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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
Policy Matters: Property tax revenue builds the foundation for our communities: Property taxes don’t pay for your house — they fund the services that keep your neighborhood thriving. Some Oklahoma lawmakers want to end property taxes, but zeroing out this revenue would undermine essential services every Oklahoma family and community depends on. [Shiloh Kantz / The Journal Record]
Oklahoma News
Oklahoma’s data center boom Is about to hit the grid — and your power bill: Big tech companies have plans to build more than a dozen data centers in Oklahoma to keep up with increased computing needs from artificial intelligence. Some will require enough electricity to power entire cities. Oklahoma’s two largest utility companies are investing more than a billion dollars in new sources of power to keep up with demand and plan to pass on some of the cost to residential customers. [The Frontier]
State Government News
Should voters have final say in lawmaker pay? Rep. proposes new plan: A state representative from Le Flore County in southeastern Oklahoma says he will file legislation for the 2026 session that would let voters decide on future pay raises for lawmakers. [The Oklahoman]
Judge says wrongful-termination suit against Ryan Walters can proceed: An Oklahoma County judge is allowing a wrongful-termination lawsuit filed by an Edmond woman against former state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters and the Oklahoma State Department of Education to continue. [The Oklahoman]
Blackburn tapped to lead Oklahoma tourism agency: Gov. Kevin Stitt has appointed a new head of the Oklahoma Department of Tourism and Recreation. Amy Blackburn, who served as Oklahoma Department of Commerce marketing and communications division director, will become the latest executive director of the agency. [Oklahoma Voice]
Oklahoma Turnpike Authority awards $97M for what will be state’s longest bridge: The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority Board on Tuesday, Dec. 9, awarded $97 million to construct the first project for the East-West Connector Turnpike, which is part of the agency’s $8.2 billion, 15-year ACCESS Oklahoma program. The bridge will connect Interstates 44 and 35, running between Portland Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue. [The Oklahoman]
Federal Government News
US Senate GOP rolls out health care plan that fails to extend premium subsidies: U.S. Senate Republicans announced Tuesday they will hold a vote on their own health care proposal later this week to counter a Democratic bill that would extend enhanced tax credits for Affordable Care Act marketplace plans for three more years. [Oklahoma Voice]
- Senate to vote on partisan health care bills, which are expected to fail [KOCO]
US House GOP promises vote on reducing health care premiums, but few specifics disclosed: U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson committed Wednesday to hold a vote next week on a package of bills that he said would lower health insurance premiums for hundreds of millions of Americans, not just those enrolled in Affordable Care Act plans. [Oklahoma Voice]
Federal government adds six more states to restrict some foods from SNAP: Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced Wednesday that she has signed six additional state waivers restricting what can be purchased with food aid benefits. The announcement means more of the 42 million Americans who rely on SNAP benefits will face government restrictions on their grocery purchases, a policy shift critics say represents unprecedented federal intrusion into personal food choices for low-income families. [The Journal Record]
Stitt Calls Out Trump Over Cuts to Wind Energy Projects: In one of his first executive orders this year, President Donald Trump directed a federal review of existing onshore and offshore wind projects to determine whether their leases should be terminated or amended. Under the directive, the Trump administration canceled wind energy projects across the country and stopped issuing new leases. [Oklahoma Watch]
- Gov. Stitt criticizes Trump’s efforts to halt wind energy projects [KOSU]
US seizes oil tanker off Venezuela coast, Trump says: The United States has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela amid a monthslong buildup of military forces surrounding the country, President Donald Trump confirmed on Dec. 10. [USA TODAY via The Oklahoman]
Democrats turn up the heat on Hegseth over Caribbean boat strike that killed 2 survivors: Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill Tuesday escalated their demands that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth publicly release an unedited video of a controversial follow-on strike by U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea that killed two shipwrecked survivors. [Oklahoma Voice]
Editorial: ICE owes an apology to the OU professor it illegally jailed: President Donald Trump’s pledge to seek out those criminals and deport them, focusing on “the worst of the worst,” is a sensible approach to a problem that many administrations, Republican and Democratic, have failed to address. But in practice, the deportation effort has revealed a haphazard, racist and frequently cruel and often legally dubious approach, much of that attributable to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE. [The Oklahoman Editorial Board]
Tribal Nations News
OU researchers propose solution to Indian Health Service underfunding: The federal government has a trust responsibility to fund Indigenous health care. But the Indian Health Service (IHS) has long been underfunded by it. StateImpact’s Jillian Taylor and OPMX’s Sarah Liese spoke with June Zhao, an assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma Hudson College of Public Health, about her recent research, which explores a solution that could help increase and sustain IHS funding. [StateImpact Oklahoma & OPMX via KGOU]
Muscogee Nation proposes requiring 1860s census verification to enroll Freedmen: The Muscogee Nation Citizenship Board filed its first monthly status report with the Muscogee Nation Supreme Court on Dec. 5, which outlines how the board is attempting to implement the court’s order to admit Freedmen descendants as citizens. [NonDoc]
Voting and Election News
Oklahoma Democratic Party primaries closed to independents following ‘miscommunication’: The Oklahoma Democratic Party is challenging what it says is a decision by the Oklahoma Election Board to close the party’s primaries. The Oklahoma Election Board on Wednesday issued a press release saying no party notified the agency by deadline that it wanted to open its primaries. As a result, all party primary elections will be closed to the over 487,900 registered independent voters in the upcoming elections. [Oklahoma Voice]
- OK Democratic Party ‘blindsided’ by closed primary elections in 2026 [The Oklahoman]
- Oklahoma State Election Board announces closed Democratic primaries, despite Dems’ intentions [OPMX via KGOU]
- Oklahoma Democratic Party challenges the State Election Board on closed primaries [KFOR]
- Oklahoma Democrats call its closed primary decision an ‘error’ [News 9]
- Oklahoma primaries to remain closed for 2026-27 elections, no parties allow Independents [KFOR]
Education News
Oklahoma higher ed committee lacks power to effectively police free speech, advocate says: A state board tasked with investigating free speech violations on Oklahoma university campuses must have increased enforcement power to properly protect people’s constitutional rights, one advocate said. But leaders of the Oklahoma Free Speech Committee said the body doesn’t need more power beyond its advisory role when it comes to enforcing changes in free speech policy or investigating violations. [Oklahoma Voice]
Criminal Justice News
Could fuzzy budget get OK County jail in financial and legal trouble?: The Oklahoma County jail is again open to liability for costly emergency inmate medical expenses, and left operating with an irregular budget that could land it in legal trouble. [The Oklahoman]
Tulsa city councilors approve $26.25 million payment to man wrongfully imprisoned for 24 years: City councilors on Wednesday night approved a resolution authorizing the city to pay $26.25 million to settle a lawsuit filed by a man wrongfully convicted of first-degree rape in 1991. [Tulsa World]
Housing & Economic Opportunity News
Child care group sues state over termination of subsidies for school-age kids: A group of Oklahoma child care providers sued the Oklahoma Department of Human Services on Tuesday in an attempt to stop the termination of child care subsidies for school-age children. [Tulsa World]
- Child care providers demand answers, transparency from OKDHS in advisory meeting [KFOR]
OID, Oklahoma lawmakers team up on on new bills to protect homeowners: The Oklahoma Insurance Department and state legislators on Wednesday announced a package of legislation designed to increase consumer protections and provide relief from rising homeowners insurance premiums. [The Oklahoman]
Local Headlines
- Tulsa youth saw mental health issues spike after COVID. This program aims to address that. [The Oklahoma Eagle via Tulsa Flyer]
- Broken Arrow leaders want to build a new airport. They’re studying what it will take. [Tulsa Flyer]
Quote of the Day
“The Trump administration, including the president himself, needs to make it crystal clear that ICE is not some extra-legal enforcement squad. It is subject to the same laws followed daily, and usually respectfully, by local and state police officers, county sheriffs and their deputies and law enforcement personnel of all kinds in this country.”
– The Oklahoman editorial board, criticizing ICE’s pattern of overreach and urging the Trump administration to publicly affirm the agency’s legal boundaries. The piece emphasized that ICE must respect due-process protections and the presumption of innocence. [The Oklahoman]
Number of the Day
996
The number of immigrants arrested in Oklahoma from February to October 2025 who had no criminal convictions or pending charges. That’s nearly one-third of all ICE arrests in the state during this period. [Deportation Data Project]
Policy Note
Mass Deportation: Analyzing the Trump Administration’s Attacks on Immigrants, Democracy, and America: The Trump administration’s mass-deportation agenda dismantled long-standing immigration protections by stripping legal status from hundreds of thousands of people, expanding deportation powers, and curtailing due-process safeguards. Aggressive enforcement tactics and unprecedented funding heightened fear in immigrant communities and pulled federal agencies into expanded policing roles with limited oversight. These actions weakened democratic norms, eroded civil liberties, and destabilized families, workplaces, and local communities nationwide. Without meaningful checks, the long-term civic and social consequences are profound. [American Immigration Council]
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