Supporters turn in petition to raise minimum wage in Oklahoma

If just a few more than 92,000 of the names on the petition are confirmed to be valid signatures of registered voters, it could set the stage for a statewide vote on State Question 832, which proposes to raise the minimum wage from the current $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour in several phases leading up to 2029.

Many volunteers who fanned out across the state to circulate the petition beginning in April and others who signed them turned out to deliver dozens of boxes of signatures to the office of Secretary of State Josh Cockroft.

Mattece Mason, the director of Jewel’s Place Enrichment Childcare in Tulsa, was among several who addressed supporters. She said she has been involved in child care for many years and has no doubt that raising the wages of workers would benefit not only the individuals but their facilities and local communities, as well.

Higher wages would help attract trained and qualified people into the profession, so children and their families would benefit, Mason said. Local economies would be strengthened because workers would have more money to spend, she added.

Another supporter of SQ 832, Wilma Bunting, a retired education support professional from Moore, said raising the floor on wages would benefit schools, too, as it would make it easier for them to attract and retain bus drivers, cafeteria workers, custodians and other lower-wage support staffers.

The State Chamber has taken a stand against raising the state’s minimum wage, which is the current minimum mandated by the federal government and hasn’t budged since 2009. Ben Lepak, executive director of the chamber’s research foundation, said the phased increases as proposed would drive consumer prices higher and would force some businesses, especially smaller ones, to close or to lay off or delay hiring workers.

“This is a disastrous policy that will crush working families through price increases on the heels of record inflation,” Lepak said in an email. “This ballot initiative is bad for workers, bad for business, and bad for Oklahoma.”

Several supporters of SQ 832, including Mason, countered that Oklahoma holds a dismal No. 47 ranking when it comes to wages and that a change is desperately needed.

“Sometimes the right thing to do isn’t the easiest thing to do, (but) it’s possible to strike a balance between profitability and supporting workers,” Mason said.

It has been estimated that a minimum wage increase would benefit the families of at least 200,000 Oklahoma children. Amber England, an organizer at Raise the Wage Oklahoma, said her mother had to work two or even three jobs at a time to raise her two children by herself.

“It was a real struggle, and thank God my mom persevered,” she said.

Others who either volunteered to circulate petitions or who signed them expressed similar views that Oklahomans who earn even close to the minimum wage would have to work long hours and/or multiple jobs to support families.

“Nobody can live on $7.25 an hour. It’s impossible, and people should not have to work two or three jobs just to make ends meet,” said Marie Adams of Oklahoma City.

Mary Silva, who collected signatures in Stillwater, said Oklahoma voters, and not the federal government, should decide what a fair and livable wage is in the state.

England said signatures were collected in all 77 of Oklahoma’s counties. She said she wasn’t sure whether a new state law, which mandates a 90-day challenge period on petition signatures rather than the previous 10 days, will apply to SQ 832, presuming that at least 92,262 signatures are verified.

Specifically, State Question 832 proposes to decouple Oklahoma’s minimum wage from the federal minimum. State employers would have to pay employees at least $9 per hour beginning in 2025. Thereafter, the minimum wage would increase to $10.50 beginning in 2026, then to $12 per hour in 2027. It would increase to $13.50 in 2028 and to $15 per hour beginning in 2029.

Further increases would be linked to the cost of living as measured by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index.

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