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Policy Matters: Building a better Oklahoma starts with investing in our kids
Backpacks are filling with new school supplies as students across Oklahoma prepare for another school year. It’s a reminder that childhood moves quickly — and that the kids walking into classrooms today are growing into the adults who will inherit the Oklahoma we are building. Yet at the Capitol, we often debate housing, health care, taxes, and criminal justice as if they are separate issues. But for the young people growing up here, those issues are all part of the same future. [Shiloh Kantz / The Journal Record]
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Oklahomans to decide on adding voter ID requirements to state constitution: If State Question 846 is approved by a majority of voters, the Oklahoma Constitution would be amended to require proof of identity for any method of voting and to allow the Legislature to enact any laws necessary to specify the ID requirements. [Oklahoma Voice]
Voters across Oklahoma set to vote on State Question 844, what impact would it have?: Oklahoma voters will soon decide on State Question 844, which seeks to give the Legislature authority to change the state constitution regarding property tax reimbursements tied to manufacturing subsidies. [KOCO]
SQ 846: On voting law, proponents concerned with posterity, critics concerned with posturing: Appearing statewide on Aug. 25 runoff ballots, State Question 846 will allow voters to enshrine an existing law requiring identification at the polls by elevating it into the Oklahoma Constitution. The state question’s proponents say it will prevent election laws from being weakened by future iterations of the Oklahoma Legislature, but critics oppose what they see as a superfluous amendment to the state’s founding document. [NonDoc]
Felony Murder Rule in Oklahoma Can Send Children to Jail for Murders They Didn’t Personally Commit: When a child is charged with first-degree murder in Oklahoma, the child is treated as an adult if they are above a certain age. That certain age is 13. Children facing adult charges can be housed in adult facilities. In 2025, 31 people were serving Oklahoma prison sentences for crimes committed before they turned 18, according to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. [Oklahoma Watch]
As Oklahoma childcare costs rise, Shawnee nonprofit supports families: Legacy Parenting Center in Shawnee is offering free education, mentorship and childcare supplies to families in Pottawatomie County, regardless of income. The organization is seeing rapid growth at the same time childcare costs are skyrocketing in Oklahoma. [KOSU]
Opinion: When healthcare policy becomes personal: Over the past several months, thousands of Oklahomans have received letters from their physicians informing them that their clinics are closing. Those letters have been arriving since INTEGRIS Health announced workforce reductions, clinic closures, and cuts to medical services after projecting approximately $130 million in losses tied to Medicaid and Medicare funding cuts from the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill.” [Julie McKone / The Journal Record]
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"But I do think the more likely scenario is that this restricts access to the ballot for people who are legal voters who simply can’t get their hands on or don’t have the time to go to the DMV to get a driver’s license… or can’t afford to get a passport, or don’t know where their birth certificate is."
- Cole Allen, Justice Policy Analyst for OK Policy, on the constitutional amendment proposed by State Question 846, a measure on the August 25 ballot that gives the state Legislature broader authority over voter ID requirements. Oklahoma already has strict voter identification requirements in state law, and opponents argue that new laws could restrict access to the ballot box for eligible Oklahoma voters. [Oklahoma Voice]
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SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program)
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.
SNAP eligibility has been made more restrictive in recent years. 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. The Trump Administration's One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBA) passed in 2025 further raised the work requirement to age 64. It also shifted more of the administrative costs of the SNAP program from the federal government to the states and severely curtailed states’ ability to request waivers from time limit work requirements, among other changes.
During the 2025 federal government shutdown, the Trump Administration attempted to cut off SNAP benefits, but their efforts were restrained by federal judges.
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. The average benefit per member per day was $6.01.
In July 2025, 689,393 Oklahomans received SNAP benefits. By April 2026, that number had fallen nearly 18 percent to 566,895 following changes enacted through the federal megabill.
[Look up more key terms to understand Oklahoma politics and government here]
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Editorial: Hello? Are you there, Department of Human Services?
“Welcome! How can we help?” proclaims the Oklahoma Department of Human Services website.
“Oklahomans help each other. It’s in our nature,” the website goes on to say. “Oklahoma Human Services exists to make sure that when a person falls on hard times, they have a place to turn. Where we do not offer a program or assistance for a specific situation, we are committed to connecting the person in need with an organization that can help.”
The people that Oklahoman reporter Ben Felder found lined up at DHS headquarters last week needed help.
But they weren’t getting any.
DHS later told Felder that the average wait time for those calling the agency in early July was 221 minutes.
Yes, on average, that's nearly four hours.
DHS went on to say, "we know how frustrating long wait times can be," adding "our team is navigating a complex shift driven by new federal regulations."
It's "frustrating" to wait on hold to order a pizza or complain that your new blender isn't working right.
"Demeaning" and "demoralizing" might be better terms to describe the feelings of those trying to make sure their children have enough to eat.
And DHS has known for a long time that new regulations were coming. Long enough to be better prepared.
A smooth-running efficient organization, whether in the private sector or in government, would be on the alert for any impending changes in their operational environment and be prepared to make adjustments and maintain high levels of service.
That has not happened, and voters should demand more of those running for state office and the Legislature this election year.
[The Oklahoman Editorial Board]
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1.1 million - The number of people who were served by homeless response workers nationwide in 2024 — a 12% increase from 2023. [National Alliance to End Homelessness]
>20 million - Over 20 million Americans do not have a driver’s license, with Black (18%) and Hispanic (15%) people being more likely to lack a driver’s license. Thirty-percent of Black people aged 18-29 did not have a license — more than any other population in the survey. [Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement]
$1.46 billion - The gap between the $41.5 million the federal government invested in Native American language revitalization in 2024 and its own estimated annual funding need of $1.5 billion. [Brookings Institute]
3 hours and 41 minutes - The average wait time to speak with an Oklahoma Department of Human Services representative about SNAP is nearly nine times longer than it was in July 2025. Applying in person offers little relief: Lines at the agency’s east Oklahoma City office have stretched longer than a football field. [The Oklahoman]
638,000 - The increase in the number of unemployed workers as the national unemployment rate rose from 4.0% to 4.4% in 2025. While the change may seem small in percentage terms, it represents hundreds of thousands of additional people without jobs. [U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics]
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Trump Policies Would Worsen Homelessness, Attack Basic Freedoms of People Who Can’t Afford Rent: Recent federal policy proposals would reduce housing assistance while making housing less affordable, increasing the risk that more people fall into homelessness. At the same time, some policies shift toward more punitive approaches — such as restricting where unhoused people can live or conditioning aid — rather than expanding access to stable housing and services. This combination is expected to strain local systems, increase homelessness, and disproportionately harm communities of color who already face higher housing instability. More broadly, these changes raise concerns about limiting the basic rights and freedoms of people who cannot afford housing, while failing to address the root causes of homelessness like high housing costs and lack of support. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]
Survey Shows Millions Lack ID as Voter ID Laws Spread to More States: As voter ID laws have spread and gained public support, the danger of ID based disenfranchisement — eligible voters being denied their right to vote because they cannot meet or are confused about a state ID requirement — potentially grows. Many voter ID laws are written with the implicit assumption that nearly everyone can use a driver’s license to comply with them. This survey shows that over 20 million Americans do not have a driver’s license. [Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement]
Underinvestment in Indian Country: How federal and philanthropic funding to Native Americans falls short, and how to fix it: American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes and communities have seen significant shifts in federal funding in recent years. Sweeping federal laws passed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and recession brought historic levels of funding to Tribal communities in areas such as infrastructure, health, education, clean energy, and economic development. However, since the start of 2025, the funding landscape has shifted. Unfortunately, rather than move the U.S. closer to meeting the full funding needs of Tribal communities, recent fiscal policy decisions have moved it further away. This report provides an overview of recent funding to Indian Country, outlines areas of critical need, and highlights service areas that have recently seen some of the largest funding reductions. [Brookings Institute]
New Data Underscore SNAP Cost Shift’s Harm to Low-Income Families and State Budgets: The harmful Republican reconciliation law enacted last July made unprecedented cuts to food assistance through SNAP, including a provision slashing federal funding for SNAP benefits and imposing these costs on state budgets. As states scramble to reduce their exposure to this cost shift and implement the law’s other cuts, SNAP participation has already fallen by more than 4.5 million people, with likely more than 1.5 million children losing access based on available data from 19 states.[1] In other words, SNAP-eligible people are losing out despite not being directly targeted by the new law. Compounding this dire outlook are new data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which indicate that as many as 35 states and one U.S. territory will be required to pay substantial new costs to continue participating in SNAP in fall 2027, with the remaining states at risk of facing this cost shift in future years. Congress should act now to grant all states the same two-year delay that some states received under the reconciliation law. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]
A Year in Review: How the Trump Administration’s Economic Policies Made Life Less Affordable for Americans: Economic policies during the first year of the Trump administration were associated with rising living costs and weaker economic conditions for many households. New tariffs increased prices on everyday goods, groceries, housing materials, and other essentials, while cuts to programs like health coverage and food assistance added financial strain for low- and moderate-income families. Slower job growth and higher unemployment made it harder for many workers—especially young people and people of color—to find stable employment. Rising energy and utility costs further strained household budgets, leaving many families facing higher expenses across multiple areas of daily life. [Center for American Progress]
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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.
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