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In The Know is your daily briefing on Oklahoma policy-related news. OK Policy encourages the support of Oklahoma’s state and local media, which are vital to an informed citizenry. Inclusion of a story does not necessarily mean endorsement by the Oklahoma Policy Institute. Some stories included here are behind paywall or require subscription. Subscribe to In The Know and see past editions.
Oklahoma News
County Assessors examine the cost of no more OK property taxes: The new year had many county assessors looking at what sort of impact would be had if Oklahoma got rid of its property tax. Critics have said it could destroy the money that public schools and many others rely on. [KFOR]
Renee Good killing drove these Tulsans to protest against ICE: Three days after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis, hundreds of Tulsans filled Fred Johnson Park Saturday to protest ICE and the Trump administration’s deportation campaign. [Tulsa Flyer]
- Hundreds of Tulsans stand outside senator’s office to protest ICE killing of Renee Good [Tulsa Flyer]
- Hundreds rally in downtown OKC protesting ICE, shooting of Renee Good [The Oklahoman]
- Anti-ICE protest brings Oklahoma City residents together at Scissortail Park (video) [The Oklahoman]
- Rally in OKC draws hundreds after deadly ICE shooting in Minneapolis [KFOR]
- Sen. Markwayne Mullin says ICE officer had to ‘engage’ in shooting [The Oklahoman]
This is how one Oklahoman’s life will change as ACA subsidies expire: Sheeva Azma first started using insurance offered through the Affordable Care Act after she finished graduate school in 2014. Azma is now a freelance science writer, and she also tutors children on the side. Health care coverage through the ACA marketplace allows her to build her career without depending on a traditional employer. But starting in January, enhanced ACA credits that kept premiums lower expired, driving costs up for Azma and thousands of other Oklahomans. [The Oklahoman]
Families Speak Out in Wake of News of State Farm Hail Scheme: Craig and Elizabeth Gutierrez thought their Class 4 impact-resistant roof and decades of loyalty would protect them—instead, they got months of delays, conflicting assessments, and an adjuster who told them they ‘weren’t worth it.’ [Oklahoma Watch]
State Government News
Oklahoma governor to renew push for uncapping private school spending: Gov. Kevin Stitt is expected to advocate again this year for eliminating the cap on how much Oklahoma can spend to help children attend private schools, though the state hasn’t hit its current limit. [Oklahoma Voice]
- Lawmakers push for income caps on tax credits to ensure aid reaches low-income families [Fox 25]
Oklahoma private school tax credit program primarily benefits higher-income families, data shows: A private school tax credit program created by Oklahoma lawmakers in 2023 is primarily benefiting families who earn more than the state’s average household income, according to new data from the Oklahoma Tax Commission. The program, which took effect in 2024, was designed to financially help families send their children to private schools. However, analysis shows 70% of the money and 70% of the families receiving the tax credit earn more than $75,000 per year. [KSWO]
- See the the latest Parental Choice Tax Credit Report from the Oklahoma Tax Commission
- From OK Policy: Vouchers: Another Wrong Turn for Oklahoma Schools
Ratepayers would get protection from data center costs under new bill: As Oklahoma’s data center boom continues, one lawmaker is moving to shield everyday consumers from soaring utility bills with new legislation for the 2026 session. [The Oklahoman]
- New bill aims to protect Oklahomans from data center energy costs [The Journal Record]
Oklahoma bill proposes to reinstate mandate to hold back third graders that don’t pass state tests: A proposed bill could bring back a retention mandate, requiring third graders who don’t pass statewide reading tests to be held back. [KFOR]
Legal roundup: Car dealer cases jump started, gun charge upheld, Enid water suit sunk: Both federal and state courts have been busy over the new year, deciding several high-profile cases in late 2025 or early 2026 across Oklahoma’s judicial systems. [NonDoc]
Political notebook: Oklahoma’s December tax revenue beats previous year by 8.5%: Gross receipts to the state treasury were $1.5 billion in December, 8.5% more than for the same month a year earlier, Treasurer Todd Russ reported. [Tulsa World]
Capitol Insider: Lawmakers step up efforts as bill filing deadline nears: The new year began with several bills becoming law, and the 2026 legislative session begins in less than a month. There was a surge in bill filings over the holidays. [KGOU]
- Bill Filing Deadline Approaches [Oklahoma Watch]
Opinion: Oklahoma Republicans pick poultry over people, 20 years after the state waged war on chicken poop: One of the earliest lessons parents teach their children is if they break someone else’s things — even if it’s by accident — they have a responsibility to make it right. But a group of influential Oklahoma Republicans apparently believe this moral code applies to everyone except our state’s poultry industry. [Janelle Stecklein / Oklahoma Voice]
Opinion: DHS funding changes still put Oklahoma children at risk: While Oklahoma Human Services (OKDHS) funding updates may appear to help families at first glance, the reality is that many Oklahoma children are still being left in unsafe circumstances — and families are still being forced into impossible decisions. OKDHS has now announced that children ages 6 to 8 years old will be funded, but children ages 8 to 12 will not. This is not the solution Oklahoma families need. [Christy Kastl / The Oklahoman]
Opinion: Flat Oklahoma state budget puts us at risk of standing still: Everywhere I go, I hear the same concerns. Folks talk about their kids’ schools at the coffee shop and the feed store. At the gas station and the grocery store, I hear people worried about mental health services for their families and neighbors. I rarely hear complaints about Oklahoma’s income tax. What I do hear are concerns about school tax credits and other tax cuts that reduce the recurring revenue the state depends on. I hear conversations about rising prices, public safety and whether the state is taking care of its most vulnerable. [Mark McBride / The Oklahoman]
Federal Government News
Maybe, just maybe, there’s not another shutdown looming at the end of January: House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., said his ‘goal’ is to approve the leftover bills before the end of the month, avoiding the need for Congress to use another stopgap measure. [Oklahoma Voice]
- D.C. Digest: Cole cajoling House toward agreement on appropriations bills [Tulsa World]
Landmark cases on transgender athletes at the US Supreme Court put trans rights on the line: A pair of blockbuster cases to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court could carry far-reaching implications for transgender rights, even as the Trump administration during the past year has rolled out a broad anti-trans agenda targeting everything from sports to military service. [Oklahoma Voice]
Tribal Nations News
Choctaw Nation to serve as testing site for Trump administration’s goal of expanding drone usage: The Choctaw Nation will be home to one of the country’s two new testing sites for Unmanned Aircraft Systems, the Federal Aviation Administration announced. [Oklahoma Voice]
5 things to know: Tribes take state to court over hunting and fishing rights: The Cherokee Nation, Chickasaw Nation and Choctaw Nation last year filed a civil lawsuit in federal court that seeks to ban Oklahoma from enforcing state hunting and fishing laws against tribal members within the Five Tribes’ reservations. This became an issue in 2021, one year after tribal sovereignty was put into the spotlight by the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark McGirt v. Oklahoma ruling. [Tulsa World]
Voting and Election News
Opinion: Independents are paying for elections not open to us: The Election Board’s announcement of fully closed primaries places in stark relief the perversity of our current Oklahoma electoral system. For independents like me, it’s a dysfunctional system that’s both unfair and increasingly dangerous. State Question 836 will allow us to push back against the party bosses, and create an electoral system that reduces dangerous polarization and promotes fair use of our tax dollars. [Mark Sanders / Tulsa World]
Health News
What Oklahomans need to know about CDC changes to childhood vaccine recommendations: The CDC reduced the number of fully recommended childhood vaccines from 17 to 11, following a December directive to review vaccine schedules in other high-income countries. An Oklahoma vaccine advocacy group argues this move doesn’t reflect scientific evidence and could have consequences for families. [KGOU]
Criminal Justice News
From Promise to Patchwork: How Oklahoma’s Domestic Violence Sentencing Law is Failing in Practice: Nearly a year after lawmakers unanimously passed the Survivors’ Act, incarcerated women across Oklahoma face missing records, scarce legal help, and a system improvising its way through one of the state’s largest sentencing reforms [Oklahoma Watch]
Seeking jail solutions, OK County commissioner submits 5/8-cent sales tax proposal for review: Oklahoma County voters could face an April 7 ballot question on whether to approve a sales tax of less than 1 percent to fund the construction and operation of the long-awaited new jail that faces a financing gap of at least $400 million. [NonDoc]
- Oklahoma County jail could run out of money to operate by May [The Oklahoman]
Activists call for Oklahoma County jail to boot ICE, trustees respond: Local activists want ICE officers out of the Oklahoma County jail, formally the County Detention Center. The grassroots People’s Council for Justice Reform said Friday, Jan. 9, that it had asked the county Criminal Justice Authority, by emailed letter, “to remove ICE agents from the county jail and eliminate the 48-hour hold the agency has used to illegally detain people without due process.” [The Oklahoman]
Oklahoma County killer to seek clemency: An Oklahoma County killer will ask the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board for clemency following the shooting deaths of two. Kendrick A. Simpson, 45, is set to die by lethal injection on Feb. 12 at Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. [Oklahoma Voice]
- From OK Policy: Oklahoma Death Penalty Tracker
Community News
Islamic Society of Tulsa was ready to expand but unprepared for Broken Arrow’s opposition: he ferocity of the opposition to a planned Islamic center in Broken Arrow is, perhaps, a measure of the times. It combines the heightened vitriol and prairie fire politics of the internet age with long-standing complaints and questions about urban life and expansion. [Tulsa World]
- 4 things to know about the proposed Broken Arrow mosque — and the debate it’s touched off [Tulsa Flyer]
Tulsa’s MLK Jr. Day parade to host 125+ participants as Freedmen descendants join the flock: “New Day. Same Dream.” That’s the motto for Tulsa’s 47th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade set for Jan. 19. Organizers say the theme highlights the nation’s progress in racial equality since King’s 1968 assassination while also showing how much work still needs to be done. [Tulsa Flyer]
Opinion: The Racial Politics of a Sheriff Correcting a Black Mayor: On Friday, Mayor Monroe Nichols, the first Black mayor of Tulsa, shared a reflection on his Facebook page about the killing of Renee Nicole Good, a White woman shot and killed by a federal immigration agent during an enforcement operation in Minneapolis. The following day, Tulsa County Sheriff Vic Regalado responded publicly on Facebook, rebuking Nichols for his comments, accusing him of irresponsibility, and warning that he was “raising the temperature” and risking civil unrest. What followed was not simply a disagreement between two local officials. It was a public confrontation that exposed deep hypocrisy, racial power dynamics, and the policing of Black leadership in real time, right here in Tulsa. [Nehemiah Frank / The Black Wall Street Times]
Local Headlines
- Tulsa City Councilors to discuss possible public vote on hotel/motel tax rate increase Wednesday [Tulsa World]
Quote of the Day
“You could be a millionaire and still receive funding — state funding — to send your child to a private school.”
-Rep. Ellen Pogemiller of Oklahoma City, speaking about the lack of income limits for the parental choice tax credit, or the state’s private school voucher program. The most recent report about the credit showed about 1 in 5 recipients made more than $250,000 per year. [Fox 25]
- See the the latest Parental Choice Tax Credit Report from the Oklahoma Tax Commission
Number of the Day
$30.75 billion
Oklahoma received $30.75 billion in census-guided federal spending in Fiscal Year 2023. This funding went towards Medicaid, Medicare, and other healthcare spending; infrastructure; education; economic development; housing; and more. An accurate Census is more than just a headcount because it’s the foundation for funding allocations for schools, medical clinics, roads, and more. [Oklahoma Fact Sheet / Project on Government Accountability]
Policy Note
Q&A: Communities Without Vital Data: Every year the U.S. Census Bureau publishes the American Community Survey (ACS), a detailed dataset that captures information on American social, economic, housing, and demographic trends. The ACS serves as an annual supplement to what the Census provides, which is only collected once every 10 years. But some Republican legislators have proposed making the ACS a voluntary survey, citing concerns about privacy and government overreach. Data experts say that a voluntary survey will disproportionately hurt rural communities and marginalized groups by reducing the quality of the data available for and about those communities. [The Daily Yonder]
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