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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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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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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Law & Principles
Voters may get chance to pass lawsuit reform
To address problems created by an Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling issued last year, state voters could be given the opportunity to amend the Oklahoma Constitution to cap noneconomic damages under legislation awaiting a vote this session.Ray Carter | February 7, 2020
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Law & Principles, Good Government
Court arguments highlight redistricting plan’s potential impact
Arguments before the Oklahoma Supreme Court highlighted how an initiative-petition proposal, which would strip the Oklahoma Legislature of redistricting power and place that authority with an outside commission, could play out in practice.Ray Carter | January 22, 2020
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Law & Principles
Lawmakers adopt rules to impede abuse of audit office
Members of the Oversight Committee for the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT) approved rules that would prevent any single legislator or LOFT employee from unilaterally targeting an agency or government official with audits.Ray Carter | December 11, 2019
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Law & Principles
Ruling means one less hoop in redistricting process
In an opinion issued Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that partisanship cannot be a factor weighed by judges in redistricting challenges.Ray Carter | June 27, 2019
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Health Care, Law & Principles
Court rejects Medicaid petition challenge
Making an apparent about-face from a similar ruling issued just a year ago, the Oklahoma Supreme Court found Tuesday that a Medicaid-expansion petition could proceed, even though its gist contained material several justices conceded was misleading to voters.Ray Carter | June 18, 2019
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Law & Principles
Tulsa attorney files landmark suit against Oklahoma Bar Association
A Tulsa attorney has filed a lawsuit against the Oklahoma Bar Association in an effort to break the OBA’s monopoly on licensing and collecting dues from members of the legal profession.Mike Brake | May 16, 2019
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Law & Principles
State leaders consider response to court’s ruling on lawsuit reform
This week the Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down a lawsuit-reform law that capped noneconomic (“pain and suffering”) damages at $350,000, declaring it a “special law” that unconstitutionally treated similarly situated plaintiffs differently. State political, business, and medical leaders all say there will be an effort to reinstitute the cap, which has been declared vital to keeping doctors in Oklahoma and improving the state’s attractiveness to entrepreneurs.Ray Carter | April 26, 2019