Opinion: Minimum wage waits, Oklahomans pay
Up yours, Oklahoma.
That's the message Gov. Kevin Stitt sent to workaday Sooners this week when he finally scheduled the statewide vote on State Question 832, the proposal that if approved would raise the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour by decade's end.
The election date? June 16, 2026.
That's not a typo. Even though 157,287 petition signatures were verified – nearly 60% more than required – Stitt kicked the voting 21 months down the road.
Why? Because he could. The state Constitution gives the governor the sole authority to set the election date once an initiative petition qualifies for the ballot. Even call a special election, if the governor so chooses.
But governors also can use that power to delay, hoping to derail proposals they don't like. In this case, Stitt and two of the state's most powerful special interests, the State Chamber and the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, want to do everything possible to torpedo SQ 832.
They're hoping a nearly two-year delay will kill the minimum wage momentum. And it will be finished off by those who bother to turn out in mid-June primaries in a non-presidential election year.
Stitt isn't publicly owning up to such shenanigans, of course. Instead, he spins it as a benefit to Oklahoma taxpayers – saving them the estimated $1.8 million-plus cost of a statewide special election.
There's a political science term for his defense: It starts with b-u-l-l and ends by rhyming with his last name.
The reality is, Oklahoma's savings accounts are overflowing – north of $2 billion, at last count. That's billion with a "B." Not $1.8 million with an "M."
Every tax dollar is no doubt precious. But the state can easily cover the cost of this vote, especially if set on a date with other elections for, say, city council, county commission, school board or bond issues.
Or – gasp! – how about a stand-alone election? One day, one issue. Let The People decide.
Alas, Stitt and Co. weren't willing to take that chance. After all, state voters repeatedly have acted in recent years on important issues when their elected elite wouldn't. Think: Medicaid expansion, medical marijuana, and criminal justice reform.
That's also why the Republican legislative supermajority has been slowly, but surely making it more difficult for The People to get initiative petitions to the ballot.
Why would they do such a thing? Don't they trust the voters (a longtime GOP talking point)? Truth is, lawmakers and their deep-pocketed benefactors want absolute control over the public policy agenda. Rank-and-file Okies can't be trusted, don't you know.
So, even though Raise the Wage Oklahoma dotted all the i's and crossed all the t's to get SQ 832 on the ballot, 320,000 Sooners will be stuck with the 15-year-old, $7.25 an hour minimum wage for another two years or so because the state's deepest pockets don't want to spend a dime more on labor, if they can help it.
As Raise the Wage Oklahoma's Amber England put it, "Waiting two years may not be a big deal to the governor and his wealthy donors, but they should get off the golf course every once in a while and go talk to the thousands of Oklahomans who are struggling to feed their families, pay their rent, or put gas in their car."
If there is any justice, Stitt and Co.'s game-playing will backfire. Turnout will spike in the June 2026 primary, SQ 832 will win voter approval, and some of the governor's far-right allies in the Legislature will get the boot.
They deserve as much for their efforts to undermine The People's right to petition their government.
[Arnold Hamilton / The Journal Record]
