Articles
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Law & Principles
Lawmakers vote to repeal ‘threading’ regulation
Threaders remove hair from customers’ eyebrows and upper lips using simple thread. The practice does not involve the use of chemicals, heat, or wax. But in Oklahoma, threaders are nonetheless required to obtain a cosmetology license—even though the licensing process includes no training in threading.Ray Carter | February 13, 2020
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Education
Marijuana tax could pay for school buildings
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.Ray Carter | February 13, 2020
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Budget & Tax, Law & Principles
Lawmakers advance funding transparency measure
Attempting to build on reforms enacted last year, members of a Senate committee voted Wednesday to require increased public reporting on the use of federal funds by state and local governments in Oklahoma.Ray Carter | February 12, 2020
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Good Government
Citizen-engagement privacy is essential
If you can’t speak anonymously or join confidentially, you have no zone of privacy and the state has no limits.Amy Anderson | February 12, 2020
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Budget & Tax, Health Care
Bill would save state money, then give savings to tribal governments
Oklahoma state government could generate millions of dollars in savings by cost-shifting Medicaid costs to the federal government, but half of state government savings would then be given to tribal governments under legislation approved by a Senate committee on Monday.Ray Carter | February 11, 2020
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Education
Senate leader: Tax-credit scholarships help kids who ‘lack opportunity’
Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat said this week the Senate is prepared to increase the cap on Oklahoma’s tax-credit scholarship program, throwing his support behind a proposal highlighted by Gov. Kevin Stitt in his State of the State address.Ray Carter | February 11, 2020
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Law & Principles
Environmental extremism harms the poor, speaker warns
Because his father worked for the U.S. State Department, Calvin Beisner spent part of his childhood in Calcutta, India. Walking down Calcutta streets as a child gave him a close look at true poverty, and the experience continues to shape his view of many environmental debates today.Ray Carter | February 11, 2020
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Health Care
Funding Medicaid expansion through hospital fees draws opposition
The Supplemental Hospital Offset Payment Program (SHOPP), a state fee assessed on hospitals’ net patient revenue that operates much like a traditional income tax, has been touted as a way to fund Oklahoma’s state share of Medicaid-expansion costs.Ray Carter | February 10, 2020
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Education
How much money does a government school monopoly need?
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.Greg Forster, Ph.D. | February 10, 2020
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Education
Seemingly harmless choice regulations compromise families’ privacy
In another state, the government school monopoly has provided Oklahoma with an object lesson. It handed over private, personal data on families in one of its choice programs to a lobbying group that opposes choice.Greg Forster, Ph.D. | February 7, 2020