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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
Policy Matters: An informed vote begins before Election Day: Oklahomans have strong feelings about politics. But just having an opinion isn’t the same as feeling prepared to vote. Each election asks voters to make choices that can shape their communities for years. But too often, people show up on election day unsure about what some options mean. Others stay home because they think their vote won’t matter, or they don’t feel informed enough to decide. But feeling unsure shouldn’t stop anyone from voting. [Shiloh Kantz / The Journal Record]
SQ 845 Explained: Changing how we choose judges in Oklahoma (video): SQ 845 is presented as modernizing how we choose our top judges, but it would allow every member of the Judicial Nominating Commission to come from the same political party. It also removes restrictions designed to prevent conflicts of interest. [Cole Allen / YouTube]
Tulsa County Juvenile Bureau highlights services and outcomes in 2025 (Capitol Update): I recently received the Tulsa County Juvenile Bureau Annual Report for 2025. Generally, a youth who is arrested or referred to authorities for conduct that would be a criminal offense if committed by an adult is first seen by the Juvenile Bureau. The Bureau also serves youth and families of children in need of supervision (CHINS) who have not committed an offense but have run away or are out of control by their parents. Here are the Bureau services. [Steve Lewis / Capitol Update]
OK Policy in the News
SQ 847 would lower Oklahoma’s property assessed value growth caps: Oklahoma voters on Nov. 3 will decide on an adjustment to how quickly the assessed value of their homes, businesses and farms can grow each year. The caps limit how much a property’s assessed value can increase each year, not the tax bill itself. Property taxes can still rise because of new bond issues, voter-approved levies or changes in millage rates. [The Oklahoman]
- Oklahoma voters to decide on State Question 847, which would change property tax cap [KOCO]
- 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?
SQ 845: Judicial Nominating Commission amendment would modify membership rules: Oklahomans will decide whether to alter one of the state’s least followed institutions Nov. 3, with State Question 845 asking voters to approve a slew of alterations to the Judicial Nominating Commission. If SQ 845 receives at least 50 percent support, it would update JNC membership districts and modify other rules about the body that helps fill judicial vacancies in Oklahoma. [NonDoc]
- From OK Policy: SQ 845 Fact Sheet | SQ 845 Explainer Video
- Register for OK Policy’s Oct. 20 town hall on SQ 845, SQ 847
Upcoming Opportunities
LAST CHANCE: OK Policy is hiring for a Southeast Regional Organizer: Our Regional Organizers support OK Policy in the development and implementation of community-based advocacy actions that further policy goals identified by OK Policy. This position works as part of OK Policy’s grassroots advocacy arm Together Oklahoma (TOK) to engage communities and affinity groups. The Regional Organizer works under the leadership and guidance of, and reports directly to, the Outreach Director. The Southeast Regional Organizer must live and work in the Southeast Region, consisting of the following counties: McCurtain, Choctaw, Pushmataha, LeFlore, Haskell, Latimer, Pittsburgh, Hughes, Cole, Atoka, Bryan, Marshall, Love, Carter, Johnston, Murray, Garvin, Pontotoc, McClain. A full job description and online application are available at OKPolicy.org/jobs. The deadline to apply is THIS SUNDAY, October 18, at 11:59 p.m.
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]
Know what’s on your ballot before you vote | SQ 845 & SQ 847 Town Hall: OK Policy will be hosting a town hall on SQ 845 and SQ 847 on Tuesday, Oct. 20 in Oklahoma City. The event will also be livestreamed on OK Policy’s YouTube channel. [Learn more and register for the in-person event]
Weekly What’s That
Judicial Nominating Commission
The Judicial Nominating Commission is a constitutionally-created body tasked with reviewing and recommending appellate judicial nominees for gubernatorial appointment. The purpose of the commission, created in 1967 in the wake of court scandals, was to create a nonpartisan body to select judicial nominees based on merit, rather than leaving appellate judicial selection up to a general election. The Commission selects candidates for appointment by the Governor to fill vacancies on the Supreme Court, the Court of Criminal Appeals, the Court of Civil Appeals, District and Associate District Judgeships, and the Workers’ Compensation Court.
The body is made up of 15 members. Six of these members are attorneys selected by the bar of each of the six congressional districts of 1967. Six more are non-attorneys appointed by the Governor. Of these six, at most three can be affiliated with the same political party, and none can have an attorney in their immediate family. These twelve members serve six-year, staggered terms. The remaining three are also non-attorneys and are appointed as follows: one by the Senate President Pro Tempore, one by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and one by the other members of the Judicial Nominating Commission. Of these three, no more than two can be affiliated with the same political party. These three “at-large” members serve two-year terms. This 15-member body then selects a chair.
Because the Judicial Nominating Commission is intended to act as a nonpartisan body, members cannot succeed themselves after their term, hold public office, hold positions of leadership in political parties, or become judicial officers until five years have passed since their term limit.
Since the mid-2010s, Republicans have introduced bills almost every session to change the judicial selection process. In 2024, a proposal to send to a vote of the people a measure to effectively repeal the Judicial Nominating Commission and give the Governor the direct authority to name justices subject to Senate approval, passed the Senate but was defeated in the House (SJR 34), while a similar measure introduced by the Senate Pro Tem died on the Senate floor in 2025 (SJR 6). During the 2026 session, the Legislature passed HJR 1024, placing State Question 845 on the November 3, 2026, ballot. SQ 845 would change the Judicial Nominating Commission’s membership requirements, including removing restrictions on political affiliation, attorney eligibility, and consecutive terms, while retaining its 15-member structure.
Look up more key terms to understand Oklahoma politics and government here.
Quote of the Week
“It was almost as if Oklahoma had invented corruption. Every time a national publication wrote an article about judicial corruption, it seemed as if they cited Oklahoma as ‘Exhibit A.’”
– Former Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice William Berry recounting the 1965 scandal that shook the state’s judicial system and drew national attention. [The Oklahoman]
Op-Ed of the Week
SNAP is our most effective tool in reducing food insecurity and hunger. In each of the last four recessions over the past three decades, it has expanded rapidly to meet increased need for assistance in affording groceries and shrunk as economic conditions improved.
The number of people receiving SNAP food assistance has declined sharply in recent months, even though there is no sign that the decline is due primarily to an improving economy. The harmful Republican reconciliation law, enacted in July 2025, made the largest cuts to SNAP in history, likely accelerating this drop in participation. Since the law’s enactment, the number of people participating in SNAP has fallen by more than 5 million (13 percent), including about 2 million children.
In June 2026, national SNAP participation dropped to its lowest point since August 2009, when SNAP grew to meet increased need in the aftermath of the Great Recession. Half a million fewer people participated in SNAP in June 2026 compared to February 2020, just before SNAP expanded in response to the recession brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2025 reconciliation law will also require most states to pay for a portion of SNAP benefits costs starting in October 2027. Even more people will likely lose SNAP in the coming months as states scramble to respond to this cost shift and fully implement the reconciliation law’s cuts and eligibility restrictions. Congress should delay the cost shift to states and protect SNAP from further cuts.
The large and rapid decline in SNAP participation has already far surpassed the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO’s) prediction of how many people would lose SNAP due to the reconciliation law in such a short period of time. The last time there was such a steep decrease in participation (other than temporary spikes following natural disasters) was nearly three decades ago, after Congress enacted deep cuts to SNAP (then the Food Stamp Program) in 1996.
The sharp decline likely reflects, in part, the 2025 reconciliation law’s shift of a large share of SNAP benefit costs to states, which most states will start paying in October 2027 for the first time in the program’s history. The size of the cost shift is based on states’ payment error rates, with the first payment based on fiscal year 2025 or 2026 error rates. This has incentivized states to reduce error rates quickly and cut program costs, even if it means denying benefits to eligible households — including households with children. States (many of which already have tight budgets) are struggling to keep up with the law’s requirements and may have to restrict access further or possibly withdraw from SNAP altogether if they can’t fully cover the new costs.
SNAP’s ability to reach people who need help affording groceries will continue to weaken, increasing the risk of food insecurity and hunger for millions of people in the U.S., unless Congress acts to delay the cost shift to states and stop any further cuts to SNAP.
[Joseph Llobrera & Catlin Nchako / Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]
Numbers of the Week
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25 years – In 1965, former Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice N.S. Corn gave a sworn statement to the Oklahoma County attorney that he and two other justices had been taking bribes for 25 years to rig votes on cases on appeal. Two years later, voters approved SQ 447 and SQ 448, which replaced elections for the state’s top courts with appointments from a list of nominees vetted by the Judicial Nominating Commission. Oklahomans will vote Nov. 3 on SQ 845 to change that system. [The Oklahoma Bar Association]
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$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]
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$150,000 – The amount former Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice N.S. Corn admitted accepting in bribes to influence the court’s decision in a 1957 case. Corn also admitted paying two fellow justices $7,500 each to secure a majority ruling. [Oklahoma Bar Association]
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-4.4% – Total tax collections in Oklahoma were 4.4%, or $155 million, lower than their 15-year trajectory in the fourth quarter of 2025. Nationally, state tax revenue was 2.2% below trend. [Pew Research Center]
What We’re Reading
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From the Ashes of Scandal Came Court Reform: Oklahomans were embarrassed and humiliated by a court scandal in the 1960s when three justices of the Supreme Court of Oklahoma were forced out of office and disgraced. Two state questions were approved by voters on July 11, 1967. The justice of the peace system was abolished. County and special courts were abolished. Trials would be handled by district courts; civil appeals would go to the Supreme Court and criminal law appeals would be heard by the Criminal Court of Appeals, now named the Court of Criminal Appeals. Politics was taken out of the state’s two highest appellate courts. Supreme Court justices and Court of Criminal Appeals judges would be appointed by the governor from names submitted by a Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC). [The Oklahoma Bar Association]
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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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How the Judicial Nominating Commission works: Prior to 1967, judges on Oklahoma’s highest courts were elected. They ran campaigns as politicians, raising money and making campaign promises. In 1967, in the wake of a massive scandal, voters chose to amend the Oklahoma Constitution to establish governor-appointed judges and create the Judicial Nominating Commission. [Court Facts]
- Tax Revenue Trends: Oklahoma’s Tax Revenue Underperformed Its Long-Term Trend in Q4 2025: Oklahoma is one of the 39 states where total tax revenue underperformed its long-term trend in the fourth quarter of 2025. After five years of widespread volatility, state tax revenue showed signs of stabilization in 2025. Even so, total collections remained below their long-term trends nationally and in most states for the second consecutive year, meaning states generally have fewer resources available for tax cuts, public services, bolstering reserves, or other priorities. [Pew Research Center]
