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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: Respecting Tribal sovereignty is the path to Oklahoma’s progress: Recognizing Tribal sovereignty is more than honoring heritage — it is a pressing call to action. November is Native American Heritage Month, and the most meaningful recognition Oklahoma can offer our Tribal nations isn’t symbolic — it’s structural. It starts at the top, with a governor who fully recognizes Tribes as sovereign nations and partners. [Shiloh Kantz / The Journal Record]
Conflict over executive power halts Stitt’s executive order (Capitol Update): The Oklahoma Health Care Authority board’s action could be a signal that at least they, and perhaps others, have grown weary of the advancement of executive authority over the constitutional powers dedicated to the legislative branch. [Steve Lewis / Capitol Update]
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
“It is time to acknowledge that no one group decides the meaning and definition of love, family, faith, or patriotism, nor monopolize ownership over them. If humanity is our greatest common denominator, equality will follow, including equality under the law.”
– Kitcki Carroll, an enrolled citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes and executive director of United South & Eastern Tribes, reflecting on the lessons of Chief Standing Bear’s fight for recognition and humanity. He warned that today’s political climate shows echoes of past dehumanization and urged a renewed commitment to equality, empathy, and shared responsibility. [Native News Online]
Op-Ed of the Week
As states move closer to their 2026 legislative sessions, lawmakers nationwide are grappling with how to respond to fallout from recent federal policies, including this July’s harmful Republican megabill, which financed enormous tax breaks for wealthy households and corporations by pushing substantial new costs and administrative hurdles onto states.
The answer to that question is clear: state policymakers must embrace a revenue-first approach. This is essential for them to help counteract historic federal cuts to health care and food assistance, mitigate the risk of second-order cuts to education and other vital services, weather an uneven economy straining under tariffs and other disruptive Trump Administration policies, and fuel bold new investments that serve the best interest of their communities and ensure residents’ needs are met.
The cuts to health care, food assistance, and climate investments championed by President Trump and congressional Republicans will translate into considerable new costs for states and localities over the next few years. The megabill’s sweeping tax elements are already wreaking havoc on state revenues, due to technical interactions between federal and state tax codes known as “conformity.” These new federally imposed costs also come at a time when many states are facing intensifying pressure from recent policy choices of their own, especially widespread tax cuts approved in the past few years. [Read More]
Numbers of the Week
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36 – The number of data centers operating in Oklahoma. [Fox 23]
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$11,349 – The amount Oklahoma K-12 public schools spend per student each year, ranking 48th in the nation. This is $9,038 less than the national average of $20,387, leaving the state far behind most others in public education funding. [Education Data Initiative]
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2.26 million – The number of registered Oklahoma voters who would be barred from signing a statutory initiative petition under Senate Bill 1027’s county-by-county signature caps. The bill would block 94.5% of voters from participating in the statutory petition process, and its similar limits on constitutional amendments would prevent 2.15 million voters from signing those petitions as well. [Oklahoma Policy Institute]
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$23.4 billion – The value of goods and services produced in Oklahoma in FY 2023 as a result of tribal activities, accounting for economic spillover effects. Tribal nations are not only major employers and wage contributors, but central drivers of statewide economic growth. [United for Oklahoma and Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association]
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24% – The average increase in homeowners’ insurance premiums across the U.S. over the past three years. Between 2021 and 2024, rates rose twice as fast as inflation, amounting to a $21 billion price hike for American homeowners. [Consumer Federation of America]
What We’re Reading
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Investigating the Ecological Impacts of Data Centers: As generative AI grows, it needs a lot more electricity to run. Better AI models require bigger and more powerful computer systems, which means data centers have to use more energy to keep up. This is putting pressure on the data centers we already have — and it’s also pushing companies, especially major AI developers, to build even more of them. [MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium]
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The Fiscal Impacts of Expanded Voucher Programs and Charter-School Growth on Public Schools: Recommendations for Sustaining Adequate and Equitable School Finance Systems: The expansion of voucher programs and charter schools — despite limited enrollment growth — is redirecting taxpayer dollars away from traditional public districts and creating parallel systems that strain state and local school finance. This shift undermines fiscal stability and equity, especially where enrollment declines make budget cuts difficult to offset. Strengthening public school finance requires policies including enrollment stabilization funding, transparency and accountability for taxpayer-supported choice programs, and oversight to ensure equitable treatment of students across all sectors. [National Education Policy Center]
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Direct Democracy and Ballot Measures: Direct democracy gives citizens a way to enact laws when legislatures fail to reflect public preferences, and research shows it often results in policies closer to what voters want. Voters generally make sound decisions using cues and endorsements, and there’s little evidence that ballot measures systematically harm minority rights or empower wealthy interests more than legislatures already do. Yet many states are advancing restrictive “Trojan horse” reforms — like higher signature thresholds and geographic distribution rules — that make initiatives harder to qualify. Protecting and expanding direct democracy can help keep government responsive and restore trust in political institutions. [The University of Chicago Center for Effective Government]
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The Economic Impact of Tribal Nations in Oklahoma: Tribal nations are a major economic engine in Oklahoma, directly employing more than 55,000 workers and supporting nearly 140,000 jobs statewide through multiplier effects. Their combined government, business, health care, capital activities, and gaming operations generated billions in total economic output, wages, and benefits. Tribes also invested heavily in public goods — providing $351 million for education and $582 million for health care, including millions of patient visits accessible to both Native and non-Native residents. Overall, Tribal nations remain one of Oklahoma’s most stable and far-reaching drivers of economic growth, community investment, and long-term regional development. [United for Oklahoma and Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association]
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A Perfect Storm of Rising Costs Threatens America’s Housing Market: Rising climate risks are colliding with soaring insurance premiums and property taxes, pushing homeownership further out of reach for millions of Americans. Harris County, Texas — once one of the nation’s more affordable markets — illustrates how insurance costs now consume over half of mortgage payments, creating a double burden as residents also shoulder higher taxes to fund flood control and infrastructure. This shift effectively transfers climate risk from institutions to households, leaving many uninsured and vulnerable to catastrophic loss. Without systemic reforms — such as sustainable insurance models, stronger data transparency, and coordinated federal and state oversight — entire regions could face declining homeownership, collapsing property values, and widening financial instability. [Urban Institute]
