I attended the second and final committee hearing for Sen. A.J. Griffin's interim study on independent living services for children aging out of foster care.  The first meeting was about defining the problem.  Among others, Robert, a 19-year old, described how when he aged out his case was dismissed and his DHS worker asked if he had anyone he could call.  He'd been in DHS custody since age 2 months, so of course he had no one to call.  Robert found his way to the Youth Services of Tulsa transitional living program and got help.  

         The second meeting was to describe current programs and proposed solutions.  Cathy Connelly, coordinator of the Independent Living Section at DHS, described the goals of the current program which are to promote the importance of early planning for one's future; to develop each individual's innate strengths; to promote the concept of permanent connections;  to ensure transition of young people ages 16-21 from state custody to self-sufficiency and successful adult living; to support youth by encouraging a multi-disciplinary approach through training of field staff, and other appropriate adults; and to develop teen-targeted resources and community partnerships. 

         Marqus Butler, the Oklahoma Healthy Transition Initiative project director for the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, said the number of children dealing with mental health concerns is becoming more and more evident.  Butler described a special population of young people in transition that he called our most vulnerable young people. They include a group of former foster care youth with severe mental illness.

           Shawn Black, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Association of Youth Services said that    preparing kids for independent living needs to begin much earlier than 16.  The solution starts with high quality foster placements from the beginning and the right kind of assistance for the kids and foster parents as they grow up.  Kids with trauma and abandonment issues are not easy.  They need foster parents who want to raise them as their own.  And those parents need help in knowing how to deal with their issues.  Trying to prepare youth for independent living at age 16 when they still haven't resolved the challenges life handed them is hardly possible. 

           One thing I noticed is that all the programs that were described are heavily federally funded.  The DHS independent living program is an 80%-20% match.  The ODMHSAS program is funded with a federal grant as is the Youth Services of Tulsa independent living program.  Both grants will soon expire.  Our programs are not working well.  But when and how are we in Oklahoma going to take responsibility for these kids that in many cases don't stand a chance without some help?  I hope the committee can find an answer.    

Supreme Court's new term may address Oklahoma abortion laws

By Mark Sherman   

The Oklahoman                  

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court is beginning a new term with controversial issues that offer the court's conservative majority the chance to move aggressively to undo limits on campaign contributions, undermine claims of discrimination in housing and mortgage lending, and allow for more government-sanctioned prayer.

The court may hear its first abortion case since 2007, a review of an Oklahoma law that would restrict the use of certain abortion-inducing drugs such as RU-486. The justices also are being asked to hear the Oklahoma law that requires pregnant women seeking abortions to undergo ultrasound tests to see the fetus.

The justices probably will decide in the fall whether to resolve competing lower court decisions about the new health care law's requirement that employer-sponsored health plans include coverage of contraceptives.

Arizona's attorneys also have asked the court to uphold the state's ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Assuming the government shutdown doesn't get in their way, the justices will deal with a case that goes to the heart of the partisan impasse in Washington: whether and when the president may use recess appointments to fill key positions without Senate confirmation.

The court was unaffected for the first few days of the government shutdown, and there was no expectation that arguments set for October would have to be rescheduled.

The new term that starts Monday may be short on the sort of high-profile battles over health care and gay marriage that marked the past two years. But several cases ask the court to overrule prior decisions - bold action in an institution that relies on the power of precedent.

"There are an unusual number of cases going right to hot-button cultural issues and aggressive briefing on the conservative side asking precedents to be overruled," said Georgetown University law professor Pamela Harris, who served in President Barack Obama's Justice Department.

Paul Clement, a top Supreme Court lawyer under President George W. Bush, agreed that the opportunity exists for dramatic precedent-busting decisions. But Clement said each case also offers the court "an off-ramp," a narrower outcome that may be more in keeping with Chief Justice John Roberts' stated desire for incremental decision-making that bridges the court's ideological divide.

There is a familiar ring to several cases the justices will take up.

Campaign finance, affirmative action, legislative prayer are on the court's calendar. The justices also will hear for the second time the case of Carol Anne Bond, a woman who was convicted under an anti-terrorism law for spreading deadly chemicals around the home of her husband's mistress.

An issue with a good chance to be heard involves the authority of police to search the contents of a cellphone found on someone they arrest.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said over the summer that the right to privacy in the digital age "is bound to come up in many forms" in the years ahead.

The campaign finance argument on Tuesday is the first major case on the calendar.

Legislator looks to broaden Open Records Act

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - A state legislator on Tuesday quizzed two court clerks over why public court records aren't readily available online during a hearing examining broadening Oklahoma's Open Records Act.

Norman Republican Rep. Aaron Stiles requested Tuesday's interim study before the House Judiciary Committee to review how the act applies to certain court files.

Stiles questioned Canadian County Court Clerk Marie Ramsey-Hirst and Oklahoma County Deputy Court Clerk Mike Sullivan on their office's decision to withhold some court records from an online system. Stiles has said that the differing policies among the court clerks in the state's 77 counties can sometimes force attorneys, reporters and members of the public to drive to courthouses across the state and pay for paper copies when that information should be - and often is - available electronically.

"I fear that some counties are using - are not putting documents online so they can charge the fee for you to come in and get it," Stiles said, adding that he was not accusing anyone. "I just have that feeling. I have that suspicion."

Ramsey-Hirst said documents are posted online unless a judge seals them but conceded that she also uses her own discretion to not post documents with Social Security numbers, bank accounts and other information that may anger parties.

Using the online court system to randomly look up a few cases, Stiles showed he was unable to pull any court records in Oklahoma County.

"I don't see the public interest in not producing these documents online. Do you know why those wouldn't be available online?" Stiles asked Sullivan.

Sullivan said he couldn't speak to specifics, but said due to the volume of filings in Oklahoma, putting everything online would be difficult with too few resources available. Stiles pushed back, though, noting that there are many people working in the office and that other counties make the same information available to the public online.

"My understanding is you guys scan in at least every single document and it's a matter of selecting whether it's available online or not available online," Stiles said. Sullivan said he could not confirm whether all documents are scanned or not.

The lack of uniformity should go away when a new $13 million filing system database that links all 77 counties, but it has been plagued by delays. Counties currently use two completely separate programs. Thirteen mostly larger counties and the appellate courts are on the Oklahoma State Court Network, while the rest of the counties are on the On Demand Court Records system.

The hearing also examined restricting which court records should be sealed and whether to authorize a civil cause of action for violations of the Open Records Act.

"The ones that bother us are not necessarily the ones that are sealed up in the interest of justice. It's the one sealed up in the interest of the judge and sometimes the interest of the clerk," said Mark Thomas, executive vice president of the Oklahoma Press Association.

Open records are important for the public to have faith and confidence in the judiciary, Thomas said.

State Board of Health OKs updates to abortion forms

By Jaclyn Cosgrove

The Oklahoman

On Tuesday, the state Board of Health held a special meeting and went into an hour of executive session to discuss what paperwork was necessary to create or update regarding girls under 18 seeking abortions in Oklahoma.

The board voted to update a parental consent form for pregnant minors seeking abortions, adding that two attachments are required: a copy of the parent's government-issued ID and "written documentation that establishes he or she is the lawful parent of the pregnant female."

The board also voted to create a form that a doctor performing an emergency abortion must complete. Board member Dr. Terry Gerard, who works as an emergency room physician in Durant, abstained from both votes.

Two laws that passed during the 2013 legislative session, House Bill 1588 and House Bill 1361, required the board to adopt such forms.

The board created a form, titled "Physician Medical Emergency Affidavit, Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act." If a doctor finds that a pregnant minor must undergo an emergency abortion, the doctor must fill out the form and notify the girl's parent by certified mail that he or she performed the abortion.

Effective Nov. 1, the two forms will be part of the paperwork that's mandatory to fill out when a pregnant girl seeks an abortion.

Under the recent law change, a parent must not only provide ID and prove that he or she is a parent, but the parent must also certify in a signed, dated and notarized statement, "I certify that I, (insert name of parent), am the parent of (insert name of minor daughter) and give consent for (insert name of physician) to perform an abortion on my daughter. I understand that any person who knowingly makes a fraudulent statement in this regard commits a felony."

Fallin reverses agency rules process

By M. Scott Carter

The Journal Record

OKLAHOMA CITY - An executive order, quietly issued by Republican Gov. Mary Fallin, is changing the way state agencies develop new rules and policies.

Filed Sept. 10 with the Oklahoma secretary of state's office, Fallin's executive order reverses the way agency rules and policies are processed.

Before the order, if a state agency needed a rule change, its officials took the proposal to a member of the Legislature for consideration. Lawmakers and agency representatives negotiated the rule. Often a rule was authorized via joint legislative resolution during the legislative session. Under the state's administrative procedures act, both the Legislature and the governor had the authority to override a rule or policy change made by a state agency.

However, Fallin's order reverses the process. Under the order, all executive branch agencies are required to submit proposed rules to the governor and appropriate cabinet secretary before sending them to the Legislature for review.

"No agency may adopt any proposed permanent rule if ... such agency received an express written disapproval from the governor or the cabinet secretary," the governor said in her executive order.

An agency will be notified in writing if the governor doesn't approve the rule.

Fallin's spokesman, Alex Weintz, said the governor wanted to be on the front end of the rule-making process.

"The governor would rather do that than watch the agency spend a lot of time making rules, going to the Legislature and then having that rule vetoed by the governor," he said. "It makes sense to have her and her cabinet secretary get involved at the early stage in the game."

Fallin's executive order comes at the same time she has pushed to have more oversight and authority with executive branch agencies. During the 2013 legislative session, Fallin fought unsuccessfully for the ability to appoint the executive director of several state agencies, including the Construction Industries Board and the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs.

Because the governor is held accountable for the actions of executive branch agencies, Weintz said, she needs to have more authority and oversight of the agencies.

"It's very difficult when you identify a problem within an agency, but you have no tools to fix it," he said. "Our constituents won't accept the 'don't blame us' statement."

Steve Mason, a member of the state Environmental Quality Board, agreed. He said it doesn't matter who looks at the rule first.

"I think it's an issue between the governor's office and the Legislature," he said. "Our job is to pass good rules that make good technical sense."

The change, Mason said, will not change the rule-making course at the state Department of Environmental Quality.

"We will continue to function as we did before Sept. 10," he said.

Mason said he was pleased by Fallin's interest in both the agency and its rules.

"The governor is very interested in the agency and who sits on the board," he said. "She's very interested at what is going on in state agencies."

Still, while Fallin has always had the authority to veto a rule she didn't agree with, one state lawmaker said the governor's policy change could be difficult for some members of the Legislature to embrace.

"Publicly you might not hear much," state Rep. Joe Dorman, D-Rush Springs, said. "But privately, behind closed doors, the agency heads and some members of the Legislature will scream about this."

For his part, Dorman said the Legislature still has the ultimate authority with regards to agency rules.

"In a way, the order does give the governor more direct authority," he said. "But in the end we have the ultimate authority. She can't take that away from us."

Foster care reform may be considered

By Graham Lee Brewer

The Oklahoman

The state may need help from the private sector in providing services for foster care youth transitioning into adulthood, state Sen. A.J. Griffin said Wednesday.

Griffin, R-Guthrie, said the state could possibly benefit by not only relying more on private program services to augment their own, but also by duplicating the methods of those private organizations that are producing positive results.

Griffin, along with other members of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, met with mental health and youth services experts at the Capitol for an interim study focusing on the issue of young people who lose access to a range of state services when they turn 18.

Among the specific topics discussed was the issue of mental health issues among children in foster care and how properly to address them.

Marqus Butler, the Oklahoma Healthy Transition Initiative project director for the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, said the number of children dealing with mental health concerns is becoming more and more evident.

"We're starting to notice some, what I call special populations, of young people in transition," said Butler.

"These are quickly becoming what I consider to be our most vulnerable young people. They include a group of former foster care youth, and these are the former foster care youth with severe mental illness."

Shawn Black, executive director of the Oklahoma Association of Youth Services, said he believes the key to addressing many of their problems is starting earlier.

"We need to start thinking what can we do differently with the services that are being provided right now," Black said. "All I'm saying is, we should not wait until they're 16, 17, and 18 before we start saying what can be done for these kids. Let's start when they're in foster care."

Black and other youth service providers testified that while the state has some good programs to offer, Oklahoma children in foster care need more education on topics such as healthy relationships, and many need deeper mental health and substance abuse counseling.

Black said not only will this help children become independent, it also will help state agencies make better use of state and federal dollars by catching problems sooner.

"We spend about $5,000 a year for foster care families to take care of a kid," Black said. "If they move away from foster care and into a group home, you're now paying $50,000. If they get caught, commit a crime, and go to the Office of Juvenile Affairs, a medium-security facility, $90,000 a year."

State tax policy ranks favorably for business

By John Stancavage

Tulsa World

Oklahoma's tax climate was ranked the 36th most business friendly among all states for 2014, according to a new study.

The state's ranking was unchanged from 2013 in a report from the Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan research organization.

Looking at the various components of Oklahoma's tax policies, the state fared best in property taxes. State and local collections averaged about $642 per person, the fourth lowest nationally.

Oklahoma's personal income tax system consists of seven brackets and a top rate of 5.25 percent, the Tax Foundation noted. That rate was the 22nd lowest among states that have an individual income tax. Oklahoma's income tax collections per person were $595 in 2010, the 17th lowest nationally.

The state corporate income tax system, which has a flat rate of 6 percent, ranked 17th lowest among states levying such a tax. Corporate tax collections per person were $58 in 2010, which ranked as the ninth lowest nationally.

Oklahoma levies a 4.5 percent general sales or use tax on consumers, which is below the national median of 6 percent, the study observed.

Oklahoma's state and local governments collect $963 per person in general sales taxes and $315 per person in excise taxes, for a combined total of $1,278, which ranked 19th lowest.

Other Oklahoma taxes included the 17 cents levied on gasoline, which was the fifth lowest nationally, while the cigarette tax is $1.03, No. 21 nationally.

Fallin's office defends order on agency rule-making process

By M. Scott Carter

The Journal Record

OKLAHOMA CITY - Republican Gov. Mary Fallin isn't trying to cut the Legislature out of the rule-making process, her attorney said Wednesday, but she wants to streamline the way rules for state agencies are made.

Just about a month after the governor filed an executive order changing the way agency rules were made, Steve Mullins, Fallin's attorney, said the order was done in an attempt to make the rule-making process more transparent.

"We want to know early (about the rules) so we can work with the agencies to develop those rules," Mullins said.

Under Fallin's order, state agencies are required to notify the governor's office and the appropriate cabinet secretary when a notice of rule-making intent is filed. Mullins said any person can ask to be notified when a state agency proposes a rule. He said the request from the governor's office helps keep the administration in the loop with agencies. The order sets a 45-day deadline.

"Any person can ask for notification," he said. "What we're saying is put the governor and the cabinet secretary on the list, too."

Fallin's order has generated concern by some Democrats in the House of Representatives and a handful of agency executives. In an email to The Journal Record, Patrice Douglas, chairwoman of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, said her agency would follow the new executive order.

"We are reviewing the order and will work with the governor's office," Douglas said in an emailed statement to The Journal Record.

Steve Mason, a member of the Environmental Quality Board, said Fallin's order reflects her interest in state agencies and the rules they make. The board has oversight of the state Department of Environmental Quality.

"This governor is very interested in the state agencies and their functions," he said. "The office is very interested in the rules that we've passed, but it is a fundamental shift between the governor and the Legislature."

Mullins said the change actually puts more pressure on the governor's office.

"We're putting a requirement on ourselves that we will look at a proposed rule in its draft form and then give input back to the agency," he said. "And that input will be in writing."

Section four of Fallin's executive order states that if the governor or a cabinet secretary disapproves of a proposed rule, the agency will be notified in writing.

"If we want to say it's inappropriate, then we have to give written comment to the agency so they know exactly what we're saying," he said.

However, at least one lawmaker, state Rep. Kay Floyd, D-Oklahoma City, said Fallin's order would cause problems for state agencies. Floyd said Fallin has cut out public input and some agencies won't be able to meet the governor's 45-day deadline.

"The governor has injected herself in the first step," Floyd said. "By requiring the agency to send the rule to her and her cabinet secretary, she is limiting public input."

If the governor or a cabinet secretary doesn't like a rule, Floyd said, that rule is eliminated early - before anyone else has had a chance to comment.

"At that point the Legislature hasn't had any input," she said. "The rule hasn't even gone through the committee process."

Mullins countered that the Legislature still has the ultimate authority on agency rules.

"They still have the rule-making power they have always had," he said. "We didn't take away any of their rule-making power."

Young and hungry in Oklahoma: Number of children living in poverty increased in 2012, data shows

By M. Scott Carter

The Journal Record

OKLAHOMA CITY - Though the Oklahoma economy remains strong and tax collections are high, poverty in the Sooner State isn't going away anytime soon and in some sectors, it's actually increased.

According to a new data from the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2012 about one of every six Oklahomans - more than 637,000 or 17.2 percent - lived in poverty. The U.S. government defines the poverty level as a $23,429 annual income for a family of four.

Although Oklahoma's poverty rate for the period was roughly about the same as it was in 2011, census data also shows that more Oklahoma children lived in poverty in 2012.

Those figures concern David Blatt, director of the Oklahoma Policy Institute. Blatt said most people think the state's strong economy has put a big dent in poverty in Oklahoma. But instead of a reduction, the number of Oklahomans living in poverty has remained the same.

"What we've seen is the poverty numbers have remained steady despite the economic recovery," he said. "That's what is most worrisome. While Oklahoma has been enjoying a recovery, there is a large segment of the population that isn't enjoying those benefits."

According to the census, about 24 percent of Oklahoma children live in poverty, compared to 16.1 percent of working adults. Part of that reason, Blatt said, is that many Oklahoma children live in single-parent families.

"There are a large number of single-parent households where the poverty rate is five times that of a married family," he said.

That high level of poverty also translates into food insecurity, said Angie Gaines, director of communications and marketing for the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. In Oklahoma, Gaines said one in every four children struggles with hunger. Gaines said the agency provided 47.9 million pounds of food for its partner agencies in 2012 - a 14-percent increase over the previous year.

"We're seeing an increase in childhood hunger," she said. "They don't know where their next meal is coming from."

In some parts of the state, childhood hunger has gotten so bad that teenagers are selling blood plasma to buy food.

"In single-parent families, during the winter, many have to choose between paying the electric bill or buying food," Gaines said.

Demographic data from the Oklahoma Department of Commerce and the National Center for Children in Poverty underscore the problem. According to the Commerce Department, the average salary for a single person living at the poverty level is about $410 per month.

"More than 190,000 children under the age of 18 and more than a half million Oklahoma residents total are living in homes where they don't have enough money to pay for housing, medicine, food and heat," according to a posting on the Commerce Department's website.

Curtis Skinner, director of family economic security for the NCCP, said several factors combined to keep families and their children at the poverty level.

"In many other places, it's a question of jobs," he said, "but not so much in Oklahoma. But other factors contribute. That includes educational attainment of the parent, the number of single-parent households and the quality of the jobs. A lower education equals lower-wage jobs."

For single-parent households, the choice is often between day care for children or work.

"A big problem is not having two incomes from both parents," Skinner said. "Single mothers are often in a big quandary. Even though Oklahoma has some of the best pre-K programs in the country, if a mother can't find affordable child care, then that mother can't go to work."

Still, even though there are many causes for the state's poverty rate, Blatt said there are also several ways to solve the problem. He said better health care, a state-funded safety net and increased educational efforts would lower the poverty rate.

"Certainly we need to invest in more education," he said. "We also need to expand Medicaid. I think a major way to address poverty in Oklahoma is to expand health insurance to those who live at the poverty level."

Have a good week.  Give me a call at 918.671.6860 if I can be of help in any way.