Following is an excerpt from OCPA’s Proposed State Budget for the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2013. With Oklahoma government spending at an all-time high (see chart), the time has come to set priorities and to exercise spending discipline.The state should cease subsidizing the use of alternative fuels with state appropriatio...

The Bill of Rights Institute, a nonprofit organization which provides educational resources on America’s founding documents, is hosting a professional-development seminar for teachers on September 20 in Tulsa. According to the Institute, participants will:•    Receive a complimentary copy of Supreme Court DBQs,...

Following is an excerpt from OCPA’s Proposed State Budget for the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2013. With Oklahoma government spending at an all-time high (see chart), the time has come to set priorities and to exercise spending discipline.The most significant driver of state spending growth is federal funds, or what tax cons...

No, that's not the movie we'll be watching, but we will be watching some powerful mini-documentaries (click here for a 60-second promo) about Oklahoma special-needs children who are receiving Henry Scholarships. Details are forthcoming, but for now I encourage you to mark your calendars for a July 31 movie-and-popcorn night, ...

Following is an excerpt from OCPA’s Proposed State Budget for the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2013. With Oklahoma government spending at an all-time high (see chart), the time has come to set priorities and to exercise spending discipline.The state owns many assets that are not related to core functions of government or are ...

You may not be aware of this, but there’s a significant movement beginning to take shape—a revolution in free-market medical care—and Oklahoma City figures prominently in it.The Surgery Center of Oklahoma, founded by Dr. Keith Smith and Dr. Steven Lantier, has been the subject of news stories on KOCO, KWTV, and elsewhere. The...

“College costs are up, graduate pay is down, and 40 percent of students never get a degree,” Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports. “For many, return on investment is a cruel joke.”Some colleges and universities in Oklahoma boast a respectable return on investment (congratulations to the University of Tulsa, which tops the list). Bu...

Following is an excerpt from OCPA’s Proposed State Budget for the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2013. With Oklahoma government spending at an all-time high (see chart), the time has come to set priorities and to exercise spending discipline.Policymakers enacted significant pension reforms in 2011, but the work is not done. The...

Five years ago in Perspective, OCPA’s monthly magazine, Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse made the case that it was time to shut down the Women’s Studies program at the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Morse, who has taught economics at Yale University and elsewhere, said it makes no sense for taxpayers to support an academic program devo...

Following is an excerpt from OCPA’s Proposed State Budget for the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2013. With Oklahoma government spending at an all-time high (see chart), the time has come to set priorities and to exercise spending discipline.Whether it is the Oklahoma Health Care Authority board’s indifference to a high directo...

“There is no business I’d rather be in than public policy,” says my friend Joe Lehman of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a free-market think tank in Michigan. “You might think charts and data and legalese and general wonkery are boring. But public policy is actually very exciting for one basic reason: Policy changes li...

Following is an excerpt from OCPA’s Proposed State Budget for the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2013. With Oklahoma government spending at an all-time high (see chart), the time has come to set priorities and to exercise spending discipline.Lawmakers should eliminate administrative funds spent on the 10 duplicative conservatio...

Following is an excerpt from OCPA’s Proposed State Budget for the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2013. With Oklahoma government spending at an all-time high (see chart), the time has come to set priorities and to exercise spending discipline.Regardless of revenue levels, lawmakers continue (at times unconstitutionally) to take ...

Following is an excerpt from OCPA’s Proposed State Budget for the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2013. With Oklahoma government spending at an all-time high (see chart), the time has come to set priorities and to exercise spending discipline.As OCPA has noted previously, “An example of non-core spending in state government is s...

With a modest workers’ compensation reform idea dead for 2012, now is the time to turn our attention to the only work comp reform that ultimately matters. To that end, I commend to your attention a new OCPA report, “Once More into the Breach: The Path to Effective Workers’ Compensation Reform in Oklahoma.” Law professor Andre...

Following is an excerpt from OCPA’s Proposed State Budget for the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2013. With Oklahoma government spending at an all-time high (see chart), the time has come to set priorities and to exercise spending discipline.According to the website of the Kiamichi Economic Development District of Oklahoma (KED...

I was in Colorado Springs last week where the essayist and scholar Kevin J. “Seamus” Hasson, founder of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, was awarded The Heritage Foundation’s 2012 Salvatori Prize for American Citizenship. I had the opportunity to shake Hasson’s hand and thank him for defending special-needs kids in Okla...

Following is an excerpt from OCPA’s Proposed State Budget for the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2013. With Oklahoma government spending at an all-time high (see chart), the time has come to set priorities and to exercise spending discipline.The Oklahoma Department of Public Safety (DPS) issues thousands of drivers’ licenses pe...

Following is an excerpt from OCPA’s Proposed State Budget for the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2013. With Oklahoma government spending at an all-time high (see chart), the time has come to set priorities and to exercise spending discipline.According to the state’s FY 2011 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, total state spe...

Following is an excerpt from OCPA’s Proposed State Budget for the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2013. With Oklahoma government spending at an all-time high (see chart), the time has come to set priorities and to exercise spending discipline.Lawmakers trying to be “right on crime” are making the right moves regarding correction...