KRMG In Depth: Court clears the way for SQ832 proponents to start gathering signatures

TULSA — This week, the Oklahoma Supreme Court declined a petition from the Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce seeking a rehearing of its challenge to State Question 832, which would raise the minimum wage in Oklahoma to $15.00 an hour over the course of five years.

The Chamber had challenged the legality of the initiative petition based on a provision which would tie future increases in the state’s minimum wage to the federal Consumer Price Index.

[Hear the KRMG In Depth Report with Raise the Wage Oklahoma spokesperson Amber England HERE]

[Hear the KRMG In Depth Report the State Chamber Research Foundation Executive Director Ben Lepak HERE]

That would violate the state’s non-delegation doctrine, according to Ben Lepak, Executive Director of the State Chamber Research Foundation, by mandating changes to state law without legislative intervention.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court disagreed, and when it ordered the petition process to proceed without explaining that ruling in a written opinion, the chamber asked for the rehearing.

Without comment, the court turned aside that request on Monday, a week after it was filed.

Amber England, spokesperson for Raise the Wage Oklahoma, tells KRMG that now they’re just waiting for the Secretary of State to define the 90-day window her organization will have to gather 92,263 verified signatures of registered Oklahoma voters necessary to get the measure on the ballot.

Lepak and the state chamber argue that if State Question 832 passes, it will create inflation and unemployment.

“This is kind of economics 101,” Lepak told KRMG. “If you double the price for a business, for one of the inputs, there’s really only two things they can do. They can raise their prices to consumers, or they can cut staff.”

However, he seemed to undercut that argument somewhat by also calling the measure “a solution in search of a problem.”

“Already, employers across Oklahoma - most employees are making well above the minimum wage. And, in fact, the problem is there’s a worker shortage, and so employers are raising pay pretty much across the board,” Lepak said.

He also argues that the minimum wage isn’t meant to be a living wage.

England, however, says roughly 300,000 Oklahoma workers would be “directly or indirectly impacted by this increase.”

Inflation’s happening anyway, she points out, and for the last 15 years the price of housing, food, and fuel has consistently risen, while the minimum wage in Oklahoma has remained stagnant.

And she believes the minimum wage should be a living wage - otherwise, the argument goes, there’s really no point of having a minimum wage.

KRMG asked Lepak if there should even be a minimum wage, and if so, what should it be set at and who should make that call.

“I don’t really have a great answer for that,” Lepak said. “We’re not advocating to get rid of the current minimum wage, or to - that’s a question that’s not really on the table. That’s a national law, that sets a national floor, and so that’s not really an option for state lawmakers to get rid of the minimum wage.”