OKPOLICY.ORG
What’s up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk shares our most recent publications and other resources to help you stay informed about Oklahoma. Numbers of the Day and Policy Notes are from our daily news briefing, In The Know. Click here to subscribe to In The Know.
This Week from OK Policy
Housing is getting attention at the Capitol this year — some good, some bad: Oklahoma’s housing crisis continues to be a statewide issue as seen through rising evictions, increasing rates of homelessness, and a severe lack of affordable housing options. These growing indicators should signal that our state legislators should be seeking solutions to Oklahoma’s housing crisis. Some lawmakers are doing just that, while some are creating even more barriers between Oklahomans and safe, affordable housing. [Sabine Brown / OK Policy]
Policy Matters: #OKLeg leaders urge fiscal caution; will they heed economic warnings?: As Oklahoma lawmakers approach this session’s midway point, legislative leaders are urging caution when considering the impacts of tax cuts. With the state’s reliance on federal funding and signs of a national economic downturn, a strategic and targeted approach is more vital than ever. [Shiloh Kantz / The Journal Record]
Proposed new hurdles to state question process could be legislative overreach (Capitol Update): Several bills have been proposed in recent years to limit the people’s power to legislate, which would amplify the legislature’s powers. Senate Bill 1027 by Sen. David Bullard, R-Durant, makes big changes in the initiative petition process. It cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee last week and is a bill that’s worth keeping an eye on. [Steve Lewis / Capitol Update]
Weekly What’s That
Public school students are defined as chronically absent if they miss ten percent or more of school days, which in Oklahoma would would be approximately 18 days in a normal 180-day school calendar. Both excused and unexcused absences (known as truancy) are counted in calculating rates of chronic absenteeism.
Chronic absenteeism is associated with a whole host of educational challenges for students. Children who are chronically absent from school perform worse academically, are more likely to drop out, and experience poor outcomes later in life, from poverty and diminished health to involvement in the criminal justice system. High rates of chronic absenteeism, while a longstanding problem, have gained renewed attention and urgency since the COVID-19 crisis upended traditional patterns of school attendance for many students and families. Across the United States, the chronic absenteeism rate increased from 15 percent in 2019 to 28 percent in 2022 and remained substantially elevated in 2023. In Oklahoma, the rise in chronic absenteeism has been less dramatic but still notable, increasing from 13 percent in 2019 to 21 percent statewide in 2023.
Look up more key terms to understand Oklahoma politics and government here.
Quote of the Week
“I wish that the United States had an immigration system that actually works, but the reality is that that’s not the case right now. Our immigration system is broken… But the bill itself is just flawed in so many different ways. It’s unconstitutional, and each one of us swore an oath to the Constitution.”
– Rep. Arturo Alonso-Sandoval (Oklahoma City) called HB 1362 “un-Oklahoman and un-American.” He said being in the U.S. illegally is a civil violation, so escalating the penalty to a felony with a minimum cost of $35,000 to bond out of jail is a “big jump.” [Oklahoma Voice]
Editorial of the Week
Opinion: OK Gov. Stitt should protect SoonerCare. It’s critical to our health and economy
Our Gov. Kevin Stitt is correctly concerned about cuts to Medicaid – SoonerCare. Congress is going to cut money to the program, then dump the tough decisions about who loses coverage to the state.
In Oklahoma, Medicaid-SoonerCare is 25% of the medical economy, with one in four of all Oklahomans covered. And that’s with unemployment at a low 3%, demonstrating how many Oklahomans are working, but at incomes that still qualify them for SoonerCare.
To attract new businesses, and grow current ones, the state must create and maintain a productive workforce for entry-level and other low-wage employment. SoonerCare for adults is the cost-effective way.
Of course, DOGE-OK will watch for fraud, especially within the five managed care insurers who handle most SoonerCare payments to providers. Keeping Medicaid-SoonerCare complete serves the needs of so many Oklahomans and all types of businesses on our climb to top 10 status for health and the economy.
[Read the full guest op-ed by S. Bennett Goldman from The Oklahoman]
Numbers of the Day
- 56.2% – Pushmataha County had the state’s highest coverage rate for children who use Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (Medicaid for kids) for health care. Medicaid remains a dominant source of coverage for children in rural areas. [Georgetown Center for Children and Families]
- $150 million – Oklahoma’s estimated annual cost if the federal government mandated that states cover 10% of costs for SNAP food benefits, the nation’s largest food assistance program. At present, SNAP food benefits are fully funded by the federal government. The Trump administration is pushing for sweeping cuts to government services for low-income Americans in order to fund its tax cuts that primarily favor the wealthy. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]
- 60% – Federal rental assistance helps seniors, people with disabilities, veterans, and working families keep a roof over their heads, often by helping them afford rental units they find in the private market. In 2023, about 60% of Oklahomans who received rental assistance were in families with children. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]
- 82% – Out of the nearly 320,000 Oklahomans who would be directly and indirectly affected by raising the state’s minimum wage to $15, nearly 82 percent are adults aged 20 or older. [OK Policy]
- $544 million – The Oklahoma Department of Corrections had a $544 million budget for Fiscal Year 2025, which started July 1, 2024. That accounts for just over 4% of the overall state appropriated budget. [OK Policy]
What We’re Reading
- Cutting Medicaid to pay for low taxes on the rich is a terrible trade for American families: Keeping taxes low for the richest households and corporations is the clearest legislative priority of the Trump administration and the Republican congressional majority. Many provisions of the 2017 tax law (often called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act or the TCJA) are expiring this year. Extending these provisions would provide hugely disproportionate benefits to the richest households. [Economic Policy Institute]
- Imposing SNAP Food Benefit Costs on States Would Worsen Hunger, Hurt States’ Ability to Meet Residents’ Needs: The Trump Administration and congressional Republicans seem poised to pursue substantial cuts to the nation’s primary food assistance program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — potentially putting millions of people in the U.S. at risk of not having enough to eat. Among the harmful proposals from Republican lawmakers so far is an emerging push to require states to pay a portion of SNAP food benefit costs for the first time to help pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest business owners and households. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]
- DOGE-Driven HUD Cuts Will Make It Harder for People to Afford Housing, Exit Homelessness: A record number of people are struggling to afford housing, and leaders from across the political spectrum have called for action. But the Trump Administration, including Elon Musk and the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), has taken one step after another that will undermine the most effective policies to help people afford housing, including cutting Housing and Urban Development (HUD) staff, withholding urgently needed funds, and making harmful policy changes. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]
- The macroeconomics of the Trump administration: We sketch out the macroeconomic dangers posed by each of the administration’s big policy initiatives so far, and end with an assessment of where this leaves the U.S. economy. The best outcome that could result from continuing these policies would be avoiding a recession but still sharply reducing growth and creating an U.S. economy that is significantly poorer than it would have otherwise been. The most likely outcome, however, is a recession in the coming year. [Economic Policy Institute]
- Front-end criminal justice reforms are key to addressing systemic inequities: By the time someone walks through prison gates, they have already missed out on dozens of opportunities for more effective, less costly interventions. The greater opportunity lies in rewinding the process entirely—focusing on diversion programs and front-end reforms that prevent people from ever entering prison walls in the first place. [Brookings]
