Articles
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Law & Principles
Stitt offers tribes status-quo deal on tobacco compacts
Gov. Kevin Stitt has offered tribal governments a one-year extension of state-tribal compacts that maintains the status quo as it has existed for nearly a decade, including payment of millions of dollars to tribes that the state does not legally have to provide.Ray Carter | June 29, 2023
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Law & Principles
Record contradicts tribe’s public-safety claim
The recent U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit ruled that American Indians are exempt from local enforcement of speeding laws and other municipal regulations in areas lying within some Oklahoma tribes’ historic reservation lines. The cross-deputization of tribal and local police offered as a solution has already failed to address existing problems.Ray Carter | June 29, 2023
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Budget & Tax
Oklahoma needs to get moving on tax cuts
Oklahoma needs to move quickly if it wants to reap the benefits of being an early mover on tax reform. Oklahoma has long been a relatively low-tax state, but the recent reluctance to continue the reduction in the state’s income tax may result in other states passing us by.Curtis Shelton | June 29, 2023
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Law & Principles
Court rules Indians exempt from traffic laws
If any individual member of an American Indian tribe wants to ignore the speed limit in Tulsa—say, by driving 100 miles-per-hour through a school zone—that individual can do so without fear of facing a ticket or charges by city police under a new ruling issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit.Ray Carter | June 28, 2023
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Law & Principles
OCPA defends ban on child sex-change surgeries
OCPA has joined with medical professionals to defend a new state law that prevents children younger than 18 from being subjected to sex-change surgeries or given puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones.Ray Carter | June 28, 2023
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Law & Principles
Court cases show Oklahoma has enforcement power over tribes
Senators were told there was no scenario in which the state could collect all tobacco taxes it is owed—those generated by tobacco sales to non-Indians—because the state cannot sue a tribal government. But court decisions show otherwise, with courts ruling that Oklahoma state government can enforce its tax laws even when dealing with tribal actors who are breaking state law.Ray Carter | June 27, 2023
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Education
One in four voters say Oklahoma education providing a good return on investment
Public school spending in Oklahoma is $11,754 per student. Are taxpayers getting a good return on their investment?Brandon Dutcher | June 26, 2023
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Law & Principles
Senate sustains Stitt veto on tribal compacts—for now
By a one-vote margin, members of the Oklahoma Senate have voted to sustain Gov. Kevin Stitt’s veto of a legislatively drafted state-tribal compact on tobacco taxes.Ray Carter | June 26, 2023
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Law & Principles
Tribe uses vehicle revenue for political activity
A Cherokee Nation budget document obtained by OCPA indicates that, in addition to using money from vehicle registration and car tags for schools and roads, some of the money goes for political activity.Ray Carter | June 23, 2023
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Budget & Tax, Law & Principles
Even without compacts, state will collect taxes
Some believe that all the revenue being collected through tribal compacts would disappear if the tobacco compacts expired. That is not correct. Even without compacts, the state will collect taxes.Jonathan Small, Curtis Shelton & Ryan Haynie | June 23, 2023