Articles
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Culture & the Family
Effort to bar child access to porn overcomes critic pushback
Oklahoma could soon join the list of states with age-verification laws for porn content, despite the objections of some lawmakers who raise First Amendment concerns and worry that the bill could “make it harder for adults to access adult content.”Ray Carter | March 21, 2024
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Higher Education
OU, state mental-health agency tout ‘pregnant people’
Oklahoma’s “mental health” department went to great lengths to avoid referencing the existence of “women” or “mothers”—instead touting “pregnant people,” “individuals who are pregnant,” and “pregnant and parenting people.”Ray Carter | March 20, 2024
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Judicial Reform
‘It’s not the most transparent process’: McCall notes problems with JNC
Members of the Oklahoma Senate have approved legislation that would allow voters to reform Oklahoma’s judicial-selection process. The proposed state constitutional amendment would eliminate the secretive Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC) and instead adopt the model established in the U.S. Constitution that allows the executive to nominate any qualified person to serve as judge, subject to legislative approval.Ray Carter | March 19, 2024
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Budget & Tax
Economic growth allows tax cuts, not just spending
In the last six years, Oklahoma’s economy has grown dramatically, allowing state lawmakers to dramatically increase state government spending. House Speaker Charles McCall said that revenue growth also highlights the need for lawmakers to pass income-tax cuts this year.Ray Carter | March 18, 2024
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Culture & the Family
Activists tout Owasso student’s death even as story unravels
Even as the left-wing narrative unravels—and it becomes clear that an Owasso girl’s tragic death was not the result of any state law or politician’s rhetoric—2SLGBTQ+ activists, President Joe Biden, and some Oklahoma Republicans persist.Ray Carter | March 18, 2024
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Culture & the Family
Age-verification bill merits Oklahoma lawmakers’ support
Oklahoma state lawmakers are considering bills to better prevent child exposure to pornography. Those bills deserve legislators’ support.Jonathan Small | March 18, 2024
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Law & Principles
House approves ban on ranked-choice voting
The Oklahoma House just passed a bill that would ban “ranked choice” voting, a model that has caused significant problems in other states, from being used in state elections.Ray Carter | March 14, 2024
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Education
School-choice program improvements easily advance
Bills making the Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax program easier for families to access, and weed out potential abuse of the program, have easily advanced from both chambers of the Oklahoma Legislature.Ray Carter | March 14, 2024
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Budget & Tax
House cuts taxes for all
All Oklahomans would see their tax burden reduced, and the personal income tax would be put on the path to full elimination, under legislation overwhelmingly approved by members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives.Ray Carter | March 14, 2024
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Education
School choice coda: Let them lick toes
Right now, school board elections are dominated by school employees and other insiders, with tiny turnouts that protect their power. Let's move school board elections to the normal election cycle so that normal voters participate.Trent England | March 13, 2024