Okla. Stat. tit. 56, § 56-253

The Legislature hereby finds that:

1. Americans of most economic classes are having increasing

difficulty climbing the economic ladder. Fully half of all

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 56. Poor Persons Page 183

Americans have no, negligible or negative investable assets just as

the price of entry to the economic mainstream, such as the cost of a

house, starting a business, an adequate education, establishing a

retirement account, or purchasing an automobile, is increasing;

2. Economic well-being does not come solely from income,

spending, and consumption, but also requires savings, investment,

and accumulation of assets, since assets can improve economic

stability, connect people with a viable and hopeful future,

stimulate development of human and other capital, enable people to

focus and specialize, yield personal and social dividends, and

enhance the welfare of offspring;

3. There is an urgent need for new means for Americans to

navigate the labor market and to provide incentives and means for

employment, upgrading, mobility, and retention;

4. The household savings rate of the United States lags far

behind other industrial nations, presenting a barrier to economic

growth. The State of Oklahoma should develop policies, such as

individual development accounts, that promote higher rates of

personal savings and net private domestic investment;

5. In the current fiscal environment, the State of Oklahoma

should invest existing resources in high-yielding initiatives.

There is reason to believe that the financial returns, including

increased income, tax revenue, and decreased welfare cash

assistance, of individual development accounts will far exceed the

cost of investment;

6. Tens of thousands of Oklahomans continue to live in poverty

and receive public assistance. Poverty is a loss of human

resources, an assault on human dignity, and a drain on social and

fiscal resources of this state. Traditional public assistance

programs, concentrating on income and consumption, have rarely been

successful in promoting and supporting the transition to economic

self-sufficiency; and

7. Income-based social policy should be complemented with

asset-based social policy, because while income-based policies

ensure that consumption needs, including food, child care, rent,

clothing, and health care, are met, asset-based policies provide the

means to achieve economic self-sufficiency and climb the economic

ladder.