Articles
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Law & Principles, Good Government
Transparency for government, privacy for people
This is Sunshine Week, an annual reminder that “consent of the governed” means informed consent. Why is government transparency important? Let’s start at the beginning.Trent England | March 14, 2018
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Law & Principles
Know the facts on SQ 640
Some Oklahoma lawmakers are looking to wage war against SQ 640, claiming it confines government by making any revenue-raising measures impossible to pass. But that’s not true.Jonathan Small | January 29, 2018
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Law & Principles
SQ 640 protects taxpayers
If you want to regulate speech, you belittle the First Amendment. If you want to confiscate guns, you vilify the Second Amendment.Jonathan Small | December 1, 2017
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Law & Principles
Rainy day fund raid was unconstitutional
The Attorney General’s opinion takes the position that money in the Constitutional Reserve Fund is entirely up for grabs, so long as whoever does the grabbing does not call it an appropriation.Trent England | October 18, 2017
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Budget & Tax, Law & Principles
Court upholds taxpayer protections
The Oklahoma Supreme Court today struck down the revenue provisions in Senate Bill 845 and, in so doing, upheld limits on legislative power that were added to the Oklahoma Constitution by voters a quarter century ago.Trent England | August 10, 2017
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Law & Principles
Oklahoma Supreme Court hears arguments over authority of SQ 640
Supreme Court Justices listened to attorneys argue about whether State Question 640 applies to several revenue-raising measures passed in the final days of the 2017 legislative session.Jay Chilton | August 9, 2017
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Education, Law & Principles
Prior to preliminary hearing, DA drops Hofmeister charges, for now
Oklahoma’s superintendent of public instruction is at least temporarily free of a prosecution threat and can focus instead on her 2018 reelection campaign.Jay Chilton | August 9, 2017
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Law & Principles
OBA and far left attack Pruitt
Why would a liberal U.S. senator look to a private state lawyers’ group to go after a member of the president’s Cabinet?Jonathan Small | July 28, 2017
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Law & Principles
A tribute to State Question 640
As lawmakers navigated through the final days of the 2017 legislative session, with debates over budget gaps and proposed tax increases, some who love the idea of soaking the taxpayers for all they can get bemoaned the existence of one of the most important constitutional safeguards in state history: State Question 640, passed overwhelmingly by the voters in 1992.Jonathan Small | July 13, 2017
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Law & Principles
Playground fight ends at Supreme Court
Trinity Lutheran Church operates a preschool in Boone County, Missouri. The state, to encourage tire recycling and improve safety for children, gives grants for resurfacing playgrounds with rubber made from ground-up old tires.Trent England | June 27, 2017