A personal archive of the published articles sent from Oklahoma's Premier Conservative Think Tank.
House lawmakers have voted to increase benefit payments to some state government retirees, but have chosen not to provide an appropriation to fund the additional expense. Instead, lawmakers voted to raid pension system assets to cover the cost of the higher monthly payments, which will reduce the systems’ solvency, and they advanced the bill despite lacking any firm estimate of the associated cost.
Gov. Kevin Stitt has endorsed Medicaid expansion and urged lawmakers to enact a de facto tax increase to pay for it. A related funding measure was placed on a Feb. 26 committee agenda for a morning vote, but the committee did not convene. The reasons for the delay were not immediately revealed, but challenges continue to surround the tax-increase proposal, ranging from the fact that it will not generate enough revenue to cover the state cost of Medicaid expansion to suggestions the proposal may be illegal .
Legislation that would increase the appointment power of the governor, House speaker, and Senate president pro tempore has gained easy approval in a Senate committee.
The operations of the Oklahoma Supreme Court and the state’s Judicial Nominating Commission have long drawn criticism for excessive secrecy and lack of public transparency. Two bills that have cleared a Senate committee seek to address that problem.
Six Republican senators joined Democrats to defeat legislation that would require routine recertification elections for education unions, providing a victory for a teachers’ union that recently gave failing grades to most of Oklahoma’s congressional delegation.
Members of a Senate committee have advanced legislation related to overhaul of state government workforce regulations, a goal endorsed by Gov. Kevin Stitt.
The University of Oklahoma Black Student Association is hosting one of America’s most notorious left-wing activists today.
When Gov. Kevin Stitt proposed a vote of the people to make the office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction appointive rather than elective, he was suggesting that Oklahoma join a growing consensus among states that appoint their chief state school official.
Legislation to protect Oklahomans’ privacy when citizens support political causes has received strong bipartisan support in a Senate committee.
Legislation imposing new reporting mandates on a school-choice program has passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives even though the legislation does not include specific student-privacy protections that ensure compliance with federal law.
Oklahoma schools with limited or no local property tax funding would receive marijuana tax revenue to help cover building costs under legislation approved by a Senate committee on Wednesday.
If you can’t speak anonymously or join confidentially, you have no zone of privacy and the state has no limits.
OCPA is creating a scorecard so that citizens can easily see how state senators and state representatives voted on issues related to the principles of free markets, limited government and individual initiative. This is a watch list of bills that may be included on the scorecard.
In Oklahoma as elsewhere, there is no upper limit to demands for more money from a government school system that has consistently squandered regular spending increases. However much we spend, it’s never enough; however big the spending increase is, it’s still so small that expecting to see any results from it is unreasonable.
To address problems created by an Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling issued last year, state voters could be given the opportunity to amend the Oklahoma Constitution to cap noneconomic damages under legislation awaiting a vote this session.
In his second State of the State address, Gov. Kevin Stitt mostly urged fiscal restraint, calling for increased state savings and agency consolidation, but he also promoted a tax/fee increase to fund a major expansion of welfare through Medicaid.
OCPA is creating a scorecard so that citizens can easily see how state senators and state representatives voted on issues related to the principles of free markets, limited government and individual initiative. This is a watch list of bills that may be included on the scorecard.