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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
Hard work deserves a fair wage. SQ 832 would help make that happen: SQ 832 is an opportunity for Oklahoma voters to ensure that the state’s minimum wage reflects both the value of work and the realities of today’s economy. Here are some important considerations for Oklahoma voters as they cast their ballots in this historic election. [Gabriela Ramirez-Perez / OK Policy]
- For more information about the SQ 832 ballot initiative that would raise Oklahoma’s minimum wage, visit OK Policy’s SQ 832 Information and Resources page.
Policy Matters: Why mental health depends on public investments, not just individual resilience: May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a time dedicated to something deeply important: encouraging people to speak up, seek help, and support one another. But if we stop there, we miss a large part of the story. Mental health doesn’t always begin in a therapist’s office. It can begin in the conditions people live in. And those conditions are shaped by policy. [Shiloh Kantz / The Journal Record]
Senate divisions come to a head at session’s end (Capitol Update): Former U.S. House Speaker John Boehner was once quoted as saying that “a leader without followers is just a man taking a walk.” Senate President Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, must have found himself feeling that way at times this year. One might think that leading a Senate with 40 Republicans and only 8 Democrats would make it easy to put together a 25-vote majority any time leadership needs to. [Steve Lewis / Capitol Update]
OK Policy in the News
Election Year Politics Killed Oklahoma’s Eviction Reform Bills, Advocates Say: Oklahoma’s Residential Landlord-Tenant Act has barely changed since the state adopted parts of the Uniform Law Commission’s model legislation in 1978. Oklahoma was one of 20 states that adopted a substantial part of the legislation, but when crafting state law, the tenant remedies section was left on the cutting room floor. [Oklahoma Watch]
A new way to think about the minimum wage: OK Policy’s Carly Putnam participated in a national webinar about the minimum wage. Hosted by the Roosevelt Institute and the Economic Policy Institute, the webinar featured a conversation about the economic and human costs of a frozen wage floor, the original intent of the federal minimum wage, and efforts to raise minimum wages across the country—including in Oklahoma. [Economic Policy Institute] | [Watch via YouTube]
Upcoming Opportunities
OK Policy is now hiring for FOUR positions!
- Administrative & Office Coordinator
- Donor Stewardship & Events Coordinator
- Research & Data Analyst (two open positions)
Deadline to apply for all positions is Sunday, May 31, 2026, at 11:59 p.m.
Weekly What’s That
Work requirements are policies that oblige recipients of certain public programs to be employed or engage in work-related activities for a certain number of hours each month in order to remain eligible for benefits.
As of May 2025, work requirements are in effect for most recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and certain categories of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients, primarily adults aged 18-54. For SNAP, individuals subject to the work requirement must typically engage in 80 hours a month of paid or unpaid work or participate in a work program.
Under the first Trump Administration, over a dozen states, including Oklahoma, enacted work requirements for working-age adults covered by Medicaid. However, only Arkansas implemented its requirements before a federal court deemed the work requirement unlawful in the absence of Congressional authorization. When Arkansas’ work requirements were in effect, studies found that more than 18,000 people — nearly 1 in 4 who were subject to the new rules — lost their coverage in the policy’s first seven months, primarily as a result of administrative barriers. Research finds that two-thirds of non-elderly adults on Medicaid are already working, while most others are not in a position to work since they are either disabled or have caregiving responsibilities.
Following the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1), these policies are scheduled to take effect nationwide. H.R. 1 adds a federal Medicaid work requirement for non-elderly adults in expansion states, requiring 80 hours per month of work or another approved activity to keep coverage, and mandates states verify work hours at least once every six months. For SNAP, H.R. 1 expands who must meet work requirements by increasing the upper age limit for the able-bodied adult without dependents from age 54 to 64, reducing the age of children for certain exemptions from 18 to 14, and removing exceptions for veterans, homeless individuals, and former foster youth. As with past state attempts, these changes are expected to cause many eligible people to lose coverage because of administrative barriers.
Look up more key terms to understand Oklahoma politics and government here.
Quote of the Week
“What is important to remember is that these bills are not targeting landlords; they are trying to hold bad landlords accountable.”
– Sabine Brown, Housing Senior Policy Analyst at OK Policy, speaking about the tenant remedy and eviction timeline bills that failed at the Capitol this year. She explained that the vast majority of landlords who are treating tenants fairly would not have been affected by the legislation. [Oklahoma Watch]
Op-Ed of the Week
Opinion: Fast Tracking More Cuts Will Hurt Families Who Are Already Struggling to Make Ends Meet
President Trump campaigned on making it easier for people to afford necessities like feeding their family, paying the rent or mortgage, getting gas for their car, and seeing a doctor. Now 16 months into his term, these affordability challenges have mostly gotten worse, especially for people with low or moderate incomes. These concerns are reflected in consumer sentiment as measured by the University of Michigan falling in April to the lowest level ever recorded.
And even as people’s cost of living continues to rise, the job market has softened, with the hiring rate at a low level not seen since the low point of the pandemic. This weakening in the labor market has had a particularly severe impact on Black households, with their unemployment rate rising to 7.3 percent in April, the highest since October 2021, and young workers seeing higher unemployment rates across all education levels.
These warning signs should tell congressional Republicans to reassess their current path, and to turn toward choices that would make it easier for families to afford the basics. Instead, they may continue full speed ahead with more devastating cuts — and people across the U.S. will pay the price. [Sharon Parrott / Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]
Numbers of the Week
- 61% – Roughly six-in-ten American adults now say it bothers them a lot that they feel that some wealthy people (61%) and corporations (60%) don’t pay their fair share of taxes. [Pew Research]
- 1.2 million – The number of people choosing a Marketplace plan for 2026 fell for the first time since 2020 by 1.2 million people, or 5 percent, as a result of higher premiums. A few states have already reported a significant number of people dropping Marketplace coverage this year, with declines since January ranging from 9 percent in Pennsylvania to 28 percent in Georgia. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]
- 7.77 – Out of every 100 renter households in Tulsa, nearly 8 face eviction each year, giving Tulsa the 11th-highest eviction rate among major U.S. cities. [Eviction Lab]
What We’re Reading
- Raising revenues the right way: How we tax matters for building trust in the public sector: Taxes are the price of living well in a modern democratic community. The social contract relies on the idea that people both benefit from and contribute to maintaining a community in the ways they can; the tax code is one way of making sure that happens. Public trust builds under certain conditions: when the government collects tax revenue fairly and equitably and when people perceive that government institutions are competent and well intentioned in using that revenue to provide community services. This in turn makes it easier to collect revenue and provide expanded services in the future. When governments collect revenues in ways that feel unfair or inequitable, and when programs are hamstrung and unable to meet community needs, people become understandably skeptical. [Economic Policy Institute]
- Higher Marketplace Premiums Take a Toll on Enrollment and on Marketplace Enrollees: Congressional Republicans failed to extend Premium Tax Credit (PTC) enhancements at the end of 2025, and now the harm of higher marketplace premium costs is beginning to show up. Enrollment has plummeted, and many families are making tough tradeoffs to afford health care along with other basic needs. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]
- Eviction Prevention: Reducing Harm to Households and Society: Eviction prevention policies can reduce harm not only for tenants facing housing instability, but also for communities and public systems more broadly. Evictions are linked to increased homelessness, poorer physical and mental health, job loss, and long-term financial instability, especially for low-income families and children. Programs like emergency rental assistance, legal representation for tenants, mediation, and stronger tenant protections can help keep people housed while reducing costly downstream impacts on shelters, hospitals, and social services. Ultimately, preventing eviction is often less costly — and less harmful — than responding after a family has already lost housing. [University of Wisconsin-Madison Institute for Research on Poverty]
