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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
How the not-so-beautiful bill will push eligible Oklahomans off SoonerCare: Medicaid – known in Oklahoma as SoonerCare – is the health backbone for nearly a million Oklahomans: children, working parents, people with disabilities, and seniors. But under the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” also known as H.R. 1, that foundation is beginning to crack. The new law forces states to constantly re-verify Medicaid eligibility, burying families in red tape that few can realistically keep up with. Thousands of Oklahomans are now at risk of losing their coverage – not because they no longer qualify, but because they miss a form, a phone call, or a letter in the mail. [Kati Malicoate / OK Policy]
Policy Matters: Oklahoma can’t prosper while our neighbors struggle: As the end-of-year celebrations grow closer, this is a good time to remember that poverty isn’t a fringe issue in Oklahoma — it’s daily life for too many of our neighbors. The latest Census data show our state ranks as the eighth poorest in the nation. For our children, nearly 1 in 5 grows up in households at or below the poverty line. These numbers are stark, but they fail to show what this reality feels like. [Shiloh Kantz / The Journal Record]
Interim studies examine Oklahoma services to families, children, youth (Capitol Update): The House Appropriations and Budget Subcommittee on Human Services held a series of interim studies last week ranging widely on Oklahoma’s services to families, children, and youth. The studies began by looking at Family Resource Centers (FRCs) which aim to strengthen families and prevent child abuse and neglect by providing services like parent skill training, job assistance, substance abuse prevention and other community support. [Steve Lewis / Capitol Update]
Weekly What’s That
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, is the nation’s largest public food assistance program. Its primary purpose is to increase the food purchasing power of eligible low-income households in order to improve their nutrition and alleviate hunger. The program has a strong counter-cyclical economic impact, as more people become eligible for support during economic downturns and recessions.
SNAP is paid for by the federal government and administered jointly by the US Department of Agriculture and state human services agencies (Oklahoma Department of Human Services).
To be eligible for SNAP, a household must have gross monthly income (income before any of the program’s deductions are applied) at or below 130 percent of the poverty line and net income (income after deductions are applied) at or below the poverty line. Some states also subject recipients to an assets limit. The great majority of SNAP recipients are low-income families with dependent children, seniors, and persons with disabilities. Adults aged 18-49 without a disability have long been subject to a work requirement that restricts them to a maximum of three months of SNAP benefits, except during times of high unemployment or during federal public health emergencies. Under the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 that ended the national debt-ceiling crisis, the work requirement phased up from age 49 to age 54 by October 2024.
In Oklahoma, the SNAP program helped about 686,800 state residents in 2024, which is about 1 in 6 people living in the state. Of Oklahomans who received help, 66 percent were households with children, 33 percent were households with elderly or disabled members, and 42 percent were households with at least one working member. The program paid out a total of $1.51 billion in benefits in FY 2024.
Look up more key terms to understand Oklahoma politics and government here.
Quote of the Week
“We’re a pro-life state which means we should be for feeding hungry children. There’s plenty of money in the rainy-day fund. I don’t think we should be thinking about tax cuts at a time when children need essential services like food on the table.”
– Oklahoma State Representative John Waldron, discussing the potential suspension of SNAP benefits if the federal government shutdown continues. He said state leaders should be ready to tap into rainy day funds to make sure Oklahomans don’t go hungry. [KTUL]
Op-Ed of the Week
Opinion: Mental health funding cuts will reshape Oklahoma’s social, economic landscape
Imagine a single mother in Durant, fighting opioid addiction, losing her weekly counseling sessions — her lifeline to sobriety and supporting her children — overnight. As of Oct. 1, this is the grim reality for thousands of Oklahomans, as the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS) has slashed over 300 contracts, cutting $40 million in funding for community-based providers. These cuts stem from a $43 million budget deficit, a crisis born from the agency’s fiscal mismanagement, leaving providers and patients to bear the consequences.
Numbers of the Week
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37% – The share of projected rural Medicaid funding cuts that could be offset by the $50 billion rural health fund included in the new federal budget. While that funding may sound substantial, it would cover only a little over one-third of the $137 billion in Medicaid losses rural areas are expected to face over the next decade — and just 5% of total federal Medicaid cuts nationwide. [KFF]
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-$717 – The reduction in per-pupil spending in the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s budget in FY 2026 compared to 2008, when adjusted for inflation and population growth. [OK Policy]
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66% – The share of Oklahoma SNAP participants in FY 2024 who were in families with children. Of the nearly 700,000 Oklahomans who received food assistance, most were parents and kids relying on SNAP to help keep food on the table. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]
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73% – The share of people denied release by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board in 2024. More than 7 in 10 individuals who came before the board were not granted parole, maintaining the general trend of parole release or recommendations in the state. [Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board 2024 Results Reports]
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1 in 10 – Roughly 1 in 10 people in Oklahoma prisons are over the age of 60. With an incarcerated population between 22,000 and 23,000, the state’s prison system is aging rapidly — raising costs and highlighting the need for more compassionate and cost-effective sentencing and release policies. [DOC Public Inmate Data]
What We’re Reading
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Rural Health Fund Will Do Little to Offset Harm to Rural Providers in Republican Megabill: Even with a $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Fund, much of the harm to rural health providers from deep Medicaid cuts in the Republican “megabill” won’t be offset. The fund’s short timeframe, flexible distribution rules, and limited scale mean it will likely cover only a fraction of the losses, leaving many rural hospitals and clinics exposed. Many of these facilities already operate on thin margins, and without sustained Medicaid funding, access to care in rural communities could deteriorate rapidly. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]
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U.S. investment in public education is at risk: Public K-12 education in the U.S. is under serious threat: rising voucher programs, state budget austerity, and federal pressures are undermining resources at a time when research strongly supports higher spending per pupil — especially in high-poverty districts — for reducing achievement gaps. States governed by Republican trifectas are spending significantly less per student, particularly in low-income neighborhoods, widening funding shortfalls and threatening school adequacy. While additional federal aid temporarily boosted school resources during the pandemic, that relief is set to fade—making it urgent for policymakers to return to sustained investments in public education rather than letting funding drift downward. [Economic Policy Institute]
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SNAP Provides Critical Benefits to Workers and Their Families: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) supports millions of workers and their families by helping stabilize incomes when wages are low or inconsistent, and by stepping in quickly when households experience income loss or job disruption. Its benefit structure is designed to phase out gradually as earnings rise — so additional income doesn’t immediately eliminate all support — and offers an earnings deduction that helps reflect work-related expenses. Because many participants are employed in low-wage, irregular-hour jobs or face barriers such as caregiving or health challenges, SNAP acts as a vital safety net rather than a work-reward program. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]
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Parole in Perspective: How parole decisions are made: Parole grant rates vary dramatically across states, with many denying most applicants and holding fewer hearings over time — pointing to systemic barriers even as eligibility increases. In many jurisdictions, decisionmaking centers on vague standards and the original crime of conviction rather than forward-looking indicators of change or readiness for release. Most boards rely on discretion and risk assessment tools but frequently disregard their own guidelines, leading to opaque outcomes with limited accountability. Greater transparency, clearer criteria, and reforms like presumptive parole could restore parole’s promise as a fair path to release. [Prison Policy Initiative]
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Trapped in Time: The Silent Crisis of Elderly Incarceration: The United States is facing a growing humanitarian and fiscal crisis as its prison population ages faster than the general public. Decades of “tough-on-crime” laws, mandatory minimums, and the expanded use of life and “three-strikes” sentences have trapped tens of thousands of people behind bars into old age, even though most pose little or no threat to public safety. Elderly incarcerated people experience disproportionately high rates of chronic illness, disability, and cognitive decline, while prisons remain dangerously ill-equipped to provide adequate medical care, accessible facilities, or humane end-of-life services. [The American Civil Liberties Union and the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs]
