2017 best of the best oklahoma update#

Oklahoma should enact proven regulations to protect consumers from predatory lending practice andВ resist a lobbying effort to authorize new high-cost loan products.ДЄs the Legislative session develops, check our advocacy alerts page to hear about ways to take action on these priorities.

Limit predatory loans: Predatory loans with exorbitant fees are trapping OklahomansВ in a cycle of debt that is nearly impossible to break.

The Legislature should join numerous states that haveВ banned the use ofВ credit scoresВ to determine auto insurance rates. Ban credit scoring in auto insurance: Major insurance companies have been using credit scores to determine a customerвЂ™s auto insurance rate, putting unfair burdens on Oklahomans who have good driving records but poor credit.Oklahoma needs reforms to reduce the burden of debt on those convicted of crimes and provide alternative for those who canвЂ™t pay. Reform court fines and fees:В Skyrocketing court fines and fees, with a flawed process for determining the ability of OklahomansвЂ™ to pay these costs, are creatingВ a cycle of poverty and incarceration that costs taxpayers even more than we are ever able to collect in fee revenue.Strengthen working family tax credits:В Legislators should roll back cuts toВ the state Earned Income Tax Credit and/or expand the Sales Tax Relief Credit to make our tax system work better for all families.We must protect access to health care by maintaining SoonerCare as an efficient, effective source of health care coverage. Protect access to health care:В As a result of state budget shortfalls and potential federal changes, SoonerCareВ could faceВ deep cuts that endangers health care access forВ more than a million Oklahoma children and adults.Oklahoma needs a plan to increase teacher pay that is backed by identified recurring revenue. Increase teacher pay:В A professional, experienced teacher workforce is essential for high-qualityВ schools, but OklahomaВ has failed to pay our teachers a competitive salary.The state budget is too important to be rushed through the Legislature with so little time for scrutiny and debate, so weвЂ™re calling on lawmakers to release the budget withВ at least one weekвЂ™s time for public comments before they vote. Improve budget transparency:В In past years, lawmakers have rushed through the budget in the final week of session with almost no chance for review by the public.Halt the next income tax cut:В Since another important strategy for getting out of this hole is to stop digging, we also are calling for halting an income tax cut that is scheduled to trigger as soon as revenues even slightly begin to recover.Close the budget hole with sensible revenue options:В To fix OklahomaвЂ™s deep budget hole, weвЂ™ve put together a menu of recommended revenue options, with the best estimates available forВ how much new revenues they could bring in.

2017 best of the best oklahoma update#

As the legislative session progresses, weвЂ™ll update these pages with key bills and the best ways to take action to support each priority. You can read a summary of all of our priorities here, or go toВ the links below for more detailedВ explanations. Together these measures would go a long way towards balancing the state budget with enough revenues to do the job that Oklahomans expect, and they would make the state economy work better for all Oklahomans. To that end, weвЂ™ve identified a number of policies as top priorities in OklahomaвЂ™s 2017 legislative session. At OK Policy, our core mission is to encourageВ state policy changes that ensureВ responsible funding of public services and expanded opportunity for all Oklahomans.