Here are excerpts from recent editorials in Oklahoma newspapers:
Enid News & Eagle. May 19, 2017.
States that depend heavily on oil and gas revenue are getting down to brass tacks this budget season.
Revenue is down across the board for these boom-and-bust economies, leading to painful budget cuts and desperate measures at generating revenue.
When the legislative session started in February, Oklahoma lawmakers knew the state was facing a nearly $900 million budget shortfall.
That didn’t stop the clown car of certain legislators from filing irrelevant, ideological bills that might prove a point but would end up costing the state money it doesn’t have.
After years of belt-tightening, additional expense cuts face strong and emotional objections. The truth is it’s really hard to raise revenue in Oklahoma when commodity prices are down. And a well-meaning constitutional amendment in 1992 makes it nearly impossible to raise taxes.
The approved State Question 640 requires future state tax increases to be approved by at least three-fourths of the Legislature. Oklahomans still have an opportunity to petition for a statewide vote after a nearly impossible three-fourths vote of both houses because the hike won’t take effect until 90 days after being signed into law.
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin’s State of the State plan to plug the budget hole went over like a lead balloon. Her proposal to tack on all kinds of service fees - from pet groomers, tattoos and car washes, etc. - received little support.
Fallin deserves some credit for being creative, but our brainstorming is leading to desperation. What’s next? A bake sale or raffle to support the state’s general fund?
By law, our Legislature is required to pass a balanced budget, and Oklahoma’s governor must submit a balanced budget proposal.
Yet again, we’re haggling over the budget during the session’s eleventh hour. State agencies are in limbo with an exceptionally unclear budgetary picture in late May.
Whatever happened to long-term planning?
Cakewalk fundraisers clearly aren’t cutting the mustard. If we can’t change the constitutional amendment on taxes, maybe it’s time to consider biennial budgeting, which would occur every two years.
Several states are simultaneously enacting separate budgets for two fiscal years. Legislators could introduce their pet projects on the off years, helping to foster more fiscal discipline.
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The Oklahoman. May 23, 2017.
It’s not likely the nation’s 57 attorneys general - this total includes the U.S. territories - find many causes that produce the varied members’ overwhelming support. That 51 of them are asking for help regarding Medicare Part D funds indicates Congress should lend an ear.
In a letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the committee’s ranking member, the attorneys general spell out their concerns regarding millions of dollars they believe should be returned to the states. At issue are funds recovered from pharmaceutical fraud settlements involving prescription drug benefits.
States and the federal government together fund Medicaid. Prior to 2006, the AGs noted, state Medicaid programs paid directly for outpatient prescription drug benefits for individuals covered by both Medicaid and Medicare. States that received a Medicaid recovery would share it with the feds.
Since 2006, Medicare has paid directly for Part D drugs but states have shared in the costs through monthly “clawback” payments. Although Part D changed the cost-sharing structure, the attorneys general say, the states and the federal government have continued to jointly fund outpatient prescription drugs for dual-eligible beneficiaries.
The AGs estimate the states have contributed $80 billion in payments to the federal government for prescription drugs covered by Medicare Part D, and that payments this year are expected to exceed $11 billion.
“Over the past decade,” the AGs say in their letter, “the Federal government has settled numerous national health care cases and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars in Part D funding, but has never returned any of these funds to the states.”
According to the letter, the government has said it’s prevented from returning these funds because of a law, called the Monetary Receipts Act, that requires that “any money received ’for the Government’ from any source be deposited into the United States Treasury unless Congress has specifically authorized the agency to retain such money.”
The attorneys general argue, though, that the purpose of the Monetary Receipts Act is to keep executive agencies from augmenting their own appropriations. That wouldn’t be the case “when returning Part D recoveries to the very same state Medicaid programs that, along with the Federal government, fund the prescription drug expenditures at issue,” the AGs say.
Simply put, Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter said, in a recent news release, implementation of Medicare Part D in 2006 “did not include a reimbursement for the states after fraud charges had been settled.” Oklahoma could certainly use the help in its fight against prescription drug fraud.
The AGs are asking Congress to pass a law authorizing the federal government to share these recoveries with the state “as a matter of equity and fundamental fairness.”
This seems a reasonable request. We’ll see whether a united group of attorneys general can convince a deeply divided Congress of that.
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Tulsa World. May 23, 2017.
The Sept. 16 fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by a white Tulsa police officer has brought several calls for change from people affected, and we think a lot of those ideas have merit.
Based on the public comments of the jury that heard the manslaughter case against Officer Betty Shelby, the family of Terence Crutcher and the proposals of the grass-roots group We the People Oklahoma, we endorse this program for reform:
- Police shootings uniformly should be subjected to independent investigations and prosecutions. Such a reform would help remove doubt about prejudice in favor of police officers in those processes.
In a letter released after the not guilty verdict, the jury in the Shelby case raised concerns that police treat deadly force investigations of fellow officers differently than they do investigations of other citizens in similar situations.
Police Chief Chuck Jordan recently said that the methods used by police are best practices and Tulsa police might well treat others the same way if there were truly comparable situations.
We understand the concerns of the jury and will point out that the issue would not be as difficult, if the Tulsa police weren’t in the position of investigating their own officers.
- Police should receive mandatory training in implicit bias, dealing with mentally disabled and intoxicated people, and de-escalation methods.
- Police also should have annual mental health screenings and individual liability insurance policies.
- Police dashcams should be activated during every stop, and body cameras, when distributed, should be active during potential deadly force situations.
- Within the limits of safety, police officers should be required to immediately provide first aid to people shot by officers.
- All police and sheriff’s policies should be put online and be accessible to the public.
- Officers involved in shootings should receive drug and psychiatric screenings.
- Police records should be transparent, including revised reports.
None of those ideas seem unreasonable to us in principle. Some will require refining and potentially be subject to collective bargaining negotiations; but we believe TPD leaders are smart enough to achieve those goals quickly in the interest of justice and that police union leaders will recognize that many of the reforms will help officers document their innocence, if they are blameless.
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