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
Oklahomans rejected SQ 847, not the need for housing relief: Oklahoma voters rejected State Question 847 on Nov. 3, but lawmakers shouldn’t mistake that decision for a lack of concern about rising housing costs. SQ 847 promised property tax relief, but it wouldn’t have lowered anyone’s current tax bill. Instead, it would have slowed future increases in taxable property values, potentially shifting costs to other taxpayers and putting pressure on funding for schools and other local services. [Aanahita Irani Ervin / OK Policy]
Policy Matters: Oklahoma needs to make housing affordability a top economic priority: Oklahoma’s economic success requires more than low taxes. It requires affordable communities, reliable public services, and a workforce that can build a future here. Voters said no to SQ 847, but they didn’t say no to affordable housing. Oklahoma’s lawmakers should step up with solutions that meet that need. [Shiloh Kantz / The Journal Record]
Oklahoma House to welcome 24 new members for the upcoming session (Capitol Update): A relatively large class of 24 new members with a wide variation of backgrounds will join the House of Representatives for the next legislature. They’ll be going to work soon. [Steve Lewis / Capitol Update]
Statement: Oklahoma Supreme Court strikes down SB 1027 that would have excluded millions from initiative petition process: In 2025, the Oklahoma Legislature passed Senate Bill 1027, which put new limits on the initiative petition process. This new law would have made it harder for regular Oklahomans to bring issues directly to voters through state questions. On Nov. 10, 2026, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that “S.B. 1027 is unconstitutional and void in its entirety and lacks legal enforceability.” [OK Policy]
Weekly What’s That
SQ 836 (Top-Two Primary Elections)
State Question 836 was a proposed constitutional amendment that would change how Oklahoma nominates and selects candidates for political office. If the initiative petition qualifies for the ballot and is approved, rather than each political party holding separate primaries, there would be open primaries for statewide and county offices, district attorney, state legislators, and congressional candidates. Under SQ 836, all candidates for an office would have appeared on a single primary ballot regardless of party, with the top-two vote-getters moving forward to the general election. This type of top-two electoral system is currently used in California, Nebraska, and Washington.
Organizers of the initiative petition had until January 26, 2026 to collect and submit a minimum of 172,993 valid signatures. The campaign submitted more than 200,000 signatures to the Secretary of State for verification at the deadline. However, the Secretary of State announced on March 5, 2026, that the organizers had failed to collect a sufficient number of valid signatures to make it onto the ballot. A legal challenge related to SQ 836 is pending before the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
Look up more key terms to understand Oklahoma politics and government here.
Quote of the Week
“We seem to approach (state budgets) one year at a time, almost as if Oklahoma is going to close up shop next December. We ought to be looking five, 10 or even 12 years down the road. Roads, schools, infrastructure and other state responsibilities don’t operate on a 12-month calendar.”
-Former state Rep. Mark McBride, writing in an op-ed about how term limits have eroded institutional knowledge among lawmakers and Oklahoma elected officials. [The Oklahoman]
Editorial of the Week
OK Supreme Court’s SB 1027 ruling is a win for voter rights
Oklahoma’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of the people this week when it struck down an attempt by the state Legislature to make it harder for voters to approve laws on their own.
Our state constitution gives the people the right to bypass the Legislature and propose new laws through a petition process. The Legislature doesn’t like to be bypassed, and over the years, it has tried in different ways to make doing so as difficult as possible. In this case the Legislature, through Senate Bill 1027, put a limit on the number of petition signatures that could be collected in each of the state’s 77 counties. Since petition signatures can be obtained more quickly and less expensively in counties where more people live, the effect of this law, the court said, was to “disenfranchise” voters. The court’s 5-4 opinion was written by Justice Noma Gurich. The four votes in favor of the signature limit came from justices appointed to the court during the two terms of Gov. Kevin Stitt: Chief Justice Dustin Roe, Vice Chief Justice Dana Kuehn, Justice John Kane IV and Special Justice Jim Huber, from the state Court of Civil Appeals.
Other provisions of SB 1027 were also struck down by the court. One would have given the secretary of state, a position appointed by the governor, power to reject the language used in describing the petition on the ballot. This summary is called the “gist,” and the court ruled there are already requirements in place for how gists must be written, and that SB 1027 violated the First Amendment. SB 1027 also would have prohibited proponents of ballot initiatives from paying signature collectors based on how many signatures they gathered or how many signature sheets were submitted. The justices cited a U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down a Colorado law that would have criminalized paid signature gathering, but added that this restriction would also have violated the Oklahoma Constitution.
The state’s high court is also mulling over a separate case involving initiative petition signature gathering. On Nov. 2, the court held a hearing on State Question 836, which would establish in Oklahoma a top-two primary system in which all candidates would appear on one primary ballot regardless of party affiliation. The two top vote-getters, even if members of the same party, would compete in the general election. This big change in the state’s primary election process has been strongly opposed by Oklahoma’s dominant Republican Party. Because there are so many more Republican registered voters in Oklahoma than Democrats or independents, elections are often decided by whichever candidate wins the Republican primary.
When proponents of SQ 836 turned in nearly 210,000 signatures to put the measure on the ballot — apparently far more than the 173,000 needed — the Republican secretary of state, appointed by a Republican governor, ruled that 57,000 of them had not met voter verification requirements established by a 2024 law passed by the Republican-dominated legislature.
“Implausible,” said one justice at the hearing.
The framers of the Oklahoma Constitution incorporated strong powers of initiative, referendum and other restraints on elected officials, historians say, because they distrusted political machines, powerful corporations and legislatures they believed could be captured by special interests. Even today, nearly 120 years later, that caution seems warranted. Thanks to the court for its decision on SB 1027.
Fingers crossed that the court’s majority in that case will prevail in its decision on SQ 836.
Numbers of the Week
-
$255 million – The state needs an additional $255 million annually to keep Oklahoma’s roads and bridges system maintained to their current condition, according to the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. Officials noted highway construction cost inflation is significantly higher than inflation for everyday items. In 2021, $245 million would build and put shoulder on 100 miles of two-lane road, but today it would only cover 65 miles. [Oklahoma Voice]
-
$87.6 million – Eight certified community behavioral health clinics delivered $87.6 million in uncompensated care in 2025 without any reimbursement from the Oklahoma Legislature, according to providers in the Alliance of Mental Health Providers of Oklahoma. Uncompensated care is treatment the clinics provide but aren’t paid for through Medicaid, private insurance, or other sources. The clinics are required to serve people regardless of their ability to pay. The federal match that helped fund the clinics is dropping from about 90% to about 67%, and the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services hasn’t said how it will pay for the clinic model in future budget years. [Oklahoma Voice]
- From OK Policy: Uncompensated Care — What’s That?
-
60% – CoreCivic reported that the detainee population at Watonga’s 2,000-bed Diamondback Detention Facility has grown by around 60% in the last year. Company-wide, CoreCivic’s revenue rose 28.2% from the same quarter a year earlier, to about $744 million for the three months ending Sept. 30. Executives told investors that populations at recently activated facilities are rising, driven by significant ICE demand. [KFOR] | [News Release: CoreCivic Reports Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results]
-
$5.6 billion – Mental illness imposes a $5.6 billion annual economic burden on Oklahoma through direct and indirect costs for health care, lost productivity, and disability claims. [Mental Health Stats]
What We’re Reading
- Tools for Sustainable State Budgeting: State leaders must be able to assess whether their decisions will be affordable over the long term or will jeopardize their ability to solve state problems or even sustain programs and services in the future. Unfortunately, the nature of state budget processes discourages such long-term thinking. State policymakers devote much of their time to developing, enacting, and implementing annual or biennial budgets, a core government function and a prime opportunity for lawmakers to achieve immediate policy goals. [Pew Research Center]
- Ten New States Join the CCBHC Medicaid Demonstration, H.R. 1 Puts Its Success at Risk: H.R. 1 imposes the largest federal Medicaid cuts in program history. Beyond the direct fiscal impacts on states, H.R. 1 institutes a series of policy changes that are expected to reduce enrollment and shift costs, including work reporting requirements, more frequent eligibility redeterminations, and restrictions on state financing mechanisms like provider taxes and state-directed payments. The work reporting requirement is particularly concerning for Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs). [Georgetown University Center for Children and Families]
- Following the Money of Mass Incarceration 2026: Public funding for the criminal legal system has increased in recent years, even as the number of people involved in the system has declined, reflecting changes in priorities as well as economic factors like inflation. The largest total increase has been funding for policing, but the most rapid funding increase came in 2025 for ICE, Border Patrol and other agencies involved in the criminalization of immigration and immigration detention. [Prison Policy Initiative]
- The State of Mental Health in America 2026: Mental Health America’s State of Mental Health in America report provides the most comprehensive state-level rankings of mental health in the United States. This report serves as a tool for change to inform policy, improve access to care, and support people living with mental health conditions across the country. [Mental Health America] | [PDF]
