A personal archive of the published articles sent from Oklahoma's Premier Conservative Think Tank.
While Gov. Kevin Stitt’s call to renegotiate Oklahoma’s gaming compacts has drawn opposition, Stitt’s proposal would not be the first alteration of those state-tribal agreements. In fact, just over a year ago, the compacts were indirectly revised. And the year-ago revisions drew opposition not from tribal governments, but from officials who felt the new agreement shortchanged state government.
For Oklahoma lawmakers seeking to boost economic growth and job creation in Oklahoma, one expert says a key step is to pare down regulation. “There is considerable evidence, academic evidence, that regulations slow economic growth.”
In addition to raising concerns about government accountability and indirect funneling of taxpayer dollars to political campaigns, schools’ use of contract lobbyists may also reduce government transparency and sidestep open-records laws.
When advocates discuss expanding Oklahoma’s Medicaid welfare program, they typically suggest beneficiaries will be financially struggling individuals. But this week’s meeting of the legislative Healthcare Working Group focused on a very different group of expansion beneficiaries: People who have just re-entered society after being convicted of crimes that sent them to prison.
Tribal governments have objected to Gov. Kevin Stitt’s suggestion that fees paid by tribes to state government should be boosted higher than the current 6-percent rate on slot machines. Yet, at the same time, three Oklahoma tribes are seeking to open casinos in Arkansas where the gambling tax rate is as high as 20 percent.
Like many colleges and universities, the University of Oklahoma has a “bias reporting hotline” that allows any aggrieved or offended party to anonymously inform on fellow members of their OU family.
What kinds of incident reports have come in—and how were they dealt with? OU won’t say.
In recent years, both the Trump and Obama administrations have rejected states’ proposals to reform their Medicaid programs and have scaled back federal Medicaid matching dollars.
Members of the Healthcare Working Group, a bicameral special committee studying potential expansion of Medicaid to able-bodied adults, were told Wednesday that personal behaviors are more to blame for many of Oklahoma’s low health rankings than a lack of insurance coverage.
Some liberal activists want to require Oklahoma and other states to eliminate runoff primaries and instead use “ranked choice” voting. But Oklahoma’s top election official warns that change would involve substantial taxpayer expense and likely voter confusion.
Last week the Trump administration blocked Utah’s efforts to partially expand Medicaid eligibility to able-bodied, working-age adults. Now Utah will likely move forward with a full Medicaid expansion plan despite budgetary concerns from lawmakers.
Thanks to an expansion of the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship program, caregivers and adoptive parents of foster children can enroll students in a private school of their choosing that aligns more closely with their child’s specific needs.
Although Oklahoma’s crime rates have declined over the past twenty years, the state’s incarceration rate has continued to rise during the same time period.
Whereas the majority of casinos in other states are commercially owned, Oklahoma’s casino and gaming compacts have effectively established a monopoly for tribal casinos and gaming. Gov. Kevin Stitt believes it’s time to renegotiate the compacts.