Articles

Fiscal calamity is brewing and Oklahomans will be hurt without decisive action. State policymakers must end the state’s wind subsidies and other detrimental policies regarding wind energy production.

Session has begun and tobacco users are in bureaucrats’ crosshairs. Tax consumers desire a massive cigarette tax increase to maintain government spending that our private sector economy cannot sustain.

Policymakers will work this legislative session to change the failed status quo. An area that has hassled Oklahomans for decades is alcohol, beer and wine regulation in Oklahoma. Consumers have long called for modernization of Oklahoma’s archaic alcohol, beer and wine laws. Policymakers are heeding the call.

In 2016, it’s time for policymakers to get serious about “right-sizing” government. When it comes to government spending in Oklahoma, the 800-pound gorilla in the room that many people ignore is this simple question: Should government grow faster than the private sector’s ability to pay?

The state and federal constitutions protect a person’s right to his or her property. On the other hand, a person has no right to the proceeds of illegal activities. Unfortunately, a legal innovation known as “civil asset forfeiture” can let the exception trump the constitutional rule.

We are proposing a tax reform for Oklahoma that would reduce Oklahoma's personal income tax rate by 0.25 percentage points each year over the next 20 years. This proposal would ensure adequate revenues for the state, impose fiscal discipline on spending, and, most importantly, improve the incentives to work, save, and produce in Oklahoma. These improved incentives will accelerate the state's economic growth rate and help diversify Oklahoma's economy.

Most Oklahomans are aware of the problems facing our prison system. It’s growing every year because we’re consistently bringing in more people than we are releasing, with receptions in 2014 totaling 10,720 and releases totaling 8,958. Our prison facilities are overcrowded. They are currently at 104.2 percent operational capacity, which includes all the common areas that have been outfitted with additional beds. Our facilities are staffed at less than 67 percent, which, according to a 2013 survey, earned Oklahoma the distinction of having the worst staff-to-inmate ratio in the country. An Associated Press investigation revealed that Oklahoma led the nation with 39 prison inmate homicides during the period from 2001 to 2012, a rate that was more than triple the national average.

In 2015, Oklahoma lawmakers passed a number of important health care reforms. But the work must continue. Oklahoma policymakers have the opportunity to continue to empower patients and medical providers.

Across the country, many are celebrating this week as National School Choice Week. In fact, Martin Luther King III recently marched with more than 10,000 people at a rally calling for more educational choices for families and students.

Last year, the Oklahoma Legislature agreed – with overwhelming support from both political parties – that one group of electricity customers should not be forced to subsidize another group of customers. Now that principle, not to mention state law, is threatened by special interests bent on protecting their unfair advantage.