Latest news with #Bill684
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lawmakers push to anonymize people receiving Oklahoma's private school tax credit
Lawmakers sent a bill to Gov. Kevin Stitt Wednesday to stop the names of Oklahomans receiving a private school tax credit from being included on a publicly available list of tax credit recipients. Students, parents and educators are pictured gathering at Oklahoma's state Capitol to celebrate the "success" of the program on March 12. (Photo by Emma Murphy/Oklahoma Voice) OKLAHOMA CITY — In an effort to 'protect family privacy,' Oklahoma lawmakers fast-tracked a bill to the governor on Wednesday that will no longer allow the public to view the names of Oklahomans who received a controversial private school tax credit. If signed into law by Gov. Kevin Stitt, Senate Bill 684 would also remove individual names that were recently published to an existing state database of recipients of many tax credits. It listed those who received a share of hundreds of millions of state dollars allocated to the Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit program. House Democrats opposing the measure said it doesn't align with how other tax credit program recipients are treated and will create a lack of accountability on where tax dollars are spent and who receives them. The voucher-like program offers a refundable income tax credit of up to $7,500 to families who attend eligible private schools in the state. When creating the program, lawmakers gave priority to families earning $150,000 or less, and promised it would help lower-income students have the ability to attend private schools. A recent report showed over 46% of participants made over $150,000. House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, said the bill is about protecting the privacy of children and families. The publicly posted information does not list any children's names or schools, just the taxpaying adult who applied for and received the funds and how much they received. 'And while it does not list the names of students, it absolutely is to expose the students via their parents about the fact that they receive tax credits,' he said. The measure also requires participating private schools to be accredited by March 2027. Democrats argued that the tax credit program has benefited high-income families, not underprivileged children. A recent analysis of the recipients by Oklahoma Watch found less than 3,000 of recipients had attended public school the year prior to the credit and only 9% were families that qualify for income-based public assistance programs. The recipients of other tax credit programs are publicly available online because that's how tax credits in Oklahoma work, said Rep. Ellen Pogemiller, D-Oklahoma City. Rep. Forrest Bennett, D-Oklahoma City, said as a taxpayer he would feel uncomfortable not knowing where his tax dollars were going and who they were really benefitting. He said he was bothered by 'dismissive' answers from the bill author to questions from other lawmakers on the House floor, specifically responses saying that questions weren't specific to the bill language. 'It behooves us, I think, to acknowledge that everything that we vote on is done in context,' he said. 'And if I had a nickel for every time I have to talk about this issue, we could fund the voucher program, I think.' While most of the debate and discussion focused on the privacy aspects of the tax credit program, the bill also would give priority consideration for the credit to those who received it the prior year. First priority would go to families with income below $150,000 and second to any others who received the credit the prior year, regardless of income. The Senate unanimously approved the measure Wednesday morning, while the House voted 68-23 to approve the measure Wednesday afternoon. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Election bills pass Senate committee
Two elections bills, which would change some election day procedures and would create a unit to investigate election complaints, were approved by a Senate committee Wednesday morning in Frankfort. House Bill 455 and House Bill 684 were approved Wednesday by the Senate State and Local Government Committee. The bills will next go to the Senate floor for a vote. Both previously passed the House. House Bill 455 would create an Office of Election Investigations and Security within the Attorney General's office. If approved, the Office would oversee the state's voter fraud hotline, respond to complaints and conduct investigations into alleged violations of election law, and would report findings to the Attorney General for possible prosecution. The agency would also provide a report to lawmakers annually, detailing the number of complaints received and investigations opened. The sponsor, Rep. Patrick Flannery, an Olive Hill Republican, said of the bill: 'Hopefully, it will restore voter confidence and deter voter fraud.' Of the bill, Flannery said: 'Mostly what it does is codify existing practice' in the AG's office, 'to make sure this whole process is process-dependent and not people dependent.' The AG and other branches of government are already doing some investigations into election complaints, but the would would put all of those duties in the AG's office, Flannery said. The bill would require additional funding to the Attorney General's office, Flannery said. Leslie McCarty, Daviess county clerk, said the bill wouldn't be a change because those investigations are already being done on elections. 'It's still comforting to me that Kentucky has one of the safest and fairest election (systems), because we do have all of those things to protect against fraud,' McCarty said. House Bill 684 contains a number of provisions, such as allowing county clerk's offices to have fewer election workers in counties with consolidated precinct plans; requiring more notice for school districts if a clerk's office plans to use school facilities as polling places on election day; and allowing caregivers of people who are voting in-person absentee due to age, disability or illness to also vote in-person absentee. One change in the bill would prevent voters from using a credit card or debit card as an alternate form of identification when going to a polling place to vote. The primary sponsor is Rep. Jennifer Decker, a Waddy Republican, but the credit card provision was added to the bill by Rep. Candy Massaroni, a Bardstown Republican. Massaroni said county elections officials requested the change. 'They had people coming with just a credit card or a debit card with no ID on it, wanting to use it as proof of identification,' Massaroni said. 'I'm really not comfortable allowing financial institutions to determine if a person is eligible to vote with no photo identification. It's just too open to fraud.' McCarty said it is uncommon for a person to try to vote using a credit or debit card as proof of identification. 'I would say 99.8% of our check-ins are with a state-issued ID,' McCarty said.
