Weekly Wonk: Immigration, housing, Tribal-state policy highlights from 2025 #okleg session | Contentious budget negotiations opened door for governor’s business court plans | When lawmakers cut budgets, it rolls downhill

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.

SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 2025 Subscribe // View latest headlines Oklahoma's legislature missed key opportunities to address housing crisis   While state lawmakers took no meaningful action to address housing instability, they deserve credit for rejecting efforts to further criminalize homelessness and reduce services. These proposals would have made it even more difficult to keep Oklahomans housed. [Sabine Brown / OK Policy] Lessons learned from SB 675 shed light on the importance of Tribal-state policy   There is a continued need for shared, strategic decisions that will shape the state's current and future policy-making with Tribal nations. For example, the processes, or lack thereof, surrounding Senate Bill 675 shed light on both lessons that should be learned around respecting Tribal sovereignty and engaging in direct Tribal consultation before making decisions that directly affect Tribal Nations. [Vivian Morris / OK Policy] Common sense prevailed this year, but anti-immigrant sentiment still threatens Oklahoma   In this 2025 legislative session, over 20 anti-immigrant measures were introduced in the Oklahoma legislature. They ranged from barring any immigrant from owning or renting property in Oklahoma (SB 982) to tracking the immigration status of children enrolled in public school HB 1165 and HB 1671). These bills would hurt all Oklahomans, not just immigrants — however, thanks to the hard work of advocates, sensible legislators, and engaged Oklahomans, most of these bills failed. [Gabriela Ramirez-Perez / OK Policy] Contentious budget negotiations opened door for governor's business court plans (Capitol Update)   During contentious budget negotiations between the House and Senate at the end of the 2024 session, Gov. Kevin Stitt seized the opportunity to make a deal with legislators not to veto the general appropriations bill — if lawmakers agreed to several measures, including passing a framework to start "business courts," an idea he had touted in his State of the State address at the beginning of the session. [Steve Lewis / Capitol Update] Policy Matters: When lawmakers cut budgets, it rolls downhill   In government, just like in nature, everything rolls downhill. And when budget cuts start cascading downwards, it's not the mountaintop that feels the hit – it's the town in the valley. This is the moment we find ourselves in now, as the majority in Congress pushes for massive program cuts to help pay for tax breaks for the ultra-rich. [Shiloh Kantz / The Journal Record] June 12, Online: All-Affinity Meeting & Legislative Wrap-Up   Join Together Oklahoma and OK Policy for our annual virtual event bringing together members of our Healthy Oklahomans, Safe Communities, Thriving Families, and Defending Democracy groups to review key legislation from the 2025 session. Learn what passed, what didn't, and how new laws will impact your community. We'll also reflect on the successes of grassroots advocacy and share ways to stay engaged. Open to all — no cost to attend! Join the Meeting Online Add to Google Calendar $36,000 - The cost per day for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections to house 526 undocumented immigrants in Oklahoma jails for criminal activity unrelated to their unlawful presence in the U.S. [State of Oklahoma]   44th - Oklahoma's rank in the 2025 State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index that ranks the most and least welcoming states for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Americans. The state was ranked 47th the previous year. [Oklahoma Report, Outleadership]   9.5% - Oklahoma has the nation's largest population of residents who identify as American Indian alone, at 9.5 percent or nearly 1 in 10 Oklahomans. [Census data via OK Policy]   697.6 - American Indians and Alaska Natives in Oklahoma have the state's highest rate of premature deaths from avoidable causes at 697.6 per 100,000 residents. Oklahoma has the nation's 11th highest rate for residents who are American Indian and Alaska Natives. [Commonwealth Fund]   40% - The latest White House budget plan proposes a 40% cut to federal rental aid, which essentially would end Section 8 and other housing voucher programs. Its plan calls for sending that money to states "to design their own rental assistance programs based on their unique needs and preferences." It would also impose a two-year cap on rental assistance for able-bodied adults, which it said would ensure an even bigger share of federal subsidies went to the elderly and disabled. [NPR] "What they suffer sitting in a county jail – literally languishing in an environment that will only make their condition worse – is absolutely unacceptable."   - Debbie Maddox, Executive Director for the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System, speaking about the state's shortage of mental health services. As a result, this is leaving people with severe mental illness stuck in county jails waiting for treatment. Many individuals are locked up for low-level crimes. [KOSU] Oklahoma City's affordability paradox shows city ranked third most affordable; housing crisis persists: In 2024, court records show that 48,070 eviction cases were filed in Oklahoma, an increase of more than 1,400 over 46,668 filings in 2022, according to reporting by Oklahoma Watch. Oklahoma County, which includes Oklahoma City, stands above the rest, with eviction filings rising and staying above pre-pandemic levels. According to the Oklahoma Policy Institute, the county already had very high filing rates before the pandemic, ranking 20th nationally. [The Journal Record] Pocket Veto   If a bill passes the Oklahoma Legislature during the final five days of session, the Governor has 15 days following the final day of session to sign or veto it. If the Governor does not sign or veto the bill by the end of that 15-day period, it does not become law. This is known as a "pocket veto." No reasons for the pocket veto are required, and no override by the Legislature is possible.   Gov. Stitt used the pocket veto five times in the 2023 legislative session and twice in 2021, but did not use it in 2024. Prior to 2021, the pocket veto had been used only once since 2012, by Governor Fallin on a firearms bill (HB 1608) in 2018.    Look up more key terms to understand Oklahoma politics and government here. Opinion: Is the Oklahoma Legislature reasserting Its Constitutional role?   So, the chihuahuas abruptly morphed into pit bulls.   Bullied by Gov. Kevin Stitt all session long, lawmakers tore into the governor as adjournment neared with a ferocity not seen since … well, since Democrats ruled Oklahoma and were renowned for intra-party cage matches.   Was this a one-off, final-hours temper tantrum by legislators fed up with the governor? Or a sign they are embracing their constitutional authority as a co-equal branch of government?   [Arnold Hamilton / The Journal Record] Fact-checking claims about illegal immigration in Oklahoma: Gov. Kevin Stitt in December released a joint statement with 25 other Republican governors announcing support for using state law enforcement and the National Guard to help carry out Trump's immigration agenda. The Frontier used public records, information provided by state officials and other sources to fact-check recent claims about illegal immigration in Oklahoma. [The Frontier]   2025 State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index: Outleadership's 7th annual State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index shows which U.S. States are safe and which are unwelcoming for millions of LGBTQ+ Americans. It also shows a country growing more polarized on LGBTQ+ rights–and this divide is influencing where people choose to live, work, and do business. For the third year in a row, the national average score declined, driven by the introduction of more than 550 anti-LGBTQ+ bills and a wave of newly-elected conservative officials pushing restrictive agendas. [Outleadership]   Inside the Fight for Indigenous Data Sovereignty: The wide-ranging, long-lasting effects that colonialism left in its wake have plagued Indigenous peoples for centuries: disproportionate poverty rates, marked health disparities, outsize violence, and lower life expectancies. But we're just beginning to fully understand how data has long been wielded—from unjust collection techniques to the weaponizing of information to the total exclusion of certain populations—as a way to perpetuate racial inequities. [Atmos]   Native Americans Hurt by Federal Health Cuts, Despite RFK Jr.'s Promises of Protection: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has repeatedly promised to prioritize Native Americans' health care. But Native Americans and health officials across tribal nations say those overtures are overshadowed by the collateral harm from massive cuts to federal health programs. [KFF]   The Trump Administration Has Proposed $27 Billion in Cuts by Block Granting Housing Assistance. That Could Worsen the Housing Affordability Crisis: The president's budget proposed combining five federal housing assistance programs into one block grant—a move that would immediately and dramatically reduce the number of assisted households. Any change that turns housing assistance programs into a single block grant would scale back already limited assistance at a time when housing is increasingly unaffordable for many. [Urban Institute] Support Our Work with a Donation 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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