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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.
New from OK Policy
SQ 832 Communications Toolkit Available: OK Policy has created a communications toolkit for State Question 832 with ready-to-use talking points, graphics, sample social media posts, and other resources to help supporters share accurate information about Oklahoma’s minimum wage and the June 16 vote. Use the toolkit to start conversations, educate friends and family, share information online, and encourage voter participation in your community. [OK Policy]
Oklahoma News
Brent Swadley discusses ‘political favors’ in calls from county jail, prosecutors say: Since being found guilty at his fraud trial, Brent Swadley has been talking from jail in recorded phone calls about “pulling in political favors” from Gov. Kevin Stitt and others, prosecutors allege. In a May 30 jail call, he told his wife, “I just hope that Stitt just does the right thing,” prosecutors revealed in a legal filing. [The Oklahoman]
Insurance Department’s Public Hearing Could Give Homeowners a Voice: On May 20, less than six weeks after he denied a request for a public hearing on whether Oklahoma’s homeowners insurance market is competitive, Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready announced an identical hearing to be held in September. [Oklahoma Watch]
Opinion: State Question 832 Would Strengthen Oklahoma Families and Small Businesses: As a small business owner who has operated a childcare facility in Tulsa for years, I know firsthand through the debate around State Question 832 that my business’s long-term success directly ties to valuing my employees’ labor. Right now, though, there are far too many workers across Oklahoma working for far less than a living wage because our outdated minimum wage has not gone up since 2009. [Mattece Mason / The Black Wall Street Times]
- SQ 832 would gradually raise state minimum wage to $15/hour [The Black Wall Street Times]
State Government News
Tulsa mayor fights ‘untenable’ PSO utility rate increase: State utility regulators on Monday heard from PSO customers and Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols about the company’s proposed rate increase. The meeting was among the initial steps in the rate review process. [The Oklahoman]
- Tulsa mayor calls for caution in review of proposed PSO rate increase [Tulsa World]
- Lawmaker seeks court intervention after PSO expansion plan wins preapproval [Tulsa World]
Opinion, This Week in Oklahoma Politics: Inola aluminum plant, Trump’s Mazzei endorsement, open primary challenge and more: The panel talks about Attorney General Gentner Drummond filing a petition to stop construction of an aluminum processing plant in Inola, a report showing gubernatorial candidate Mike Mazzei paid $75,000 to companies owned by close associates of President Donald Trump before Trump endorsed Mazzei and upcoming primaries for U.S. House and Senate. [KOSU]
Federal Government News
Federal housing cuts could put 30,000 Oklahomans at risk, advocates warn: The administration has proposed steep cuts to Section 8 housing vouchers, including a two-year limit on assistance for able-bodied adults. If that limit takes effect, more than 30,000 Oklahomans — more than half of them children — could be at risk of losing their homes, according to Sabine Brown, senior policy analyst for housing at the Oklahoma Policy Institute. [The Journal Record]
Tribal Nations News
Driven From Lenapehoking, They Hope to Return to New York: The Lenape, now known as the Delaware, were forced out of their ancestral lands centuries ago. Now in Oklahoma, their descendants feel the pull of homeland in the east. [The New York Times]
Five Chickasaw Nation incumbents run unopposed in 2026 general election: Five incumbents will retain their seats in the Chickasaw Nation’s 2026 general election after no challengers filed before Wednesday’s deadline. [The Journal Record]
Voting and Election News
Why Oklahoma’s minimum wage question might look strange to voters: The ballot language shows the measure would amend the Oklahoma Minimum Wage Act to increase the state minimum wage to at least $9 “beginning in 2025,” increasing by $1.50 each year. Due to the delayed timing of the vote, this language is outdated. If approved by voters, the first increase would be to $12 per hour to align with the measure’s schedule starting in 2027. [KOSU]
Another $1.2 million dumped into bitter AG’s race: lmost $1.2 million in fuel was poured onto the incendiary Republican primary for Oklahoma attorney general this week, state Ethics Commission reports show. [Tulsa World]
Election Roundup
- Munson relying on ground game, background to clinch Democratic gubernatorial nomination [Oklahoma Voice]
- Who is Charles McCall? Ex-House speaker running for Oklahoma governor [The Oklahoman]
- Four little-known candidates in packed Oklahoma GOP governor’s race [The Oklahoman]
- Cheat sheet: Education, taxes, tribal relations highlight HD 1 campaigns [NonDoc]
- Cheat sheet: Rep. David Smith challenged by Pamela Gordon, Shelton Foster in HD 18 primary [NonDoc]
- Cheat sheet: Two challenge 24-year incumbent Alfalfa County associate district judge [NonDoc]
Opinion: Mazzei’s lesson in blowback: During a recent debate, Mike Mazzei ended up insulting local superintendents and the teachers and support staff they lead by saying schools were “run by liberal, left-leaning radical socialists.” That phrase was straight out of ex-state Superintendent Ryan Walters‘ disgraceful playbook. And it would be news to many clear-eyed folks across Oklahoma who actually know their local superintendents, teachers and staff; attend church with them; like them … and know damned well they aren’t “liberal, left-leaning radical socialists,” but are mostly R-e-p-u-b-l-i-c-a-n-s. [Arnold Hamilton / The Journal Record]
Education News
‘Coordinated scheme to defraud’: Former TPS admin Chris Hudgins among trio charged: In the latest revelation stemming from a 2025 audit of Tulsa Public Schools, District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler and Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced the filing of 27 criminal counts against three defendants for conspiracy, embezzlement and kickbacks related to the administration of bond projects financed by local property taxes. [NonDoc]
- Former Tulsa schools official, construction contractors charged with stealing school bond money [Oklahoma Voice]
- State AG, Tulsa DA charge three with defrauding Tulsa Public Schools [Public Radio Tulsa]
- Trio charged with stealing $780K from Tulsa Public Schools in ‘sophisticated’ fraud scheme [The Oklahoma Eagle]
- AG, DA announce 27 charges from Tulsa Public Schools alleged bond scheme [Tulsa World]
OU expects to offer three-year bachelor’s degrees starting fall 2027: The University of Oklahoma may be poised to become the first public higher education institution in Oklahoma to offer three-year bachelor’s degree programs starting in the fall 2027 semester. [The Journal Record]
Justice System News
After deaths at Tulsa Municipal Jail, a wrongful death lawsuit targets the private contractor: The mother of a 23-year-old man claims jail employees failed to adequately monitor him after he told them he had recently attempted suicide. [The Frontier]
Quote of the Day
“The challenge of balancing a budget while ensuring fair compensation for my employees is always at the forefront of my decision-making – and it’s why I know it is absolutely possible to strike a balance between profitability and paying workers a living wage.”
-Mattece Mason, owner of a Tulsa childcare facility, writing about her support for SQ 832, which would raise Oklahoma’s minimum wage. Oklahoma voters will decide SQ 832 during a June 16 special election. [The Black Wall Street Times]
Number of the Day
-2%
Oklahoma’s community supervision rate was 1,246 per 100,000 residents in 2009 and declined 2% (to 1,225) in 2024. [Prison Policy Institute]
Policy Note
Probation and parole trends by state: A look back at the data on ‘alternatives’ to incarceration: Community supervision represents the largest segment of the criminal legal system and, much like incarceration, it is almost entirely a state- and locally-run enterprise. On an average day, around 3.5 million people are on probation or parole compared to 2 million people who are incarcerated. To put this into perspective, that means more people are on parole than are in local jails nationwide, and people on probation make up more than half of all people under correctional control of any kind. [Prison Policy Institute]
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