Articles
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Budget & Tax
Never enough: Despite record revenues, agencies want even more
No matter the circumstances, government will always want more.Curtis Shelton | May 6, 2019
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Health Care
Medicaid expansion: Arkansas’ costly mistake
Some Oklahoma lawmakers want to follow Arkansas’ model on Medicaid expansion, but the “Arkansas Plan” led to $1.4 billion in cost overruns and actually cost taxpayers twice as much as ordinary Obamacare Medicaid expansion.Kaitlyn Finley | May 6, 2019
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Education
Tax-credit program helping rural students
A state tax-credit program, derided by union activists, is helping increase educational opportunity in rural public schools.Ray Carter | May 6, 2019
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Education
OEA’s liberal stances escape many lawmakers’ notice
The divide between the stances many Republican lawmakers claim to champion and the positions embraced by the OEA/NEA is stark.Ray Carter | May 3, 2019
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Criminal Justice
Trump cited as model for Oklahoma on corrections
A former inmate freed as the result of a federal corrections-reform law championed by President Donald Trump urged state lawmakers to follow the president’s lead and enact similar reforms in Oklahoma.Ray Carter | May 2, 2019
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Higher Education
Nazi fears stoked in free-speech debate
Opponents of a free-speech bill signed into legislation argue the law's unintended consequences will turn college campuses into recruitment centers for white supremacists and similar groups. However, according to one expert, those claims are contradicted by real-world outcomes and the text of the law.Ray Carter | May 2, 2019
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Health Care
Study: Hospitals raised prices after Medicaid expansion
A new study shows that hospitals used taxpayer subsidies from Medicaid expansion to fuel an “arms race” of building expensive new facilities and buying out smaller practices while continuing to raise prices.Kaitlyn Finley | May 1, 2019
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Education
OEA silence on ‘diversion’ of school funds is deafening
Less than a week after declaring strong opposition to tax credit legislation because such bills supposedly divert money from public schools, the Oklahoma Education Association has abandoned that stance and ignored millions in new tax credits, Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs President Jonathan Small noted today.Staff | May 1, 2019
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Budget & Tax
Stitt committed to state savings effort
In 2016, state lawmakers voted to create a Revenue Stabilization Fund that would hold any oil-and-gas tax collections that exceed a rolling five-year average. It’s possible the savings fund could receive a deposit of as much as $400 million next year. But Gov. Kevin Stitt says some lawmakers already want to reduce and redirect those savings.Ray Carter | April 29, 2019
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Health Care
Stitt discusses details, timeline for his Medicaid reform plan
At a recent town hall meeting in Kingfisher, Gov. Kevin Stitt reiterated his opposition to a ballot initiative that would expand Oklahoma’s Medicaid program and said he plans to offer an alternative in the summer.Ray Carter | April 29, 2019