Articles
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Law & Principles
Opioid case prompts cap on attorney fees
Oklahoma lawmakers have voted to cap the amount state agencies can pay to contract lawyers after attorneys involved with the state’s opioid lawsuit were promised millions in return for their services.Ray Carter | March 10, 2020
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Education, Agriculture
Politicized teaching feared with ‘climate change’ standards
The inclusion of “climate change” material in Oklahoma’s new science standards for public schools, beginning as early as middle school, has business leaders concerned classrooms could become politicized and schools weaponized against economically foundational industries.Ray Carter | March 6, 2020
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Health Care
Democrat praises GOP’s embrace of Obamacare
GOP Gov. Kevin Stitt’s embrace of Obamacare Medicaid expansion and Republican legislative leaders’ efforts to assist in that effort has reaped backhanded praise from an unexpected source: legislative Democrats who have long championed the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its Medicaid expansion.Ray Carter | March 6, 2020
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Law & Principles
Free speech argument prevails over ‘dark money’ complaint
Protection of free speech prevailed over complaints of “dark money” in legislative debate as the Oklahoma House of Representatives voted to increase privacy protections for donors to nonprofit entities.Ray Carter | March 5, 2020
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Education
Scholarship program critics do about-face on tax credits
This week many who lambaste the tax-credit scholarship program voted to provide up to $50 million in tax credits to mostly out-of-state film producers, diverting a far greater sum from the state’s general revenue fund. And they supported the film program even though independent research shows its return on investment is a small fraction of the return generated by scholarship tax credits.Ray Carter | March 4, 2020
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Education, Culture & the Family
Alleged assault points up dangers of OEA/NEA ‘gender-neutral’ bathroom push
An 18-year-old student at Rhinelander High School was recently arrested for child enticement, fourth-degree sexual assault, and exposing genitals to a child. The alleged incident occurred in the school’s gender-neutral bathroom.Staff | March 4, 2020
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Law & Principles
Donor privacy protections gain bipartisan support
The personal information of donors to nonprofit organizations would be protected under legislation that passed without opposition in the Oklahoma Senate.Ray Carter | March 3, 2020
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Education, Culture & the Family
Many Oklahoma teachers, union activists, support Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders, the self-described “democratic socialist” running for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, has long courted Oklahoma teachers. Public records suggest that, for many teachers, the admiration is mutual.Ray Carter | March 2, 2020
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Law & Principles
USAO event implies a narrow range of views among women
One hundred years ago today, the Oklahoma Legislature ratified the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. It’s a centennial worth celebrating—but a planned panel discussion at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (USAO) this evening entirely misses why.Tina Korbe Dzurisin | February 28, 2020
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Budget & Tax, Good Government
Lawmakers vote to increase state’s unfunded liability
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.Ray Carter | February 28, 2020