to $1.50 to raise."

Hall told CapitolBeatOK, "Ignoring these costs in any study of the efficacy of public spending is a surefire way to inflate the benefits." Hall and other researchers have said that after taking the costs of taxation into account the net effect of taxes spent on Higher Ed is zero, “at best.”

In an interview with CapitolBeatOK, Battelle’s Martin Grueber said the projected $4.72 return on each dollar spent is "pretty strong” in comparison to other states. Asked if the study had looked at the positive economic effect if some of that money were left in the private sector, Grueber said:

"We don’t look at that" for the projects we do. We were trying to find the economic impact of those dollars spent in public institutions of higher education and play that out. We did not look at the fiscal stream, as such, but we were trying to get a handle on the benefit that comes from money spent by the students and families.”

In a recent study focused on Tennessee, Hall looked at all costs for taxation (deadweight, compliance, enforcement, administrative), and concluded collection costs can reach half of every dollar raised. He told CapitolBeatOK, “The marginal cost of public funds is at least 25 cents on the dollar.”

As for the direction in which federal research funding for Higher Ed is headed, Grueber said in discussion with CapitolBeatOK, “Obviously due to sequestration there is presently a large impact. Analysts in my profession are thinking there might be an 8 to 12 percent drop in federal funding for research over the next year or so. It all depends on the agency – Agriculture will be different than Energy, and so forth.”

This month, the State Chamber press release touting the Battelle analysis said every dollar in state funding draws an additional $2.24 in federal funding.

Oklahoma has more than 25 institutions of higher education, delivering services at nearly 50 sites. Four-to-six-year graduation rates at some of the institutions are extremely low. Even at the state’s finest institutions, Oklahoma University and Oklahoma State University, the four-year rate is weak, but improves notably after six years on campus.

In response to CapitolBeatOK’s question -- “Do we need this many places to deliver the value” hoped for in a college and university education? -- Grueber said, “We made no assessment of the structure of Higher Education.”

Fred Morgan, president of the State Chamber, said finding qualified workers is among the top challenges faced by the business community. Among the Battelle study’s conclusions:

* Public higher education is the key provider of higher education services, enrolling more than 190,000 students and awarding more than 30,000 degrees annually.

* Nearly 90 percent of Oklahoma public higher education graduates live and work in the state one year after graduation, and more than 70 percent still remain in the state five years after graduation.

* Higher education system graduates enjoy higher average incomes, increased financial security, and more job satisfaction, and are less likely to access the welfare system than those who do not pursue higher education.

* Public universities have a strong and flourishing presence in advanced research, conducting $360 million in annual research and growing their research volume at a pace that exceeds the national growth rate.

The report noted, “At the current time, and into the foreseeable future, it is hard to overstate the importance of education, and especially higher education, to economic and social progress in the U.S. In a modern, knowledge-driven economy the most valuable asset a state can possess is a well-educated and skilled populace.”

"The State Regents are very pleased with the results of the Battelle Study,” Chancellor Glen D. Johnson said at a recent Capitol press conference. “Our state system of higher education continues to produce graduates who live and work in Oklahoma, while our taxpayers continue to receive a substantial economic return from higher education. This study further confirms that public higher education is an invaluable resource for our state and our citizens.”

OU President David Boren and other advocates have pressed for new increases in tax sending on the system, but critics say analysis proves the system will spend every penny it receives, with or without accountability.

One critic of Battelle-style analyses, Dr. Richard Vedder of Ohio University, told CapitolBeatOK, "Econometric analysis I have done suggests that the relationship between state appropriations for higher education and economic growth is actually negative -- resources are taken from competitive private enterprise driven by market discipline and given to an inefficient sector sheltered from such discipline."

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Annual banquet of Council on American-Islam Relations (CAIR) Oklahoma includes awards presentations & fundraising

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

A Christian minister and a Muslim youth advocate were presented special awards at the 2013 banquet of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, held at Oklahoma City's Marriott Hotel Northwest.

Receiving the building bridges award was the Rev. Dr. William Tabbernee, head of the Oklahoma Council of Churches. The faith in action youth leadership award went to Abdurrahman Kabani, a graduate of the University of Oklahoma active in several youth programs in support of the state's Muslim community.

Among state and community leaders attending the event were state Rep. Anastasia Pittman, D-Oklahoma City, state Sen. Connie Johnson, D-Oklahoma City, and Oklahoma City Councilman, Dr. Edward Shadid.

Adam Soltani, executive director of CAIR Oklahoma, briefed the audience on recent activities for what he characterized as a civil rights and outreach group. A video presentation summarized recent work on behalf of Muslims in the state, including advocacy for an American military veteran from Oklahoma, Saadiq Long, who faced months of delay in efforts to visit his ailing mother abroad, and educational work”defending a Muslim woman prevented from entering a bank in northeast Oklahoma.

Ryan Kiesel of Oklahoma's chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) described his group's successful effort, in collaboration with CAIR, to challenge State Question 755, a ballot proposition passed by state voters that forbade the use of Islamic law (Sharia) and other foreign precedents in state courts.

Imam Johari Abdul-Malik exhorted the crowd to support CAIR and to oppose House Bill 1060, a measure that recently advanced from the Legislature to the desk of Gov. Mary Fallin. The measure restates opposition to use of foreign precedents in Oklahoma, without specifying particular provisions. Abdul-Malik touted the American tradition of religious tolerance, focusing on one theme of the event, Upholding Our Constitution: Defending Our Faith.

Abdul-Malik affirmed American constitutional provisions as congruent with the principles of Islam, particularly the first ten amendments, the Bill of Rights. He encouraged support for CAIR's work to oppose laws such as H.B. 1060 and to advocate for liberty.

Imam Dr. Imad Enchassi encouraged support for CAIR and touted the group's work.

The evening concluded with a time for prayer, and a performance by comedian Omar Regan.

Sponsors included OCC, Mayflower, the Islamic Council, Peace House, several Islamic Societys and a range of individuals. Malaka Elyazgi welcomed attendees and served as M.C. for the evening, which began with a recitation from the Quran by a student attending Mercy School in Oklahoma City.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Group encourages Gov. Fallin to sign legislation banning foreign law precedents

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY- The bipartisan Counterterrorism Caucus in the Oklahom Legislature is encouraging Gov. Mary Fallin to sign legislation that would prohibit application of foreign laws when such precedents violate the state or federal constitutions.

House Bill 1060 passed this week on a vote of 85-7, after gaining 40-3 support in the state Senate.

Frank Gaffney, former assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan Administration, met with Gov. Fallin on April 12 (Friday) and encouraged her to sign the bill. Gaffney runs the Center of Security Policy, based in Washington, D.C. In an interview with CapitolBeatOK, he described the movement to advance Islamic law (Sharia) as “subversive, highly disciplined and muscular."

The advance of such law, Gaffney said, is part of a long-term plan by the Muslim Brotherhood, which originated in Egypt (where its political arm now governs), to pull the world away from western-style democracy toward a radically different form of law.

Gaffney was known in the Reagan administration for his advocacy of a strong national defense and close ties to the nation of Israel. He has written widely on Middle East policy issues since leaving the government.

State Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, noted that past efforts to limit or ban the use of foreign legal precedents in Oklahoma courts were challenged because of their specificity.

In a statement to CapitolBeatOK, Rep. Kern said, “The courts ruled against State Question 755 because it singled out Sharia law.

"Our intent with this bill is to use language similar to that of legislation in Tennessee, Kansas, Arizona and Louisiana, all of which passed without any court challenges. Voters approved the state question by a margin of 70 percent. If Gov. Mary Fallin signs this bill into law, she will be following the overwhelming will of the people of Oklahoma."

In addition to his discussion with the state’s chief executive, Gaffney met with Oklahoma legislators and pro-Israel activists during his visit to the Sooner State. He also spoke with reporters in a state Capitol press briefing.

Gaffney’s discussions at the Capitol came on the eve of the seventh annual awards banquet for the local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Speakers at Saturday’s dinner (/2013/04/cair-annual-banquet-focuses-on-theme-upholding-our-constitution-defending-our-faith/) include Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, Outreach Director, Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, VA; Ryan Kiesel, Executive Director ACLU of Oklahoma; and Imam Imad Enchassi of the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City.

CAIR leaders have frequently expressed opposition to laws such as H.B. 1060, and opposed implementation of State Question 755 after the 2010 election.

Pressing for H.B. 1060, and stressing its applicability to any use of foreign legal precedents in American law, are state Reps. Kern, Lewis Moore, R-Arcadia, and Mike Reynolds, R-Oklahoma City, along with allies in both parties.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Come Hell or High Water: Robert Bork’s ‘Saving Justice’

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY- Robert Bork’s rich and consequential life will one day require the skill and erudition of a David McCullough, in a tome of several hundred pages.

A good place for future researchers to start will be Bork’s new book, which stands as both autobiography and compelling history. Much of it focuses on the Watergate imbroglio’s “Saturday Night Massacre -- what Bork often called "the events of October 20, 1973."

In "Saving Justice: Watergate, the Saturday Night Massacre, and other Adventures of a Solicitor General," the late Robert H. Bork reviews his tenure as Solicitor General, America’s top legal advocate, including his unanticipated tenure as acting attorney general.

The Solicitor performs an essential role in development of national law, as the president’s and the Justice Department’s advocate before the U.S. Supreme Court. As such, a solicitor not only manages traffic flow for cases that the government wants the High Court to consider, but replies to requests for the people’s perspective on all manner of cases and controversies.

The solicitor’s job drew Bork to Washington, D.C., where he would argue for the government’s position in cases on the president’s war-making powers, the death penalty and vital political speech controversies. Many justices considered Bork the finest legal advocate of his day.

As much as he relished rhetorical combat before the Court, Bork excelled as a professor at Yale Law School, where he taught before and after his stint as Solicitor.

His implementation of President Richard Nixon’s order to fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox -- after the resignation of Attorney General Elliott Richardson and his Deputy, William Ruckelshaus -- bore consequences that followed Bork through the rest of his career, including in his 1987 nomination to the Supreme Court.

Richardson and Ruckelshaus felt bound to resign rather than implement Nixon’s directive. They considered the order constitutionally valid, but had pledged to protect Cox under the investigatory mandate given in the Watergate case.

On the other hand, the line of succession at the Justice Department was short, and Bork was third in line. That meant he would become acting attorney general – either joining them in resignation or carrying out Nixon’s order.

Both men asked Bork, initially inclined to implement the order and then resign himself, to stay, come hell or high water. He stayed, keeping the agency functioning as Watergate consumed the nation’s capital and, not incidentally, extending the line of succession six deeper among the assistant attorneys general.

The book is elegantly written, a powerful defense of his actions and an indispensable addition to the literature surrounding a political and moral crisis triggered by Nixon’s overreach and the relentless passion of his enemies.

Even as the Cox firing consumed much of the national press corps and Nixon’s foes, work at the Justice Department continued. Bork affectionately narrates the cauldron within which he forged a friendship with Henry Petersen, head of the Criminal Division, who became his de facto deputy.

The book has unexpected and intriguing nuggets, as when Bork sketches Nixon’s grasp of prosecutorial nuances in a discussion held before the indictment of Vice President Spiro Agnew on bribery charges.

Bork’s storied friendship with Alexander Bickel is tenderly rendered. Understatedly, Bork describes their consultation about tensions over Agnew – as he considered Alexander Haig’s unexpected offer to become Nixon’s defense lawyer (a job he rejected).

The efficient narrative – at 123 pages, a model of brevity -- gives a sense of mood as he walked with Bickel along a dark, rural road in Virginia: “It’s an indication of the paranoia of the time that I really wanted to be someplace where it was impossible to be overheard.”

Another time, he and Richardson step into a White House men’s room to have a brief discussion. Before they begin, Richardson turns on the water faucets, just in case the bathroom is “bugged.”

Bork gives balanced character sketches of those with whom he worked during the tumultuous final months of the Nixon presidency. His assessments of Richardson, Cox, Nixon and others in the drama are generous.

Bork is the soul of both restraint and wit in characterizing a press conference Cox held shortly before the tumult of the massacre:

"Cox gave an impressive performance, replete with the long-standing ritual in which the person giving the conference recites how he lay awake at night asking himself if he was doing the right thing or whether he was getting a bit above himself. Cox concluded he was in fact doing the right thing, just as every other person giving such a conference does.”

Bork was a man of passion, an intellectual who became best known for his combative defense of principled jurisprudence. His friend Ray Randolph, in a memorial service this week, sketched Bork’s life and the model he left a generation of law clerks, students and friends, calling him “a man’s man.”

He was that and more, a principled “player” who kept his head in the midst of strife, in the process of saving Justice.

NOTE: McGuigan is the co-author of “Ninth Justice: The Fight for Bork.” (Free Congress/University Press of America, 1990). You may contact McGuigan, Oklahoma City bureau chief for Watchdog.org, Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

House Judiciary Committee approves Speaker’s workers comp reform, 11-4

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

The Oklahoma House Judiciary Committee sent to the House floor Senate Bill 1062, a proposal to bring major changes to Oklahoma’s workers compensation system.

S.B. 1062 will convert the state’s workers compensation coverage to an administrative system. Oklahoma is one of the states still using a judicial system, and a frequent target of criticism from the business community. Insurance premiums in Oklahoma are comparatively expensive, and implementation of judgments often slow.

Critics of S.B. 1062 say it will cost millions of dollars to shift the system toward an administrative structure; they also contend that reform enacted over the last years have not had time to go into effect. House Minority Leader Scott Inman, D-Del City, has made the legislation the focus of most of his discussions with reporters this session.

It’s time Oklahoma solves an old problem with a modern solution, said House Speaker T.W. Shannon, the author of S.B. 1062. “We need a strong system that protects workers and drives down costs, and I applaud my fellow legislators for taking on this massive effort.

The time for baby stepping our way to reform is over, said Rep. Leslie Osborn, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee. Oklahoma needs to take decisive action and S.B. 1062 does just that.

Under the administrative system proposed in SB 1062, workers compensation cases will be heard by an administrative judge, and cases will receive quick resolutions.

The old system neither benefited the worker nor the employer,” said Rep. Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City. “This new administrative system is designed to help workers get back on the job through therapy and vocational rehabilitation.

The current judicial system is a huge stumbling block for workers and businesses in Oklahoma, said Osborn, R- Mustang. Right now, Oklahoma has one of the highest work comp insurance rates in the nation because of its inefficiency. Workers deserve a better process and businesses do not need to be scared away by overwhelming insurance costs.

The measure cleared Osborn’s panel on a vote of 11-4. S.B. 1062 now moves to the House floor.

On behalf of the State Chamber of Oklahoma, President Fred Morgan issued this statement to CapitolBeatOK:

"This is the most important piece of reform legislation to our state’s workers’ compensation system in more than two decades. Moving to an administrative system will help reduce out-of-control costs, while improving the process and experience within the system for the employer and employee alike.

Tens of thousands of businesses across Oklahoma are desperate for this legislation now. Negotiations are ongoing to ensure the bill passed by the House Judiciary Committee is improved upon and I am confident that lawmakers will answer the call of businesses and all Oklahomans who know our costly system is broken and hurting our state’s ability to compete economically. We are confident a meaningful reform bill will pass the House that is able to head to Gov. Mary Fallin’s desk for signature as soon as possible. We cannot afford to wait."

COMMENTARY: Time and place: Judge Bork, the Mayflower Hotel’s Grand Ballroom, and unfinished work

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A family reunion took place Tuesday (April 9) at the Mayflower Hotel’s Grand Ballroom in the nation’s capital. Invitations called us to the Robert Heron Bork Memorial.

It was a fine tribute to Judge Bork, who died in December. It was also a family reunion for those who labor still in the vineyard of American law, seeking to restore limited government, and to lay the basis for revitalization of that view of judicial restraint that characterized his life and his writings.

The perfect venue: It was in that ornate ballroom, in June 1982, that Judge Bork for the first time met Professor Raoul Berger, a Democrat and fellow legal scholar who became dismayed at the direction “liberalism” had taken in the 1960s.

The two men served as keynoters for “A Conference on Judicial Reform,” a gathering I organized for my mentor, Paul Weyrich.

Their comments were capstone for pragmatic and principled discussions about how to revive limits on government power.

Bork’s wife Claire had died two years before.

That night at the Mayflower Bork asked Mary Ellen Pohl, whom he had met shortly before at a luncheon speech, if she wanted to have a drink. She said yes, they began to date and many months later news broke in The Washington Star, when “The Ear” (columnist Diana McClellan) wrote, “Our favorite-righter-than-thou judge is soon to be wed.”

After their marriage at St. Matthew’s Cathedral – just one block away – the Borks celebrated with friends … in the Grand Ballroom of the Mayflower.

In 1988, he was honored with the Joseph Story Award at the Mayflower … then in 2007, the Federalist Society hosted a sweeping review of his influential career.

Bork rose to national prominence for a series of articles that culminated in “The Anti-Trust Paradox,” a book which transformed an entire area of American law. His arguments shifted legal interpretation away from anti-bigness toward a rational focus on consumer benefits in economic concentration.

An influential Yale Law professor before and after his tenure as Solicitor General – the nation’s lawyer sometimes deemed “The Tenth Justice” – Bork taught a generation of conservative and libertarian lawyers (and scholars) the meaning of rigor in examination of words, their meaning, and the role of legal precedent.

I have written previously about his 1987 nomination to the High Court, and the desperate fight to support him in the face of unprecedented opposition, including the first judicial confirmation in history with election-style negative advertising. Working on his behalf, even in a losing cause, was the most significant thing I’ve done in professional life.

In the 90 minutes of this week’s Memorial, Robert H. Bork, Jr. remembered not the scholar, but the father. The younger Bork’s daughter led a recitation of The Lord’s Prayer.

John O’Sullivan, former speechwriter for the late Margaret Thatcher, said Bork’s hitch in the Marines, “put him in touch with people whom the average law professor never meets.” Prof. George Priest, who succeeded Bork at Yale Law, said he sometimes corrects students by having them turn and look at Bork’s portrait, which hangs on the wall at the back of his old classroom.

John Harrison, a Bork student who later served as his clerk and is now a professor himself, said he imagined the experience of learning from Bork can be likened to those who studied with Socrates (as recorded in Plato’s “The Republic”). Lifelong friend Ray Randolph said he still finds himself reaching for the phone to call Bork after reading a piece or news or commentary.

The crowd at his Memorial included hundreds of Judge Bork’s ardent admirers and many from his legion of friends.

At a following reception, toasts in tribute were delivered, including from Chief Justice John Roberts, former Attorney General Edwin Meese III, and former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton. The Federalist Society announced a new lecture series will bear Bork’s name.

I saw M. Stanton Evans, former editor of the Indianapolis Star and former president of the Joseph Story Society, of which the good Judge was a member. Stan and I talked about our past and present as conservatives (or at least non-liberals) in the American press corps.

That transported me again to the battle for Bork. My first fax after President Ronald Reagan nominated Bork in early July 1987, written in my capacity as an organizer among conservatives and libertarians working for judicial reform, as Stan recalled, included the words, That for which we exist is upon us.

Robert Bork is gone, but left behind is his model -- fidelity to the rule of law, a determination to remind Americans of the limits of government, defense of the proper function of the judiciary, appreciation for the nexus of law and economics.

Judge Bork’s life continues to affirm the idealism that invigorated a band of brothers and sisters in times past.

Our mission remains unfinished, but memories of the old Marine will sustain us in the struggle.

NOTE: McGuigan is the co-author of “Ninth Justice: The Fight for Bork. You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan, Oklahoma City bureau chief for Watchdog.org

at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

General Revenue fund shows big jump in corporate income taxes

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Corporate income tax collections continued climbing in March, while total collections to the General Revenue Fund (GRF) declined following an aberration in the normal flow of personal income tax receipts and ongoing reductions in natural gas revenues.

“The sharp upward climb in corporate income tax collections is extremely encouraging. Our economy is still expanding, although perhaps at a more moderate pace,” said Secretary of Finance and Revenue Preston L. Doerflinger, in an April 9 (Tuesday) compilation sent to CapitolBeatOK.

Collections to the GRF totaled $413.9 million in March, which is $20.6 million or 4.7 percent below collections for March of Fiscal Year 2012, and $61.6 million or 13 percent lower than the official estimate upon which the FY-2013 budget is based.

“These figures are somewhat skewed due to the unusual amount of income tax refunds that reduced revenue from that source in March,” Doerflinger said.

An analysis by the Oklahoma Tax Commissions shows taxpayer refunds in March were $34.2 million higher than they were a year ago. Tax Commission officials say thousands of Oklahoma taxpayers filed for refunds later than usual this year because the Internal Revenue Service delayed the tax filing season before a deal was struck in Washington in January to avoid going over the so-called fiscal cliff.

Tax Commission officials believe the refund season is essentially over now and the state should return to a more normal pattern of personal income tax collections for the final three months of the fiscal year.

“Combined income tax receipts are still running 7.1 percent ahead of last year’s collections through the three-quarter period, and sales taxes are outpacing receipts from a year ago by 5.5 percent,” Doerflinger said.

“The 40 percent jump in corporate income taxes over the same month in 2012 is encouraging, as is the fact that they are up a phenomenal 43 percent through the third quarter of Fiscal Year 2013. It goes without saying that prospering businesses create jobs and are good for the economy.”

Total GRF collections for the first three quarters of the fiscal year are $3.9 billion, which is $49.9 million or 1.3 percent below total collections for the same period a year ago, but $16.1 million or 0.4 percent higher than the official estimate.

“Overall, I remain optimistic that we’ll have another General Revenue Fund surplus at the end of the fiscal year,” Doerflinger said. “Companies are still hiring, and our unemployment continued dropping, from 5.1 percent to 5 percent – a far stronger position than most of the rest of the nation.”

As evidence of Oklahoma’s continued economic strength, Doerflinger pointed to last week’s announcement that General Electric is creating a $110 million global research center in Oklahoma to work with the energy industry on innovations and technological advancement.

“In this environment, it’s important that we press ahead with the governor’s pro-growth agenda, and that includes a responsible personal income tax reduction that will help Oklahoma job recruiters compete with surrounding states,” Doerflinger said. “This is the perfect time to double down on policies that we know are working and turning Oklahoma into an international economic destination. GE told us directly that Oklahoma’s public policy improvements were big contributors to their decision to make such a significant investment here. That’s an incredibly powerful message from an internationally-renowned company that our policymakers need to keep in mind.”

While natural gas prices have improved recently, natural gas receipts are still running behind last year’s collections through the third quarter by $192.9 million or 83.4 percent, while trailing the estimate by $125 million or 76.5 percent. Oil receipts also have slipped substantially compared to 2012.

“Natural gas taxes continued to drag down revenues in March. It’s likely that prolonged subpar natural gas pricing is also negatively affecting overall revenue collections, including sales taxes,” Doerflinger said.

In a potential sign of the early effects of federal budget reductions known as the sequester, motor vehicle purchases are down 8.9 percent so far this year.

“Oklahoma’s thousands of defense and federal workers are likely delaying major purchases, such as cars and trucks, due to all the uncertainty Washington’s gridlock has injected into their lives. As a state, we are monitoring that situation closely, as we have been for months,” Doerflinger said.

Doerflinger is director of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services, which issues the monthly GRF reports. The GRF is state government's main operating fund and is made up of about 70 revenue sources. It is where all state taxes and fees flow, except for those earmarked or dedicated to specific programs.

Major tax categories in March contributed the following amounts to the GRF:

Income taxes – The total collected from individual and corporate income taxes in the month of March was $165.3 million, which was $11.9 million or 6.7 percent less than prior year collections and $7.4 million or 4.3 percent below the estimate.

Individual income tax receipts of $77.2 million were $37.2 million or 32.5 percent below the prior year and $36.5 million or 32.1 percent below the estimate.

Corporate tax collections contributed $88.1 million to the GRF, which was $25.3 million or 40.3 percent above collections for March of 2012 and $29.2 million or 49.6 percent above the estimate.

Sales tax – The Tax Commission apportioned $145.9 million in sales tax collections to the GRF for March, which was $5 million or 3.3 percent less than the prior year and $10.4 million or 6.6 percent below the estimate.

Gross production tax – Gross production tax collections from March contributed $38.1 million to the GRF after rebates.

Collections from natural gas accounted for $8.4 million, which was $9.2 million or 52.2 percent below prior year collections and $7 million or 45.3 percent below the estimate.

Collections from gross production oil taxes contributed $29.7 million to the General Revenue Fund. No oil collections were deposited into the GRF in March of 2012. The oil tax contributions were $8.5 million or 22.2 percent below the estimate.

Motor vehicle taxes – Motor vehicle taxes produced $12.7 million from March collections, which was $7.1 million or 35.8 percent less than the prior year and $9.2 million or 42.1 percent below the estimate.

Other Revenue – Other revenue produced $51.9 million for the GRF in March. This amount was $17.1 million or 24.8 percent below the prior year and $19.2 million or 27 percent below the estimate.

Americans United for Life to discuss policy, court cases at city event

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Charmaine Yoest, president and chief executive officer of Americans United for Life Action, will visit Oklahoma City April 8 (Monday) for a briefing on pro-life efforts across the nation.

Monday evening’s event is 6-7:30 p.m. at the Oklahoma History Center, Chesapeake Event Room, 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive.

The long-standing bi-partisan sympathy for pro-life activism and legislation has continued in the current legislative session at the state Capitol in Oklahoma City. On March 8, the state House of Representatives advanced, on an 81-13 vote, House Bill 1361.

The measure is sponsored by state Rep. Randy Grau, R-Edmond; state Sen. Great Treat, R-Oklahoma, is sponsor in the upper chamber.

On the same day as the event in Oklahoma City, AUL will submit an amicus brief to the Supreme Court of the United States for “Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice et al., v. Terry Cline, et al.”

According to AUL Action, submission of the legal brief “reaffirms our commitment to overturn the temporary injunction against House Bill 1970 ‘The Abortion-inducing Drugs Safety Act.’ This Act, based on model AUL legislation and promoted by AUL Action, requires that abortion providers dispense abortion-inducing drugs only in the ways tested and approved by the Food and Drug Administration.” The law has been challenged in the Oklahoma judicial system.

AUL Action said, in a communication to CapitolBeatOK, its members are working with Grau and Treat “to upgrade the state’s parental consent law to further strengthen the rights of parents who have an underage pregnant child. The bill, which has already passed the state house, includes provisions that would establish a clear and convincing evidence standard before a judge can give a waiver to a minor seeking to avoid parental consent, would ensure a minor must go to a judge in her own county rather than anywhere in the state, and that the person giving consent for a minor’s abortion must prove their relationship to the child.”

AUL leaders contend, “These provisions help to ensure parents have the greatest chance possible to help their own child through a difficult situation.”

Monday evening’s event is 6-7:30 p.m. at the Oklahoma History Center, Chesapeake Event Room, 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive. (For more information or to RSVP, email Lindsay.bunker@aul.org.)

Fallin signs trio of agreements with Gov. Boswell for Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – New compact agreements between Oklahoma and a leading western tribe mark an historic moment in relations between the sovereign governments. The new accords ban in-state Internet gaming while establishing a new revenue stream for Oklahoma, establish a tobacco compact, and form a cooperative agreement on outdoor burn bans as part of joint efforts to battle the exceptional drought afflicting Oklahoma.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin and Gov. Janice Prairie-Chief Boswell of the Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes signed the agreements in an April 5 (Friday) ceremony at the state Capitol in Oklahoma City.

The gaming accord is first of its kind concerning online international gaming pursuant to a Class III compact. Among other provisions, the settlement agreement allows 20 percent of revenues generated from international gaming to go to the state of Oklahoma. The agreement could generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the state of Oklahoma in the coming decade.

Shortly after the signing, Gov. Boswell told CapitolBeatOK, “The tribe is pleased to announce that this afternoon it signed three agreements with the State of Oklahoma including a Tobacco Compact, a Burn Ban and a Settlement Agreement under the terms of its Class iii Gaming Compact.

“The Tobacco Compact and Burn Ban Agreements are identical to compacts signed by the Kaw Nation a few days ago. The Settlement Agreement effectively shuts down the Tribes online social gaming network, including Pokertribes.com, inside the United States in exchange for an Agreement that the Tribes be allowed to operate the site internationally pursuant to international standards and each specific countries jurisdictional requirements consistent with all state of oklahoma and u.s. federal laws.

“The Tribes plan to bring this exciting new product to the international market in the very near future. We appreciate the support and cooperation of Governor Fallin of the State of Oklahoma and her staff in making this an historic day for the Cheyenne & Arapaho people. We look forward to working with the State in the future for the common good of our collective peoples.”

Friday evening, Brian Foster of the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association (OIGA) applauded the accord in a statement sent to CapitolBeatOK. He commented, “The Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association has been informed that a member Tribe has entered into an agreement with the State of Oklahoma to insure the citizens within the State cannot participate in Internet Gaming off Indian Lands as set forth in the Model Tribal Gaming Compact passed by the Oklahoma citizens in November 2004.

“Since this agreement has affected a site currently in operation, the OIGA office of the Chairman supports the Tribe in the cease and desist of the Internet site within the jurisdiction of the United States of America and any other jurisdiction which might have laws prohibiting its citizens from such forms of Gaming.

“The OIGA looks forward to assisting our member tribes as they are joining a rapidly changing and developing international gaming industry. Worldwide projections show the annual marketplace to be at 30 billion dollars. This is the next step in generating much needed revenue for Oklahoma Tribes and the State of Oklahoma.”

Foster concluded, “I applaud the dual effort between the State of Oklahoma and the Tribes to open the pathway for international gaming. This continues an already mutually beneficial partnership which will ensure future economic growth and continued success for ALL citizens of Oklahoma. We look forward to adding to millions of dollars in education revenue, millions of dollars in goods and services, and the over 80 thousand jobs that have been created, much of which are in rural areas outside of the already blossoming metropolitan areas.”

Tribal nations have a unique situation with respect to federal law. The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act exempted the Tribes from the Wire Act and the 2006 federal law which prohibited internet gaming in the United States and by U.S. citizens.

Earlier this week, on April 3 (Wednesday), the Cheyenne & Arapaho Gaming Commission approved implementation of technical standards for Internet Gaming in non-USA markets where such gaming is not illegal, pledging to abide by all relevant federal laws.

In Friday's settlement agreement, the State and the Tribes agreed that “approval of the National Indian Gaming Commission, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Department of the Interior may be beneficial, but is not necessary for this Agreement to be in full force and effect.”

Additionally, the Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribal Legislature approved measures supporting Gov. Boswell's decision to sign the accords.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

COMMENTARY: Oklahoma budget-making as a five-act drama – or comedy, or tragedy

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma Congressman Tom Cole recently compared the current struggle over the federal budget to a five-act drama. We’re in the midst of our own five-part drama right here at the state Capitol in Oklahoma City.

Will Republicans again grow government or make meaningful spending reductions, or even pass a modest income-tax cut? There’s a chance they’ll do something in between.

In five acts, this year’s Oklahoma budget drama, or comedy, or tragedy:

Act I: Governor Fallin’s budget and State of the State address.

Fallin wanted some modest spending hikes for health policy. She is against Medicaid expansion, but detailed anti-smoking, anti-obesity, and clean living initiatives that will … cost money if implemented.

The governor is under relentless pressure from the Oklahoma Hospital Association to reverse field and support Medicaid expansion.

Some of my best friends are tax consumers, but the truth is that inside and outside of government they have talented lobbyists. Taxpayer advocates, citizens, and liberty-sensitive journalists must be attentive at every stage of this game.

Even the State Chamber of Oklahoma is only conditionally for reductions in government’s size and cost, but good news came recently.

Call it the Act I finale, or perhaps the start of Act II.

Jennifer Monies, spokeswoman for Chamber president Fred Morgan, told CapitolBeatOK that the Gov. Mary Fallin/Speaker T.W. Shannon income tax cut (from 5.25 percent to 5 percent) meets the necessary criteria to garner Chamber approval.

Act II continues with positioning by other elected state executives to boost spending.

Leader of the band was and is Superintendent of Public Instruction Janet Barresi. She wants a $37 million supplemental just to get through the current fiscal year, and a staggering $289 million increase for next year.

Common education is not the only arm of government with a voracious appetite. David Boren, president of the University of Oklahoma, is an unquestioned master at both public and private fundraising for OU, and for higher education in general.

Weeks ago, reporters teased Speaker of the House T.W. Shannon when he was an hour late for his session with Capitol reporters. He did not respond when we asked him what he’d discussed with President Boren in the meeting that delayed his arrival, but everyone knew Boren wanted more money for higher education.

Attorney General Scott Pruitt wants a $2 million boost for local law enforcement grants.

By and large, Republicans holding statewide offices, including the governor, have sought budget increases. (Commissioner of Labor Mark Costello asked for a flat budget.)

Act III began in late March.

As members of the House and Senate contend with what the other chamber has done so far, budget-cutters face daunting realities.

Senate Republicans want tax cuts, but not if that really impacts spending. During a meeting for reporters, I asked GOP leaders about consolidation of some public education functions. Sen. John Ford said he was for efficiencies but “no forced consolidation.”

Around the room, heads nodded at his sagacity, but the response means the education establishment has nothing to worry about.

House Republicans seem more serious about restraining spending—but the proof will be in the pudding.

And then, Act IV comes in early May.

Gov. Fallin, House Speaker T.W. Shannon, and Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman will start the horse-trading (not necessarily slaughter) that has characterized legislative sessions throughout Oklahoma history—including those since Republicans took control.

Odds are the permanent education bureaucracy -- including local superintendents making a quarter-million dollars a year who have fought school choice and accountability reforms -- will get much of what they want. Corrections officers, troopers and a few others will get pay hikes; the state will meet requirements under a human services lawsuit settlement; and so forth.

Proposals to cut spending come and go, but the permanent government and its allies in the government-dependent private sector go on forever. Distrust of government is high, and voters long (theoretically) for restraints on taxes and spending, yet government spending at all levels has risen. It took an unwelcome Great Recession to moderate the pace of growth, but the direction thus far remains inexorable.

Act V starts the day Oklahoma government grows at least incrementally in late May, and perhaps as much as $200 million.

Readers: Linger on actual performance. As analysts at the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs say: “Don’t read their lips. Read their budgets.” In an era of low inflation, Oklahoma’s tax collections and state spending are at record highs.

Are conservatives being instructed by actions, rather than rhetoric, that state government spending will increase forever? Do Republicans value spending hikes over tax cuts?

What are they for, and what are they against? What does conservative mean in Oklahoma, in 2013?

Just thought I’d ask.

NOTE: This is adapted from an essay prepared for the April 2013 edition of Perspective, monthly publication of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs.

State Senate panel passes income tax cut … with some differences

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Senate Finance Committee met Thursday morning (April 4), passing a revised version of House Bill 2032, the income tax reduction that previously passed the House of Representatives. President Pro Temp Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, briefed Capitol reporters on the legislation at mid-morning.

The Senate version of H.B. 2032 would bring the top income tax rate down to 4.95 percent, from the present 5.25 percent levy.

The measure approved in the House made no changes to existing tax credits and exemptions -- a sticking point in past deliberations on proposed income tax cuts -- and would reduce the top rate to 5.0 percent.

However, the new Senate committee version would eliminate transferability for a total of five tax credits; making those credits refundable, instead, at an 80 percent rate. The Senate committee version would also put a sunset on the credits by the year 2020.

Whereas the House version of the bill would make the income tax reduction of .25 percent effective on July 1, 2013, the new Senate version would not enact the tax reduction of .30 percent until Jan. 1, 2015.

Advocates of the changes contend the delay in the effective date of tax reduction would leave money to put into public education (K-12) this year. The average benefit for taxpayers in he House plan is $39 a year; in the Senate plan it is $80 annually.

The House version’s annualized estimate for total tax reductions is $120 million; in the Senate version, legislative staff projects a $169 million annual reduction upon implementation.

Two weeks ago, when the state Chamber of Commerce endorsed the House income tax cut, sponsored by Speaker T. Shannon, R-Seminole, supporters dubbed it the “Shannon-Fallin tax cut.” Senate staffers today were referring to the committee substitute a “the Bingman-Shannon tax cut.”

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

IN BRIEF: Emergency Room usage by Oklahoma Medicaid recipients

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – Just three years ago, health care costs became the number one budget cost-driver in the state budget, surpassing the traditional top item, K-12 public education.

Medicaid expenses will continue to rise, with or without the expansion envisioned in the Affordable Care Act.

Overall, taxpayer costs for Medicaid rose 190 percent from 2000 to 2012.

Virtually every aspect of Medicaid coverage has helped push overall costs higher.

As one example, with more than one-fourth of state residents now covered by Medicaid, emergency room costs for Oklahoma’s Medicaid recipients reached nearly $170 million in Fiscal-Year 2012, according to information obtained by CapitolBeatOK.

The Oklahoma Health Care Authority says there were 1,007,030 Oklahomans enrolled in Medicaid programs in FY 2012 -- 26.57 percent of the state population.

Of those, 250,030 utilized Emergency Room services, CapitolBeatOK has found. The total number of ER visits reimbursed by Medicaid that year was 528,264, yielding an average of just over two visits for each ER “utilizing member” in the system.

The average includes many who visited emergency rooms much more often.

In FY 2012, the total cost for ER services provided to Oklahoma Medicaid enrollees was $169,642,272, which included costs for physicians, pharmacy, lab, radiology, ambulance and other items.

The average cost per ER visit for Medicaid patients in FY 2012 was $321. Emergency services are exempt from co-pays in Medicaid. The state does not limit the number of emergency room visits for Medicaid enrollees.

The Health Care Authority does not have an emergency room diversion program.

However, with a program called the High ER utilization project, the authority sends letters to Medicaid members with “high ER utilization” in any one quarter (three months). Informational letters go to those who make two or three visits in a quarter.

Those with four to 15 visits in a quarter are asked to call the agency, and are directed to someone who will talk to them about ER utilization.

Medicaid “members” with 16 or more visits are contacted through letters, phone calls and in some cases face-to-face visits, to discuss changes in ER utilization by the member. After all avenues have been explored, if high usage continues, a case can be referred to the agency’s legal division to begin a process that might lead to sanctions in the form of withdrawn benefits.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan, Oklahoma City bureau chief for the Watchdog.org network, at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Treasurer's report: March Gross Receipts show "positives," including gross production and corporate income tax collections

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Oklahoma’s revenue growth returned in March after seesawing within a pretty tight range for the past year, State Treasurer Ken Miller said April 3 (Wednesday) as he released the March gross receipts to the treasury report.

Miller said notable positives this month include gross production and corporate income tax collections.

After falling far below prior year collections each month for more than a year, gross production collections this month were almost $67 million, near where they were during March of last year.

“The natural gas market has stabilized somewhat and prices have risen by about 30 percent from their low,” Miller said. “We are seeing those improved market conditions reflected in our collections.”

Gross income tax collections showed growth of more than 7 percent during the month, with strong corporate collections. The tax commission recorded a 6 percent hike in the number of corporations filing estimated payments in March and corporate tax collections jumped by almost 32 percent from the prior year.

Total collections for the month were $944.6 million, up by $24 million or 2.6 percent from March of last year. Three of the four major tax categories were lower than the prior month with the biggest drop among the major sources of revenue coming from motor vehicle taxes, which fell by more than 11 percent.

Sales tax receipts produced slightly less revenue than during March of last year, down by $5.3 million or 1.6 percent.

“The bottom line indicates Oklahoma’s economy is continuing to expand, but moderation continues,” Miller said.

“With less purchasing of motor vehicles and slightly lower consumer spending as measured by sales tax collections, it could be that we are beginning to see the psychological impact of Washington’s inability to reach consensus on getting government spending under control in a strategic way,” he said.

Positive data

Miller said the state’s personal income, as announced late last week by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, is a ray of light on the economy.

“Oklahoma’s total personal income grew faster than the national average last year,” he said. “Total personal income was up 4.2 percent in 2012 at $148.8 billion, the seventh-highest change in the nation.”

Figures for unemployment also brought positive news to Oklahoma, Miller said.

“The state’s unemployment rate dropped to 5 percent in February, a reduction of 0.1 percentage points from January,” he said.

March collections

The revenue report for March shows gross collections at $944.56 million, up $23.93 million or 2.6 percent from March 2012.

Gross income tax collections, a combination of personal and corporate income taxes, generated $366.92 million, an increase of $24.71 million or 7.2 percent from the previous March.

Personal income tax collections for the month are $250.03 million, down $3.41 million or 1.3 percent from the prior year. Corporate collections are $116.89 million, up by $28.12 million or 31.7 percent.

Sales tax collections, including remittances on behalf of cities and counties, total $327.58 million in March. That is $5.28 million or 1.6 percent below March 2012.

Gross production taxes on oil and natural gas generated $66.87 million in March, a decrease of $790,000 or 1.2 percent from last March. Compared to February reports, gross production collections are up by $3.71 million or 5.9 percent.

Motor vehicle taxes produced $55.56 million, down by $6.99 million or 11.2 percent from the prior year.

Other collections, consisting of about 60 different sources including taxes on fuel, tobacco, horse race gambling and alcoholic beverages, produced $127.63 million during the month. That is $12.28 million or 10.6 percent more than last March.

First quarter collections

During the first quarter of 2013, gross collections totaled $2.744 billion. That is $17.86 million or 0.7 percent higher than collections in the first quarter of 2012.

Gross income tax collections were $1.004 billion, up by $53.58 million or 5.6 percent from the first three months of last year.

Personal income tax collections were $843.22 million, up $27.56 million or 3.4 percent from 2012 quarter one. Corporate collections were $160.35 million, an increase of $26.03 million or 19.4 percent over the period.

Sales tax collections were recorded as $1.026 billion for the three months, up by $10.63 million or 1 percent from the same quarter of last year.

Gross production generated $188.08 million during the quarter, down by $17.51 million or 8.5 percent from first quarter of 2012.

Motor vehicle collections produced $160.9 million, a decrease of $11.66 million or 6.8 percent from last year’s first quarter.

Other sources generated $365.6 million, a drop of $17.19 million or 4.5 percent from first quarter 2011.

Twelve-month collections

Between April 2012 and March 2013, gross revenue totals $11.105 billion. That is $240.38 million or 2.2 percent higher than collections for the previous 12-month period.

Gross income taxes generated $4.013 billion for the period, reflecting an increase of $250.4 million or 6.7 percent from the prior 12 months.

Personal income tax collections total $3.398 billion, up by $156.92 million or 4.8 percent from the April 2011 to March 2012 period. Corporate collections are $615.01 million for the period, an increase of $93.49 million or 17.9 percent over the previous period.

Sales taxes for the period generated $4.186 billion, an increase of $231.84 million or 5.9 percent from the prior 12-months.

Oil and gas gross production tax collections brought in $710.53 million during the 12 months, down by $278.48 million or 28.2 percent from the previous period.

Motor vehicle collections total $690.23 million for the period. This is an increase of $14.8 million or 2.2 percent from the trailing 12 months.

Other sources generated $1.505 billion, up $21.82 million or 1.5 percent from the previous 12 months.

Speaker applauds sale of unused state properties

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Oklahoma Speaker of the House T.W. Shannon is applauding the latest efforts of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES) to liquidate unused state properties.

This week, OMES announced the acceptance of bids for the old OETA studio in Tulsa. The property was deemed to be underutilized under Speaker Shannon’s Omnibus Asset Consolidation Act of 2012 and therefore can be liquidated to decrease the state’s property footprint and costs.

Director Preston Doerflinger and the OMES staff’s quick action to identify and liquidate these unused assets shows their dedication to better servicing the citizens of Oklahoma, said Shannon, R-Lawton. This auction is just the first step toward making the state a more responsible property owner.

The State of Oklahoma is one of the largest property and building owners in Oklahoma, and many buildings remain underused and or empty creating a money pit in insurance costs for the state.

We must be better stewards of the taxpayers’ facilities and their tax money, said Shannon. “Burning tax dollars on empty buildings and underutilizing state assets is a wasteful mismanagement of funds. We need to sell these properties and use the dollars in a more responsible manner.

Shannon’s House Bill 1910, if passed by the Senate and signed by Gov. Mary Fallin, calls for an eight-year plan to prioritize asset repairs and maintenance to which liquidated property funds will be directed.

The building up for auction is located at 811 N. Sheridan Rd. Tulsa, OK. The appraised value of the property is $165,000 and may not be sold for less than 90 percent of the appraised value under state statute. Bids will be accepted until April 26.

For additional information on the building, auction or bid packet, go to: or call (405) 521-3819 and/or email inforeals@omes.ok.gov.

A tale of two states: When it comes to Medicaid sustainability, Illinois and Oklahoma are more alike than not

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY -- In the Land of Lincoln, an effort at “Scrubbing Medicaid” is quickly drawing attention even in Oklahoma.

The Sooner State economy is relatively robust, while Illinois’ challenges in pension financing and provision of core services have become fodder for late-night television humorists, and others.

In Illinois, state officials have embraced the Affordable Care Act, including Medicaid expansion, whereas the leadership of Oklahoma is working to avoid the massive expansion envisioned in President Barack Obama’s signature legislation.

What Oklahoma and Illinois share, however, is a growing sense of dread about the long-term sustainability of Medicaid.

Prodded by the state Legislature, the Illinois state Department of Healthcare and Family Services launched an investigative audit to identify ineligible Medicaid recipients, as part of a push to save $1.6 billion – not as part of a plan to reduce spending, but to assure the money saved goes to intended recipients under existing law.

This was an essential step, state officials said, to preserve the program, upon which thousands of low-income people rely for health insurance coverage.

Benjamin Yount, writing for Illinois Watchdog, said despite the projected savings push the state faces “a metaphorical ‘train wreck’ … just around the bend.”

Two-thirds of the initial 20,500 recipients screened in Illinois – 13,709 people in all – should be removed from Illinois Medicaid, according to an outside contractor studying the state program for the agency. Those found ineligible in the first round of screening either make too much money or do not even live in the state.

Julie Hamos, head of the Heathcare agency, told The Chicago Tribune editorial board the first round of investigation concentrated on “low-hanging fruit,” that is, thousands of “accounts” previously red-flagged by agency staff.

Context for the investigation comes from the growth of Medicaid in Illinois from 1.4 million recipients in 2000 to 2.8 million today – more than one in five state residents. Trouble is, under the Affordable Care Act, officials estimate 342,000 more Illinoisans will become eligible for Medicaid.

Responding to the Illinois investigation, fiscal analyst Jonathan Small of the Oklahoma Council for Public Affairs (OCPA) told CapitolBeatOK that state government officials should undertake a similar “scrubbing” here. He reflected:

Oklahoma needs to make a robust effort to make sure that those who are enrolled in Medicaid actually qualify, even after initial qualification-such as on an annual basis. Based on Oklahoma's income and population growth over the last ten years, the way our Medicaid rolls are growing don't make sense.

According to the IRS, we are seeing average in-migration at household incomes above that which is necessary to qualify for Medicaid. State tax commission data shows that more and more tax returns fall into categories above qualification for Medicaid. This is not even to mention that Oklahoma is currently in the top five states as far as lowest unemployment rate.

“It makes no sense that in Oklahoma, our Medicaid enrollment population has gone from about 13 percent of the population to over 26 percent in just 12 years, even when you account for the number of both legislative or Healthcare Authority driven Medicaid expansions.”

Small insisted, “This is another example of exactly why Oklahoma needs Medicaid reform and the Oklahoma Health Care Authority needs to be solely focused on managing (especially focusing on enrollment integrity) and not growing a welfare entitlement program.”

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Oklahoma leaders maintain opposition to Medicaid expansion, as homegrown reform founders

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – So far, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin is sticking with her frequently expressed determination to avoid entanglement in the morass of what she and many Oklahomans call “ObamaCare.” But in the Legislature, a pro-active reform measure to trim Medicaid expenses may not make it to the Senate floor.

Early in her tenture, Fallin flirted with Medicaid expansion, as well as state-run online health exchange and other aspects of the Affordable Care Act. But in the face of rising opposition within the Legislature, Fallin said Oklahoma would neither create an exchange nor follow the Medicaid expansion envisioned in “ObamaCare.” The chief executive reiterated that stance last fall.

Pressure on Fallin to reverse herself and embrace the federal law has come, relentlessly, from members of the Oklahoma Hospital Association.

In an Op-Ed piece for the state’s largest newspaper, The Oklahoman, seven OHA executives argued last Sunday that “devising an Oklahoma plan that uses expansion money” would allow the state to “recapture federal tax dollars and use them to control the cost of health care and enhance the access to and the quality of care. The funding to cover the additional 17 million uninsured people nationwide and 180,000 in Oklahoma has already been allotted. The allotment is drawn from the federal taxes Oklahomans pay. In short, it is Oklahoma taxpayer money.

“If Oklahoma doesn’t find a way to incorporate its tax dollars into a state plan, Oklahoma taxpayers will cover the cost of expansion in New Jersey, Florida, Ohio, Arkansas, Arizona and many other states, reducing their health care costs and providing their uninsured residents with health care. If we don’t use this federal money, Oklahoma’s Medicaid costs will increase, costing the state an extra $332 million.”

However, the troubled economics of Medicaid – including a dynamic in which spending is virtually certain to increase with or without the ACA’s mandates – have bolstered Fallin’s stance in opposition to expansion.

An effort to build an alternative set of reforms with a market orientation, patterned on steps already taken in Florida and Louisiana, were foundering in the Legislature this week.

Jonathan Small of the state’s leading free-market “think tank” – Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs – says the Medicaid program’s built-in growth could lead to it taking around 50 percent of total state growth revenue (money projected to be available for expenditure from all sources, including the federal government) by 2017.

For the current state budget, the Legislature approved $80 million for “maintenance of effort” in Medicaid. A third of that was pulled from the Insure Oklahoma fund, an insurance program to help the state’s working poor.

Small and others criticized robbing Insure Oklahoma resources, saying the homegrown program to support access to insurance for the working poor is a model to build on, rather than to erode it with observance of federal dictates. Small points out the state’s Medicaid spending challenges are historic, and intensifying.

This year, merely to “run in place” could require $40 million to $60 million in new spending. In FY 2000, 416,785 Oklahomans were enrolled in Medicaid, at a cost of $1.14 billion. By last fiscal year, there were 1,007-356 enrollees, or 26.57 percent of the entire population.

Oklahoma program costs increased 190.9 percent in 12 years, reaching $4.77 billion (with the state’s share about $1.3 billion).

Small is not alone in doomsday scenarios about Medicaid expansion. The Oklahoma State Medical Association (OSMA) worries that the addition of 200,000 people to Medicaid rolls in 2014, which could have happened if Gov. Fallin hadn’t resisted the Medicaid expansion, would crater any ability to care for patients, poor or otherwise, in a sustainable way.

Louisiana and Florida have begun to implement a mix of reforms sometimes dubbed the Florida model. Louisiana’s reforms have taken effect statewide, and expansion beyond a regional pilot is beginning in Florida.

The Florida/Louisiana approach allows consumer choice and program accountability, and greater access to specialists for participant who need that. The two states’ managed care programs for eligible populations are the basis for House Bill 1552 in the Oklahoma Legislature. Insurance programs within the system would include long-term care, allowing some distinctions between urban and rural care systems.

The Louisiana/Florida reforms include a core focus on better coordinating the healthcare of those utilizing Medicaid assistance, through contracting with for-profit and non-profit plans.

The approach allows administrators “to better predict costs and reward patient and provider usage that results in better health. This is a paradigm shift from the traditional fee for service model of Medicaid, where the primary focus is predominantly quick payment for providers, arbitrary pilot programs that are not tied to incentivizing better behavior and expanding Medicaid.”

Notably, this approach has been embraced by both the Obama administration, and its predecessor. Small contends, “Louisiana will see savings exceeding $135 million in its first year alone.”

The pro-active reform, House Bill 1552, has been pressed by state Rep. Mark McCullough, R-Broken Arrow, and state Sen. AJ Griffin, R-Guthrie.

On the House side, the measure secured 64-21 approval on March 12. However, it may not be heard by the state Senate Health and Human Services Committee before the April 4 deadline for each chamber to act upon the other’s first-round of proposed laws.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Emerging from despair, quartet of women graduate into productive citizenship

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – DeChelle Black was one of the four graduates at last week’s first-ever public ceremony for “ReMerge” – a program patterned on the acclaimed Women in Recovery (WIR) of Tulsa.

The system provides an alternative to incarceration for women encountering the criminal justice system. WIR is a leading model for successful programs providing ways forward for women in trouble.

Black was on her way to prison and six months pregnant when she learned of ReMerge. Given the opportunity to “divert” into the strenuous program stressing personal accountability, behavioral responsibility and reformed habits of living, Black took a chance on the program, and on herself.

Now, she has “been sober for over 14 months. I have completed the … program for job training. I have been certified for forklift and OSHA. I have my driver's license and my own car. I work full time and have an apartment. … I pay all of my own bills. The biggest change is having my family in my life.”

Yvonne Estrada came to ReMerge after a jail stint. She knew she needed “boundaries” and “better control over my decisions.” She had blamed “the system” after imprisonment and failed rehabilitation.

“I had a spiritual awakening and a better way of seeing and understanding that the system doesn't have anything to do with my choices. It was me. That's when I learned: acceptance, accountability, personal awareness and responsibility,” Estrada said about ReMerge.

Now, “I have my daily action plan and safety plan that I follow faithfully with the help of my sponsor.” Estrada has a job, and hopes to work permanently with recovery groups like NorthCare or ReMerge.

Tricia Everest, a prominent civic leader in the capital city, served as M.C. for the graduation program, which was held at the Oklahoma History Center near the state Capitol. Everest praised the “female diversion program” designed to make productive citizens of pregnant women and mothers otherwise facing incarceration.

Traci Woodland, director of ReMerge, gave a detailed description of the program, and an explanation of pragmatic ways it triggers a combination of accountability and responsibility from the participating women. Woodland described the mix of treatment and behavioral programs that guide women who often struggle with mental health or abuse issues to remake their lives.

The keynote speaker -- former Speaker of the House Kris Steele, R-Shawnee -- encouraged the four graduates to take what they have learned as a basis to serve others, as they have been served.

He said, “I hope today you see yourselves as bright, talented, intelligent women. … Make sure you listen to the right voices. Listen to voices that are positive and lead you in the right direction.”

Steele asked the women to consider their time in ReMerge a “major intersection” in their lives. He recalled simple rules of safety, which many of us learn as children, rules for both pedestrians and drivers: “Stop. Look. Listen.” Going forward, he encouraged the graduates often to pause, reevaluate, consider and correct, and “recognize what is truly important in life.”

He continued, “When life gets busy or complicated, I encourage you to slow down, think, and consider where you have been and where you are headed. … Look and learn to see what is truly happening around you. I am guessing you are seeing things a little differently now, and I suspect your perspective in life has changed. You can now see the extraordinary beauty in even the most common things. There is no doubt you now see yourself, your children, and others differently.”

He concluded by encouraging them to “Go into the world ready to serve, heal and help others. Go into the world destined to be an example of redemption. Go into the world determined to reach your God-given potential. Know, as you go, we will be cheering you on every step of the way."

The initial graduate speaker at the event was graduate Lacey Copenhaver, who described how the program gave her practical “tools and knowledge” needed to move in a positive direction as a mother and a taxpaying citizen.

Diane Billings, the fourth graduate to address the crowd, gave one of the shortest talks. She narrated a unique personal history nonetheless evocative of comments heard at past graduations for Women In Recovery.

With five children and two divorces in her past, Billings recalled she “was broken, doing drugs after an abusive childhood.”

She “wanted with all my heart to give my kids the childhood I never had. I loved my children but had no self-esteem, no confidence in myself.” Over a year and a half at ReMerge, she learned, “I am important. I learned communication with my doctors, and how to have positive relationships with those I love.”

Gesturing at the crowd, Billings concluded, “I didn’t think I mattered. Now I know I do. I owe that to you people.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Mercatus Center raves about Oklahoma’s dramatic move toward economic liberty

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY Oklahoma is now the fifth freest state in America. That’s the conclusion from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Virginia, based on detailed analysis of regulatory policy, fiscal policy and personal freedom.

"Freedom in the 50 States: An Index of Personal and Economic Freedom: 2013 edition” was released early on the morning of March 28.

Authors of the report concluded, “North Dakota is the freest state, followed at a modest distance by South Dakota and Tennessee. New Hampshire and Oklahoma round out the top five.” It was the first time the Dakotas have led the Mercatus freedom rankings.

The bottom five? They are (from 50th on up) New York, California, New Jersey, Hawaii and Rhode Island. The only comfort for Rhode Island is that the analysts say the gap between the First State and the Fiftieth State is considerable, in terms of liberty.

Co-authors William P. Ruger and Jason Sorens examine what they consider “dimensions of freedom,” rating Oklahoma positively in two of the three broad areas (regulatory and fiscal) and negatively in only one (personal).

In describing the Sooner State as the fifth freest of the 50 states, the analysts say the state “does especially well on fiscal policy (ranking fourth), but slips, like many southern states, on personal freedom.” The two men conclude that over the past decade, the Sooner State improved more than any other state except for North Dakota.

Oklahoma governance is credited for low taxes and debt, yet mildly criticized on spending – at 13 percent of personal income it is “a full standard deviation worse than average.” In the Mercatus view, our state and local governments “have bloated payrolls amounting to 16.5 percent of the private workforce.”

The best ratings are given for fiscal policy in Oklahoma, where the state moved from 12th in 2001 to third in 2011.

While giving Oklahoma a mixed rating on regulatory policy issues, the study note an improvement from 34th place in 2001 to 17th place in 2011.

As for personal freedom, the authors contend the state improved a bit, from 43rd best in 2001. Like many other analyses of Oklahoma policy and practice, the writers conclude that some of the state’s criminal sentences are draconian,” and that arrests for victimless crimes “are well above the national average, significantly dragging down the state’s personal freedom score.”

The authors include these policy recommendations for Oklahoma:

* cut spending and the size of the government workforce until they are at the national average;

* more vigorously protect individual property rights; and

* reform sentencing for nonviolent crimes to reduce the crime-adjusted incarceration rate to the national average.

Despite the sweeping reach of their new study, the writers admit the dated nature of such analysis, which encompasses January 2001 to January 2011: “Most of the legislatures responsible for these policies were in power in 2009 and 2010.”

In an interview, state Secretary of Finance and Revenue Preston L. Doerflinger told CapitolBeatOK he was not surprised by the news: “Freedom is the best friend an economy can have. As Oklahoma’s laws have grown more free, our markets and economy have expanded. This is no coincidence.

The purity of our fiscal policy is the biggest reason we rank so high in this index. We balance our budget every year, as required by the state Constitution. Our tax burdens and debt levels are low, and we’re making them even lower. Our financial transactions are incredibly transparent. We spend modestly, although we would benefit from more performance-based budgeting at the state level. While there is room to improve, Oklahoma’s fiscal policy is more pure, free and respectful of liberty than most of our 49 peers.”

Doerflinger predicted the good news will get even better, because the data analysis in the study extends only through Jan. 1, 2011 – a few days before his boss, Gov. Mary Fallin, took office.

Since then, a .25 percent top income tax rate reduction enacted as part of a phased reduction in taxes, has gone into effect. Then, in November 2012, two significant ballot propositions gained easy approval.

One of those constitutional measures limited annual property tax increases to no more than 3 percent.

The second proposition reversed a state Supreme Court decision – as a result, “intangible” property cannot be taxed in Oklahoma.

Doerflinger noted the Mercatus analysis, which he praised, “does not reflect all the efficiency Gov. Fallin has achieved through government consolidation and modernization efforts, nor does it reflect all the tax reforms that have taken place under her administration. More modernization, tax reform and reduction and pension liability reform is underway. Our fiscal scores will be even stronger in this index once these accomplishments are reflected.

Oklahoma’s government is not one with heavy hands. Frankly, we’re trying to be hands off. We have the right model in Oklahoma. The folks in D.C. should take note, because our results far exceed theirs, without question. We’re never going to apologize for advancing free markets and individual liberties.

For our first hundred years, Oklahoma was run mostly by one party. Status quo developed under this single-party rule. Government and market systems were set up a certain way, and then little thought was ever given to if there was a better way. As conservatives, we’re proving every day that there is a better way. The results of the past decade, as our freedom index indicates, validate that point.”

News of the high ranking in the Mercatus study may provide fresh impetus for another incremental personal income tax rate reduction, and encourage renewed efforts to “right-size” state government.

Authors of the analysis excluded some areas from their statistical weighting, including abortion policy and the death penalty. However, they included information on both areas online at www.statepolicyindex.com, so that other analysts can examine their assumptions.

In the introduction to their study, Ruger and Sorens write: “Our index will have intrinsic interest for classical liberals and libertarians. However, non-libertarian social scientists will also benefit from the index because it is an open question how individual liberty relates to phenomena such as economic growth, migration, and partisan politics in the American states.

In the same way, while political scientists may value democracy for its own sake, they can also research empirically what causes democracy and how democracy affects other phenomena.”

Information about the 223-page book, “Freedom in the 50 States,” is available from Mercatus here.

To link directly to a section of the Mercatus site dedicated to the study, go here.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Unity in Diversity? Maybe not: Some love, and some hate, Oklahoma’s high rank in freedom index

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – Speaker of the House T.W. Shannon said a new report pegging Oklahoma as the fifth freest state in the nation was “exciting news.” A spokesman for Gov. Mary Fallin commented the analysis from George Mason University’s Mercatus Center was “no surprise.”

However, a former Democratic legislator who now runs the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union said progress on economic freedom could not offset the state’s “shortcomings in personal freedoms.”

In other words, the report "Freedom in the 50 States: An Index of Personal and Economic Freedom: 2013 edition” was a conversation starter at and around the Oklahoma state Capitol on March 28, the date of its nationwide release.

In an interview at his Capitol office, Speaker Shannon said, “I think it is exciting news. It’s an affirmation of the direction we’ve taken since Republicans gained control of the state House of Representatives in 2004. This is affirmation of the pro-growth and liberty policies that have been put in place since then.

“It sounds like the Mercatus Center and its scholars recognize that what we’re doing is on the right track. In terms of their recommendations, I believe we’re making progress.”

The Lawton Republican said the report will energize legislators to enact further reforms and boost the state’s emergence as home to business-friendly government and job-growing policies: “I am hopeful we will pass a reduction of the state income tax. Talk about expanding the boundaries of freedom – letting people keep more of their own money is a great way to do that.”

Pointing to one of the handful of critical points made about Oklahoma in the 233-page report by scholars William P. Ruger and Jason Sorens, Shannon told CapitolBeatOK, “I concur that we can do a better job of protecting individual property rights. In terms of asset management, liquidating some of the properties the state doesn’t need, returning those back to the private sector and for that matter onto the tax rolls. I am proud to see this high ranking for Oklahoma and it motivates me to keep pushing.”

Asked what he would choose to get enacted into law if only one of the GOP House Caucus agenda items could be finished this year, he reflected, “Sometimes I’m too optimistic, maybe. “

Shannon contended, “I think the state income tax cut directly addresses this set of issues they looked at in the study. Fortunately, that seems to have great momentum right now. Letting people have or keep more of their own money, that seems to me like the best way to be free.”

He said, “I am hopeful to get a whole wave of new good laws passed that will improve our ranking in an analysis like this. On the House side we’ve advanced all of our significant agenda items, and I think we’ll get most of all of those through with the help of the Senate. I am very optimistic.”

Responding to the state’s high ranking in the Mercatus study, Alex Weintz, spokesman for Gov. Mary Fallin, told CapitolBeatOK, “Oklahomans believe in small government, traditional values and perhaps most importantly, freedom. It’s no surprise that we rank highly in any index of personal and economic liberty.”

In the study’s blended look at regulatory, fiscal and personal liberties, the state moved over the decade 2001-2011 from 31st freest to fifth freest among the 50 states. The shift in public policy, the Mercatus scholars concluded, nearly equaled what occurred in North Dakota, which the analysis pegged as the most dramatic change over those ten years.

“In the governor’s office, we’re focused on continuing to expand upon the freedoms that Oklahomans enjoy, including the freedom to keep more of your hard earned dollars and the freedom to live and work without government interference, regulation, and bureaucracy,” Weintz said.

“These goals not only reinforce the natural rights of all Oklahomans granted under the Constitution, they’re also conducive to job creation, business retention, and greater prosperity for our citizens.”

A sharply different view of the Mercatus report came from former state Rep. Ryan Kiesel, the ACLU state president. He told CapitolBeatOK, “We must have different definition of freedom than the Mercatus Center. I hardly think that a state that routinely considers legislation and passes laws that interfere with a woman’s right to make healthcare decisions, openly discriminates against its LGBT citizens, and incarcerates over 26,000 of its people, many needlessly caught up in the failed war on drugs, is the fifth freest state in the nation.

“The study’s suggestion that Oklahoma’s shortcomings in personal freedoms are somehow offset by economic freedom also misses the mark. Try explaining that ranking to the one in four Oklahoma children who go to bed hungry each night or the over 100,000 Oklahomans without health insurance because of Gov. Fallin’s cold-hearted refusal to expand Medicaid."

The analysis is drawing national attention, including a report from John Merline for Investor’s Business Daily. His examination of the prolific data and analysis from co-authors Ruger and Sorens “found a strong correlation between a state's freedom ranking and migration, which means that Americans are gravitating toward states that have less-intrusive governments.”

He reported, “New York, for example, saw a net migration of -9.2% between 2000 and 2011, and California's was -4.2%. In contrast, Tennessee gained 4.4%, and Oklahoma gained 1.3%.

“An IBD analysis of the data found that ‘red’ states — those voting for Republican presidential candidates in the past two elections — saw an overall net migration of 2.2%, while ‘blue’ states saw an overall average net migration of -0.3%.”

The analysts who prepared the study characterize themselves as libertarian or Classical Liberal. They provide, both within the report narrative and through references, a diverse bloc of information through which those with conflicting worldviews can weigh for themselves if the report’s conclusions are sound.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Hoosier State decision could influence Oklahoma special needs scholarship litigation

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – In an historic 5-0 decision, the Indiana state Supreme Court has upheld a state program that benefits families who send their children to private schools. The legal reasoning could carry broad implications for the special needs scholarship program under challenge in Oklahoma.

The case originated during former Gov. Mitch Daniels’ term in office, but now bears the name of his successor, Mike Pence. In Meredith v. Pence, the Court ruled, in the crucial final analysis of a 21-page controlling opinion:

“(W)e separately and independently find as to each of the two issues that the school voucher program does not contravene Section 6 [the underlying constitutional provision].

“First, the voucher program expenditures do not directly benefit religious schools but rather directly benefit lower-income families with school-children by providing an opportunity for such children to attend non-public schools if desired.

“Second, the prohibition against government expenditures to benefit religious or theological institutions does not apply to institutions and programs providing primary and secondary education. Summary judgment for the defendants was thus proper as to the plaintiffs' … claims.”

Advocates of parental choice in education celebrated the outcome. Leslie Hiner of the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice told CapitolBeatOK, “Happy Families, Successful Students. This is the true definition of school choice. Families and students in Indiana may rest assured of their happiness and success thanks to a unanimous decision issued today by Indiana’s Supreme Court.

“The teachers union and other opponents of educational freedom failed in challenging the right of families and children to access the school of their choice courtesy of the nation’s largest school voucher program. This is a victory for children, a victory that should inspire Moms, Dads, Grandparents and advocates for children in other states to demand educational choice and freedom.”

Andrew Spiropoulos, a professor of law at Oklahoma City University, told CapitolBeatOK, “This opinion may be an important turning point in the legal fight to expand school choice. It is not simply that the Indiana court has affirmed the constitutionality of the nation's most expansive school choice program. What is particularly significant are the court's reasons for rejecting the same array of state constitutional challenges deployed, often successfully, against school choice programs elsewhere.

“For example, in rejecting the argument, under the state's Blaine Amendment, that the school voucher program appropriated public funds ‘for the benefit’ of religious institutions, the court held that ‘the proper test for examining whether a government expenditure violates’ the

constitutional prohibition against aid to religious institutions ‘is not whether a religious or theological institution substantially benefits from the expenditure, but whether the expenditure directly benefits such an institution. To hold otherwise would put at constitutional risk every government expenditure incidentally, albeit substantially, benefiting any religious or theological institution.’”

Spiropoulos, Milton Friedman Distinguished Fellow at the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA), continued, “Any program … that provides funding to parents to purchase educational services from the institution of their choice should pass constitutional muster. This [Indiana] opinion could prove particularly persuasive to the Oklahoma courts in any future case involving the interpretation of our state's Blaine Amendment.

“Like Indiana's provision, ours forbids any expenditures for the benefit of religious institutions. Programs that provide funding to parents, not schools, do not directly benefit religious schools and should not run afoul of this prohibition.”

Oklahoma parents have defended the constitutionality of the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarships for Students with Disabilities program. In a controversial decision, Tulsa District Judge Rebecca Nightingale declared the law, passed in 2010 with bipartisan support and signed into law by Democratic Gov. Brad Henry, violated the state Constitution.

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty fought for the law in the Tulsa court, and appealed the Tulsa decision. Opponents have based arguments against special needs scholarships on Oklahoma’s version of the “Blaine Amendment” – a product of an era of anti-Catholic fervor that restricted state revenues going to “sectarian institutions.”

Eric Baxter, the Becket Fund’s senior counsel, contends “Blaine Amendments cannot be used to prevent religious students or schools from participating in State programs that are available to everyone else. The U.S. Supreme Court has made clear that these amendments have ‘a shameful pedigree,’ which the High Court does ‘not hesitate to disavow.”

In this week’s decision, the Indiana High Court explicitly upheld that state’s choice scholarship program as a legislative exercise of the Legislature’s power. The outcome was rebuff to teachers’ unions and their allies, who had assailed the legislation and sought to kill it with a May 2011 lawsuit.

The legislation was upheld in Marion County Superior Court in January 2012, setting the state for judicial review by the state High Court.

When considered in combination with a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision in an Ohio case, appeal of the decision into the federal courts seems unlikely.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Progress in the midst of peril: Oklahoma’s ReMerge program graduate looks forward to ‘a positive, productive life’

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma City has now duplicated an acclaimed Tulsa program aiming to keep first- and second-time female offenders out of prison. An emotional and upbeat first graduation ceremony for “ReMerge” drew a large crowd to the History Center northeast of the state Capitol.

ReMerge and Tulsa’s Women in Recovery demonstrate the effectiveness of treatment and accountability in place of long sentences for at least some non-violent offenders. Lift-off in the capital city comes even as some policymakers are stepping away from legislation intended to shift government resources away from incarceration of non-violent offenders, toward proven treatment and restitution.

ReMerge and Women in Recovery are private-sector groups working closely with all aspects of the criminal justice system.

The “justice reinvestment” concept often covered by CapitolBeatOK and Watchdog.org includes but is not limited to programs such as these.

When justice reinvestment concepts first entered into the discussion of Corrections and criminal justice issues, it had a share of critics across the political spectrum. That may still be the case, in light of a change in the administration and implementation of the program that has unfolded in recent weeks. As late as 2009, some analysts considered the concept unproven in rigorous academic studies.

While many conservatives have embraced the ideas in justice reinvestment, there remains a cadre of elected officials who fear embrace of the concept might weaken their reputation as “tough on crime.” Some consider JR merely a redo of restorative justice models from the 1980s, while scattered critics from the political Left decry the focus on saving taxpayer resources and lowering costs.

Evidence from several states, including Texas, has persuaded policymakers across the spectrum that JR policies – alternatively deemed “Smart on Crime” or “Right on Crime” – can redirect at least some resources in the system, salvaging lives that would otherwise be lost to the “graduate schools of crime” in many maximum- and medium-security facilities.

Tricia Everest, a ReMerge board member, served as M.C. at this week’s first-ever graduation ceremony. Other speakers at the event included Kris Steele, he former speaker of the state House of Representatives.

She summarized the project’s purpose as “a female diversion program designed to transform pregnant women and mothers facing incarceration into productive community citizens.”

Terri Woodland, director of ReMerge, outlined what makes such efforts effective. Concerning her “clients,” as she calls them: “Many come from dysfunctional families where one or both parents also were addicted to drugs or alcohol, struggle with mental health issues or were divorced or incarcerated. Most have no means of transportation, no safe place to live, poor work history and no income.”

In many cases, “women enter the criminal justice system differently than men. … Recognizing the barriers women face when raising children alone, we can provide appropriate treatment and services to increase the chances of success for each participant and subsequently, break the cycle of intergenerational incarceration.”

ReMerge staff typically works with a woman for one year. Programmatic approaches can be personalized to provide the practical support she needs.

ReMerge coordinates access to public Mental Health services and private entities such as mental health provider NorthCare: “Sixty to 80 percent of females incarcerated have co-occurring mental health and substance abuse treatment needs. Sixty-five to 70 percent report child physical or sexual abuse or domestic violence. More than half report a history of family dysfunction and instability.”

Each story is unique, as demonstrated in “testimonies” from ReMerge’s first four graduates. One, Lacey Copenhaver, said that despite a wholesome upbringing, she lived with “deep sadness” – ultimately diagnosed as “chronic severe depression with anxiety.”

While she obtained a GED, Lacey left high school in tenth grade, and by the age of 18 was a single mother with two children.

When my children were 6 and 7, a situation beyond my control happened and the kids were placed in DHS custody for an investigation. I feared for my children's safety and wellbeing and impulsively stole them back. I was facing 10-20 years for child stealing and larceny of an automobile,” Copenhaver recounted.

Afforded the ReMerge option as an alternative to prison, she said it “has given me the tools and knowledge I have needed. I now have positive coping skills and support to help me overcome challenges.” As she leaves ReMerge, Lacey is “gainfully employed. Yes, I still have a disorder, but thanks to ReMerge, I can live a positive, productive life. … I have regular visits with my children and look forward to getting custody back.”

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Editor’s Notebook: Closing time, lobbying day, haze hearing, hard core on Common Core

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – From an editor’s notebook: closure of a state office in Tulsa, Sierra Club lobbying, a Corporation Commission hearing on regional haze, and conservative critics of the Common Core.

* * *

In rapid response to federal spending cuts, Oklahoma Commissioner of Labor Mark Costello plans to close the state Labor Department’s Tulsa office by the end of May.

Costello told state Capitol reporters on March 26 (Tuesday) that many services will still be provided after ending the “bricks and mortar” aspects of the facility this summer. Shuttering the Tulsa office could pull the agency’s workforce down to 68 employees, from its current 78.

The agency has offered Voluntary Buyouts (VBOs) for ten employees, but will work with Tulsa employees willing to transfer to Oklahoma City.

In response to a question from CapitolBeatOK, Costello said federal officials communicated to the state Labor Department that the reductions came in response to sequestration (automatic spending cuts) passed in Congress and signed into law by President Obama.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency notified the state Labor Department that $162,000 in funding for state-run asbestos abatement programs would be ended.

The federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) is nipping “up to $300,000” from Safety Pays, a worksite consultation program that rewards implementation of safety standards in private and public workplaces.

Finally, statistical information-gathering on workforce and labor issues will be cut around $18,000, according to a notice Costello received from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Commissioner Costello said his agency had moved quickly to be ready with contingency plans in the event of federal cuts, and was moving to comply with legislation advocated by Speaker of the House T.W. Shannon, R-Lawton, for agencies to be ready to implement spending reductions quickly if federal cuts are implemented.

Costello said his agency had planned “proactively” and would continue to provide many services through remote technology, in cooperation with Career Tech sites and even, in some cases, union halls where licenses can be obtained.

Looking ahead, Costello said creation of an administrative workers compensation system a reform he supports, might trim four compliance officers now employed at the state Labor Department.

* * *

Members of the Oklahoma chapter of the Sierra Club worked the halls of the state Capitol March 26 (Tuesday), advocating rail transportation, environmental protection, support for local farmers and drought mitigation.

David Ocamb, director of the group, assailed legislation opposing the United Nations’ “Agenda 21,” saying critics of the United Nations have promulgated a “fictionalized concept.”

In a prepared statement provided to CapitolBeatOK, Ocamb said, “We don’t have time for global conspiracy theories about black helicopters. Our elected officials should be far more focused on making the lives (of) our citizens better and not on extremist rhetoric to fire up their political base in elections.”

He asserted anti-Agenda 21 bills would “threaten research at our universities, conservation programs in our local communities, and access to data and research at our public libraries.”

One speaker at a Sierra Club briefing for Capitol reporters was Vic Hutchinson, an emeritus professor from the University of Oklahoma. He denounced legislation he deemed “anti-science,” specifically measures from state Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, and Sen. Josh Brecheen, R-Coalgate, that would encourage science teachers allow discussions of views, other than evolution, about human origins.

Hutchinson said he was optimistic that “creationist” bills can be stopped, but said he remained concerned about “sneaky floor amendments.” He insisted there is “no real controversy among scientists” about evolutionary theory, and characterized the Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based group that promotes alternative theories, as “anti-science.”

* * *

Speaking of the Sierra Club, the executive director of Oklahoma Industrial Energy Consumers, Tom Schroedter, slapped both that group and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a letter to the editor of CapitolBeatOK.

EPA proposals could impact coal-fired power plants in Oklahoma, and if implemented could “lower local tax revenues and cause significantly higher electricity costs, ranging from 11 percent to 15 percent,” Schroedter said.

Schroedter said proposed EPA standards “would unnecessarily raise electricity rates in Oklahoma, putting our local economy at risk with the loss of jobs, lower local tax revenues and cause significantly higher electricity costs, ranging from 11 percent to 15 percent.

“This proposal would cost the average Oklahoma family more than $200 each year, and most likely, even more in the future. Moreover, the cost to Oklahoma businesses would be millions of dollars starting immediately. We are already stretched far enough as Oklahoma taxpayers and business owners, we don’t need another tax brought forth by interests outside of our state.

“If fully implemented, a settlement over regional haze will deeply hurt affordable energy options in Oklahoma. Our state currently pays one third less than the national average on our electricity. We do not want to turn into California or New York - states that pay significantly higher rates.”

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission has scheduled a hearing on the regional haze issue this Thursday, March 28.

* * *

State Rep. Gus Blackwell, R-Laverne, is working with activists from Restore Oklahoma Public Education (R.O.P.E.) to oppose the federal Common Core curriculum. A March 27 (Wednesday) rally will include acivists Traci Montgomery, Glenda Murphey and Jennie White, as well as the Rev. Paul Blair.

Blackwell sponsored House Bill 1907, to create a task force to critically examine the Common Core. The measure cleared committee, then advanced from the House to the Senate this month. Blackwell has been told the measure will not be heard in the Senate.

“The Common Core State Standards must be brought to bear under public scrutiny before we move further into its implementation. Taxpayers should not bear the brunt of a program for which we know little about, even three years after its inception,” Blackwell said in a statement to CapitolBeatOK.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Suicide now leading cause of death in U.S.

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Suicide is now the leading cause of death in the United States, leading to legislation that could help address the issue here in Oklahoma.

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), suicide is the third leading cause of death for youth between the ages of 10 and 24, resulting in approximately 4,600 lives lost each year.

A recent study by the American Journal of Public Health, revealed that suicide now takes more American lives than motor vehicle crashes, which was the leading cause of death by injury between 2000 and 2008.

Oklahoma’s death rate for suicide exceeds that of the United States.

“Deaths due to suicide are increasing in Oklahoma, jumping from 567 in 2009 to 618 in 2010,” said Jeffrey Dismukes, Communications Director for the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. “Oklahoma ranks 13th nationally in terms of suicide rate (per 100,000 people). (American Association of Suicidology, Oct. 2012).

Oklahoma State Rep. Kay Floyd, (D-District 88) has introduced House Bill 1623, which will provide school-wide training that focuses on suicide prevention and early intervention for school staff and students. The bill recently passed through the House Common Education Committee.

“Our children face so many pressures today,” said Floyd. “HB 1623 will help Oklahoma’s school children arm themselves against peer pressure, bullying, and other challenges that are related to suicide.”

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention cites risk factors for suicide among the young include suicidal thoughts, psychiatric disorders, drug and/or alcohol abuse and previous suicide attempts, with the risk increased if there is situational stress and access to firearms.

“My bill provides for counseling, referrals, training, medical care and other assistance for vulnerable youth in our state so that we can hopefully reverse this trend that has such an impact on our communities overall,” Floyd said.

Floyd’s legislation provides for school wide presentations to staff, parents, and students using early intervention techniques and examples and testimony from those who have dealt directly with student suicide and bullying.

“Adults should protect our children and give them the tools and resources necessary to be healthy and live their lives to the fullest,” said Floyd. “This training will not only help individuals, but will also increase community awareness so our schools can be one step closer to becoming the safe havens they should be for our kids.”

A group in Oklahoma City has long addressed suicide prevention, and is applauding Rep. Floyd's efforts.

Serving Oklahoma since 1971, HeartLine, Inc. provides suicide prevention outreach programs, compassionate listening, referral services, and crisis intervention services.

“We believe that education is key to prevention,” said Kelly Nutter, Executive Director HeartLine, Inc.

“Real, widespread change in Oklahoma can only happen at a policy level, and it is very encouraging that our legislators are realizing the importance of this life-saving suicide prevention education.

“Dedicating classroom time toward a comprehensive, systematic method to prevent the loss of life has been effective in identifying those students who are at-risk and getting them connected to the help they need,” said Nutter. “HeartLine has been providing classroom-based suicide prevention education for 16 years and will continue to be a part of these efforts.”

HeartLine’s suicide prevention and outreach initiative, the Healthy Education for Life Program (HELP) provides free, interactive training to increase awareness and empower students to prevent bullying and suicide among peers.

“HELP is an interactive presentation for middle and high school students that teaches young people about the warning signs of depression and suicide and how to get help.” said Nutter. “Following the presentation, 25 percent of students self-identify as being at-risk for depression or suicide and receive mental health follow-up from the school counselor.”

The HELP program, listed on the Best Practices Registry by the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, is free to any interested school, youth program or group.

National surveys, including the Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide, state that in any given year, approximately 20 percent of high school students admit to thinking about suicide and 8.5 percent acknowledge actually making an attempt.

“We answered 6,751 calls on the Lifeline in 2012,” said Nutter. “This is up considerably from 2011, as we answered 5,406 calls that year.”

Serving over 2.3 million people in Oklahoma, HeartLIne, Inc. call specialists are available 24/7 answering their various helplines, which including two national suicide prevention lines, 1-800-SUICIDE and 1-800-273-TALK.

NOTE: Shelden is a staff writer for The City Sentinel, a weekly newspaper in Oklahoma City where this report is featured in the March 28, 2013 edition.

OK: For the 2014 budget -- $200 million more, or $200 million less?

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – Every year, the assumption, whether tacit or explicit, among planners in most of state government is that public spending must increase over time. The assumption is for some the equivalent of a law of nature.

Jonathan Small, who has helped fashion budgets for both government executives and legislators, is among the minority of knowledgeable analysts who quarrels with that proposition.

Small’s latest slap at conventional wisdom is distilled into the annual "budget book" from the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA), the Sooner State’s leading free market "think tank."

The new OCPA alternative state budget, released March 25, makes the case for possible state spending cuts for Fiscal year 2014 of $132,794,767 -- or 1.94 percent of the FY 2013 total.

After sorting out all the line items of their alternative approach to budgeting, Small and his OCPA colleagues say the state could reduce this year’s appropriations by nearly $133 million -- and still carry $277,208,015 in surplus funds into the following year (Fiscal Year 2015).

Thanks to the state's comparatively healthy economy, state government revenue available for appropriation is projected to grow by a little more than $200 million in the current fiscal year.

However, state agencies submitted spending increase requests for more than $1.1 billion this year. Many analysts and even Republican leaders in the House and Senate have assumed appropriations will increase by the end of the legislation session in May, even if the Legislature approves a modest personal income tax cut.

The OCPA budget -- and support for its assumptions by some the Legislature’s leading conservatives -- makes it likely that any spending growth will, at the least, become a debatable proposition during the last two months of the 2013 session.

At a briefing for members of the state Capitol press corps, Small, OCPA’s fiscal analyst, pointed out that total state government spending has never, ever, decreased, even during the “Great Recession” that began in 2008.

Small also stressed that the $6.6 billion available for appropriation in the current cycle is less than half of total expenditures, which reached $16.70 billion in Fiscal Year 2012.

Among the choices Small asserts would yield major gains for the fiscal bottom line would be to implement state employee health insurance reforms which passed the Legislature in 2010 (with bi-partisan majorities), only to be vetoed by then-Gov. Brad Henry.

Small fielded challenging questions from reporters, stressing again and again that budgeting involves choices – and that choices typically made at state agencies are not inevitable, but reflective of management preferences.

State employee health insurance proposals Small helped fashion as an aide to former Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland (a Democrat) might yield $2-3 million in administrative savings, for starters.

Big ticket savings could come from offering state government employees Health Savings Accounts, empowering employees, shifting away from the self-insured plan (HealthChoice) to provide savings of $37.8 million (half year for FY 2014), but thereafter $75.6 million on an annual basis.

The state alternative budget overview Small unveiled along with OCPA President Michael Carnuccio details varied annual savings, including through telecommunications efficiencies ($3 million), performance evaluations and hiring reforms ($23.4 million to $41.4 million), retirement and pension reforms with potential savings worth hundreds of millions of dollars, major asset sales ($50 million to $200 million), modest savings from new reforms of agencies, boards and commissions, federal funding oversite, and privatization of state services.

Joining the OCPA unveiling were Republican state Reps. Lewis Moore (Arcadia), Tom Newell (Seminole), Elise Hall (Oklahoma City), Mark McCullough (Sapulpa), Jon Echols (Oklahoma City), Mike Turner (Oklahoma City), Jason Murphey (Guthrie) and David Brumbaugh (Broken Arrow). Each promised to advocate for some or all of OCPA’s vision.

The OCPA analysis reflects insights from the John Locke Foundation, a “sister” free-market think tank in North Carolina. Small and other contributors to the alternative budget adapted to Oklahoma the North Carolina group’s “9 Rs of fiscal responsibility.” These include:

Reform entitlement programs to counter a 72.9 percent spending increase in just seven years.

Require more user responsibility from agencies involved in activities outside the core functions of government.

Redirect spending to “higher-priority uses,” including steps to secure the right of Oklahomans to enjoy what the state’s constitution characterized as “the gains of their own industry.”

Reorganize state government to accelerate modest agency consolidations that began during Gov. Mary Fallin’s first two yeas.

Revive free enterprise by bringing down overall tax rates – along the lines of the moderate personal income tax rate cut OCPA recommended for this year.

Restore Civil Society through the “third” or “independent” non-government sector provision of charity and other services.

Remove advocacy, waste and race-based programs financed through government action -- including implementating the November 2012 State Question 759 barring race consciousness in public programs.

Reshape the state-local government relationship to leave local issues under local control (and financing).

Reduce biases in the tax code to “build a coherent and efficient system.”

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Rep. Morrissette, Sen. McAffrey push Anti-Hunger Act

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Two Oklahoma City Democrats are working to provide a way for un-served restaurant food to be donated to feed the poor, rather than go to waste because potential donors have fears of liability. House Bill 1418, which has cleared the House and headed to the Senate, would address ambiguities in both state and federal law.

“We know from studies that hunger is most likely the cause of poverty rather than poverty the cause of hunger. Pitifully, our state all too often proves this theory. So, to have these misunderstandings in the law that lead to donors throwing millions of pounds of safe edible food in the land fill is a tragedy,” commented the bill’s author, state Rep. Richard Morrissette, a south Oklahoma City Democrat.

Among other provisions, the act directs the state Department of Human Services to promulgate rules to allow seniors to take left over food home from senior nutrition centers. Also, both public schools and senior centers would be able to receive donated non-perishable packaged foods and to take donated fresh fruits and vegetables.

A 1996 federal law provided liability protection to those giving away food, including restaurants, grocery stores, bakeries and other venues. Subsequently, some policy issues emerged involving food allergens. Legislation passed in 2004 (the Food Safety in Labeling and Packaging Act) required manufacturers to list known allergen content for peanuts, shellfish, and other common allergies. State statutes would be updated to reflect that requirement if H.B. 1418 is enacted.

Sources say that owners of Oklahoma restaurants willing to donate have had little guidance on the liability issue and tend to donate sporadically and without public notice as to draw as little attention as possible. “Restaurants should now feel secure in making donation of un-served portions to non-profits for redistribution as long as they offer reference to the fact that some prepared foods that no longer bear a label could contain allergens,” said Morrissette, in comments sent to CapitolBeatOK.

Oklahoma State University has helped prepare a complete list of allergens that could be posted at distribution sites, on websites and in other literature for use by donors and those who re-distribute foods.

Morrissette reflected, “All of us take home doggy bags…how is this any different?”

Joey Abbo, founder of the NEEDS Foundation, a local charity re-directing donated food, says the “daily discard” from state restaurants could positively impact hunger in Oklahoma, even end it for some.

Morrissette notes that schools and groups such as the Regional Food Bank have established “peanut tables” in serving areas so that known allergens can be avoided for those with allergies – a matter than his legislation addresses.

State Sen. Al McAffrey, a MidTown Democrat, is carrying the bill now that it has advanced to the upper chamber.

The measure is named in honor of Josephine Meade, a housewife and mother who during the Depression collected discarded bits of food and sacks of flour to home cook meals for displaced workers and others fleeing the Dust Bowl. She served meals daily from her back porch.

Morrissette commented further, “We’re just coming out of the second worst economic period in our nation’s history. And, if that’s not enough, I think we are also forgetting previous lessons learned about food waste as hundreds of Depression era survivors leave us every day. Oklahoma is one of the hungriest places in America with more than one half million food insecure and another seventy 6,000 with severe food disruption.”

Morrisette told CapitolBeatOK he is hopeful the support of the Needs Foundation, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) and beloved Thunder guard Russell Westbrook will help advance the measure to the governor's desk.

NOTE: Pat McGuigan contributed to this report.

COMMENTARY: Oklahoma Prison Reform or bovine scatology? Prove it!

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The first signs of trouble for prison reform came last fall, when state officials could not answer questions about implementation of the “justice reinvestment initiative” (JRI) passed in spring 2012.

JRI? Shorthand for a shifting from incarceration of the non-violent, assuring post-release supervision of parolees, and “reinvestment” of resources for treatment and revocation facilities, among other things.

Until March 14, there was a JRI Working Group trying to shepherd the new policy into reality. Its two most prominent members resigned at the end of that meeting, but JRI’s troubles did not originate that day.

Last year, key players were instructed to stay away from a meeting of the JRI Working Group. Rebecca Frazier, one of Gov. Mary Fallin’s lawyers, was unable to answer questions about implementation. Maybe advocates should have panicked, but they took at face value her protestations things were slow moving, but on track.

Then, in February, Gov. Fallin rebuffed a grant she had requested to finance prison reform implementation. The concern here was not the refusal of a federal grant, per se, but the absence of any evidence that the law, which went into effect Nov. 1, was being implemented.

JRI’s heart monitor flat line came as Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s office wanted to talk nothing other than violent crime. His agency was and is tasked with implementing local grants program to get law enforcement in tune with wise use of crime-fighting resources, one part of a shift toward alternatives to prison for at least some crimes.

Again, the idea is to fashion data-proven policy alternatives to incarceration for non-violent crimes. That’s not happening.

The Legislature is advancing a bill formally to shift oversight of JRI from that inter-agency working group toward a Council consisting of political appointees rather than law enforcement professionals.

Call it my Damascus moment. Figuratively, scales fell from my eyes after I submitted an open records request to the director of Corrections. I asked for all emails, letters and other communications touching on JRI, to or from legislators -- including handwritten notes.

I wanted everything relating to JRI, but a corrections employee told me over the phone, “that could be a lot of stuff.” So, I limited it to items since November 1.

The answer? “Director (Justin) Jones has asked me to let you know that a search of e-mails and printed correspondence did not find any documents to or from legislators pertaining to your request.”

This is the most important shift in Corrections policy in our young state’s history. Not even one communication since the program went into effect?

We’re talking about the Legislature, so maybe it’s true. But the late Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr. once rebutted a question with the words “bovine scatology.”

Maybe the problem facing Oklahoma’s prison reform program is that its original author is no longer a politician. Perhaps, for present elected officials involved, the prison reforms passed in 2012 (and in a handful of earlier bills) are defective for reasons of “N.I.H.”

I encountered that acronym in Washington, D.C., while working for Paul Weyrich, a “New Right” activist and thinker who had friendships across the political spectrum.

One time we discussed an odd change in direction on an important issue within the Republican ranks of Congress. It did not make sense, I said. He replied immediately, “Of course it makes sense. It’s NIH.”

National Institutes of Health?,” I asked.

No. ‘Not Invented Here.’ Kill what’s sensible because the existing policy came from the guys and gals who ran things before you. The current policy isn’t theirs. This is about power, to make it clear who is in charge, so the settled policy must be changed,” Weyrich explained.

Perhaps the Justice Reinvestment Initiative is on life support, not because it is a policy that has been tried and failed, but because it was envisioned and designed by former Speaker of the House Kris Steele, and not by the governor, the current speaker, the attorney general and others now in charge.

Despite evidence that the Fallin administration wants to kill JRI, I could be wrong. Still, I witnessed what was likely the final meeting of the JRI Working Group, where the governor’s main lawyer, Steve Mullins, methodically insulted the intelligence of a room full of people.

If I am wrong: Prove it.

Implement JRI in good faith, as envisioned in existing law, and as proven effective in Texas and a half-dozen other states. Call it “Smart on Crime” or “Right on Crime” if you prefer, but implement the law enacted last year.

Otherwise, repeal the legislation and revert honestly to the “tough-on-crime” approach and its unsustainable costs for all of us -- and loss of hope for those who, having broken the law, could be rescued, restored and renewed with programs that have worked elsewhere.

NIH. That’s pronounced “neh.” Prove me wrong.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

OCPA to release annual budget book

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA) will release its annual OCPA Budget Book at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, March 25 in the media room (432B) on the fourth floor of the state Capitol.

This proposed budget by OCPA focuses on how the state can responsibly utilize Oklahomans’ hard-earned dollars to fund core government functions while also providing tax relief.

The group deems the book, “a state budget that respects your family budget.”

The OCPA Budget Book shows how Oklahoma’s top personal income tax rate could be cut by half a percentage point, dropping the rate from 5.25 percent to 4.75 percent, without raising anyone’s taxes or cutting one dollar in funding for education, transportation or public safety.

Currently, Gov. Mary Fallin and House Speaker T.W. Shannon (R-Lawton) are pursuing a proposal that would reduce Oklahoma’s personal income tax rate by a quarter percentage point.

"Governor Fallin and Speaker Shannon are leading the way in 2013 on pro-growth tax cuts," said Jonathan Small, OCPA's fiscal policy director. "Their plan is true tax relief, and OCPA's proposal merely shows it’s possible to take that pro-growth mentality an additional step forward without jeopardizing funding to the commonly agreed-upon core functions of government."

Kansas dropped its income tax rate below Oklahoma’s last year, and Gov. Sam Brownback has stated his intention to drop his state's rate further. Other nearby states including Louisiana, Nebraska, Missouri and Arkansas also are considering proposals to phase out or reduce income taxes.

Small said OCPA's recommended tax cut can be achieved by utilizing growth revenue -- generated in part by previous income tax cuts -- and savings from reductions in spending on non-essential areas of state government.

Such areas include: reforming Medicaid to produce better health outcomes at a lower cost, no longer overpaying for state employee health benefits, ending political earmarks and ending giveaways to nonessential state agencies and private industries that don’t need the help.

The OCPA budget proposal also includes recommendations on how state policymakers can allow for targeted increases in financing for key items without increasing the debt load on taxpayers.

The proposal responsibly increases funding to support reforms within the state Department of Human Services, construct a new state Medical Examiner’s office, finance maintenance of the state Capitol building and maintain the state’s commitment to road and bridge improvements.

OCPA's proposal also allows for the state to carry over an additional $270 million in savings to the following budget year, along with a balance of $570 million in the state’s Rainy Day Fund.

"With the federal government on a collision course with fiscal reality, it is critical that states prepare for the reduction in federal funding that looms on the horizon," said Michael Carnuccio, OCPA's president.

"That means reducing unnecessary expenditures, responsibly funding those areas of government that taxpayers consider to be core functions, and making policy changes that will encourage growth in Oklahoma's economy."

Small noted that income tax cuts serve as a vaccination against the destructive policies of President Obama and his allies in the U.S. Congress. He also noted that Oklahoma families recently “took a 2-percent hit to their monthly paychecks due to the rollback of the federal payroll tax holiday.” Oklahoma state government, he reasons, should consider making a 2-percent reduction in state appropriations, which can be achieved without affecting core services. This would allow Oklahoma families to keep more of their hard-earned income.

Oklahoma's total net tax collections are at an all-time high, as is Oklahoma's total state government spending, Small’s analysis shows. Since Oklahoma lawmakers began cutting income tax rates in 2006, empowering citizens with greater economic freedom, state sales tax collections have grown 40 percent faster.

"Oklahoma citizens would see an average tax cut of $150 as a result of this proposal," Small said. "This will allow more capital to remain in the private sector. It also fosters a more attractive climate for entrepreneurs, job creators, families and individuals and would allow Oklahoma to remain competitive in the race for jobs and economic growth."

About OCPA: OCPA's mission is to accumulate, evaluate and disseminate public policy ideas and information for Oklahoma, consistent with the principles of free enterprise, limited government and individual initiative. For more information about OCPA, visit www.ocpathink.org, or on social media sites Facebook and Twitter.

Conservatives cheer as State Chamber of Oklahoma supports 'Shannon-Fallin tax cut'

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – A representative of the Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce told CapitolBeatOK the group supports an income tax cut proposal advanced from the House to the Senate.

Responding to the news, the state’s leading advocate of income tax reductions said the Chamber’s position is “exciting and encouraging.”

In response to questions from CapitolBeatOK, spokeswoman Jennifer Monies said the Chamber supports House Bill 2032 “in its current form.” Monies works for the group’s president, former state Rep. Fred Morgan.

H. B. 2032, sponsored by House Speaker T.W. Shannon, would reduce the state’s personal income tax rate to 4.99 percent, down from its present 5.25 percent rate.

Monies sent CapitolBeatOK, via email, the Chamber’s formal policy on income taxes: “Support a gradual reduction of personal income tax, provided that the tax burden will not be shifted onto business, valuable economic development incentives will be protected and core state services will not be underfunded.”

Elaborating, Monies said Shannon’s legislation “meets all of those criteria with a gradual reduction in the rate without cost-shifting to business. On the others, we are waiting to see how they shape up as they get closer to finalization.”

Support for H.B. 2032 does not necessarily imply opposition to competing proposals, as Monies explained, “Traditionally, we haven't taken a position on any of the proposals until they are in a more finalized form because they are constantly changing and evolving and get caught up in budget negotiations anyway.”

The Senate has its own tax reform measure, and sent to the House a proposal to lower rates and include some changes in exemptions and deductions.

The Chamber’s position on H.B. 2032 was immediately applauded by the state’s leading free market public policy think tank.

The importance of this is that (Gov.) Sam Brownback succeeded with his income tax cut last year in Kansas because the state’s business community was the biggest voice behind tax cuts,” said Michael Carnuccio, president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA).

To have Chamber backing the governor and the speaker is an important, encouraging and exciting development in this year’s debate over tax reduction. It is reason for hope, that the business community and the conservative movement now are aligned, to back the Fallin-Shannon tax cut for 2013,” Carnuccio concluded.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Action Items for Oklahoma: Criminal Justice

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Tulsa -- Oklahoma’s criminal justice system is in a crisis. The state ranks 1st in the nation for incarceration of women per capita and 4th for men. From FY 1996 to FY 2011, the number of inmates in Oklahoma prisons increased by 30 percent, going from 19,968 to 25,977. This increase in prisoners was double the state’s overall population growth over that same period (15 percent).

All of this incarceration is not paying off in public safety, either—in 2011, the violent crime rate in Oklahoma was 18 percent higher than the national average. At the same time, the corrections system has become overwhelmed with non-violent drug offenders serving long sentences. From FY 2005 to FY 2010, non-violent drug offenders made up 31 percent of new prison admissions, compared to just 29 percent who were violent offenders.

State budgets have not kept pace with inmate growth, and the corrections system has become severely understaffed. The Department of Corrections now employs 871 fewer full-time workers than it did in FY 2008 and has been operating at between 67 and 75 percent staffing capacity for several years. This puts both inmates and corrections officers in serious danger.

There are signs of hope. The 2012 justice reinvestment bill showed a new willingness to make progress on this issue. New models of corrections like drug courts and the Women in Recovery program are gaining bipartisan support. Some in Oklahoma are taking a different mentality towards criminal justice—one that doesn’t pursue punishment for its own sake, but instead looks for what works to protect public safety in the most cost-effective way.

However, we have more work to do. The implementation of already passed corrections reforms are faltering due to lack of funding and inadequate coordination and leadership. We continue to follow counterproductive policies that push Oklahomans who are trying to escape addiction and contribute to society into a downward spiral, and the problem is growing more costly to taxpayers every year. The issue brief details concrete steps Oklahoma can take to address the financial and moral crisis in our criminal justice system:

▪ Eliminate barriers that make it harder for ex-felons to find and keep employment so they can reintegrate into society: Specific measures to accomplish this include ending suspension of Driver’s Licenses for misdemeanor possession, removing restrictions that block ex-felons from joining professions unrelated to their crime, and forbidding employers from asking about criminal records on job applications

▪ Aggressively implement and fund already passed reforms to increase cost-effective alternatives to incarceration and expand post-release supervision: The new justice reinvestment law calls for expanded supervision of offenders released on probation, substance abuse and mental health screenings for anyone convicted of a felony, and a grant program for local law enforcement agencies that were applying new strategies to combat violent crime. Passage of this law in 2011 was a modest first step to stopping the costly rise of incarceration, but it success will require more cooperative participation throughout the criminal justice system, as well as an up-front investment to create alternatives to incarceration.

Reevaluate sentence length and felony status for non-violent drug offenses: The “elephant in the room” in the discussion of criminal justice reform in Oklahoma is the state’s harsh sentences for non-violent crimes. Research shows that rather than deterring crime, harsh incarceration policies can actually make low risk offenders more likely to reoffend. Conversely, shorter or alternative sentences paired with increased monitoring of parolees and probationers is more effective at reducing crime.

NOTE: The full issue brief is available here: Perry is a researcher for Oklahoma Policy Institute, based in Tulsa.

First group of women set for graduation from Oklahoma County diversion program

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY -- ReMerge of Oklahoma County will hold a graduation ceremony at 10 a.m. Monday, March 25 at the Oklahoma History Center, 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive, for the first participants who have graduated from ReMerge, a female diversion program designed to transform pregnant women and mothers facing incarceration into productive community citizens.

ReMerge is a four-phase program, designed to be about a year long, created to hold participants accountable while providing the necessary services to support their recovery and promote responsible parenting.

ReMerge is patterned on successful diversion programs across the United States and in Tulsa, where the best-known effort is “Women in Recovery,” the focus of several reports from CapitolBeatOK in the past few years.

Those reports included detailed expositions on the core principles of accountability and responsibility that lie behind data-proven programs across America that have turned offenders away from crime to responsible citizenship as taxpayers, workers and law-abiding ways of life.

Participating in the graduation event will be Kris Steele, Former Oklahoma House Speaker who is presently Executive Director for The Education and Employment Ministry (TEEM) in Oklahoma City, ReMerge Program Director Terri Woodland, and ReMerge Council member Tricia Everest.

During his years at the state Capitol, Steele led the drive for criminal justice reforms patterned on successful programs in Texas and other states that have reduced crime rates while moderating (and in some cases lowering) Corrections costs.

About ReMerge of Oklahoma County:

ReMerge is a public/private partnership that works closely with the District Attorney and Public Defender’s offices, Oklahoma Department of Corrections, Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services and a group of other nonprofits in the community to assist women who are facing nonviolent felony convictions.

ReMerge is explicitly designed as an alternative to incarceration for women who would otherwise face prison time.

Clients may enter the program at any time. The program has been divided into four phases where each phase is anticipated to last from 30 to 90 days depending upon the needs and progress of the individual client.

A treatment plan is developed for each participant to individualize treatment and address unique family, education and employment needs. Program funders include: the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, Inasmuch Foundation, SandRidge Energy, Chesapeake Energy, George Kaiser Family Foundation (a Tulsa-based organization that has provided the impetus for Women in Recovery), energy industry leader Tom Ward, NorthCare and United Way of Central Oklahoma.

COMMENTARY: Reflections on valor, tenderness, a Race to Baghdad, and the limits of power

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Ten years ago this week, the Third Infantry Division was on its race to Baghdad.

Today, a decade into the war on terror that began with unity in the wake of 9-11, Americans -- including me -- are introspective about our country’s role in the world, the limits of military power, constitutional restraints on presidential war-making powers, the need to restrain abuses in the Pentagon budget, provision of mental health care to returning veterans – and concerned about domestic use of the drone technology that is allowing our war-fighters to target terrorist leaders abroad without endangering the lives of soldiers.

Policy begins with people. This week turned me toward memories of days when Stefan Aleksandr McGuigan, in the Third I.D (the Audie Murphy Division), became the first regular Army Medic to reach Baghdad.

Not long before, on his twentieth birthday, March 17, he lay in the desert of Kuwait, a hundred yards outside his Brigade’s line, staring at stars and thinking of home.

On launch night (March 19-20), he watched as U.S. rockets raced across Heaven, bringing light to night. He prayed for a clear path.

Days later in the desert, the Third Infantry Division came to a small, fortified place. In a brief battle with a regular Iraqi Army unit, there were no casualties or injuries for our troops. Soon, the enemy surrendered in good order and discipline.

The Americans discerned a man to whom the other Iraqis were deferential was the commander. Unafraid but not hostile, the gentleman talked to the U.S. soldiers. With a cane, he drew in the sand a crescent, saying, “Most of our Army.” Drawing a cross, he continued, “My men. Saddam sent us here, hoping you would kill us all.”

In early April, on the Euphrates at Al-Kiffel, Stefan’s comrades for the first time fought the Republican Guard: “They just would not stop coming.” Many Iraqis died there, at a place where Stefan’s unit fought one of the longest engagements since World War II.

For 36 hours, they worked up a long boulevard, engaging almost continuously. Half way through that, a station wagon pulled onto the street and headed toward the Americans.

Stefan’s sergeant ordered: “Shoot into the head gasket.” Our men did, but still the car came. Before anyone had heard of Improvised Explosive Devices, the guys wanted to end mystery over the driver’s intentions, but “Sarge” forbade kill shots.

The car finally stopped. An old man stepped out, weeping and holding his hand. A bloodied finger was almost detached.

The sergeant pulled the old man behind a building and ordered “Doc” (the name you get after you save a life in combat) McGuigan to fix him up.

Our guys were still in special gear, wrapped up in anticipation of chemical attacks. Doc McGuigan removed his gloves and helmet and went to work. With some binding and repair, he fixed the wound, gave the fellow a pack of meds and, in halting communication, directions to avoid infection.

As Doc worked, the Iraqi said “Allah” every dozen words or so. Then, as Doc finished up, the old guy grabbed his right hand, pulled it to trembling lips, kissed it, then said “Allah” a bunch more.

Doc looked over at his hard-ass sergeant, whose restraining orders had saved the old man’s life. Tears were pouring down his face, same as Doc and his comrades.

He has a hundred stories like that, but rarely shares them. From time to time, usually at night, one or more emerges quietly, almost reverently.

Stefan’s old man has questions about the kind of power that puts soldiers in such places. And, I stand in awe of those who, generation after generation, respond when our country calls.

Next time, will Congress insist on a constitutional declaration of war before a president sends daughters and sons into harm’s way? We can engage in nation building, but should we? Can we “do” drones, yet avoid domestic misuse of an awesome technology? Should our military be mobile and cavalry-like, and less industrial? What amount of after-combat care for veterans is enough – or is “enough” the wrong question?

Those questions occupy the mind, as I chase stories on taxes, spending, Corrections, and agency reviews. But the main question these last few days has been the same one I asked my wife ten years ago.

Doc” was home for a few days. Our parish, where he had grown up, held a reception. People who had known Stefan his whole life were there. He sketched a few stories focused on his sergeants and his buddies, giving them all the credit for a mission in which he believed.

And then came this:

"Most of the time, I was not afraid. We were confident, and trained, but that was only part of it. I felt covered, enveloped and protected in my mother’s prayers, and those of many others, including all of you, and some I do not know. I believe because of my mother’s prayers, the Mother of Jesus protected me and my friends.”

That night, alone with his mother, I asked in wonder, “How did we raise a hero?

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Pension reforms advance, including the firefighters fund

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – A fresh push for pension reform is underway at the state Capitol. After notable progress three years ago, estimates of unfunded liabilities jumped in Fiscal Year 2012. The state now has at least $11 billion in unfunded pension liabilities.

Poorest performer of the seven state retirement systems is the firefighters’ fund, the

Firefighters Pension and Retirement System, which now has at least $1.1 billion in unfunded liabilities. In fact, the system lost $100 million last fiscal year alone.

Even as state firefighter unions rallied March 18 (Monday) against a pension consolidation idea floated by Gov. Mary Fallin, many seemed ready to support new proposals advanced by state Rep. Randy McDaniel, R-Oklahoma City.

McDaniel’s 2010 reform closed about one-third of the state’s unfunded pension liabilities. He is pressing further changes after so-so investment performance yielded a negative picture.

In fighting past reform efforts, 38 to 42-year-old firefighter retirees worked the halls and offices at the Capitol, threatening retribution against any politician that changed their system. One proposed reform could eliminate, for future employees, a repeat of that scenario.

The state House has advanced to the Senate four McDaniel bills to bring state pensions, including the firefighters, closer to solvency. Driving reform is awareness that the present average across the funds is an anemic 65 percent of adequacy. Financial planners contend funds need to finance up to 80 percent of long-term burdens.

Fallin backs McDaniel’s plan to increase some state employee contributions to government pension systems and allow new government employees the option of joining a defined contribution (DC) rather than defined benefit plan.

Another McDaniel proposal would reduce unfunded liabilities in the firefighter retirement fund through reallocation of existing financing and an increase in employee contributions.

Pension portability, in the form of defined contributions, is already part of House Bill 2077, pushed by Rep. McDaniel. In the wake of 2012’s grim actuarial reports, state employee associations have given qualified support to a DC system for new hires. The legislation makes changes in the Oklahoma Public Employee Retirement System (OPERS), the state’s largest pension fund.

The measure passed 65-22 several days before this month’s deadline for House action. It would create a DC option for new state employees, rather than the defined benefit system now pervasive. “DC” accommodates young workers, McDaniel says, who want the portability of a 401-K style systems and do not plan to spend entire careers in public service. Further, DC plans are on sounder footing than defined benefit systems.

Significant reforms would flow from McDaniel’s House Bill 2078, focused on the Firefighters’ system. It easily prevailed in a 90-6 House vote. McDaniel calls it as “a difference-maker” for a fund with over $1 billion in unfinanced liabilities. Losses of $100 million last fiscal year alone have shaken defenders of the status quo.

H.B. 2078 includes a requirement for new firefighters to put in 22 years of service (rather than 20) before retirement eligibility. Further, a retiree must be at least 50. Further, new hires would not be eligible for the Deferred Retirement Option (DROP) plan, which for current workers guaranteed high returns after five years of employment. DROP allowed employees to “retire,” collect benefits, then return and earn new retirement credits. The new standard for payout will be the average plan performance minus 1 percent. Vesting would occur after 11 years, rather than the present 10.

For all employees, H.B. 2078 would increase the insurance premium allocation to 36 percent, from 34 percent of tax collected. Municipal employers would see their share of financing rise to 14 percent of pay, from the current 13 percent. Fire employees would see their financing share increase to nine percent, from the present eight. The bill reallocates burdens, without a state tax increase.

House Bill 1383, the Pension Benefit Fairness Act, would affect only the Law Enforcement Retirement System (popularly dubbed the Troopers’ system) – a plan that includes campus police. It builds on reforms that eliminated average pay enhancements that boosted benefits, and ends automatic cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs).

Previous troopers’ “technical” reforms cut the annualized loss from $217 million in 2011 to $190 million in 2012 – making it the only system that did better last fiscal year than the year before. H.B. 1383 passed easily, 71-19, after last month’s debate.

In raw support, the strongest McDaniel bill was House Bill 2070, which gained a 93-2 margin for technical changes to the Oklahoma Teacher Retirement System, allowing earlier acceptance of retiree contracts. OTRS is the weakest of the state retirement systems, but has outperformed all the rest over the past few years.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan, Oklahoma City bureau chief for Watchdog.org, at Patrick@capitolbeatok.comand follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Gov. Fallin wants to consolidate pension administration -- firefighters oppose that and more

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, allied with state Treasurer Ken Miller, estimates the Sooner State could save 15 percent in administrative costs with one set of managers for the state’s seven government pension funds. That could amount to more than $120 million over a decade’s time, she says.

Since her election in 2010, Fallin has pushed efficiencies and government “right-sizing.” Her recent column on pensions drew criticism from firefighter groups – yet her proposal to consolidate administration is not yet in legislative form.

The state House is now considering a proposal to create an administrative system for workers compensation insurance in Oklahoma, replacing the current litigation-oriented system. Fallin has not yet endorsed the plan, backed by Senate President Pro Temp Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, but she wants lower workers compensation costs to help attract or retain businesses and jobs.

Firefighter union members rallied at the Capitol March 18 (Monday) to denounce both Bingman’s ideas for workers’ compensation and Fallin’s ideas for pension consolidation.

On the latter, foes of consolidation say legislative “shell” bills could have a plan inserted as the House and Senate consider each other’s bills in the next few weeks. Fallin raised the idea of administrative consolidation of the government pension systems in a commentary for state Treasurer Ken Miller’s monthly newsletter.

She advocated: “First, streamlining the administration of Oklahoma’s pension boards; second, modernizing our pension benefit plan by providing portability, flexibility and choice to future workers and cost certainty to the state.”

The chief executive projected that consolidation of administrative functions could, over a ten-year period, “provide an additional $120 million to $150 million that could instead be used toward paying retirement benefits.”

Gov. Fallin asserts, “A centralized board would not mean that the seven plan’s funds would be combined, only the funds’ administration, investment and financial oversight. This is similar to the successful shared IT (Information Technology) services model we have used throughout state government.”

We have worked diligently with the House and Senate to reduce the unfunded liabilities in our system and cannot stand by silently while the State Treasurer and Governor lobby for their proposals to change our system,” said Herb Bradshaw, executive director of the state Firefighters Association.

Rick Beams, president of the Professional Firefighters of Oklahoma, said paid and volunteer firefighters were united against “a questionable transition” to administrative workers’ comp.

At a state Capitol rally on March 18 (Monday), Bradshaw, Beam and their groups went around the bend on work comp reforms and on the governor’s idea for compacting the pension governance into a single body. The unions want to keep the firefighters’ pension fund with its own board of directors.

The state faced $16.1 billion in unfunded pension liabilities as recently as 2010. Reforms enacted then – sometimes described by state Rep. Randy McDaniel as “low-hanging fruit” – slashed the funding gap to $10.6 billion.

However, in FY 2012 the projected shortfall increased jumped $1 billion across all systems, to $11.6 billion. The average across the seven systems is 65 percent sufficiency. Financial advisors recommend an 80 percent funding ratio.

This year’s reports gave fresh impetus to McDaniel’s advocacy of four measures now pending in the state Senate.

McDaniel’s approach does not include the administrative consolidation idea, but it could become part of the reform debate by the end of this year’s legislative session in May.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Prison plan at center of controversy between reform advocates and governor's staff

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Advocates of the historic criminal justice system reforms approved in 2012, widely known as the “justice reinvestment” initiative (JRI), are reeling over a variety of changes in the program – and over the resignation of JRI author Kris Steele, former speaker of the state House, from the inter-agency and private sector working group that was overseeing implementation.

Gov. Mary Fallin's legal counsel, Steve Mullins, has guided major shifts in administration and oversight in recent weeks, effectively gutting the infrastructure that led implementation until mid-February.

On March 14 (last Thursday), Mullins characterized the JRI Working Group, co-chaired by Steele with Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater, as “ad hoc” – and said that it could no longer guide implementation JRI.

Steele and others designed the program as a means to flatten Oklahoma's spiraling rates of incarceration and provide methodical steps for new policies and procedures to shift non-violent offenders away from imprisonment and toward treatment and, when needed, mental health counseling.

Even before the tumultuous end of the March 14 meeting, the group's discussions illustrated challenges with implementation.

Corrections officials said only a handful of parole violators were in the agency's pipeline for intermediate sanctions (short of a return to full-fledged imprisonment) for what were described as technical rather than substantive or deliberate parole violations.

Mental Health Department officials, in contrast, described early implementation touching more than 120 individuals, in new assessments of those adjudicated. The new approach is intended to guide possible alternative sentencing, drug counseling needs and other policies and procedures. The department is into the process of training both government employees and authorized vendors in use of professional screening and assessment tools for those found guilty.

The March 14 meeting fell apart as Mullins explained and then tried to defend the governor's decision to rebuff grants from the Council of State Governments (CSG) intended to cover implementation costs for the shift away from incarceration of non-violent offenders.

In discussion about the decision, Steele and Prater pointed out that the governor had advocated the grant for months, specifically asking for CSG to extend the support in a letter last fall. During an increasingly testy exchange, Mullins professed support for the working group, but made it clear the members no longer had any standing in JRI implementation.

The meeting ended when Steele and Prater said they could no longer ask the diverse group of public officials and private sector stakeholders to continue meeting when the governor's office had clearly gone in a different direction.

Steele and Prater both quit the working group and said it would no longer meet. The argument among the three men and the dismay of reform supporters was widely reported in online, print and broadcast news stories the weekend of March 15-17.

CapitolBeatOK first broke the story of an exchange of letters between one of Fallin's lawyers, CSG officials and members of the working group in which the governor’s lawyer said she was turning away the anticipated support.

Fallin's office killed the grant request after the working group had already made a job offer to a coordinator for the JRI program. The job offer had been tendered based on the understanding the grant process was advancing.

At the working group meeting, Melissa McLawhorn Houston, chief of staff to Attorney General Scott Pruitt, emphasized the AG's is working on violent crime fighting initiatives, including an envisioned grant program for local law enforcement agencies, but avoided direct responses to Prater's question about the push for alternatives to incarceration for non-violent offenders.

For days before the working group meeting, Houston refused to answer CapitolBeatOK's request for a written response on the issue of non-violent crime and alternatives to imprisonment.

On the evening of March 13 (Wednesday), the night before the JRI working group meeting, the Oklahoma House passed House Bill 2042, a measure changing the composition of the Reentry Policy Council. The bill is at the heart of Fallin's change in administration and oversight of last year's prison reforms.

The measure, first deemed a “Speaker’s bill” but carried the last few weeks by state Rep. Jason Murphey, R-Guthrie, passed 57-35. The proposal is now in the state Senate for consideration. Sen. Rob Johnson, R-Kingfisher, is Senate sponsor.

Gov. Fallin asserts the measure will “formalize” implementation of JRI. Fallin’s office, in a press release, said the 2012 law was envisioned to transition “non-violent offenders with substance abuse problems to drug and alcohol treatment. It also aims to reduce the recidivism rate by providing supervision for those who have been released from prison. The law also gives courts the option to use a presentence risk and needs-assessments/evaluations to help guide sentencing decisions regarding the most appropriate level of punishment, supervision, and treatment for each offender.”

That broader change in philosophy concerning non-violent offenders was part of an envisioned strategy, modeled on successful programs in Texas and elsewhere, to flatten or even lower Corrections costs. Oklahoma is consistently among the top five states for incarceration rates, as high as number one for female imprisonment and third for male imprisonment.

The working group, a coalition of state agencies and “stakeholders” met regularly for several months to advance JRI implementation. As Fallin's staff concentrated implementation in her office, the attorney general’s office, the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, and the Department of Corrections, tension with “stakeholders” increased, leading to last Thursday's confrontation in the working group meeting, held at the state Supreme Court building.

The Re-Entry Council, created several years ago, was originally structured to include designated representatives of law enforcement, with one position held for a formerly incarcerated individual. Rep. Murphey’s bill removes the law enforcement specificity, giving three appointments each to the governor, the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Temp of the Senate. Reform advocates fear Murphey's bill lays the basis for a more political, rather than policy-oriented, administration of policy.

Meetings of the existing working group, characterized as “ad hoc” in the governor’s recent comments, have been publicly announced and have followed provisions of the Open Meetings Act. Answering a question from CapitolBeatOK two weeks ago, House Speaker T.W. Shannon also used the “ad hoc” term to characterize the existing Working Group.

In exchanges with CapitolBeatOK, Murphey had deemed the emerging changes to the Council, created during the speakership of former state Rep. Lance Cargill, as non-controversial.

Last week, referencing the original structure of the council as enacted during the speakership of Rep. Lance Cargill, Murphey told CapitolBeatOK, “I think I thought I would just make it the choice of the appointing authorities without restraining their options. I don't remember a lot of the specifics but probably knew that enhancing the authority of the board could conflict with restricting the applicant pool to the Cargill-era vision.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan, Oklahoma City bureau chief for Watchdog.org, at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Conservative activists cheer Rand Paul at national conference – and “Ben Franklin” stops in

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

National Harbor, Maryland -- A great kick-off to the 40th anniversary of CPAC, today's roster was filled with attendee favorites Allen West, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and Tim Scott.

These congressman highlighted faith, freedom, liberty and the American Dream; topics that had attendees on their feet the entire day.

Celebrating its 40th year at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, a new location for CPAC this year.

The highlight of Thursday's agenda was Sen. Rand Paul and the "stand with Rand" campaign that has been following him since his nearly 13-hour filibuster.

Activists, led by Young America's Foundation, got permission to take “Stand With Rand” signs into the ballroom, a rare exception to a long-standing CPAC rule against campaign-like actions within the meeting hall. The American Conservative Union, chief organizers of the event, made an exception in this case. Nearly a quarter of the packed ballroom literally stood with Rand for his 19-minute speech.

Rand’s recent filibuster, and his appearance at CPAC to thunderous applause, are attracting attention across the spectrum.

Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, spoke on Friday. He was warmly greeted by the conservative crowd, as he encouraged advocates of limited government “to learn from our mistakes and my mistakes.” Romney encouraged Republicans to look to the states, where conservative governors are fashioning effective policies.

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli took the first speaker slot on Thursday. As he prepares to run for governor of the Old Dominion, some activists at CPAC were pressing him to renew his pledge not to raise state taxes. Cuccinelli earned cheers for his promise to fight big government and to combat human trafficking.

Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist and tax limitation veteran Lew Uhler and Nick Dranias made the case for a federal Balanced Budget Amendment, one of the goals Ronald Reagan set earlier in his presidency but which was never achieved.

The Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity and Watchdog.org had a visible presence at the CPAC events, including Benjamin Franklin himself strolling through the exhibit halls and the Gaylord Center where the gathering was held.

Events continued through Saturday afternoon (March 16). Speaker highlights included Kelly Ayotte, Wayne LaPierre, Jeb Bush, Newt Gingrich, and Ted Cruz.

In a National Public Radio report, Cruz – the Texas U.S. Senator who is a “Tea Party” favorite – was described as a rising star for the movement.

Note: Keisha Schultz works at Jones Public Relations in Oklahoma City. She is a social media advisor to CapitolBeatOK/Oklahoma Watchdog editor Pat McGuigan, who contributed to this report.

In tribute to Paul Harvey and all the rest: God made a journalist

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

And on the Eighth day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, "They're having problems. I need a watchdog." So God made a journalist.

God said, "I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, plan the day knowing plans will change, convince a reluctant source to tell the truth, eat lunch at the desk or on the run or not at all, go to city hall for a council meeting, and stay past midnight to report on the Legislature.” So God made a journalist.

“I need somebody strong enough to wrestle with politicians who are hiding something free people need to know, and tender enough to race to the smoking crater before a bombed-out building to cover rescuers at work, and wipe away tears before telling the story to my people.” So God made a journalist.

“I need somebody willing to stay up all night after gettings doors slammed in his face and phones slammed in her ear, searching through documents someone tried to hide, to wait until it's right and ready to post or publish or broadcast, then go home hungry in the gloomy dark, hoping the next day will affirm the truth.” So God made a journalist.

“I need someone who cares for the homeless and the tortured, who respects people of commerce and workers who labor in the sun on rooftoops or in the fields, who can harness truth from confusion and scraps of information. And who, having worked a 40-hour week by noon on Tuesday, with weary eyes and a painful back, works another 40 by Saturday.” So God made a journalist.

“I need somebody fierce to follow the story, gentle to a fearful whistleblower, who cares about the story of a handicapped child raised in poverty by his grandmother or the tribulations of an honest person trapped in economic collapse, one willing to fleece the goods from a liar, replenish the spirit of weary citizens, dig deep and straight and not cut corners, and who will walk through rain and mud to a burning home to honor the loss and the pain.” So God made a journalist.

“Someone to separate news from fluff, the wheat from the chaffe, clear away debris to find nuggets of context, who is gentle with children and the vulnerable, determined in the face of liars and obfuscators, passionate for those unjustly imprisoned and the victims crying out for justice.” So God made a journalist.

“Somebody who can bind family and friends in a circle of trust and truth, verify sentiment, test the powerful, and finish that two weeks of work in one, then still help a colleague overwhelmed with problems to get the story right, and on deadline.” So God made a journalist.

“Someone who will honor my precepts and not bear false witness, who is in love with his country, his city and his neighors, in love with his work and with life, whose sacrifice is not a ram or a goat but life and money and time and energy and ego, who can grit his teeth, laugh and then sigh, and then reply, with smiling and tearful eyes when his daughter says one day she wants to spend her life 'doing what Daddy does.' ” So God made a journalist.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

A reporter's soul, from the historian's heart

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Through college and for awhile after, I thought I would be an historian.

That changed during the Iranian hostage crisis, in the late 1970s, when radical Islamists seized the U.S. embassy in Teheran. President Jimmy Carter, after months of frustration, ordered a rescue attempt. A score of American soldiers died when the air intake of the helicopters that bore them failed in a desert landing. News of this broke in the United States late on a week day.

I had been writing commentaries for The Daily O'Collegian in Stillwater for several years while earning my Bachelor of Arts and then a Master of Arts in History.

The editor of the O'Colly, the campus daily at Oklahoma State University, called me. While we had conflicting political views, she knew I was, among other things, a student of Middle East history.

She said she planned to deploy her reporters all across campus to get student reaction, and wanted me to pull together an analysis and help provide the overview of reaction on campus – where there were at the time hundreds of Iranian students split more or less 50-50 between the autocratic Shah, on one side, and the Ayatollah Khomeini, on the other, with his radical anti-West supporters.

Late into the night we compiled campus-oriented reports and I worked as part of the news and editorial team, more closely than at any point during my years as a non-journalist at the O'Colly. We produced a four-page “wrap.” When it got back from the printer, a large group gathered in the early morning hours to place the regular edition – the long-since printed regular daily – inside the “wrap.”

The delivery guys were stressed to get the papers into the racks on and near the campus. So, those of us who still had energy wound up helping with the deliveries.

The result: When students began to steam on campus for early morning classes, the regular O'Coly was there – with reporting and analysis oriented to the events that had occurred just hours before half way around the world, and the impact of all that on us.

I was exhausted, exhilirated and curiously energized.

I walked home to Married Student Housing at the northwest edge of campus. It was cool and the sun was beginning to rise in the east. As I walked in, my wife greeted me and said she'd get some breakfast for me.

As she worked, I told her: “You know that old expression about daily journalism being the first draft of history? I just lived that. I'll always be an historian. But I think I have the soul of a reporter.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Oklahoma Attorney General’s Chief of Staff unresponsive to written question on state programs for non-violent offenders

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – Melissa McLawhorn Houston, chief of staff and assistant attorney general for Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, has declined to provide a requested written response to CapitolBeatOK’s question concerning alternatives to incarceration and programs for diversion of non-violent offenders in the state’s criminal justice system.

Houston, through Pruitt’s communications director, did answer (in writing, as requested) other questions, emphasizing in her answers a focus on violent crime. Houston also told CapitolBeatOK the attorney general’s office is requesting $4 million to finance grant programs, $2 million more than planned previously.

Since disclosing last month that Gov. Mary Fallin had decided to rebuff implementation grants from the Council of State Governments, CapitolBeatOK has provided several reports on an apparent evolution in guidance of the prison policy reforms enacted in 2012.

In a March 11 email note to Houston, CapitolBeatOK requested for the second time a written response to questions about the philosophy of the envisioned “justice reinvestment initiative,” or JRI as it is called by advocates. CapitolBeatOK also asked for information about the $2 million increase.

As of 8 a.m. on March 14, Houston had not responded to a request for details on the $2 million increase, nor had an answer been provided to this question, which this writer first posed to the office on March 5:

“I am also interested in any comments from the attorney general or from Melissa Houston, the agency point person for JRI implementation, about the philosophy behind JRI, alternatives to incarceration, diversion programs for non-violent offenders.”

Houston, through the agency spokesman, said she was willing to discuss the issue, but she has not responded to specific requests for a written answer.

The office did answer three other questions via email, including one on the unfolding process for local law enforcement grants; and for any training of law enforcement personnel concerning the shift in policy that recent legislation is guiding.

Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s spokeswoman prepared answers which, she told CapitolbeatOK, were reviewed by Houston:

“The local law enforcement grants being awarded by the Attorney General are provided for in Section 20k of Title 74 of the Oklahoma Statutes. The grants will be awarded to local law enforcement agencies to increase their capacity to reduce violent crime in their community. The statute sets forth priority strategies which the local law enforcement agency may consider utilizing.”

The attorney general’s office was asked to provide as much information as possible, and as clearly as possible, on what kind of spending is envisioned for grants, how they are to be financed in the absence of the CSG (Council of State Governments) funding, and who will do the training for local law enforcement.

Pruitt’s spokeswoman, on behalf of Houston, responded: “The local law enforcement grants being awarded by the Attorney General are provided for in Section 20k of Title 74 of the Oklahoma Statutes. The statute provides clarity and direction on the spending envisioned by the grants. The overriding vision is to provide grant funding to local law enforcement agency to increase their capacity to reduce violent crime in their community.

“This can be accomplished through increased patrols, better technology, greater analytical tools or more meaningful partnerships for example. The grants are being financed through state appropriations.

“The initial funding and subsequent funding for the grant program came through state appropriated dollars. The Attorney General's Office will be receiving a total of $2 million for fiscal year 2013. The Attorney General has requested more than $4 million in funds for the local law enforcement grant program for fiscal year 2014.”

Asked to provide details on the evolution of the attorney general’s part in JRI implementation, the office replied to CapitolBeatOK as follows: “The Attorney General continues to move forward with the implementation of the local law enforcement grant program. The Attorney General has traveled to different parts of Oklahoma and met with local law enforcement representatives and others to discuss the violent crime problem. He hopes to identify opportunities for the local law enforcement grant program to be utilized to help address violent crime in Oklahoma communities.”

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan, Oklahoma City bureau chief for Watchdog.org, at Patrick@capitolbeatok.comand follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Gov. Fallin hails bill that revises Council overseeing prisoner reentry programs

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – On the evening of March 13 (Wednesday), the Oklahoma House of Representatives passed House Bill 2042, a measure changing composition of the Reentry Policy Council, apparently as part of a change in administration and oversight of prison reforms enacted last year.

The measure, first deemed a “Speaker’s bill” but carried the last few weeks by state Rep. Jason Murphey, R-Guthrie, passed 57-35. The proposal now goes to the state Senate for consideration.

Gov. Mary Fallin said the measure will “formalize” implementation of the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI), a shift in state policy to reduce incarceration of non-violent offenders with use of data-based and proven reforms.

Fallin’s office, in a press release late Wednesday evening, said House Bill 3052 – which she signed last year – was envisioned to transition “non-violent offenders with substance abuse problems to drug and alcohol treatment. It also aims to reduce the recidivism rate by providing supervision for those who have been released from prison.

The law also gives courts the option to use a presentence risk and needs-assessments/evaluations to help guide sentencing decisions regarding the most appropriate level of punishment, supervision, and treatment for each offender.”

The broader change in philosophy concerning non-violent offenders has been part of an envisioned strategy, modeled on successful programs in Texas and elsewhere, to flatten or even lower Corrections costs.

Oklahoma is consistently among the top five states for incarceration rates, as high as number one for female imprisonment and third for male imprisonment.

A coalition of state agencies and “stakeholders” across the state have met regularly since last year to advance implementation of JRI. Recent developments are concentrating implementation in the governor’s office, the attorney general’s office, the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, and the Department of Corrections.

The governor’s press release Wednesday night said H.B. 2042 incorporates “a formal governmental body within state government to supervise JRI implementation, within the existing state entity called the Re-Entry Policy Council. Members would be selected by both the legislature and the Governor.”

The Re-Entry Council, passed several years ago, was originally structured to include designated representatives of law enforcement, with one position held for a formerly incarcerated individual.

Murphey’s bill removes the law enforcement specificity, giving three appointments each to the governor, the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Temp of the Senate.

Fallin said in her release, sent to CapitolBeatOK, “The JRI initiative is part of a ‘smart on crime’ philosophy that I have long advocated for. I am absolutely committed to seeing this initiative succeed.

We need to get non-violent offenders whose crimes are related to addiction and substance abuse the help they need to get sober and be constructive members of their community. That’s why it’s so important we get JRI right.

As of now, there is no formal governmental group who has been legally tasked with implementing this plan and making it work. The members of the working group are well-intentioned and committed to JRI, and I applaud them for their service. However, they are an informal, extra-governmental group with limited access to the daily implementation efforts of the agencies tasked with this important reform effort.

My thanks go out to the House for working to create a formal government body to assist in the implementation of JRI. This will improve oversight and implementation while also ensuring the workings of the new Re-Entry Policy Council fall under transparency guidelines outlined in the Open Meetings Act.”

Meetings of the existing working group, characterized as “ad hoc” in the governor’s release, have been publicly announced and have followed provisions of the Open Meetings Act.

Answering a question from CapitolBeatOK last week, House Speaker T.W. Shannon also used the “ad hoc” term to characterize the existing Working Group, co-chaired by former House Speaker Kris Steele and Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater.

In the Wednesday night release, Steve Mullins, general counsel to the chief executive, said the reorganized Council would provide needed support for JRI implementation:

One important partner in the implementation of JRI is the Council of State Governments (CSG). For CSG to work with the state of Oklahoma, they need clear and authoritative guidance. The JRI Working Group can’t do that, because it is not a government body.

The Re-Entry Council will be able to speak on behalf of the state and will be more directly involved with implementation.”

In exchanges with CapitolBeatOK, Rep. Murphey had deemed the proposed changes to the Council, created during the speakership of former state Rep. Lance Cargill, as non-controversial.

Last week, Murphey told CapitolBeatOK, “I think I thought I would just make it the choice of the appointing authorities without restraining their options. I don't remember a lot of the specifics but probably knew that enhancing the authority of the board could conflict with restricting the applicant pool to the Cargill-era vision.”

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Oklahoma local-level government entities win total of 10 National transparency awards

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Alexandria, VA – – On March 13 (Wednesday), Sunshine Review, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to government transparency, released the winners of the

Fourth annual Sunny Awards. The award, which honors the most transparent government websites in the nation, went to 247 government entities around the nation with Florida receiving the most Sunny Awards and Oklahoma winning 10 awards.

The Sunny Awards recognize governments that make transparency a priority. The winners of the Sunny Awards are cities, counties and school districts that proactively share the public information that empowers citizens and keeps government accountable to the people,” said Michael Barnhart, President of Sunshine Review.

The winners in Oklahoma were:

Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

Enid, Oklahoma

Oklahoma County, Oklahoma

Owasso, Oklahoma

Tulsa County, Oklahoma

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Edmond Public Schools, Oklahoma

Norman, Oklahoma

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Wagoner County, Oklahoma

For the 2013 awards, Editors at Sunshine Review analyzed more than 1,000 qualifying government websites and graded each on a 10-point transparency checklist. Editors looked at content available on government websites against what should be provided. They sought information on items such as budgets, meetings, lobbying, financial audits, contracts, academic performance, public records and taxes. The winners of the Sunny Award all received an “A” grade during the extensive grading process.

Eight states earned nearly half of the 247 Sunny Awards given. The leading states were Florida (25), Virginia (19), Illinois (19), California (12), Georgia (12), Kansas (11), Oklahoma (10) and Colorado (9). In addition, 35 counties, 22 cities and 42 school districts from all over the country earned the coveted “A+” grade. Sunshine Review also analyzes official state government websites. However, no state received an “A” grade due to Sunshine Review’s 2013 “raising the bar” initiative, which includes additional budget requirements, online checkbook register and a FOIA compliance report.

Since beginning the Sunny Awards in 2010, Sunshine Review has given 613 awards to local and state governments. In 2012, Florida once again took home the most awards with other leading states including Texas (21), Illinois (19), Virginia (14), Ohio (10) and Pennsylvania (10). Florida won more Sunny Awards than any other state in 2011 and 2010 as well.

Sunshine Review applauds Oklahoma and the local government entities that won a Sunny Award. We encourage other cities and counties in Oklahoma to examine the winners’ websites and put resources into making transparency a priority,” said Barnhart.

The Sunny Awards announcement falls during the annual of “Sunshine Week,” March 10-16, a period nationally recognized by hundreds of media and civic organizations, that celebrates the efforts of activists and the strides taken towards open government.

Sunshine Review is a nonprofit organization dedicated to state and local government transparency. Sunshine Review collaborates with individuals and organizations throughout America in the cause of an informed citizenry and a transparent government. Since its inception in 2008, Sunshine Review has analyzed the websites of all 50 states and more than 7,000 state and local entities.

All the winners are listed here.

Midnight special: Oklahoma House advances bill to allow armed teachers

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – Call it the midnight special: The Oklahoma House of Representatives, running behind schedule to meet deadlines to forward bills for Senate consideration, worked late on March 12. So late, in fact, that it was almost March 13 before pro-gun bills made it to the floor.

House members gave strong approval to bills advancing Second Amendment rights -- including House Bill 1062, a proposal to allow teachers trained in gun safety to bring weapons to school sites. Cheering them on was Larry Pratt, the "happy warrior" who runs Gun Owners of America.

The House also pushed through the Firearms Freedom Act, House Bill 2021, allowing firearms manufactured in the Sooner State to be free from federal laws, taxes and regulations. That measure drew only 12 negative votes, with 79 backing it.

Another measure, House Bill 1622, passed 87-4. Its sponsor, state Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, said the measue “restores personal property rights to private schools by allowing them to establish a policy if they choose to for their administrators and teachers to carry a weapon on their school property.”

In the end, the “teacher carry” bill, H.B. 1062, prevailed on a 68-23 vote, drawing seven Democratic votes along with all but five of the Republicans present and voting. Ten members, many of them absent due to the late hour, did not vote.

Passage came after majorities rebuffed proposed amendments, including a proposal to allow parents to transfer children to private schools in districts allowing teachers to carry weapons.

In a statement sent to CapitolBeatOK, state Rep. Mark McCullough, R-Sapulpah, credited his co-sponsors and state Rep. Josh Cockroft (R-Tecumseh) for their work. McCullough said, “This legislation creates an option some schools may use to address safety concerns; it is not a mandate. Schools without some form of security system in place leave themselves vulnerable to attacks and, as lawmakers, our job is to provide them with tools to keep their students safe.”

If the measure passes the Senate in its present form and is signed by Governor Mary Fallin, school personnel allowed to carry weapons onto campus would include administrators, superintendents, principals, supervisors, vice-principals, teachers, counselors, librarians, bus drivers, school nurses and others “in any instructional capacity.”

The measure includes tort claim protections for personnel carrying weapons in compliance with the proposed law. The bill allows, and appears to encourage, school districts to enter into memorandums of understanding with local law enforcement.

The measure now moves to the Senate, where Judiciary Committee Chairman Anthony Sykes, R-Moore, is its champion.

House passage of the measure allowing armed teachers was a victory for lead sponsor Mark McCullough of Sapulpa, and his co-sponsors -- fellow Republicans Sean Roberts of Osage and Mike Ritze of Broken Arrow.

Rep. Ritze told CapitolBeatOK, “Until there is recognition for the constitutional right of every law-abiding citizen to carry a gun, it is not only reasonable but prudent to encourage incremental steps like this, to take our country back to liberty. One person with a gun, knowing how to use it effectively and safely, could have stopped the Newtown school killer in his tracks. I am proud of the bipartisan majority that passed this in the Oklahoma House.”

The legislation leaves in place many restrictions on taking weapons onto school properties, but creates a specific exemption:

A handgun may be carried into any elementary or secondary school by school personnel who have successfully completed a special reserve school resource officer academy, … provided a policy has been adopted by the board of education of a school district that authorizes the carrying of a handgun into the elementary or second school.”

The measure specifically allows possession of handguns by teachers who complete the designated safety training, if a simple majority of the local board has enacted that policy. The academy for school resource officers “shall be conducted by CLEET (the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training).” If ultimately enacted, the measure devolves to CLEET authority to “promulgate policies and procedures” for implementation, and for continuing education and training.

Pratt, the national pro-gun activist who watched the debate, told CapitolBeatOK, “I don’t understand why there is so much resistance to the idea of teachers being able to protect children. That’s a shocking mindset, especially in a place like Oklahoma.”

Pratt’s visit to Oklahoma was coordinated with Oklahomans for Liberty, a Tulsa-based organization, and the Oklahoma Second Amendment Association (OK2A). Just a few hours after the win for H.B. 1062, state Reps. John Bennett, R-Sequoyah and state Rep. Ken Walker, R-Tulsa, along with Sen. Natham Dahm, R-Tulsa, joined members of the two groups for an Oklahoma City breakfast to celebrate passage.

Pratt, who has labored on Second Amendment issues for decades, reviewed the national picture, putting the Oklahoma pro-gun push in broader context. Pratt said the Obama administration’s drive to enact new restrictions on gun owners’ rights have stalled and will soon fade.

Pratt told allies at the breakfast meeting, “We have many fights left ahead of us, but the fact of the matter is that we have made tremendous progress.”

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan, Oklahoma City bureau chief for Watchdog.org, at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Habemus Papam! Habemus Budgetam?

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – Habemus Papam! We have a Pope!

My wife and I, both cradle Catholics, consider the quick election of a new Bishop of Rome a partial answer to prayer: We asked God for a quick decision, hoping that would be more or less a sign of unity among the leadership of the Church.

Time will tell if the new guy is an answer to the rest of our prayers: for an Orthodox shepherd who can reach out to critics (internal and external) of the Church without sacrificing his role as the steward of Faith and Tradition.

That’s the serious stuff. This is less so:

It is time for a real sequester in Washington, D.C.

Stay with me, here. You see, when the Cardinal Electors went behind closed doors at the Vatican and the Swiss Guards stood at attention outside those big doors, the men deciding on the next Pope were put into isolation – no contact with the outside world until they settled on a new leader.

No wonder they got the job done in two days.

When they went through those doors, they entered sequestration, a meaning of that word much older than the definition applied in Washington when automatic budget cuts were passed last winter and took effect a few days ago.

So, let’s get some real sequestration, at least for the sake of a budget from the Senate for the first time in years.

Make the president of the Senate, Joe Biden, and the president of the country, Barack Obama, attend Senate sessions until the Senators brings forth a budget that actually prioritizes expenses.

As a matter of discipline (and because I’m the one writing this infallible commentary) no “revenue enhancement” is allowed this time.

After the U.S. Senate gets a plausible budget done, then Senate leaders (and the Senate president and the other president) have to go into sequestration again – this time with the House Republican leadership.

Food and water, sure: But nothing else goes in or out of the room or rooms where they are meeting. (There is a nice wing at the Greenbriar that could be adapted to this purpose.)

There is plausible precedent for this, at least in my corner of the world.

This week, the Oklahoma state Senate went into a rare (in fact, nobody could remember last time it happened) closed door session. Word is they discussed Senate decorum, stuff like not using nicknames or saying bad things about one another during debates, and other things they like to do to make it clear -- as senators like to tell reporters and constituents -- “we are NOT the House.”

Niceness is a worthy objective, but when I saw pictures of a guard standing in front of the closed Senate doors, I could not help but think, “Who the hell do they think they are, papal electors?”

Oklahoma’s Senate “sequestration” lasted only 30 minutes. And, I have to admit, that the Senators were nicer to each other for about an hour when the next session began.

Back to the point: If the Cardinals can do it, Congress can do it.

Sequestration now!

No relief until we have a balanced budget and a serious plan to attack the federal deficit!

Habemus Papam!

When O Lord will we cry for joy: Habemus Budgetam!

Look it up. There is no Latin word for budget, so I made it up.

Like what they do regularly in Congress.

Note: McGuigan is a devout Roman Catholic, and a fan of Argentine wine.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

COMMENTARY: Sooner and Later: For prison reform, light a candle and ‘stick with it’

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – State officials say a shift away from Oklahoma’s close-to-first-in-the-nation incarceration rate, toward data-proven programs aiming to more sensibly address non-violent offenses, is on track.

Still, skeptics wonder. As the first round of bill deadlines nears this Thursday, March 14, the Oklahoma Legislature is considering ten bills to create new felonies.

In 2012, with bipartisan support and the blessing of Gov. Mary Fallin, House Bill 3052 mandated or encouraged, among other reforms, post-release supervision and competitive grants for crime analysis, community partnerships and technology, intermediate sanctions for supervision violations, and options for presentencing assessments to identify the non-violent.

This vision, dubbed “justice reinvestment” but not as wonkish as that might sound -- emerged over many years.

Advocates drew inspiration from across America. Some tag the idea “Smart on Crime”. Conservative fans deem it “Right on Crime”.

What the approaches have in common is awareness that while national crime rates have moderated or declined, Oklahoma crime stayed comparatively high. The effort to shift focus builds on evidence that not all offenses are created equal, and not all first or second-time offenders need long-term incapacitation.

Aside from crime rates, the practical case is made from soaring costs, as summarized in an Associated Press report:

“Oklahoma had the nation's fifth-highest incarceration rate in 2011, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Roughly one out of every 100 Oklahoma males was in jail at that time. Now, state prisons are at full capacity with 26,000 inmates. The Department of Corrections annual budget has topped $460 million, surpassed only by the funding for education and human services.”

Last year, Robert Coombs of the Council of State Governments told me, “People are looking at research and not merely blindly spending more and more. More legislators and people in general than ever before want to know 'do things work' and why they work -- or don't.” He said, “The economy is certainly driving people to reevaluate outcomes. The outcomes from spending a lot on prisons have not been that great, and the evidence tells us that better supervision, treatment for drug addition and treatment for mental illness shift people out of the system and make outcomes better.”

Groups like Prison Fellowship are drawn toward reform not only by evidence but also a sense of moral obligation to combine just punishments with provision of hope to the non-violent.

Governor Fallin’s spokesman has reiterated the shift, saying, “We are committed to this program. We want it to work. It is something the governor supports.”

Weintz and other Fallin advisers defended her rebuffing a grant to finance training and technical needs arising from the state’s enactment of prison reforms. They insist state agencies have “buy-in” to reform. And, Terri White, head of the Mental Health department, said her agency has enough cash to finance anticipated new “crisis centers” to provide a safe place for arrestees more in need of treatment than incarceration. Fallin’s team says they can do what needs to be done with existing resources.

Still, Weintz said in a written statement the governor has not consulted with conservative legislators in other states who have guided successful reforms. One of those conservatives is Jerry Madden, a Texas Republican whose legislation guided the Lone Star State’s methodical change in Corrections.

Last year, Rep. Madden predicted Oklahoma would, if it stayed on track, “reach a tipping point” in controlling costs and lowering crime rates. He encouraged legislators to “go beyond what you have to do. That's the way to get there. You might even in many areas get better results than you expect, as this builds on itself.” He cautioned against following Kansas, where a “reinvestment” drive began last decade but was soon abandoned.

We had a net increase of 107 prisoners. In other words, we were stable,” Madden said. That came after a few years of actual decline in prison population and cancellation of one major prison construction project. Allowing five to seven years for implementation is crucial: “Make the change, and stick with it.”

Governor Fallin spoke at a Blue Room ceremony last year that featured graduates of a Tulsa program, Women in Recovery (WIR). That group is run by people who move Heaven and earth, figuratively, to literally give new directions to women who broke the law in one way or another, but whom a judge had decided deserved one more shot.

Two women who speaking that day needed a few moments, before delivering their remarks, to adjust to a bright shaft of light coming through a window to their left and the audience’s right. That beam lingered on the two before the sun passed on its course.

They described to attendees, the transformation in their lives from drug use and indolence to sobriety and productivity.

It was all quite practical, and yet more. I’ve never forgotten how beautiful, alive and full of new hope were those two, and their fellow graduates.

Curse the darkness, or light a candle? Let’s light a candle.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Tax refunds, drop in NatGas production reduces general revenues; sales taxes healthy

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Oklahoma Secretary of Finance and Revenue Preston L. Doerflinger announced March 12 that higher than expected income tax refunds and a continued drop in natural gas production reduced General Revenue Fund collections in February, while sales tax collections again came in at a healthy pace.

Collections to the General Revenue Fund (GRF) totaled $254.6 million in February, which is $28.9 million or 10.2 percent below collections for February of Fiscal Year 2012, and $20.4 million or 7.4 percent lower than the official estimate upon which the FY 2013 budget is based.

Total GRF collections for the first eight months of Fiscal Year 2013 are $3.5 billion, which is $29.3 million or 0.8 percent below total collections for the same period a year ago, but $77.6 million or 2.3 percent higher than the official estimate.

“Big picture, revenues for the budget are still on pace above estimated levels,” Doerflinger said.

Doerflinger also pointed out that sales tax collections in February increased by 4.5 percent over the same month a year ago and are up 6.5 percent over the first eight months of the fiscal year.

“Strong consumer spending and low unemployment are key indicators of a healthy economy,” he said. “Our 5.1 percent jobless rate is the best of any state in our region and Oklahomans’ incomes are up because of growth in jobs in such areas as energy, manufacturing and aviation. Oklahoma’s economy and state revenues continue to thrive under the pro-growth policies of the Fallin administration, although we remain susceptible to national events beyond our control, such as potential defense sector downturns caused by federal budget cuts.”

Large shifts in February income tax collection figures were caused mostly by an isolated remittance issue.

“February’s figures are not as alarming as they look when you consider how income tax remittances can often vary greatly from month to month,” Doerflinger said. “This February we had an anomaly with an estimated $12 million in personal income tax refunds that would normally have been made in January if taxpayer filings had not been delayed because of the late deal in Washington to avert the so-called fiscal cliff. Overall, the first eight months of the current fiscal year have personal income tax collections running more than 11 percent ahead of the official estimate. Combined corporate and individual income tax collections are beating the estimate by more than 15 percent.”

While other sectors of Oklahoma’s economy are thriving, the state’s natural gas industry has been pressured by low prices for more than two years now, leading energy companies to switch to drilling for more profitable oil. This has had an adverse effect on the GRF since 85.7 percent of all gross production tax receipts on natural gas flow into the GRF. The first $150 million in gross production tax collections on oil is earmarked for education, and that threshold must be met before the GRF gets any money from crude production.

Natural gas receipts to the GRF totaled $10.4 million in February, compared with $18.8 million collected during the same month a year ago. For the first eight months of the current fiscal year, natural gas collections are down $184 million or 86 percent from last year and are running $118 million or almost 80 percent below the estimate. Oil revenue fell in February and is down for the eight-month period compared to a year ago, but it is beating the estimate by $13.3 million or nearly 31 percent over eight months.

The latest weekly rotary rig count by Baker Hughes listed 29 natural gas rigs actively exploring or developing natural gas in Oklahoma, down 27 rigs from the same period in 2012.

“Economists are painting a bright long-range future for the natural gas industry, with some predicting an increase in demand and more favorable pricing,” Doerflinger said. “We look forward to that day, since natural gas has traditionally been such a significant contributor to the General Revenue Fund.”

Doerflinger is director of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services, which generates the monthly GRF reports. The GRF is state government’s main operating fund and is made up of about 70 revenue sources. It is where all state taxes and fees flow, except for those earmarked or dedicated to specific programs.

Major tax categories in February contributed the following amounts to the General Revenue Fund:

Income taxes – The total collected from individual and corporate income taxes in the month of February was $19.2 million, which was $14.1 million or 42.3 percent less than prior year collections and $9.5 million or 98.1 percent above the estimate.

Individual income tax receipts of $18.3 million were $13.7 million or 42.8 percent below the prior year and $15.3 million or 510 percent above the estimate.

Corporate tax collections contributed $885,000 to the GRF, which was $0.4 million or 30.2 percent below February 2012 collections and $5.8 million or 86.8 percent below the estimate.

Sales tax – The Tax Commission apportioned $151.3 million in sales tax collections to the GRF for month of February, which was $6.5 million or 4.5 percent higher than the prior year and $0.3 million or 0.2 percent above the estimate.

Gross production tax – Gross production tax collections from February contributed $36.1 million to the GRF after rebates. This amount was $17.7 million or 33 percent lower than February collections for last year and $13.7 million or 27.5 percent below the estimate.

Collections from natural gas accounted for $10.4 million, which was $8.4 million or 44.6 percent below prior year collections and $3.8 million or 26.7 percent below the estimate.

Collections from gross production oil taxes contributed $25.7 million to the General Revenue Fund. This amount was $9.2 million or 26.4 percent less than collections for February of 2012 and $9.9 million or 27.8 percent below the estimate.

Motor vehicle taxes – Motor vehicle taxes produced $12.6 million from February collections, which was $5.2 million or 29.4 percent less than the prior year and $2.8 million or 18.2 percent below the estimate.

Other Revenue – Other revenue produced $35.4 million for the GRF in February. This amount was $1.5 million or 4.6 percent above the prior year and $13.7 million or 27.9 percent below the estimate.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin renews pledge of support for American Indian museum financing, as bond foes demur

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – Despite her aversion to federal deficit spending, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin does not think all debt is bad. She has restated her support for completion of the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum in Oklahoma City, including possible state bond financing.

The comments came on a day one member of her staff said, in response to an inquiry about a meeting with Indian tribal leaders, that she had “no public events” scheduled. Others involved in the session hosted by the Native American Legislative Caucus welcomed this reporter into the session, with one describing it as an “open meeting.”

The chief executive’s statement came even as legislative opposition to new state bond issues seems to have intensified.

In the March 12 (Tuesday) luncheon meeting with Native American legislators and tribal leaders, Fallin said she hopes the Legislature will approve a bond or some other means to finance completion of the facility. She described her regular meetings with legislative leaders, and her statements to them of her support for the Center, under construction on the Oklahoma River in Oklahoma City.

At the meeting, state Rep. Paul Wesselhoft, R-Oklahoma City, cautioned there was little appetite for a bond issue this year. He is encouraging Chambers of Commerce and others to “step up” and finance completion of the Center with direct contributions. Hopes of the Museum’s supporters for a state bond seem likely to bump up against political reality.

In recent comments to reporters, Speaker of the House T.W. Shannon has restated his objective to limit government debt. House Bill 2195, a priority for the Lawton Republican, passed the House on Feb. 28 and is now before the Senate. The measure would cap nominal state debt, so that it would not rise above current levels.

Shannon argued, “With a credit limit in place, we can be better stewards of taxpayers’ money and avoid forcing unneeded debt on future generations.”

Earlier, in a Feb. 25 commentary circulated to state newspapers, Shannon said “we have debt problems of our own. Today, outstanding tax supported bond debt is just under $2 billion. Additionally, the state has roughly $6 billion in revenue bond debt. Neither includes the nearly $12 billion in unfunded pension liabilities.

That $2 billion debt represents a multitude of projects, many of which have come and gone. But the bill for those projects is still owed, with interest. And the bill isn't exactly small. In fiscal year 2013, for instance, Oklahoma's total debt service on tax supported bonds was $233 million, including almost $85 million in interest payments alone.”

“Even at today's low rates, borrowing $200 million would cost the state the extra $80 million in interest over the next two decades. Only in government does it make sense to pay $280 million for something that costs $200 million.”

Concerning the Center, Shannon this week announced he was appointing Clay Bennett, owner of the Thunder (the local franchise of the National Basketball Association) to the board of state leaders overseeing efforts to complete the facility.

Legislators at the meeting with Fallin included Wesselhoft and his Native American Caucus co-chairman, state Rep. Anastasia Pittman, D-Oklahoma City, and Reps. Seneca Scott, D-Tulsa, Kevin Matthews, D-Tulsa, Chuck Hoskin, D-Rogers County, and state Sen. Kyle Loveless, R-Oklahoma City.

Sen. Loveless has been a supporter of a bond proposal to finance completion of the project, which is years behind schedule and over budget.

Fallin said she had discussed funding with state Sen. Greg Treat, also an Oklahoma City Republican. Treat, who was not at the meeting, opposes a bond issue and has said he believes the museum should be completed some other way.

In an audit of the center’s governing body – the Native American Cultural and Education Authority -- State Auditor & Inspector Gary Jones found no wrongdoing, but was critical of management, expenditures, efficiency, effectiveness and reasonableness in operations. He said past operations had amounted to a “Cadillac approach” despite modest resources.

Also participating in the caucus meeting were several key Native American leaders, including Governor Janice Prairie Chief Boswell of the Cheyenne & Arapaho tribes. The two tribes operate successful gaming and entertainment operations on tribal lands in western Oklahoma.

The governor’s staff provided the chief executive’s prepared remarks to CapitolBeatOK after the session.

Gov. Fallin thanked members of the Native American Caucus for their work on “the many issues that affect Oklahoma’s 38 federally recognized Indian tribes.”

The economic impact of those tribes is steadily accelerating. A report from Oklahoma City University, Fallin noted, “estimated tribes employ a total of 53,700 individuals with direct payroll contributions of $1.5 billion to Oklahoma residents. The report also found total tribal operations in Oklahoma generated $5.6 billion in revenues. It’s estimated these activities supported more than 87,000 full-time equivalent jobs in the state … $2.5 billion in state income and … $10.8 billion state production of good and services.”

Tribal impact is not limited to gaming, although that is a primary economic driver. The OCU study reported the state’s tribal entities have given $792 million to charitable and other causes in the state, and through compacts (inter-governmental accords) help finance police and fire, medical care and hospitals, education programs, and roads and bridges.

Earlier this year, Fallin signed a tobacco compact with the Creek Nation that brought lengthy litigation to an end. On March 11 (Monday), she signed a compact with the Kaw Nation, and tribal chairman Guy Munroe, that addressed both tobacco sales and fashioned an historic accord on cooperative steps to address burn bans during the state’s continuing drought.

Fallin said she wants to work “together with tribal leaders on other public safety issues – such as cross-deputization agreements – to ensure our citizens are kept safe. My administration is working to improve and strengthen the relationships between DHS and Indian child welfare services.”

Jacque Hensley now serves on the governor’s staff as Tribal Liaison, a newly-created position. Deputy Counsel Jeffrey Cartmell focuses on tribal issues for the chief executive.

Fallin pledged cooperation with the legislators and other groups to keep the state’s recent economic momentum, noting, “We’ve added more than 62,000 jobs, seen our median household income rise by $4,000 – the best in the country in that category by the way – and we’re enjoying one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country.”

Fallin said she objective “is to keep our pedal to the metal to accelerate the state’s growth, and continue to build a stronger and better Oklahoma.”

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Transparency Tipsheet & Commentary: How to be a transparency watchdog

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Fed up with red tape and closed-off records? Sick of government secrecy?

Get ready for Sunshine Week, an annual drive towards transparency and open government, which raises awareness of ways citizens and media can access public information. As one of many journalism and non-profit organizations participating in Sunshine Week, Watchdog Wire is here to help you dig deeper into waste, fraud, and abuse in your local and state government. We want to hear your stories about transparency, accountability, and whatever you may uncover along the way.

During Sunshine Week, as always, you can email info@watchdogwire.com if you have any questions about the transparency resources at your fingertips, or ways that you can investigate government.

Here are some of the best ways you can promote government accountability through open records, and some other fun ways to shine a light on government waste.

Tip #1: Figure out FOIA

FOIA–that’s short for Freedom of Information Act – requests are at the heart and soul of investigative journalism and government accountability. The Federal law requires that when it comes to public records, the government has to do the work for you – that is, they need to locate any record you request and pass it along to you, free of charge. The tricky part for you is making your request specific enough for the government to properly answer it. This means addressing your request to the proper department, and asking for exactly what you need–so that the government can’t give you only part of what you requested and redact the rest.

Fortunately, there’s the FOIA Letter Generation, which helps you create request letters in a format that works well for most government agencies. You can use the generator to request a politician’s public schedule, city council meeting notes, public salaries and pensions, arrest and courtroom records, roll call votes for bills in the legislature, you name it–if it’s in the public record, you have the right to know.

Tip #2: Money-tracking tools are your friends

Open Secrets and Follow The Money are two of the best tools a citizen journalist has at his or her disposal. These databases track every dollar that a politician raises from donors and PACs, and sort the information into easy-to-read tables. Open Secrets allows citizens to see not only who a politician has gotten money from, but from what industries–for example, did a Senator who is sponsoring a new prescription drugs bill take millions from Big Pharma? Are the legislators pushing energy taxes funded by the green lobby? Did your local congressman bring home some pork for a local business – right after the CEO threw a fundraiser for him?

Each of these small discoveries you can make on a site like Open Secrets makes for a great story, and combined, these stories hold politicians accountable when their finances get murky. For example, the sad saga of Sen.Bob Menendez and his Dominican dalliances was fueled by donor information readily available on the Internet.

Tip #3: Check the visitor logs and daily schedules

President Obama delivered on one campaign promise by making the White House calendar part of the public record. This means that citizens now have access to the log of every meeting Obama has held, and every guest he has received at the White House. And this has made for some interesting stories about who has the President’s ear – and who doesn’t.

Most states and many localities have similar open records laws for their executives’ schedules, which means you can make a public record request to see who your governor is meeting for brunch and what trips he or she is taking at the state’s expense. Check the list of visitors to the governor’s office against the names of major donors from Follow the Money – it’s legal for politicians to give their close friends and supporters private audiences and tours, but it’s ethically murky if these people are weighing in too heavily on how taxpayer money is spent.

Your mayor or county executive should also be meeting regularly with citizens and community groups to keep a close read on the public’s pulse. If these events don’t show up on their calendar – and meetings with special interest groups or numerous trips out of town do – it’s a good sign that this politician has fallen out of touch. And that’s a great starting point for a story.

Tip #4: Figure out if the stimulus actually helped anyone in your area

You’ve probably seen the large green signs on the side of a highway in your area: “This project funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.” Usually, there are a few stray orange traffic cones littered around these signs. If you’re lucky, there might be a ditch or two, or perhaps a new stretch of pavement on the road.

But what did the Recovery Act – or the stimulus, as most people call it – actually do for you and your community? Start at Recovery.gov, the federal government’s website for documenting how stimulus money was spent. Launched as part of the Obama Administration’s Open Government Initiative, Recovery.gov allows you to search for projects by congressional district, and includes the cost of each project. (Note that most congressional districts changed in January as a result of the census. You can look up yours here.)

Once you’ve found projects in your area, take a road trip to see how much progress has been made on the project, and how well the money has been spent. Be sure to bring your camera to document visible progress on the project. You may want to do some additional digging to see what companies and unions were involved in the project and how they were selected to receive stimulus money. If Recovery.gov says money went to a project that doesn’t seem to exist, that’s a great story, and it would be an even better one if you can track down where the money really went!

Tip #5: Learn how ObamaCare will affect your state

President Obama’s health law passed through Congress so hastily and clouded in secrecy that lawmakers didn’t have a chance to read the bill, much less citizens. So it’s no surprise that parts of the law are well, a surprise, including the long list of regulations on what constitutes “acceptable” insurance that was released only last month.

If you remember the “Louisiana Purchase”, you know that all states are not treated equally under Obamacare, and it’s worth checking out how your state will be affected. Start by looking at your state legislature’s website: is there a bill pending to set up an Obamacare exchange, or to expand Medicaid, as the bill authorizes states to do? You can also research the number of uninsured people in your state, and compare that to the number of uninsured the day before Obama signed the bill into law.

Tip #6: Watch the pensions

Many communities are buckling under the weight of contracts with public employees and their unions, but the salaries aren’t the problem. It’s the pensions, a concept that is quickly becoming outdated in the private sector which continues to pay state employees at a significant rate (often 80% of their final salary or more) from their retirement to their death, and sometimes beyond. These pensions are promises made in another era, and it is very difficult for states to avoid paying them, even when budgets are stretched to the limit and modern investing is making pensions obsolete.

And to make matters worse, many state workers are collecting a pension from one job, while pulling a full-time salary from another! This practice is called “double-dipping,” and generally happens when a longtime state employee “retires” from a job in his or her 50′s to take an even better-paying state job. This practice is rampant in New Jersey, where many members of Gov. Chris Christie’s administration double- and even triple-dip, but it goes on in other states as well.

To track pension abuse, you’ll need to keep your ear to the ground for rumblings that a local elected official or state worker is gaming the system. Then, use FOIA to request records of their salary and benefits to see how much of your money they’re taking in each year.

Tip #7: Give a shout-out to transparency heroes

Is there someone in your community who has made a difference in opening up government or holding elected officials accountable? Maybe a blogger, or a grassroots leader, or someone who writes letters to the editor of the local newspaper. We’re looking for local transparency heroes at Watchdog Wire, and we’d love to hear about yours. So if you know someone who’s filed a FOIA request, or asked some tough questions at a town hall, or has done some sleuth work and uncovered some fraud, we want to hear about them–and maybe even feature them as our Citizen of the Month. You can also nominate them for the Franklin Center’s Breitbart Awards, given to the citizen activist who embodies the spirit and mission of Andrew Breitbart.

Tip #8: Join Watchdogwire’s tweet-up with Open Secrets on Wednesday, March 13 at Noon ET (11 a.m. Oklahoma Time)

We are hosting a tweet-up during Sunshine Week focused on #openrecords, #FOIA, and #transparency. Our special guest will be Sheila Krumholz (@OpenSecretsDC), the Executive Director of OpenSecrets.org. We hope you will join the conversation using the hash tag #WDWTU (Watchdog Wire Tweet Up).

If you have ideas for stories, suggestions on other ways to promote transparency, or just some questions on how all of this works, shoot us an email (info@watchdogwire.com). We’d love to hear your plans on how to shine a light on government abuse.

Note: Kevin Palmer is a staff writer at the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity. This compilation first appeared on the website Watchdogwire.com, the citizen watchdog arm of the Franklin Center.

Sen. Johnson named to health committee of National Black Caucus

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 06:00:00 GMT

Sen. Constance N. Johnson has been appointed to serve as Chair of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators’ (NBCSL) Health Committee for 2013-2014. Sen. Johnson was appointed by NBCSL President Joe Armstrong of Tennessee, who made the announcement in late February, because of her extensive work in the area of health care at the annual conferences where she regularly introduces resolutions addressing issues important to American’s health.

Over the years, Sen. Johnson has worked with NBCSL’s Corporate Round Table members in introducing and shepherding through proposals ranging from stroke prevention to behavioral health. The Oklahoma County democrat plans to continue her efforts in improving the country’s health care delivery systems as the health of its citizens remains a top priority at the federal as well as at the state government levels.

Sen. Johnson began her affiliation with NBCSL over 25 years ago while working as a senior legislative analyst for Health and Human Services in the Oklahoma State Senate. She successfully established a staff section within NBCSL where she worked with the Health Committee to ensure the policies that came before the group were in the best possible form.

She has served on the NBCSL Health Committee since her election to the Senate in 2005, and worked closely with affiliated groups such as the National Medical Association

“I am pleased and honored to be selected by President Armstrong to chair a committee that is so crucial to the well-being of our constituents, especially given the President’s visionary leadership regarding improved health care access and coverage in America,” stated Johnson. “Tremendous challenges remain in the area of health care, however, I am excited to have this opportunity to be a part of NBCSL’s program for solutions.”

Sen. Johnson begins her term of service during the joint colloquium with the National Medical Association this month.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Asthma and Allergy Foundation's poll finds state opposition to some “prescription-only” proposals

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 06:00:00 GMT

The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) released a new poll with specific data in Oklahoma affirming views the group has previously advocated: patients nationwide, and in Oklahoma, strongly oppose proposed laws to change popular over-the-counter (OTC) medications to prescription-only (Rx) status.

“It’s easy for AAFA to be on the patients’ side of this issue,” says Charlotte Collins, AAFA’s vice president of policy & programs. “The data shows us that patients already deal with the burdens of these chronic diseases, so adding restrictions on top of the burdens they already face would be a real problem. And, they know the best way to stop criminals involved in the illegal meth trade is through law enforcement and other proven methods, not by doctors’ prescriptions.”

More than 45 million Americans have nasal allergies, more than 22 million have asthma and more than 10 million have both. Respiratory diseases take a toll on public health, costing billions of dollars in direct medical expenses, reducing quality of life, lowering workplace and school performance, and can even be life-threatening to high-risk populations, such as asthma patients and seniors with other respiratory conditions.

Following AAFA’s first poll in 2010 showing that the majority of asthma, allergy, cold and flu patients opposed changing popular OTC medications to Rx status, the nonprofit patient organization worked with the Harris Interactive research organization to conduct a 2013 follow-up study. The results show that a majority (66 percent) of those surveyed still oppose Rx-only restrictions. Even in Oklahoma where AAFA and Harris oversampled to get state-specific data, a majority of patients (62 percent) oppose Rx-only laws.

 Nationally, two-thirds of respondents (64 percent) say they are managing medications for two or more people in their household – 71 percent in Oklahoma

Nationally, people surveyed deal with allergy symptoms for more than two months per year (69.5 days on average) – 91 days in Oklahoma

 Only one in five surveyed in the national study can get in to see their doctor the same day, with nearly one quarter (22 percent) having to wait more than a week to get an appointment – 20 percent in Oklahoma

Nationally, patients say that two in five (42 percent) of their visits to the doctor require time off of work, with one third (31 percent) saying that their doctor visits always take place during their work hours – in Oklahoma 42 percent say doctor visits always take place during work hours

When including drive time, waiting-room time and the visit itself, only one in five patients nationwide spend less than an hour when visiting the doctor, with nearly one third (30 percent) requiring two or more hours per visit; one in ten (nine percent) require three or more hours per visit – in Oklahoma, 34 percent require two or more hours

 The majority of patients in the national surveyed (59 percent) spend at least $20 per doctor visit, plus four of our five of them (82 percent) are also paying to fill prescriptions frequently or occasionally for themselves or family members – whereas in Oklahoma, 60 percent spend $20 per visit and 87 percent also occasionally or frequently pay for prescriptions.

About the Survey: AAFA’s National Pseudoephedrine (PSE) Awareness Study was conducted online in January 2013 among more than 2,000 U.S. adults age 18+ who personally suffered from asthma, allergies, cold, cough or flu in the preceding 12 months and purchased non-prescription medications for at least one condition during that time. The poll was conducted for AAFA by Harris Interactive and was supported by a grant from the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA). The study was conducted online and used Harris Interactive’s proprietary propensity weighting to ensure the online sample reflects general population trends. For a full copy of the survey report, and for other information, visit www.aafa.org/pse

About AAFA: The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), a not-for-profit organization founded in 1953, is a patient organization for people with asthma, allergies and related conditions. A statement form the group says, “AAFA is dedicated to improving the quality of life for patients through education, advocacy and research.” AAFA provides information, community based services and support through regional chapters, support groups and other local partners around the United States.

At the Oklahoma Capitol, a Sheriff Clarke fan club?

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 06:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – Milwaukee (WI) County Sheriff David Clarke now has a fan club at the Oklahoma state Capitol – figuratively, if not literally.

Videographer James O’Keefe’s new “You Tube” video chronicles hidden camera visits to several urban police departments, where he was told law-abiding citizens are on their own when it comes to facing down unwelcome intruders.

Among the video’s highlights, drawing cheers from pro-gun legislators in Oklahoma, are Clarke’s comments. The law enforcement veteran is seen explicitly urging citizens to defend themselves against criminals, including a memorable line: “We’re partners now. Can I count on you?”

A quartet of Republican legislators here expressed delight with O’Keefe’s pro-gun message, particularly Clarke’s words.

State Rep. Tom Newell, R-Seminole, told CapitolBeatOK, “I agree with virtually everything the Milwaukee County sheriff said. He observed that it is a personal responsibility to protect your self, and I’d merely add that it is a right to do so as well.

“The truth is that no matter how many officers you have in any jurisdiction, they can’t be everywhere and can only respond so quickly to calls. Former state Rep. Rex Duncan used to say that when seconds count, help is just minutes away. That is apt.”

He concluded, “In the end, I believe government has no authority or right to prevent us from exercising our God-given fundamental rights to protect ourselves, our family and our communities.”

Newell’s colleague John Bennett, R-Sequoyah, called the presentation “spot on. The fact of the matter is that police officers cannot be everywhere at once, or when they need to be there. ... Two minutes feels like hours when your life's in danger.”

Bennett told CapitolBeatOK, “We got it right in Oklahoma by ensuring we protect and promote our Second Amendment rights. … Imagine the sickening feeling of not being able to protect yourself or your loved ones and watching them have to go through a tragic or traumatic event while waiting for someone else to come to your rescue. … I would never move to any state that would prevent me from having the capability to use a firearm to protect myself, or my family.”

State Sen. Nathan Dahm, R-Tulsa, said O’Keefe’s “good video” may “bring new awareness to reality. Government is not the solution. Self-government is a solution, that is, our need to rely on ourselves, and our neighbors, for most things.

“Sheriff Clarke essentially said things that I’ve heard plenty of police officers say in private meetings or sessions behind closed doors. It was encouraging that he would speak with such incredible honesty and clarity.”

The video “captured the truth of what every citizen should understand. … I have said in past floor debates on Second Amendment that I carry a gun because a cop is too heavy,” said state Sen. Ralph Shortey, R-Oklahoma City.

He said, “Most citizens never have to face the issues of life and death, but this video might help us all understand that it is best to be prepared.”

Shortey recalled a friendship that developed during the two years he, as a first-term legislator, served with state Sen. Judy Eason-McIntyre, D-Tulsa. He noted she, then in her last two years at the Capitol, had been “anti-gun. Then she faced two intruders in her home, and did not have a weapon.”

The political veteran endured a break-in at her home. She screamed at the two young thieves -- “what in the hell are you doin’ in my house?” – and they ran away. In a 2011 interview with CapitolBeatOK, then-Sen. Eason-McIntyre said she understood that might not be the response from every potential robber.

After her shift on guns, the affable liberal drew close to Senate Republicans, including Shortey and then-Sen. Steve Russell. In her first visit to a gun range, she put 17 of her 19 shots on target: Five headshots, and 12 body shots. She narrowly missed her target twice.

Shortey recalls, “I was privileged to be with her at a local gun range, to help her learn how to shoot. And now, she’s a gun nut like me!” He assert, “I think, for their own safety, every law-abiding citizen in south Oklahoma City ought to own a firearm.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Foreign law ban easily passes House but draws sharp critique

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 06:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – Legislation to ban use of foreign legal precedents in most cases passed the state House this week.

House Bill 1060, sponsored by state Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, would prohibit use of foreign laws in any instance where such use would violate the state or federal Constitution. Kern’s proposal sailed through the House, 81-11, but drew a sharp rebuke from state Rep. Kay Floyd, a Democrat who also hales from Oklahoma City.

Kern referenced 70 percent statewide voter approval, in 2010, of State Question 755, specifically banning use of Sharia law in Oklahoma. She noted that a federal district court judge rules “we could not discriminate by singling out a specific group.”

For that reason, H.B. 1060 “contains language that is more general and therefore should be accepted by the courts. Tennessee, Kansas, Arizona, and Louisiana have passed the same legislation without any court challenges.”

Rep. Kern hopes, “If this bill becomes law, the will of the people will finally be acknowledged.”

Floyd, who opposed the measure in floor debate, assailed Kern’s proposal.

“I have two main concerns. No one ran this past the Attorney General, to see if it would in fact withstand a legal challenge. I think that is irresponsible. This bill if passed has a strong possibility, even a likelihood, to be contested in court. It seems imprudent to me not to have checked on whether it could withstand legal scrutiny,” Rep. Floyd told CapitolBeatOK.

Floyd also contended, “I also think it has the potential to limit citizens’ rights to enter into contracts with other citizens. Rep. Kern said corporations had been exempted under her bill because they are more sophisticated at such things. I thought that was insulting to the citizens of Oklahoma.”

The proposal now moves to the state Senate, where passage is considered likely.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

COMMENTARY: Medicaid Expansion: Principle, People and Peril

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 06:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – “Liberalism, of course, professes to speak for ‘the poor,’ even though, given a choice between the poor themselves and a program whose real effect is to hurt the poor, it will choose the program,” wrote the late iconoclastic conservative writer Joseph Sobran.

Sobran loved people in the flesh, rather than as symbols. He was often misunderstood. I usually but not always agreed with Joe. I honor his memory, and the rigor with which he looked at policy in late Twentieth Century America.

For decades, I learned a lot from watching Sobran, including the perils of making a point powerfully but without nuance. Still, I loved and respected the man. He became a pal on my first-ever visit to New York City and the offices of National Review magazine, back in the day.

We see the truth in Joe’s blunt assessment in today's debate over Medicaid, where arguments for the expansion of coverage envisioned in the Affordable Care Act are usually made in moral terms -- especially since Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s flip-flop.

But: Is it more immoral to destroy a system that works, however imperfectly, for most Americans, and replace it with a system that will collapse, one in which the poor and everyone else will witness unprecedented stress and strain?

“Putting millions of additional people into a program that has been struggling with access to care for the past forty-five years is likely to result in worsening access for those who are currently enrolled,” according to Joseph Antos of the American Enterprise Institute, writing for the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law.

Michael F. Cannon of the Cato Institute notes that expansion makes these new Medicaid patients (some of whom already had private health insurance, by the way) “dependent on government for their health care, and thus would expand the constituency for more government spending and higher taxes” — all while providing them inferior access to care.

Back here in the promised land, the Oklahoma State Medical Association (OSMA) worries that the addition of 200,000 people to Medicaid in 2014, which could still happen if Gov. Fallin does not resist expansion, would crater any ability to care for patients, poor or otherwise, in a sustainable way.

Oklahoma already ranks near last in physician-to-patient ratios. “It’s pretty cynical to say, ‘Yes, you’ve got coverage, but you can’t see a doctor for two years.’ So we’re worried about the workforce issue,” OSMA’s Kenneth King told Jennifer Lubell of amednews.com.

Health-care researchers Avik Roy and Grace-Marie Turner put it this way: “The Medicaid program is so badly broken that it actually harms the people it is intended to serve. Mountains of clinical literature show that, on average, patients on Medicaid have poorer health outcomes than those with no insurance at all. The largest such study by far, conducted by surgeons at the University of Virginia, examined outcomes for 893,658 individuals undergoing major surgical operations from 2003 to 2007.

It found that patients on Medicaid were 13 percent more likely to die in the hospital after surgery than those with no insurance, even when adjusting for age, gender, income, region, and health status. Medicaid patients were 97 percent more likely to die than those with private insurance.

“This is because the Medicaid program pays doctors and hospitals far less than private insurers do. … As a result, many doctors refuse to take Medicaid, and when Medicaid patients can’t get predictable access to care, their cancers go undiagnosed and their heart conditions go unmanaged.”

In February, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin explained her decision to keep Medicaid management here at home: “Choosing not to expand Medicaid as proposed in [the Affordable Care Act] was the right decision for Oklahoma. The president’s expansion is unworkable and unaffordable for our state. Some estimates show expanding Medicaid would cost Oklahoma an additional $689 million.

“Instead, we are focusing on an Oklahoma plan to improve the health of our citizens, lower the frequency of preventable illnesses like diabetes and heart disease, and improve access to quality and affordable health care.”

If Fallin sticks to her guns, there might still be a state, and an economy, where people, including the poor, can fashion better lives for themselves as they deem best, in keeping with American traditions of personal liberty.

For months, in long, heartfelt and sincere political and policy discussions with friends on the Left – people I love and respect – the issues of “ObamaCare” and Medicaid expansion have been the main subject matter.

I do not want to believe that Sobran’s maxim is true of my liberal friends, but I feel it is true of the broader statist impulse that advances every year, every month, every week, and every day in my beloved country.

In the present zeitgeist, given a choice between “the poor” — as individuals with hearts, minds, souls, and possibilities — and a public policy that puts programs in charge of people, the program will win.

This expansion of government is without precedent. Even if the Supreme Court says that taking control of the health industry is permitted, even if the Court calls the individual mandate a tax rather than a penalty, even if it is asserted that a federal statute enacted dubiously trumps more than two centuries of constitutional limits on federal government power — this expansion of compulsion is unmatched in our federalist history.

Government is limited because human beings are flawed creatures.

There is no committee that can rationally decide in advance what is best for any one of us, no panel of experts that can dictate to families how the final days or weeks of their loved ones should be spent, no possibility that centralized treatment of diverse human belief systems can be truly just.

Our government is assuming powers that belong with individuals, communities, and “mediating institutions” such as churches and other support networks. On that path lies cultural disintegration.

In the end, the entire structure of ACA violates the spirit of the Constitution, American traditions, and the accumulated wisdom of past generations. They understood: Excessive power corrupts.

NOTE: This is adapted from McGuigan's essay in the March 2013 edition of Perspective Magazine, monthly publication of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Reach out and touch someone – Oklahoma House passes reforms in Lifeline ‘free’ phone program

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 06:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – The House of Representatives has advanced legislation to reform the federal “Lifeline” program. The federal program is intended to provide telephone service to low-income individuals, but has drawn scrutiny after news reports that individuals were getting duplicate landlines and/or cellphones on the taxpayers’ dime.

State Rep. Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City, is sponsor of House Bill 2165, to authorize the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to mandate more documentation from service providers. A summary from state House staff said the proposal “specifically requires phone service providers to document and verify their customers’ initial eligibility and continued eligibility and ensure that customers do not receive multiple phone lines.” Echols’ proposal would, if enacted, give the state regulatory commission power to set and enforce fines and not reimburse non-compliant companies.

In Oklahoma, two phone service companies -- TerraCom LLC and YourTel America Inc. – paid a total of $1 million in fines to the Federal Communications Commission after findings that the firms were issuing phones right and left without documentation of need.

The Lifeline program has allowed companies to collect reimbursements ranging from $9 to $34 per subscriber.

Rep. Echols thanked his colleagues for approving the bill on March 6, observing, “The Lifeline program was originally created to provide free landline phone service to the poor and elderly, but the program is currently giving tax dollars away to pay for duplicate landlines and cell phones.”

In recent days, Echols pointed to instances of individuals receiving phones who had not even asked for them. In 2012, the state commission says, $236 million was garnered for the Lifeline program, with those resources drawn from the Universal Service Fund, a tax on telecom subscribers. Reporter Paul Monies recently found, in statistical analysis, that in Oklahoma, spending on the program quadrupled from 2008-12.

Fraud potential is even higher in Oklahoma than other states, Echols said, because the U.S. government program allows payment of extra dollars “to individuals living on land that was originally part of an Indian reservation, meaning there is more money to be had through fraud in Oklahoma than in many states.”

H.B. 2165 sailed through the House 92-0. Last month, Echols’ bill cleared the House Appropriations and Budget Subcommittee on Natural Resources and Regulatory Services in an 8-0 vote.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.comand follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

DHS gets final approval for Pinnacle Plan

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 06:00:00 GMT

The Oklahoma Department of Human Services (DHS) has received final approval from outside child welfare experts on its improvement plan for the state's foster care system.

The plan, referred to as the “Oklahoma Pinnacle Plan” is part of a settlement agreement reached in January 2012 in a federal, class action, civil rights lawsuit.

DHS agreed in the settlement to make targeted performance improvements related to the way it cares for children in foster care. As part of the settlement agreement, three out-of-state child welfare experts (referred to as “co-neutrals”) were selected to oversee the state’s improvements.

The plan was first submitted to the co-neutrals on March 30, 2012 and was subsequently endorsed on July 25, 2012. Since the plan was endorsed, Child Welfare Services (CWS) staff have implemented initiatives outlined in the plan. Quarterly reports are posted on the agency website for public review.

The last step of the approval process was to finalize the baselines, targets, and measures for the 15 performance areas. This final approval lays the foundation for the monthly required public reporting.

"DHS was challenged to improve its child welfare program and is committed to this plan," says Deborah G. Smith, Director of Child Welfare Services at the agency. "We appreciate the support of Oklahomans, especially the foster parents who are caring for these precious children. Even more important than the plan though, we care about every child in our foster care system and know they deserve our very best. They are not just numbers or cases to us. They are the future of our state."

Kate Obenshain works for ‘brighter future’

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 06:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – Along with columnist Star Parker,

Kate Obenshain was the

co-star” of the “policy to share” conference held here. Organizers marketed the event as an effort to bring fresh thinking to politics and policy issues of particular concern to women.

Former Republican state party chairman in the Old Dominion (Virginia) and a vice president of the Young America’s Foundation, Obenshain is no stranger to the rough-and-tumble world of politics. Once upon a time, policy development was the almost-exclusive province of men, but those days are long gone.

In an interview with CapitolBeatOK, Obenshain reflected, “The special concerns I have right now come from Barack Obama’s approach to the presidency, and of course the aftermath of the 2012 election.

The president and his surrogates have been so effective at turning us against one another. There is a great level of suspicion among and between people that they feed, along lines of gender and income level. Yes, there is a new sense of urgency in my work.”

Obenshain detailed the sequence of events, and reflections on those events, that led her to accept the invitation to come and address a gathering aiming to find better ways to think through public policy issues and controversies from a feminine and conservative perspective.

She said, “Early in the 2012 presidential campaign, I was certain that President Obama had overplayed his hand, had simply gone too far, way over the top. When their campaign made assertions that Republicans would drag women back into the past, my own experiences were so contrary that I thought they had gone far beyond the line of believability.”

Then, “One of the last campaign mailings I got in Virginia attacked Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in simply unbelievable terms, saying they had views that were both ‘shocking and dangerous.’ The rhetoric was so hateful and dreadful.

After the election, I looked carefully, and studied some of the focus groups. There were large numbers of people who had decided, they actually bought the message that Mitt Romney actively opposed women in the workplace. The constant demagoguery worked enough to convince a majority of the swing voters in the battleground states. That was shocking to me.”

Obenshain continued, “Then I studied the Democratic convention more carefully than I had. Many of the speakers were women, and the messages were shockingly left-wing. They made constant references to a ‘war on women.’”

In that fresh examination of those days, she described a reluctant conclusion: “In the end, all of that ‘played.’ It worked. That surprised me and disturbed me.”

She observes, “There was one moment, after one presidential debate, when the gender gap essentially disappeared. I became so hopeful when it seemed women were responding. But then the Romney and Ryan campaign went on the defense, and slowly the problem reemerged. Still, it was close enough, in the end, that it is clear that Romney and Ryan could have won.”

Obenshain is strongly position to influence and perhaps lead the discussion. At YAF, she has developed what the group touts as the largest conservative lecture program in the nation. No slouch at “messaging” to diverse audiences, she appears frequently on Fox News and other media forums.

For now, “It comes down to this. I am trying to do my part to lay the basis for a brighter future for conservatives, for victories that are rooted in taking to people the message of opportunity and hope for a better life, not the shocking words of distortion and hate that seemed to prevail last year.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Oklahoma policy conference about visions, hopes for women

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 06:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – Do women and men “think differently?” Do they process policy issues like health care or workers’ compensation differently?

No hard and fast answers to those questions were dictated at the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs’ “Policy to Share” conference -- yet the event organizer’s premise was that most women assess issues based on their perception, understanding and other factors distinguishable from male counterparts.

Karma Robinson, a vice president at the free market “think tank,” commented, “I don’t believe women ‘think’ differently, but I do believe which issues drive decisions about policy are different for women than for men. So, I believe how you talk about issues and what issues are addressed can have an impact in reaching women who are voters.”

She credited Mo Anderson, an Oklahoma City activist and OCPA donor, for the conference’s original vision, and for the desire to involve Star Parker and Kate Obenshain, two pillars of contemporary conservatism, in the discussion.

Conference attendees, in Robinson’s words, sought “a fresh approach to female-focused policy.” Hundreds of women and a few men came to the event, which Robinson said is part of a process of discernment on how best to advance ideas of personal and economic liberty in the Obama era.

Robinson reflected, “All the things that arose during the conference are things we talk about every day at OCPA. The purpose of calling women together to focus on these issues is to better understand how policy decisions affect women -- as mothers, wives, sisters, grandmothers and aunts. Women are centered on family.”

Robinson said the event flowed naturally from “the policy discussion internally at OCPA and, in terms of the future, a focus on how to develop messages and themes in a way that is attractive or compelling to women.”

The OCPA executive named a couple of specifics: “Analysis shows that women make most of the health care decisions for families, so it’s important to present a discussion about health care policy in such a way that it correlates to the family budget.”

She continued, “Workers compensation is another example. A woman impacted by this issue wants for herself or her loved one to get the treatment they need, get well from the injury and then get back to work. Delay in any one of those steps presents particular issues to a woman and to her family.

“The stress from being off work for a long time, whether for the woman or her loved one, is terribly high. So, a woman is looking for a workers’ comp process in which there is a positive direction or momentum.

“Beyond those two examples, I found compelling many of the things that Star Parker talked about. You know, the choices a woman makes always have consequences. Star has pointed out there are so many women who makes choices and the impact of government programs is dependency; that dependency can affect your freedom rather than lead to a better life.”

Tina Korbe Dzursian, an OCPA research associate, said the focus presented both challenges and rewards for organizers: “In general, there is a visceral conservative reaction against ‘identify politics,’ and in some ways I share that. The truth is that it has sometimes been effective. And, it is undeniably effective to package messages for various audiences. It works.”

Dzursian, who was M.C. for panel discussions at the conference, continued, “Men and women are different, yet the issues they care about are not that different. The way they process issues and think about them are sometimes distinct. The way I put it is that women care about issues for different reasons than men.

So that was the idea of the conference. In any case, every single person cares about issues for their own set of reasons. Each person is going to have a different way of processing what they’re hearing and seeing, when they make decisions about policy issues.”

Dzursian, a multi-issue conservative like Robinson, told CapitolBeatOK, “this process can help lead to more personal-oriented presentation of issues. A particular policy will affect different people in different ways. That’s what we’re seeking to address, whether a woman is single, married, worried about community, family, or work, or focused on all of the major issues.”

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Gov. Fallin’s team defends rebuff of prison reform funding

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 06:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma has America’s top female incarceration rate, and consistently runs in the top five for males behind bars. The objective of historic criminal justice reforms passed in 2011-12? Flatten spending hikes and move away from that tops-in-the-nation status.

Gov. Mary Fallin supports implementation, spokesman Alex Weintz insists, despite her rejection of anticipated federal funding. Weintz told CapitolBeatOK, “We are committed to this program. We want it to work. It is something the governor supports.”

Weintz and other Fallin advisers defended her decision to rebuff a grant from the Council of State Governments (CSG) to finance training and technical needs arising from the state’s enactment of prison reforms. The governor’s legal advisor and her spokesman said government agencies have “buy-in” to the reforms.

In the same discussion, Terri White, the head of the Mental Health department, said her agency has enough cash to finance new “crisis centers” to provide a safe and secure place for arrestees more in need of treatment than incarceration.

Weintz said new money or reallocations will be finance the shift away from lock-ups of the non-violent: “The original … request regarding the Department of Mental Substance Abuse Services and the Department of Corrections related to funding for a [Mental Health] server and upgrades to existing servers; contracting with the University of Cincinnati to provide training to those administering the risk assessments and evaluations, substance abuse training, supervision training, and training related to the intermediate revocation facilities.”

Mental Health is to lead assessments of individuals in the criminal justice system for substance abuse, after conviction. The idea is to divert incoming inmates, where possible, into treatment programs.

Corrections will operate Intermediate Revocation Facilities (IRFs), so those in technical (as opposed to willful) violations of parole will be eligible for placement at the community, minimum and medium-security levels.

Weintz insists the goal remains implementation which Fallin once hoped to fund with U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance grant through CSG, i.e. “important training and technology needs contemplated in the original funding request; we have merely altered the source of funding for agency training and technology upgrades. The funds will now be provided from the state as opposed to a third-party.”

Treatment for first-time drug offenders and avoiding lock-ups for the non-violent was pioneered in several states in recent years, including Texas. Asked if the governor had consulted with policy makers, including conservatives, who pressed those programs in other states, Weintz responded:

“No. However, the intent and goal of the Governor and her staff is to ensure the success and development of justice reinvestment in the state; this focus remains unchanged.”

Asked if there is “buy-in” from state agencies involved in implementation, Weintz responded, “Yes, the agencies charged with implementation … have been focused and dedicated to implementing JRI in a timely manner and in ensuring its success.”

Last May, Fallin signed the law aiming to slow prison spending growth. House Bill 3052 was crafted with the help of analysts at the CSG’s Justice Center, and talks with “stakeholders.”

H.B. 3052 mandated post-release supervision and competitive grants for local level crime analysis, encouraged community partnerships and technology, allowed intermediate sanctions for supervision violations, and fashioned options for presentencing assessments.

White referenced a “smart on crime” push that began when Gov. Fallin ran for the chief executive’s job in 2010, saying the JRI (“justice reinvestment initiative” – as the 2011-12 reforms were widely known) -- is a sub-set of that vision. She said with anticipated budget hikes her agency can fulfill its part (including creation of crisis centers for those who need treatment). White added there may be new legislation to authorize earlier screenings and shift that role to district attorneys.

Implementation work has evolved away from principals at the various agencies, toward high-ranking assistants.

Concerning local law enforcement training, Weintz said CapitolBeatOK should contact the attorney general’s office for details.

According to Frazier, the governor’s lawyer, the implementation work group now consists of herself, Melissa Houston for the attorney general, White or Carrie Slatton-Hodges for Mental Health, Suzanne Atwood of the District Attorneys’ Council and Eric Franklin at Corrections.

White said new offender screening will be based on evidence-based tools. Her agency believes they can meet goals for front-end “beds” for mentally-ill persons caught up in the criminal justice system.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Treasurer Miller: Gross collections dip in February

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 06:00:00 GMT

Oklahoma revenue collections dipped slightly in February, the fifth such occurrence in the past year, state Treasurer Ken Miller said March 4 as he released the monthly gross receipts to the treasury report.

“As with last March, June, August and November, collections in February are lower than the same month of the prior year,” Miller said. “This follows 24 consecutive months of collections beating the prior year.”

Miller said economic growth continues, but at a more subdued pace.

“Our average growth rate between March 2011 and February 2012 topped 10 percent,” he said. “For the past 12 months, growth has averaged two percent.”

February gross collections were down by 2.4 percent, or almost $20 million, from February of last year. Oklahoma’s two biggest sources of revenue, income tax and sales tax, both grew – income by 1.4 percent and sales by 3.9 percent.

Gross production, motor vehicle taxes and other sources were all reported as lower than the prior year.

Monthly collections were marginally affected by the inclusion of a leap day last February.

Looking forward, Miller said the impact of a prolonged standoff in Washington over the federal budget and spending could eventually impact Oklahoma.

“The spillover effects of sequestration on household consumption and business investment are a concern and could hamper future growth,” he said.

“The sequester cuts, which are disproportionately weighted toward the military, could weaken both national security and our state’s economy. Federal spending must be greatly reduced, but should be done strategically and include entitlement reform – the real spending problem in Washington.”

Positive business conditions

The latest Business Conditions Index for Oklahoma report anticipates continued economic growth, though slightly slower than in January’s report. The February survey shows Oklahoma with a rating of 52.5, compared to January’s 53.8. Numbers above 50 indicate anticipated growth. According to the survey, Oklahoma’s economy is outperforming other states in the region as unemployment has dropped by two percentage points since the recovery started and the state labor force has expanded by almost 40,000 jobs.

February collections

The revenue report for February shows gross collections at $790.4 million, down $19.53 million or 2.4 percent from February 2012.

Gross income tax collections, a combination of personal and corporate income taxes, generated $235.01 million, an increase of $3.2 million or 1.4 percent from the previous February.

Personal income tax collections for the month are $229.3 million, up $5.03 million or 2.2 percent from the prior year. Corporate collections are $5.71 million, a decrease of $1.83 million or 24.3 percent.

Sales tax collections, including remittances on behalf of cities and counties, total $333.24 million in February. That is $12.61 million or 3.9 percent above February 2012.

Gross production taxes on oil and natural gas generated $63.17 million in February, a decrease of $5.99 million or 8.7 percent from last February. Compared to January reports, gross production collections are up by $5.12 million or 8.8 percent.

Motor vehicle taxes produced $49.44 million, down by $5.25 million or 9.6 percent from the prior year.

Other collections, consisting of about 60 different sources including taxes on fuel, tobacco, horse race gambling and alcoholic beverages, produced $109.55 million during the month. That is $24.09 million or 18 percent less than last February.

Twelve-month collections

Between March 2012 and February 2013, gross revenue totals $11.08 billion. That is $213.82 million or 2 percent higher than collections from the previous 12-month period.

Gross income taxes generated $3.988 billion, reflecting an increase of $220.44 million or 5.9 percent from the prior 12 months.

Personal income tax collections total $3.402 billion, up by $163.84 million or 5.1 percent from the March 2011 to February 2012 period. Corporate collections are $586.89 million for the period, an increase of $56.61 million or 10.7 percent over the previous period.

Sales taxes for the period generated $4.191 billion, an increase of $280.74 million or 7.2 percent from the prior 12 months.

Oil and gas gross production tax collections brought in $711.32 million during the 12 months, down by $315.83 million or 30.7 percent from the previous period.

Motor vehicle collections total $697.22 million for the period. This is an increase of $19.71 million or 2.9 percent from the trailing 12 months.

Other sources generated $1.492 billion, up $8.74 million or 0.6 percent from the previous 12 months.

Parker a star at Oklahoma ‘policy to share’ conference

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 06:00:00 GMT

Star Parker, the activist writer, brought a message of hope and possibility to a recent stop in Oklahoma’s capital city.

She discussed with CapitolBeatOK her motivations for leaving home to travel to a conference where she detailed her hopes to draw “swing voters” toward the conservative philosophy – one she adopted nearly 25 years ago, after spending nearly a decade in welfare dependency.

Parker is both critical and hopeful about that philosophy’s promise. She is one of the most visible and passionate African-American critics of President Barack Obama.

She reflected, “In the states, we are doing fairly well in advancing conservative principles. Many of the things I believe are largely accepted in states around the country. A challenge conservatives face is messaging. It is important to explain what our proposals, our ideas, mean to the personal lives of people who are not as ‘into’ politics and policy as we are.

From my personal experiences, my life, I know how hard life is some times. I don’t sneer at that. I can relate to the lives of people who do not think about politics too much. Republicans often speak in generalities, and that approach does not connect with average people.

So, I’m giving a lot of thought to messaging, and reaching individuals. Another way to put this is that I have insight into those who are poor, or minority.”

She summed up this way: “Compassion is an overused word. Maybe empathy or insight are better words to express it.

When you understand that life is hard an complex for so many people, it might be easier to ‘sell’ the idea of new beginnings, of ways in which a person can start over. There is a level of trust that comes when people know you ‘feel their pain.’ I apologize for echoing Bill Clinton, but there it is.”

This reporter shared with Parker one of the most combative comments the late Joseph Sobran wrote during his career as a commentator: “Liberalism, of course, professes to speak for ‘the poor,’ even though, given a choice between the poor themselves and a program whose real effect is to hurt the poor, it will choose the program.”

Parker riffed” off Sobran’s words, telling CapitolBeatOK, “I see that phenomenon right now in the Medicaid debate. Liberals are willing to spend all that money for a program that doesn’t work.

Socialism does not work in the real world, it does not work in the lives of real people, those near us and actually right there in front of us. And yet, the liberals and the president actually want to expand the program dramatically.

That feeling of personal connection with people, and an important issue like Medicaid, that’s what gives me the motivation to get out the door and try to make a difference, and to come again to Oklahoma.”

Parker has been in the Sooner State a few times over the years, including when she promoted her late Reagan-era book, Pimps, whores and welfare brats,” a memoir of her transformation, after embracing Christianity, from a life of poverty to a determined pursuit of education.

Now a syndicated columnist with the Scripps Howard News Service, she is also the author of “Uncle Sam’s Plantation,” and “White Ghetto.

Parker’s comments came the evening before a “Policy to Share” conference, convened in an effort to think though public policy issues and controversies with a feminine perspective. The women’s leadership committee of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA), the Sooner State’s leading “think tank” advocating economic liberty, sponsored the conference.

Parker now works as founder and president of CURE (the Center for Urban Renewal and Education), her own “think tank advocating market-based policy reforms to fight poverty.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.comand follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

Still tough on crime, Sooner State seeks “smart” prison policy shift

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 06:00:00 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahomans pride themselves on the state’s “tough on crime” reputation. Indeed, Oklahoma has America’s top female incarceration rate; it ranks third in male imprisonment, yet crime rates remain high.

The last few years, the raw data and spiraling costs of prisons set the stage for at least a partial shift away from past policies. Whether it’s called “smart on crime” or “right on crime” or the somewhat wonkish moniker of “justice reinvestment,” the policy shift presents challenges.

On Tuesday, CapitolBeatOK reported Gov. Mary Fallin’s rebuff of federal financing for some costs of implementing historic changes enacted last year and envisioned to flatten increases in that burgeoning prison population.

A forthcoming story will include detail explanations from Fallin’s staff for foregoing that cash from a Council of State Governments (CSG) grant in collaboration for the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance.

Meanwhile, legislation working its way through the House of Representatives could transform a council designed to focus on offender “reentry” programs.

One thing is certain: Oklahoma’s incarceration rate continues to rise, with some moderation in reported crime rates, while nationwide state prison population fell almost 2 percent in 2011 and violent crime rate dropped 3.8 percent.

Both the Senate President pro temp, a small town Republican, and the House minority leader, an urban Democrat, told CapitolBeatOK they were confused about changes to what’s called the Reentry Policy Council, contained in House Bill 2042, sponsored by state Rep. Jason Murphey, R-Guthrie.

In existing law, part of an envisioned shift in Corrections (prison) programs away from locking up non-violent offenders, the Council consists of law enforcement and criminal justice professionals from across the state. However, Rep. Jason Murphey told CapitolBeatOK the council has been inactive the last few years.

H.B. 2042 – advanced after little discussion in the Public Safety Committee on Feb. 27, would give full latitude to the governor, speaker of the House and Senate President Pro Temp to choose Council members.

That bill would also reduce the number of council members from 11 to nine. Staffing would be provided by the Office of Management and Enterprise Services – popularly known as OMES (“Oh-Mess”).

Under existing law, the governor has three appointments, specified as a law enforcement officer, a Corrections official and a crime victim.

Under current law, the Speaker has four choices, to include a House member, a representative “of a faith-based organization involved with reintegration of inmates,” a previously convicted person, and a “mental health and substance abuse official.”

The President Pro Temp now has four picks: a Senator, representative of a for-profit halfway house specializing in inmate reintegration, a nonprofit with the same purpose, and a district attorney or his/her designee.

Instead, H.B. 2042 would put the number of Reentry Council members at three appointees each for the “Big Three” (governor, speaker, pro temp) on the nine-member panel.

Senate President Pro Temp Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, commented, “There’s a reason we had certain people, or groups to be represented. I’ve not heard any reason that we would want to change that. I’d be interested in sitting down … and getting input on why to change that at this point.”

House Minority Leader Scott Inman, a Del City Democrat, told CapitolBeatOK, “Our caucus is proud supporters of the justice reinvestment initiative. We stood with [former] Speaker [Kris] Steele and provided the margin of victory to pass that important legislation. We were proud to do that. Without our support that historic legislation would not have passed.

“Oklahoma has to find a way either to invest in Corrections or find a way to flatten the curve in incarceration rates.” Inman wanted to study the bill’s particulars before commenting further.

Commenting on Gov. Fallin’s rejection of money for implementation of justice reinvestment, Rep. Inman said, “I can say I was very disappointed in the governor’s decision not to take the CSG grant to help with start up of the justice reinvestment initiative process. I don’t understand that decision.”

“JRI” was modeled on laws in other states, enacted in recent years and proving effective in reducing incarceration, including in neighboring Texas.

When created, the Council was intended to review Corrections policy and “after release” policies, identify program and service gaps and recommend changes, review policies toward volunteers, and review licensing procedures “to eliminate barriers to employment that are unrelated to the conduct underlying the conviction.”

H.B. 2062 also adds to council duties a charge to “monitor the administration and implementation” of the 2012 law, annually evaluate effectiveness and impact, and deliver evaluations to state officials.

Through a spokesman, Speaker of the House T.W. Shannon, R-Lawton, declined comment on the new version of H.B. 2042, which was originally a leadership bill.

You may contact Patrick B. McGuigan at Patrick@capitolbeatok.com and follow us on Twitter: @capitolbeatok.

New tool in fight against meth

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 06:00:00 GMT

To The Editor:

People were understandably perturbed when CNN Money recently reported that Tulsa had more meth labs than any part of the country. It’s important to remind folks that Oklahoma just recently launched a brand new electronic tracking system that will significantly enhance law enforcement’s ability to track and stop meth crime.

The system, known as the National Precursor Log Exchange (NPLEx), will enable police officers and retailers to track pseudoephedrine (PSE) purchases on an electronic database that works instantly and across state lines. Oklahoma has tracked PSE sales electronically for some time, but until NPLEx was adopted, the state was vulnerable to a loophole that allowed meth offenders from neighboring states to evade PSE purchasing limits by coming into our state to buy cold and allergy medicines (the same was true for Oklahoma offenders in other states).

Thanks to NPLEx, this process, which officials call “border shopping,” will no longer be possible. According to Mark Woodward of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, Oklahoma’s old PSE tracking system blocked an average of 80,000 boxes of PSE every year, keeping potentially 80,000 batches of meth off the street. Under Oklahoma’s new NPLEx system, that number is expected to rise considerably.

We all know that we have a long way to go to defeat the scourge of meth facing our state. I’m confident however, that NPLEx provides our police officerswith a significant tool to curtail and diminish the manufacturing and dealing of meth in the state of Oklahoma.

Sincerely,

Eric Clayton, Tulsa, OK

Oklahoma Justice Commission issues final report, adjourns

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 06:00:00 GMT

(Oklahoma City, March 1, 2013) After a two-year review of the justice system in Oklahoma that included everything from DNA and false confessions to eyewitness identification and the use of informants, the Oklahoma Justice Commission (OJC) today released its final report and recommendations.

The commission was established by the Oklahoma Bar Association in September 2010 to “enhance the reliability and accuracy” of convictions in Oklahoma. Led by former Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson, the group included law enforcement officers, defense attorneys, prosecutors, members of the judiciary and victim advocates.

Joining Edmondson for a state Capitol press conference releasing the final report were commissioners Prof. Lawrence K. Hellman of the Oklahoma City University Innocence Project, Jim Stuart (president of the Oklahoma Bar Association), Republican state Rep. Lee Denney of Cushing, Democratic state Sen. Connie Johnson of Oklahoma City, Captain Tim Dorsey of the Edmond Police Department, and Carri Bullard.

“For two years, this diverse group of individuals dedicated themselves to the study and betterment of our justice system,” Edmondson said. “I am proud of their service, and, if enacted, I believe the recommendations issued today will ensure that justice is more efficiently and accurately rendered.”

According to the report, members of the commission first reviewed cases where wrongful convictions occurred. Based on that initial study, the commission identified five broad areas of inquiry for further review including false confessions; eyewitness identifications; forensic evidence, including DNA; general criminal procedure, including the use of informants; and victim and family rights.

“We were surprised to find that 27 percent of the 301 wrongful convictions we studied involved false confessions that were made by suspects during investigation of the crimes,” Edmondson said. “Those were the kinds of things we’ve attempted to redress – instances where a common factor existed and practical ways to prevent future error.”

The commission’s final report includes the recommendation that future confessions be videotaped as the technology and circumstances allow.

“This practice protects law enforcement by preventing allegations of coercion and preserving the subtle details of a suspect’s behavior for investigative and prosecutorial purposes,” Edmondson said. “The commission recognizes this practice may not always be feasible, but we believe it should be standard practice when possible.”

The commission also recommended new procedures for police line-ups and photo identification. The report expresses support for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in its efforts to regain national accreditation, obtain new facilities and secure additional pathologists in order to reach that standard.

“The commission reviewed instances where DNA evidence proved faulty and found that of the cases studied, only one instance occurred in an accredited laboratory,” Edmondson said. “This clear correlation underscores the importance of the work done by the medical examiner’s office, and it is in the public’s interest that they be given the resources and facilities they need to conduct their work.”

The commission also noted that Oklahoma is currently the only state in the U.S. that does not have a post-conviction DNA testing law and proposed legislation to allow access to DNA in cases where additional testing could establish innocence.

Legislation to remedy that fact has been proposed this year by Rep. Denney, a member of the justice commission.

“When a person’s life and liberty are at stake, we have a duty to be as thorough and exacting as possible to ensure that we are not sending an innocent person to prison,” Denney said. “Currently, Oklahoma is the only state in the union that does not have a post-conviction DNA testing process in place. This legislation creates that process, and it enhances the credibility of our justice system.”

“The members of the justice commission recognize that the incarceration of an innocent person is an injustice, not only to the wrongfully convicted, but to society as a whole as they real perpetrator remains at large,” Edmondson said. “The recommendations made in this report were based on thoughtful research and discussion. I am grateful to my fellow committee members and their undertaking of such a serious task, and I appreciate the Oklahoma Bar Association’s work in facilitating the study of these issues.”

The commission dedicated the report and its recommendations to the late Professor J. William Conger, a member of the commission who died Jan. 1.

Editor’s note: For a copy of the full report, visit okbar.org and find the link, presently on the home page.