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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
State Question 847 would cap Oklahomans’ property tax growth. At what cost?:SQ 847 wouldn’t cut Oklahomans’ property taxes, but it would limit the increased tax costs property owners could face over time, which supporters say would give needed relief as other expenses rise. Others say the state question would slowly drain millions of dollars from schools, CareerTech centers and other core services that depend on property tax revenue. [Oklahoma Voice]
- Find out how State Question 847 could affect Oklahomans’ property tax calculations and local budgets [Tulsa Flyer]
- From OK Policy: SQ 847 Fact Sheet | SQ 847 Explainer Video | What’s on the ballot for the November 3, 2026 elections in Oklahoma?
- Register for OK Policy’s Oct. 20 town hall on SQ 845, SQ 847
Find out what State Question 845 would change in Oklahoma’s court system: About 60 years ago, a bribery scandal sent one Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice to prison, another resigned and a third was impeached and removed from office. Voters wanted to get politics and nepotism out of the courts, so they created the Judicial Nominating Commission through constitutional reforms. Voters are asked to reconsider parts of that original framework in State Question 845 on Nov. 3. [Tulsa Flyer]
- From OK Policy: SQ 845 Fact Sheet
Oklahoma sees 20% decrease in SNAP participants, local hunger resources say it started with H.R.1: Our state is seeing a 20% decrease in SNAP participation. Local hunger resources are saying it’s because less people have access to the program. “This really started following the passage of H.R.1 by Congress last year in July. We’ve seen nearly a 20% decrease in SNAP participation in our state.” said Jessica Dietrich, the director of government relations and public policy at Hunger Free Oklahoma. [KFOR]
- From OK Policy: The cost of cutting SNAP goes beyond the dinner table
More Data Centers, More Coal Emissions — and an OU Researcher Watching Atlantic Storms: Air quality alerts that popped up on Oklahomans’ phones over the weekend reflected Professor Xiao-Ming Hu’s research findings in real time. Hu is an air quality researcher at the National Weather Center at the University of Oklahoma. His work focuses on ozone pollutants from fossil fuel-burning power plants and how tropical storms in the Atlantic can push those pollutants across the state. [Oklahoma Watch]
State Government News
Lawmakers weigh more regulation amid mistrust in Oklahoma’s marijuana testing: The Oklahoma Legislature should hit pause on further regulating the state’s medical marijuana industry to allow recent laws to take full effect, one legislator said Tuesday. [Oklahoma Voice]
- Dumping, sewage left on abandoned marijuana grows in Oklahoma [KOSU]
Oklahoma lawmakers explore tax credit to boost donations to nonprofits serving families: Oklahoma lawmakers considered a tax credit that incentivises businesses to donate money they would otherwise pay in state taxes to nonprofits supporting families. Florida-based nonprofits and a Texas lawmaker testified in favor of the program during an interim study hosted by Sen. John Haste, R-Broken Arrow, and Rep. Nicole Miller, R-Edmond, Monday. [StateImpact Oklahoma via KOSU]
Attorney general seeks to join Sand Springs data center lawsuit: Attorney General Gentner Drummond has asked a judge to permit his office to intervene in a civil lawsuit filed on behalf of residents opposing a Sand Springs data center. [Tulsa World]
Opinion, Gov. Stitt: Oklahoma voters are 56 years overdue for constitutional vote: Article XXIV of the Oklahoma Constitution includes a straightforward safeguard: Oklahomans “SHALL” have the opportunity to vote once every 20 years on whether the Legislature should call a constitutional convention. Yet Oklahoma voters have not been asked since 1970. We are now 56 years removed from the last vote. [Gov. Kevin Stitt / The Oklahoman]
Opinion: Oklahoma needs boring government, not more noise: What I’m wondering is whether anybody has considered doing a little less. Maybe government doesn’t have to solve every problem. Maybe every idea doesn’t need a bill number. Maybe every disagreement doesn’t require a news conference. And maybe every politician doesn’t need to tell us what they’re thinking before breakfast. [Former Rep. Mark McBride / The Oklahoman]
Federal Government News
How Homeland Security infiltrated anti-ICE organizations during Operation Metro Surge: Documents in a recent court case highlight the vast surveillance dragnet the federal government created alongside the immigration crackdown. Which means even as immigrants were being rounded up and deported and people of color routinely racially profiled, the thousands of Minnesotans who sought to help them face consequences of their own — they’ve been swept into a burgeoning surveillance state. [Oklahoma Voice]
Tribal Nations News
Osage Nation police search two homeschool sites serving former Daposka students: Osage Nation Police, assisted by Pawhuska Police and an investigator with the Nation’s Attorney General’s office, searched two locations serving former Daposka Ahnkodapi students on Oct. 13 as part of an investigation into allegedly stolen Nation property. [Osage News]
- Osage Nation police investigating language homeschool program, execute warrant mid-lessons [KOSU]
Voting and Election News
Oklahoma State Election Board evacuated after powder found in envelope: The Oklahoma State Election Board at the state Capitol was evacuated on Tuesday, Oct. 13, because of an envelope containing a “suspicious white powder,” its top official said. [The Oklahoman]
- Oklahoma State Election Board reports receiving envelope of ‘suspicious white powder’ [Tulsa World]
Oklahoma Gives Voters Just 4 Days to Vote Early: Oklahoma voters who want to cast a ballot before Election Day will have just four days to do it. That window ranks among the shortest in the nation. Early voting periods range from three to 46 days across the states, with an average of 20 days, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In Minnesota and South Dakota, voters could begin casting ballots around Sept. 18. [The Black Wall Street Times]
Election Roundup
- Democratic candidates answer questions at University of Tulsa forum [Tulsa World]
- HD 26: Shawnee’s Leah Longest, Chris Odneal delve into data centers, massage parlors [NonDoc]
Justice System News
Oklahoma considers creating statewide cold case task force: Oklahoma lawmakers are considering a statewide task force to review cold case killings. The task force would build on a new law that allows families and advocates to request reviews of loved ones’ cases that have gone unsolved. The law, which passed as Senate Bill 1636, will go into effect Nov. 1. [The Oklahoman]
Oklahoma Supreme Court orders auto-transcription pilot for county courts: Not all Oklahoma Supreme Court justices were on board Monday when a 7-2 majority ordered a three-year auto-transcription pilot program in select county district courts across the state. The order came less than a week after a legislative interim study explored a similar program. [The Journal Record]
Tulsa County DA’s attorneys ask new judge to vacate petition seeking grand jury probe: Attorneys for Steve Kunzweiler say the petition seeking a grand jury investigation of the Tulsa County district attorney should be vacated after the judge who approved the petition recused himself, according to a motion filed late Monday. [Tulsa World]
Tulsa considers independent oversight system for police and other public safety employees: The proposed office would review investigations involving deadly force, in-custody deaths and other serious incidents across city public safety departments. [The Frontier]
- City Council set to vote on public safety body [Tulsa World]
- How Tulsa’s proposed public safety oversight program compares to OKC’s [Tulsa World]
These brothers once shared an Oklahoma death row cell. Now they hope to share a home.: After serving more than four decades for a 1983 killing, Tony Mann could soon be released from prison. His younger brother, who was also sentenced to death, has spent the past year rebuilding his life outside prison and fighting for Mann’s release. [The Frontier]
Researchers point to community violence programs, pandemic recovery in historic homicide decline: As candidates debate public safety ahead of the midterm elections, a new assessment of the nation’s historic homicide decline suggests there is no single explanation for the drop — and that some widely discussed enforcement strategies may have played little role. [Oklahoma Voice]
Economy & Business News
Court transcripts continue to allege State Farm’s use of Haag Engineering to train staff despite 20 year moratorium: Most cases alleging State Farm ran a scheme to defraud policy holders through denying wind and hail claims come with heavily redacted court documents and protective orders shielding any exhibits from the public. But a recent hearing has put a spotlight on the company’s alleged use of Haag Engineering. [KFOR]
Officials celebrate Tulsa entrepreneurship center for immigrants, small-business owners: Eastside Rise, in partnership with Bank of Oklahoma and the city of Tulsa, hosted a ceremonial groundbreaking Tuesday morning for a small business and entrepreneurship center — the first of its kind in the state. [Tulsa World]
Oklahoma spaceport breaks ground, launches targeted for late 2027: A years-long aspiration to see space flights take off from a former Air Force base in Burns Flat is expected to become a reality in one year with construction set to start on a mission control and operations center. [The Oklahoman]
Community News
Aspen Ideas visitors marvel at resilience of Greenwood during Black Wall Street tour: As hundreds of visitors descend on Tulsa for the Aspen Ideas: Economy conference, Black Wall Street historian Kode Ransom is giving them a glimpse of Greenwood’s history. Ransom offered two tours of the historic neighborhood Tuesday to teach people about the history of the 1921 Race Massacre, tribal sovereignty and some of the neighborhood’s most prominent business owners, like Dreamland Theater owner Loula Williams. [The Oklahoma Eagle]
- Investor hints at big plans for Tulsa during Aspen Ideas Economy conference [Tulsa World]
Opinion: Christian nationalism can’t work in America. Here’s why.: Christian nationalism is a hot button topic and a term poorly defined. It is best understood as a spectrum that starts with the idea that the United States should be an explicitly Christian nation and then can progress to the dark extreme of fascism. But the starting point is untenable, meaning the whole ideology collapses. [The Rev. Daniel Ross / The Oklahoman]
Local Headlines
- Broken Arrow police chief put on paid leave amid unspecified internal investigation [Tulsa World]
- Audit shows accounting errors caused Oklahoma County budget confusion, clerk urges system reform [KOSU]
- Edmond sunroom company to pay $150K to settle EEOC lawsuit [The Journal Record]
Quote of the Day
“[Nobody likes to pay property taxes] until you start thinking about all the things that you receive and the core services that are offered based on those taxes. We have to have the resources available for core services like emergency management, our roads and bridges, our police and fire. All of those things cost money, along with resourcing our schools so that we can have high-quality teachers in the classroom with every student.”
– Oklahoma State School Boards Association Executive Director Shawn Hime, speaking about concerns that, if passed on November 3, SQ 847 will dramatically impact the ability of schools and local government to deliver essential services. [Oklahoma Voice]
Number of the Day
$575 million
Estimated annual lost revenue to local schools and county governments in 10 years if SQ 847 is passed. The measure, which is on the Nov. 3 statewide ballot, would lower assessment caps for property taxes. These caps limit how much a property’s assessed value can increase each year for tax purposes. As a result, local schools and county governments would receive less revenue for essential services. University of Central Oklahoma professor Ryan Kiggins found a $42 million income reduction at the county level in the first year, ramping up to a $575 million loss by year 10, not including the existing Senior Freeze estimates. [OK Policy]
Policy Note
Impact of Key Trump Policies on Taxes and Costs: National and State Estimates: The main policies of President Trump during his second term in office have had the net effect of raising taxes and costs in 2026 for the typical American in every income group except for the richest 1 percent. The less income one has, the worse off they typically are under Trump’s policies. This is happening because, for most Americans, any tax cut they received under Trump’s 2025 tax law (HR 1, or the One Big Beautiful Bill) is more than offset by the price increases and, in many cases, by the loss of the expanded health care tax credit. The exception is the richest 1 percent of Americans, who benefit overall. [Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy]
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