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Anti-tax "zombies" in Oklahoma were stopped outside the entrance to the state Capitol on Saturday in a staged event by groups supporting tax increases to prevent cuts to health, education and other services. The event by Together Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Policy Institute was filmed for videos to be posted on Facebook and Twitter and comes as state lawmakers are in special session to address a $215 million budget hole.
The Oklahoma Legislature returned to the Capitol Monday for the start of a special legislative session to address a $215 million shortfall in the state budget, but have not yet reached a deal on exactly how to plug the revenue gap. Members of the House and Senate met briefly to formally hear bills, and the House seated two new Democratic members elected in special elections over the summer.
IN a narrow 5-4 decision, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that a new car tax is not subject to the Oklahoma Constitution's 75 percent supermajority requirement for enacting new taxes. The court said lawmakers didn't need supermajorities to remove tax The practical effect is that lawmakers are now free to approve literally billions in tax increases - as that term would be understood by a layman - with only simple majorities.
A state Muslim civil liberties group, governor and state Republican party are responding after a Facebook post by a Republican state representative equated the removal of confederate monuments after the Civil War to removing mosques after the 9-11 terror attacks. State Rep. John Bennett, R-Salisaw, posted on his Facebook timeline early Thursday morning "If we're removing confederate monuments after the Civil War, I think we should also be removing mosques after 9/11."
Buena Vista wind farm turbines photographed in the Altamont area of Contra Costa County, Calif., on Friday, May 8, 2015. The question of how many birds are killed on the Altamont Pass by the wind turbines located there has once again reared its ugly head.
In a hand delivered lawsuit two tobacco industry powerhouses say the state's newly passed cigarette price increase is illegal. Tobacco giants Phillip Morris USA and RJ Reynolds are suing Oklahoma over a recently passed $1.50 fee on cigarettes.
The Latest on the not guilty verdict in the manslaughter trial of a white Oklahoma police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black man. : Demonstrators blocked a main road in downtown Tulsa for a short period of time after a police officer was found not guilty of manslaughter in the shooting of an unarmed black man.
A Massachusetts doctoral student is trying to force the CIA to open up about how it uses jokes on social media. A Massachusetts doctoral student is trying to force the CIA to open up about how it uses jokes on social media.
Back in the 1930s, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously referred to states as “laboratories of democracy.” Enraged by the hundreds of thousands of women who peacefully took to the street in Washington in January, and the activists who camped out to block the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline, lawmakers in 20 states are debating or voting on more than 30 bills aimed at criminalizing or otherwise cracking down on the protest movements spawned by President Donald Trump's administration. But critics say that, in their haste, these lawmakers are shredding the Constitution and stomping on free speech rights as they shovel the proposals into the legislative maw.
Apparently not satisfied with the progress on the state budget, the Senate amended a House bill with a Senate budget proposal Monday and sent it back to the lower chamber for consideration, Senate Pro Tem Mike Schulz said. But House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, said the Senate proposal contains a "poison pill" - an increase in the fuel tax.
The Oklahoma Senate has given final legislative approval to a bill to repeal the trigger that would cut the state's individual income tax rate from 5 percent to 4.85 percent. The Senate voted 32-9 for the bill Monday, sending it to Gov. Mary Fallin who is expected to sign it.
The Oklahoma Legislature faces political gridlock as lawmakers balk at legislation to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue and close an $878 million hole in next year's budget to avoid catastrophic cuts to state agencies and services. Republican Gov. Mary Fallin has called for a "major overhaul" of the state's tax system and says she is willing to veto any budget that does not include new revenue for the fiscal year that begins on July 1. So far, lawmakers have supported adjusting the state income tax standard deduction and attaching fees to tickets to professional sporting events to raise relatively small amounts of revenue.
Gov. Mary Fallin has vetoed a bill pushed by the payday lending industry that would have added to the kinds of high-interest loans to be offered in the state. Fallin issued her veto message late Friday, saying she had concerns about the impact that House Bill 1913 would have on low-income families in Oklahoma.
Almost three-fourths of Oklahoma voters are opposed to Gov. Mary Fallin's proposed half-cent tax on wind generation, according to a new poll sponsored by a wind advocacy group. The State Chamber also is voicing opposition to the plan.
In this Feb. 6, 2017, file photo, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin delivers her State of the State address in Oklahoma City as Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb listens at left.
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Attorney Blake Lawrence, left, answers a question about a lawsuit against Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt over public access to official emails, in Oklahoma City, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017. Looking on are Brady Henderson, center, and Ryan Kiesel, both of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma.
The problems will be familiar in the 2017 Oklahoma legislative session: crowded public schools with teachers desperate for a pay raise, overcrowded prisons, a Highway Patrol facing furloughs and dozens of other cash-strapped agencies that have cut services to the bone. But lawmakers who return to the Capitol in February will also be faced with a budget hole of nearly $870 million - about 12 percent of state spending - resulting from slumping energy prices, years of tax cuts and costly tax subsidies for businesses and industries.
After two consecutive years of deep cuts to state agencies, including public education, the Oklahoma Legislature will again be grappling with another budget hole estimated to be about $868 million, or more than 12 percent of state spending, finance officials announced on Tuesday. Secretary of Finance Preston Doerflinger, the governor's chief budget negotiator, released budget projections that show state revenue collections won't be enough to trigger a further cut in the state's individual income tax rate from 5 percent to 4.85 percent.
The federal government will continue for another year to fund an Oklahoma program that uses a combination of state tobacco tax revenue and federal Medicaid money to help provide health insurance coverage for nearly 20,000 low-income Oklahoma workers. Governor Mary Fallin announced that a one-year extension has been approved by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for the Insure Oklahoma program.