OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Supreme Court, in a split vote, allowed organizers to pursue a petition to raise the minimum wage, according to a ruling published Monday.
State Question 832, if successful, would raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour by 2029, but the Oklahoma State Chamber and Farm Bureau say the question is unconstitutional because it would also allow a federal agency to determine the wage after 2029.
The high court’s ruling drew sharp criticism from the chamber. In a prepared statement, the chamber accused justices of sowing “confusion and uncertainty in this area of Oklahoma law” and “failed to do their job.”
“We are disappointed by the court’s decision to let SQ 832 proceed without providing any justification for the reasoning behind the decision,” the statement reads. “The six justices making this ruling failed to perform one of the most basic duties of their job by refusing to even author a majority opinion that addresses the serious constitutional arguments we raised in our legal challenge.
“The Court’s ruling ran counter to its own precedent that was directly on point in this case. By failing to provide reasoning that either explains why that precedent is no longer valid or explains why that precedent does not apply to this state question the Court has sewn confusion and uncertainty in this area of Oklahoma law.”
Amber England, spokesperson for proponents, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Oral arguments to defeat the petition on Jan. 31 focused on constitutional violations and the lawful sufficiency of the petition with a faulty gist – the summary of the state question’s purpose if adopted by voters.
The chamber argued that because minimum wage would be determined after 2029 by the U.S. Department of Labor’s inflation index, it unlawfully delegated the Oklahoma Legislature’s authority to a federal agency.
According to the ruling Monday, the court would exceed its authority if it interceded before a petition became law.
“This Court's expansion of our pre-election review of initiative petitions exceeds our constitutional mandate,” the ruling stated. “Our jurisdiction is limited to ‘all cases at law and in equity.’” The ruling also stated a protest to a petition after it is adopted into law can be challenged and decided by the state supreme court.
Justice M. John Kane stated in his opinion that the right of citizen-led petitions is not an “absolute” right.
“These rights are subject to limitations established by the Constitution, legislative enactments, and this Court's jurisprudence,” the opinion read.
His opinion also stated delegating the calculation of the state’s minimum wage to a federal agency is unconstitutional.
The chamber had also argued that the gist of the petition, a summary of the state question’s purpose, was misleading because it stated federal workers would be exempt from it if it became law. Federal workers are already exempt, and that was misleading, they claimed.
Kane sided with the chamber’s argument that the gist was misleading because it contained the federal worker clause and because some exemptions to businesses were not clearly stated.
Employers with ten or fewer employees at one location and less than $100,000 in receipts would be exempt, but it was not stated in the gist.
Justices voted 6-3 in favor of the proponents. Joining Kane, Justice Dustin P. Rowe also dissented, while Dana Kuehn dissented in part.
Petition organizers will have 90 days to collect 92,263 signatures to place SQ 832 on a ballot. The petition will then be subject to review by the Oklahoma Attorney General and face a protest window to contest signatures before the governor sets an election date.