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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
Entering into 287(g) agreements harms Oklahoma families and communities: When Oklahoma police departments enter into agreements with ICE, they erode community trust, divert local resources, and harm all Oklahomans, citizens and non-citizens alike. Instead of collaborating with ICE to deport Oklahoma residents, local law enforcement agencies must focus on protecting public safety for everyone. [Gabriela Ramirez-Perez / OK Policy]
- From OK Policy: Which Oklahoma counties, cities and agencies have federal 287(g) agreements for immigration enforcement?
Latest Census Bureau poverty data misses state-by-state trends: The U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday released new Current Population Survey data showing that programs like SNAP and Medicaid help reduce poverty and improve economic security for families across the country. But this week’s release does not include important state-level data typically included, which leaves Oklahoma policymakers and advocates with an incomplete picture of what is happening at the state level. [OK Policy]
Fact Sheet for State Question 845: Changes to Judicial Nominating Commission: State Question 845 would change the rules for Oklahoma’s 15-member Judicial Nominating Commission, which reviews candidates for certain judicial vacancies. It would update geographic representation to use current congressional districts and remove limits on how many commissioners can be attorneys, have immediate family members who practice law, or belong to the same political party. It would also change commissioners’ term lengths, allow members to serve up to 12 consecutive years, and adjust how the commission’s three at-large members are chosen. [Cole Allen / OK Policy]
Policy Matters: The bill always comes due: Campaign promises often make governing sound simple: lower costs while still providing everything people expect from government: better schools, safe roads, fast emergency response, and support for families during difficult times. But that bargain is like a perpetual motion machine — promising more and more while requiring less and less to keep it running. Sooner or later, the numbers stop adding up, and the bill comes due. [Shiloh Kantz / The Journal Record]
New SoonerCare work requirements threaten coverage for Oklahomans (Capitol Update): The Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) recently used a letter written on yellow paper to begin notifying certain SoonerCare (Medicaid) members to begin preparing for new federal work requirements that could impact their coverage beginning January 1, 2027. The federal 2025 budget reconciliation bill, known formally as H.R. 1 or more commonly referred to as The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), added the work requirements for Medicaid enrollees who became eligible with passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), otherwise known as Obamacare. [Steve Lewis / Capitol Update]
OK Policy in the News
Congress Passed the Biggest Housing Bill in Decades, but Oklahoma Advocates Say the State Still Has Work to Do: The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act includes 59 provisions aimed at increasing the nation’s housing supply and making homeownership more accessible amid an affordability crisis in which even low-income units are out of reach for some Americans. Two months after the comprehensive Congressional bill passed, Oklahoma advocates and policymakers are looking to it as a tool to help solve the state’s affordable housing deficit. [Oklahoma Watch]
Upcoming Together OK Events
Join us for Voices in Action — Turning community conversations into statewide change
This summer, we hosted listening sessions in towns and cities across the state to provide an opportunity for the public to have conversations with our fellow Oklahomans about issues that matter most in their communities. This October, we’re coming back to share what we heard in those communities and statewide, and to discuss ways we can use our collective power to make a difference on those issues. Register now for an event in your community!
Weekly What’s That
The federal poverty level (FPL) is a measure of income issued annually by the Department of Health and Human Services that is used to determine eligibility for various public programs and benefits, including Medicaid, health insurance premium tax credits, the free- and reduced- school lunch program, SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), and many others.
The federal poverty level, which takes into account family size, is $15,960 for a single individual and $33,000 for a family of four in 2026. There are separate, higher levels for residents of Alaska and Hawaii.
The federal poverty level was first established in 1965 and was set at three times the cost of a basic food plan. The level is adjusted annually for inflation. It is widely accepted that the federal poverty level does not accurately reflect the amount of income needed to meet one’s basic needs. An alternative measure, the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM), that is developed and reported by the U.S. Census Bureau, is intended to provide a more thorough and accurate assessment of how much income a household needs to get by. The Census Bureau releases annual reports of the number of Americans living in poverty based on the federal poverty level and supplemental poverty measure.
Look up more key terms to understand Oklahoma politics and government here.
Quote of the Week
“We have to work diligently every day to protect our balance and to protect our government and its system of government. It’s not something that just happens. It wasn’t created by our founders to be a system of government where people (are) apathetic to its structure or to its function.”
– U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, speaking at a Tulsa event where she warned attendees that a sharp decline in public knowledge about how the government works could lead to the end of U.S. democracy. [Tulsa World]
Op-Ed of the Week
Opinion: New Census Data Underscore Importance of Food Assistance and Health Coverage Access
At a moment when the cuts enacted in last year’s harmful Republican reconciliation law have begun to take away food assistance and health coverage from millions of people, today’s Census data are a reminder of the important role Medicaid, Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace coverage, and SNAP can play in helping families afford the basics — and why the cuts are so misguided.
In 2025, poverty showed signs of improvement, incomes rose as wage gains outpaced inflation, and the uninsured rate remained at historic lows. Even with this progress, more than 44 million people — or more than 1 in 8 people overall and including 9.7 million children — lived in families with incomes below the poverty line ($41,700 for a four-person family renting in an average-cost community). Some 27 million people had no health insurance, and income inequality after taxes stood at its highest in at least 17 years.
Basic needs programs were key to raising incomes above the poverty line and ensuring people could access the health care they needed. Refundable tax credits lifted 6 million people above the poverty line, and SNAP lifted more than 3 million people above the poverty line, while the ACA marketplace and Medicaid provided much needed coverage to tens of millions of people.
Today’s data don’t reflect the impact of recent rising inflation or most of the cuts to food assistance and health coverage enacted in the 2025 Republican reconciliation law. That law made the largest cuts to SNAP and Medicaid in our nation’s history and failed to extend the premium tax credit enhancements that made the ACA marketplace more affordable and successful in expanding coverage and lowering costs. These cuts are already taking food assistance and health coverage away from millions of people who need it, driving up poverty and hardship.
If the President and Republicans in Congress had not enacted these deep cuts — and had not taken other steps driving up prices — families would be better off. Moreover, policymakers should have built on the modest progress in 2025 to make gains against poverty and to expand access to affordable coverage.
We have policy tools — like an expanded Child Tax Credit, premium tax credit enhancements and health coverage available without burdensome red tape, and support to people who are out of work — available to reduce poverty and improve health coverage markedly. We should use them.
[CBPP President Sharon Parrott / Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]
Numbers of the Week
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59 – Number of provisions in the federal 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which contains provisions related to housing supply, disaster recovery, manufactured housing, mortgage financing, rural housing, veterans’ housing, public housing, and community banking. [National Low Income Housing Coalition]
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2 weeks – In Oklahoma, a renter can go from being one day late on rent to being physically removed from their home in under two weeks. The eviction timeline, one of the shortest in the country, makes it nearly impossible for tenants to gather back rent, make arrangements to show up in court, or find alternate housing. [Oklahoma Access to Justice Foundation & OK Policy]
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-84,125 – The shortage of affordable and available rental homes for Oklahoma’s extremely low-income households. Many of these renters spend more than half their income on housing, leaving less for necessities like food and health care and increasing their risk of eviction and housing instability. [National Low Income Housing Coalition]
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450,835 – The number of Oklahoma students who qualified for free or reduced-price school meals during the 2025-26 school year, representing nearly 70% of total enrollment statewide. [Oklahoma State Department of Education]
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32% – Percentage of U.S. adults who responded “not sure” to one or more of four factual questions about American politics. An analysis found Americans who are highly engaged in public life are more likely than those who are less engaged to correctly answer several factual questions about politics. [Pew Research]
What We’re Reading
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What’s in the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act?: An overview of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act released March 2, 2026, combining House and Senate housing legislation and outlining new provisions affecting institutional investors, federal housing programs, and other bipartisan reforms. [Bipartisan Policy Center]
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The Scarlet E: Confronting the Life-Altering Consequences of an Eviction: For renters in the United States, experiencing an eviction can shape long-term well-being—even when it’s a once-in-a-lifetime event. That eviction case forces renters into an immediate scramble to find a new place to live, while leaving a permanent scar on their rental history. Because there are few limits on who has access to court records or how long they remain available, the stain of a single eviction filing severely restricts future housing opportunities. The barrier to stability is so profound that researchers have given it a specific designation: the “Scarlet E.” [Eviction Lab]
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Addressing the Housing Affordability Crisis Requires Increasing Housing Supply and Expanding Rental Assistance: Everyone should have access to a stable, affordable home, but for millions of people this goal lies out of reach due to high housing costs. While building more homes must be a central component of efforts to address the housing affordability crisis, by itself it won’t reduce housing costs enough to bring them within reach for people with low incomes, who struggle the most to afford housing. Achieving a real solution will also require expanding rental assistance. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]
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School Meals are Essential for Student Health and Learning: Each day, millions of students fuel their minds and bodies with the good nutrition provided by the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program. There is considerable evidence of the effective role that participation in these programs plays in alleviating food insecurity and poverty, and in providing the nutrients students need for growth, development, learning, and overall health, especially for the nation’s most vulnerable children and adolescents. This brief reviews the many benefits of the school meals programs, and summarizes the latest research on recent policy changes and innovative strategies that are increasing program access and improving student outcomes. [Food Research & Action Center]
- Driving Change: A Guide to Community Engagement Initiatives: Community engagement is the foundation of a thriving society, fostering civic participation and empowering individuals to influence decisions that shape their communities. Effective community engagement initiatives promote inclusivity, encourage collaboration, and ensure that diverse voices contribute to public policy and local governance. This guide explores various strategies for engaging with your community, advocating for policy changes, and making a tangible impact. [Pepperdine School of Public Policy]
