I will miss friends, colleagues and readers who have supported me and offered feedback over the years.

For those of you who have been loyal readers from the beginning in March 2008, thanks for staying interested. For those of you who have stumbled across this blog via a wrong turn on Google, thanks for stopping by. Hopefully you found the content on this blog interesting and engaging.

Paul

BY PAUL MONIES

Database Editor

pmonies(at)opubco.com

Published: September 13, 2011

One of the state’s largest insurance companies has taken about $20 million in job creation rebates and tax credits in two separate economic development programs using a possible loophole in the law, The Oklahoman has learned.

Farmers Insurance Co. Inc., which is based in Los Angeles, received $9.6 million in Quality Jobs rebate payments from 2002 to 2011, according to Oklahoma Tax Commission records.

• View the Farmers Insurance Quality Jobs contract from 1999
• View the Farmers Insurance home office premium tax credit application for 2010

The company also claimed at least $8.8 million in “home office” tax credits against its insurance premium tax in the last decade, according to data from the Oklahoma Insurance Department. Those credits may be used if insurance companies establish headquarters or regional offices employing at least 200 people.

The Oklahoma Quality Jobs Program Act, which provides quarterly cash rebates for job creation, forbids qualified companies from claiming home office premium tax credits along with Quality Jobs rebates. An annual incentive guide published by the Commerce Department describes the tax credit for insurance companies and states, “This credit is not available to participants in the Quality Jobs Program.”

Farmers Insurance directly employs about 1,400 people in Oklahoma. The company recently opened a new customer service and data center on W Memorial Road in Oklahoma City after leasing space for several years at Shepherd Mall on NW 23. Farmers Insurance has another 750 agents, managers and staff in affiliated offices across the state.

Three state agencies are involved in administering the two incentive programs. The Commerce Department approves applicants for Quality Jobs. The program’s quarterly rebate payments are issued by the Tax Commission. Meanwhile, premium tax credits go through the Insurance Department, which collects premium taxes.

Farmers Insurance applied for Quality Jobs in 1999 and received its first rebates in 2002. It reached a 10-year cap on the program this year after receiving an average of $960,000 in rebates per year. Insurance Department officials said the company has claimed home office premium tax credits since at least 2003.

Company split its operations

Company representatives said the company has been able to claim rebates and tax credits under both incentive programs because it split its operations. Even though employees could be in the same office building, Farmers Insurance assigns their job functions to separate incentive programs.

Tony Morris, vice president of tax strategy for Farmers Insurance in Los Angeles, said most of the discussions on the unique arrangement happened more than a decade ago with Commerce Department officials. At the time, Oklahoma was competing with several neighboring states for placement of a Farmers Insurance regional office.

“For the company, the maximum benefit was to split it up the way we did,” Morris said. “We had a lot of conversations on the front end to basically go over, ‘Here’s the mechanics of what we would need to do and this is how we basically keep (track of) our people.’ We did run through the mechanics of how it was supposed to work and what information and documentation they were expecting from us on a quarterly basis.”

Don Hackler, deputy general counsel for the Commerce Department, said the agency has memos from Farmers Insurance detailing how it was able to use both incentive programs. That documentation is not publicly available because of an exemption in the Oklahoma Open Records Act, he said.

The Commerce Department did provide a copy of Farmers’ 1999 Quality Jobs contract, which is a public record. The contract makes no mention of other arrangements for the premium tax credits.

Hackler compared the department’s economic development incentive guide that tells companies they can’t take both incentives to a “Cliffs Notes” version of the law.

“The law is correct,” Hackler said. “You can’t take both incentives for the same activity, but since you have separate activities, you can take different incentives for each activity.”

Hackler said he wasn’t aware of any other insurance companies taking both Quality Jobs rebates and home office premium tax credits.

In a statement, officials from the Insurance Department said Farmers’ annual paperwork in qualifying for the home office premium tax credit has been in compliance. The department’s application form for the tax credit makes no mention of the Quality Jobs program limitations.

Here’s some updated Quality Jobs totals through the 2011 fiscal year, via the Oklahoma Tax Commission:

Source: Oklahoma Tax Commission

Also, I pulled the company totals from FY 2007 to FY 2011. Below is a quick chart on the Quality Jobs recipients. Some companies have renewed and used the rebates under a different legal name, but I’ve tried to consolidate the names as best I could.

Scores of state employees have left agencies after new leaders took office earlier this year, saving the state some money but at the cost of experience and knowledge in many specialized jobs.

Leading the way is the state Education Department, which has seen 61 employees leave since state schools Superintendent Janet Barresi took over in January.

The Oklahoman examined payroll records at six statewide elected agencies for the first six months of 2009, 2010 and 2011. The governor and lieutenant governor offices were excluded because they have smaller staffs.

Among the findings:

• The average turnover rate for state employees has been about 13 percent. Three of the six agencies had double those turnover rates in the first half of 2011.

• A combination of voluntary buyouts, employee transfers, retirements and resignations meant the number of employees at the Education Department fell to 269 at the end of June, down from 341 in January. Fourteen people left in the first part of 2010, while 11 employees left in the first half of 2009 under longtime state schools Superintendent Sandy Garrett, a Democrat.

• A quarter of the staff, or 32 people, at the Insurance Department left in the first six months of 2011. That compared with 12 employees in the same period of 2010 and 10 employees in 2009. The agency has 113 employees.

• More than one-fourth of the staff at the attorney general’s office left in the first part of this year. The agency has 148 employees. In the first part of 2010, 6 people left, while 11 people left in the same time period in 2009.

Turnover normal

Brett Sharp, a political science professor at the University of Central Oklahoma, said employee turnover is a normal part of any agency. It typically spikes a little when new leaders take over.

“We have way too many elected leaders in the executive branch,” Sharp said. “That makes Oklahoma different from most other states. We have a weak-governor (system). Part of that is having all these elected executives. They have their own agendas, and they bring in their own people. The people that are there may want to leave, especially if someone is coming in who is not the same political persuasion.”

There also are costs associated with training new people on the job or leaving positions open for extended periods. In its latest compensation report, the Office of Personnel Management estimates employee turnover costs the state about $82 million annually.

“One of our biggest challenges is maintaining senior management positions,” said State Auditor and Inspector Gary Jones. “They’re often lured away by other agencies with offers of higher salaries. It’s also difficult to recruit experienced auditors.

“Most of our new hires are recent college graduates with no field experience, so additional training is necessary to prepare them for the job.”

Department turmoil

Phillip Applegate retired from the Education Department in February.

Applegate worked there from 1995 to 2005 and again from 2008 to 2011. His last job was as director of policy research. Applegate, 54, now works at the University of Tulsa.

Applegate said communication was scarce at the department between last November’s elections and January, when Barresi took office.

“There was very little effort to reach out to the people who had 25, 30, 35 or 40 years of experience,” Applegate said.

“It was disheartening, especially when we heard statements that really were more politically driven than educationally driven. I think there was a real concern that there was no desire to keep any of us around. She knew what she wanted to do, and we were simply in the way.”

Damon Gardenhire, Barresi’s communications director, said the turmoil involving the state Education Board earlier this year ended any hopes for an orderly transition.

After a contentious first meeting with Barresi leading the board, the GOP-controlled Legislature passed a law stripping the board of some oversight powers at the Education Department.

“We spent about four months with the superintendent not being able to act as the chief executive of the agency and being micromanaged by a group of unelected political appointees,” Gardenhire said. “That significantly affected morale in the agency, and we are in the process of rebuilding morale.”

Gardenhire said the Education Department was overstaffed in many areas. Barresi has been able to cut payroll by $2.5 million in the first six months, he said.

More than 20 longtime employees took buyouts in January or February.

Among the payroll savings were cutting the number of employees in the print shop to one from seven. The department also streamlined some financial services jobs and communications jobs, Gardenhire said.

As part of a statewide technology consolidation effort, the Education Department shifted some information technology employees to the Office of State Finance.

At the Labor Department, 10 of the 89 employees are new. That’s close to the turnover numbers for the first six months of the previous two years under former Commissioner Lloyd Fields, a Democrat.

Labor Commissioner Mark Costello, a Republican who defeated Fields, said new administrative staff took a pay cut when they started.

He also decided not to replace a deputy commissioner and an attorney, both of whom made salaries of more than $70,000.

“Personally, I reduced my salary by 15 percent in order to meet the bottom line.”

———–

TURNOVER

The Oklahoman looked at employment and agency turnover at six agencies headed by new officials. Here’s how they stacked up:

Education Department

• Elected official: Janet Barresi

• Number of employees, January: 341

• Number of employees, June: 269

• Turnover, first half 2011: 61

• Turnover, first half 2010: 14

• Turnover, first half 2009: 11

Attorney general

• Elected official: Scott Pruitt

• Number of employees, January: 143

• Number of employees, June: 148

• Turnover, first half 2011: 40

• Turnover, first half 2010: 6

• Turnover, first half 2009: 11

Insurance Department

• Elected official: John Doak

• Number of employees, January: 117

• Number of employees, June: 113

• Turnover, first half 2011: 32

• Turnover, first half 2010: 12

• Turnover, first half 2009: 10

State auditor, inspector

• Elected official: Gary Jones

• Number of employees, January: 114

• Number of employees, June: 118

• Turnover, first half 2011: 11

• Turnover, first half 2010: 11

• Turnover, first half 2009: 9

Labor Department

• Elected official: Mark Costello

• Number of employees, January: 91

• Number of employees, June: 89

• Turnover, first half 2011: 10

• Turnover, first half 2010: 6

• Turnover, first half 2009: 9

Treasurer

• Elected official: Ken Miller

• Number of employees, January: 56

• Number of employees, June: 55

• Turnover, first half 2011: 3

• Turnover, first half 2010: 1

• Turnover, first half 2009: 0

SOURCE: THE OKLAHOMAN ANALYSIS OF STATE PAYROLL DATA

Larry Yarbrough, right, is pictured on a television screen seated next to his daughter, LaDonna Yarbrough, left, during a video conference commutation hearing at the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2011. The board voted 3-2 to commute Yarbrough's sentence to 42 years. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

From today’s story, which is generating a few comments online.

• I’ve also posted a few  related letters to Gov. Mary Fallin at the bottom. One is from the District Attorneys Council. The other is from The Sentencing Project.

BY PAUL MONIES

Database Editor

pmonies(at)opubco.com

Published: August 18, 2011

The Pardon and Parole Board recommended Wednesday a convicted drug dealer from Kingfisher who is serving life without parole should have his sentence commuted to 42 years.

The recommendation for Larry E. Yarbrough, 61, now goes to Gov. Mary Fallin. Yarbrough has been in prison since 1997. The board recommended a commuted sentence for Yarbrough in 2002, but then-Gov. Frank Keating denied the request.

The five-member board issued a 3-2 split decision at a hearing room packed with Yarbrough’s family members and supporters at Hillside Community Corrections Center in Oklahoma City.

Two board members voted not to commute the sentence. Two others recommended Yarbrough’s sentence be commuted to time served. One member said the sentence should be commuted to 42 years. If Fallin approves the board’s recommendation, Yarbrough could be eligible for parole next year.

Yarbrough, a former restaurant owner, was sentenced to life without parole in 1997 on a cocaine trafficking charge. Previously, he served time in prison in the early 1980s on convictions for LSD and marijuana distribution. Yarbrough also received probation for a felony conviction of receiving stolen property.

State law requires a life-without-parole sentence for drug-trafficking charges after prior convictions for two or more felonies.

In a videoconferencing appearance before the board, Yarbrough said he’s been a model prisoner who counseled young men entering prison. He said he planned to move to California with family if he ever got released from prison.

“I have turned my life around and bettered myself,” said Yarbrough, who is at the Davis Correctional Facility in Holdenville. “I have taken every drug program they have.”

Yarbrough’s family and supporters said his sentence was too harsh.

“He’s served his time already, and he just needs to be out,” said Yarbrough’s niece, Rhonda Campbell, of Edmond. “I know my uncle is all about the law, and he does respect the people, but this was too much for that type of felony. We’re just going to keep praying and keep positive.”

Governor’s review

Aaron Cooper, a spokesman for Fallin, said the governor would have no comment until she reviews the board’s recommendation for Yarbrough.

Mike Fields, the district attorney for a five-county area including Kingfisher County, spoke before the board Wednesday morning. Fields asked them not to commute Yarbrough’s sentence. He cited Yarbrough’s criminal history and the board’s power to consider the commutation of life-without-parole sentences. Fields said the matter should be left to the Legislature.

“In our criminal justice system, there’s only one sentence that means exactly what it says, and that’s life without parole,” Fields said in a phone interview. “I think the public, victims’ families and law enforcement officers should have assurance that life without parole truly means life without parole. They can’t have that assurance if the Pardon and Parole Board makes it a routine practice of pulling out life-without-parole inmates and recommending commutation.”

Among those supporting Yarbrough was Dennis Will, of Hennessey, a former juror in Yarbrough’s 1997 conviction for cocaine distribution. Will provided a letter to the board detailing his concerns with the jury deliberations.

“After I learned he was being given life without parole, I was upset about it,” Will said after the hearing. “I lost it, because we were not told before we voted.”

Debra K. Hampton, Yarbrough’s attorney, said she has talked to two other members of the jury who shared Will’s concerns. The other jurors did not want to reveal their identities out of fear of retaliation, she said.

Legislation planned

Sen. Connie Johnson, D-Oklahoma City, said Yarbrough’s case is a “poster child” for extreme sentencing guidelines for drug charges. She said it costs the state an estimated $23,000 a year to house an inmate.

“Taxpayer dollars are being squandered on sentences for nonviolent crimes,” Johnson said.

Johnson said she plans to reintroduce legislation next year to stop life-without-parole sentences for nonviolent drug crimes. Her prior bills on the matter did not make it out of committee.

A recent draft report by the American Law Institute noted the severity of life-without-parole sentences. The Washington-based organization, made up of 4,000 lawyers, judges and law professors, publishes model statutes and restatements of law.

“Short of the death penalty, in nearly every American jurisdiction in the early 21st century, a life term of imprisonment without the possibility of release is now the most severe punishment authorized in the criminal code,” the institute said its “Model Penal Code: Sentencing” report released earlier this year.

In the map below (click for a larger version), the current wards are in color, while the proposed boundaries are outlined in the brownish-black dotted lines.

A lot of the population growth has come in the far northwest part of the city, so you can see Ward 8 (Patrick Ryan in bright green) has been chopped up quite considerably. A chunk of Ward 8 constituents will move into Ward 1 (Gary Marrs; light blue) under the proposed plan. On the eastern side of Ward 8, some residents will move into Ward 7 (Skip Kelly; yellow).  Ed Shadid in Ward 2 (pink) will gain some residents in the southwestern part of his ward from Ward 1. He will lose some residents at the northeast end of the ward to Kelly.

Meanwhile, Meg Salyer in Ward 6 (dark blue) and Pete White in Ward 4 (purple) will swap some people on the  southern parts of the existing Ward 6. Larry McAtee in Ward 3 (dark green) will lose some residents along Reno Avenue to Gary Marrs in Ward 1.

David Greenwell in Ward 5 (dark red) on the far south side will lose some residents to White and McAtee on the top left and top right of his existing ward.

You can grab a PDF of the map here. Later, I hope to get the shapefiles behind the map and do some additional analysis.

The city also set a public meeting for discussion on the proposed changes to ward boundaries, which happens once a decade to allocate population fairly across the city.

The public meeting will be at 6 p.m., Aug. 9, in the City Council Chamber on the 3rd Floor of City Hall, 200 N. Walker.

In the meantime, you can leave your comments on the proposed map below.

–Paul

Here’s a look at just how much money just $1 trillion actually is, courtesy of the venture capital firm KPCB. The firm released its version of the country’s financial statement, called USA Inc., back in February.

Related:

• DataWatch: Putting those trillions, billions and millions into context

–Paul

Lawmakers have expanded the prescription drug monitoring program since it came into service in 2006.  It now monitors several types of prescription painkillers, too:

In 2006, the state narcotics bureau pumped up its Prescription Monitoring Program.

Before, doctors only had to report Schedule II controlled substances, such as morphine and OxyContin. Starting July 1 of that year, doctors had to report Schedules II, III, IV and V, which included a variety of drugs, from Valium to Xanax.

The latest expansion compels pharmacists to submit prescription information for certain drugs in real time by Jan. 1, 2012. Currently, they have to submit the information within 24 hours.

Law enforcement officials say the changes will help catch illicit users of prescription drugs and help prevention. Here’s what Darrell Weaver, director of the OBNDD, told Coppernoll:

“Prescription drugs are killing more Oklahomans than any illicit drugs,” Weaver said. “We simply cannot arrest our way out of this.”

Senate Bill 1159, by Republicans Sen. Anthony Sykes and Rep. Randy Terrill, expanded the information collected under the PMP program to include the address and date of birth of patients getting a prescription for certain classes of drugs.

Here’s what the PMP program collects on each prescription, according to Oklahoma law and the administrative rules of OBNDD:

A. Section 2-309C. A. A dispenser of a Schedule II, III, IV or V controlled dangerous substance, except Schedule V substances that contain any detectable quantity of pseudoephedrine, its salts or optical isomers, or salts of optical isomers shall transmit to a central repository designated by the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control using the American Society for Automation in Pharmacy’s (ASAP) Telecommunications Format for Controlled Substances version designated in rules by the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control, the following information for each dispensation:

1. Recipient’s name;

2. Recipient’s address;

3. Recipient’s date of birth;

4. Recipient’s identification number;

5. National Drug Code number of the substance dispensed;

6. Date of the dispensation;

7. Quantity of the substance dispensed;

8. Prescriber’s United States Drug Enforcement Agency registration number; and

9. Dispenser’s registration number; and

10. Other information as required by administrative rule.

B. The information required by this section shall be transmitted:

1. In a format or other media designated acceptable by the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control; and

2. Within twenty-four (24) hours of the time that the substance is dispensed. Beginning January 1, 2012, all information shall be submitted on a real-time log.

–Paul

My birth date is 6/27/75. I’m a board member for FOI Oklahoma Inc. I signed several sworn affidavits in the court case pursued by The Oklahoman and other media outlets on gaining access to the birth dates  and employee ID numbers of state employees for identity verification purposes and for background checks. I was involved in writing articles about the issue last year and this year for my employer.

The Oklahoma Public Employees Association and its legislative backers, including Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore, are claiming victory and vindication from Tuesday’s Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling in their favor.

You can hear Terrill’s interview about the decision at radio station KTOK. Here’s part of what he said:

I’m the guy who attempted to negotiate the compromise legislation that would have satisfied the interests of everybody concerned. I’m talking about the public employees as well as the interests of the newspapers. Mark Thomas with the Oklahoma Press Association said the Daily Oklahoman and the Tulsa World folks were putting pressure on him that he could not accept that compromise. That’s the reason they took the all-or-nothing approach that they did, and as a result of that, they ended up with nothing, and I’ll tell you what, that is truly unfortunate.

I’m not privy to the discussions Terrill had with Thomas during the 2010 session. All I know is that Terrill’s compromise language would have added a multitude of hurdles to the Open Records Act for the public and the press. When his proposed compromise didn’t make it to the House floor, he tried to make some legislative changes to the Open Records Act in the final days of the session by tacking them onto an omnibus Corrections bill. Those also were not successful.

Meanwhile, here’s what Terrill told reporters from The Oklahoman in a wide-ranging, on-the-record 90-minute interview at the Capitol in March 2010, days before the OPEA filed suit to block the Open Records request for public employee birth dates:

Randy Terrill: Does the public have a right to know? The answer is, in some cases, the public does have a right to know; in other cases, they do not.

Paul Monies: Who makes that determination? You? State agencies? The media? The state troopers association? OPEA? Who makes that final determination?

Randy Terrill: The questions of public policy are resolved by this body. That’s why you’re here interviewing me.

Now, more than a year later and after his legislative changes were rejected by his colleagues, Terrill seems comfortable with the Oklahoma Supreme Court resolving this question of public policy. As the dissent by Justice Yvonne Kauger and Chief Justice Steven Taylor makes clear, they believe the Legislature should be making those decisions on public policy:

This is a matter of statutory construction. The statute involved is the human resources statute within the Open Records Act. Although the Legislature has amended 51 O.S. supp. 2005 §24A.7 three times since its inception in 1985, it has never chosen to include the date of birth. If the Legislature desires to do so, it certainly can.

–Paul

Related DataWatch posts:

• One year later: Attorney General opinion on public employee DOBs still unresolved
• Oklahoma brings in millions by selling DOBs of drivers, voters
• Special mailing list deal for Oklahoma Public Employees Association
• ‘Privacy pirates’ and the politics of fear
• How many state employees are sex offenders?

Also, I blogged about this issue at the end of last year.

We’ll have more on this, but in the meantime, here’s the court’s ruling: