OKLAHOMA CITY – Although enough signatures were collected for an initiative petition to put State Question 832, which would allow voters to decide if the state minimum wage should be increased, opposition and protests will likely keep it off the November ballot.
Proponents of the measure want to see the minimum wage gradually increase over the next several years from $7.25 per hour to $15 per hour beginning in 2029. According to the Oklahoma Policy Institute, the initiative petition was filed in October 2023 and the Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce and Oklahoma Farm Bureau filed a joint lawsuit against it. However, in March 2024, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ultimately ruled that SQ 832 could continue to move forward.
The jointly filed formal protest challenged the legality of the proposition, which would ultimately double the state’s minimum wage and then raise it annually based on inflation. States can exceed the federal minimum wage standard of $7.25, but cannot go below that amount. The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 since 2009.
The legal challenge, which was filed at the Oklahoma Supreme Court, argued that the proposed state question is unconstitutional under state law because it unlawfully delegates the Legislature’s power to federal administrative officials, according to a press release from The State Chamber of Oklahoma.
“While on the surface, this may seem beneficial for lowwage workers, the collaborative effort between The State Chamber of Oklahoma and Oklahoma Farm Bureau seeks to address the complexities and adverse effects on various sectors of the state’s economy. “State Chamber member companies have no interest in artificially holding down wages, and in today’s labor market, they could not stay in business if they tried to do so,” said Chad Warmington, president and CEO of The State Chamber, in the press release dated Nov. 21, 2023.
“Let’s be clear,” he said.
“Most of our members already pay well above the current minimum wage hourly rate to their non-salaried employees. What is a major concern to us is the automatic, open-ended increase being linked to a federal government produced index that is based upon cost-of-living rates in cities like New York or San Francisco. Those areas are not reflective of the actual cost of living in Oklahoma.”
A chart at the Citizens Count website shows that as of Jan.
1, 2024, Washington, D.C. has the highest minimum wage in the country at $17 per hour, followed by the states of Washington ($16.28), California and Connecticut (both $16 per hour) and New Jersey ($15.13). States already at $15 per hour include New York, Maryland and Massachusetts.
Twenty states, including Oklahoma, adhere to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.
Although the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled in March that SQ 832 could move forward, a recent opinion released on Aug. 15, after certifying the 157,287 physical signatures made the initiative petition in compliance with state statutes, said a 10-day protest period would be allowed for objections to be filed.
“Proponents to amend a state statute by initiative petition must collect a total amount of signatures equaling 8% of the total number of votes cast for the state office receiving the highest number of votes cast in the last general election.
“According to the Oklahoma State Election Board, 8% of the November 2022 election for Governor totaled 92,263.
The number of physical signatures counted and certified to this Court by the Secretary of State appears numerically sufficient,” read the Oklahoma Supreme Court opinion accessed through the Oklahoma State Court Network, oscn.net.
The Secretary of State is required to publish, in at least one newspaper of general circulation, a notice of the filing of the signed petitions and the signed petitions’ apparent sufficiency. The notice is also required to publish the text of the ballot title and inform citizens that an objection to the signature count or ballot title can be filed in writing with the Supreme Court. It must be filed within 10 days after publication.
During the last regular legislative session, two bills, House Bill 1105 and Senate Bill 518, pertaining to Oklahoma Initiatives and Referendums, were signed into law by Gov. Kevin Stitt. HB 1105, authored by Speaker of the House Charles McCall (R-Atoka) addressed increasing the time limit for filing objections. Although the new law, which went into effect under an emergency clause upon approval of the Governor, specified a 90-day objection period, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled for the 10-day time frame, because that was state law when proponents filed the ballot initiative last October with the Secretary of State.
SB 518, authored by Sen.
Julie Daniels (R-Bartlesville) and co-sponsored by Sen.
Lonnie Paxton (R-Tuttle), also requested the opposition period for an initiative or referendum to be extended to 90 days at the state level. It was also approved by the Governor but will not apply to SQ 832.
The Secretary of State published the notice of filing in a newspaper of general circulation on Aug. 21. It is currently within the 10-day protest period and if additional challenges are legally filed, it will prolong SQ 832 from appearing on a ballot for the voters.