In less than two weeks, a small number of Oklahomans will hit the polls to answer State Questions 844 and 846.
One of them – 844 – is a big funding question that, honestly, should be on the November ballot when more voters will show up. The other – 846 - will attempt to add an active voting law to the state constitution, and probably make discrimination easier. Let’s talk about that one first!
State Question 846: The “Trust Us to Decide Who Gets to Vote” Amendment
This is a law that actually already exists – the question now is whether to enshrine it into the state constitution:
This measure adds a new section 6 to article 3 of the Oklahoma Constitution to require proof of identity to vote in any election authorized by law and conducted by a county election board or the State Election Board. The measure requires proof of identity for all authorized methods of voting. The measure requires the Legislature to enact laws to specify requirements for proof of identity for voting. The measure will not have a fiscal impact.
Here’s where the state Legislature would like to get really racist.
See, it would be left totally up to legislators to decide what forms of ID qualify an Oklahoman to vote. Will the beat-up paper voter ID in your wallet be enough? Or will you need a driver’s license? Or will the license need to be REAL ID? What happens when they decide an original US birth certificate is required, so foreign-born citizens aren't able to vote?
This is a very MAGA measure designed to ensure fewer people are able to vote come November. I’m sure your gun-loving, Fox News-watching uncle is super stoked for this one, but how about when the state decides that a US Passport – and not, say, a military retiree ID – is the only viable proof? How will ol’ Uncle Cooter feel then?
Never count on the benevolence of your elected officials.
I’m sure this will pass, though. If you saw half the misinformation spread via commercials and weird-ass posters on shipping containers regarding State Question 832 – you know, the one to raise minimum wage – that same propaganda machine will be hard at work telling everyone that Gavin Newsom will control Oklahoma voting if you say no.
- A yes vote amends the state constitution to include this law.
- A no vote has no impact on Oklahoma's current racist voter ID law, but it stops it from going into the constitution.
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SQ 844: The "Gut Communities to Fund Industry Incentives" Amendment
This punishing block of sentences will appear on your ballot on the 25th:
This measure amends article 10, section 6B of the Oklahoma Constitution. Section 6B incentivizes manufacturers to locate, expand, or acquire manufacturing facilities in Oklahoma through an ad valorem taxation exemption for five (5) years. Currently, the State must reimburse common schools, county governments, cities and towns, emergency medical services districts, vocational technical schools, junior colleges, county health departments and libraries for revenues lost as a result of each exemption provided. This measure authorizes the Legislature to enact laws establishing the levels and methodologies of reimbursement for the previously mentioned local governmental entities resulting from the manufacturing exemption. The laws are meant to ensure that no individual county receives reimbursement in an amount detrimental to other Oklahoma counties. The levels and methodologies will replace the current statutory framework for reimbursement. For the purpose of calculating the limit on indebtedness for political subdivisions, the measure requires such amount be equal to the amount of reimbursement applicable to such property under laws enacted by the Legislature. This measure will have a fiscal impact on the state that will depend on the application of the levels and methodologies adopted by the Legislature.
That basically means that we’d be amending the state constitution so the Legislature no longer has to reimburse towns, counties, and school districts for money they lose when manufacturing facilities take advantage of tax incentives. Right now, the state must pay back those communities for the lost revenue. Voters approved that arrangement in 1985, when the reimbursements weren’t that expensive. Now, the cost has exploded.
In recent years, the cost of reimbursement has exploded as data centers and wind farms opened and expanded across Oklahoma. It peaked at $161 million in 2020 but has since dropped to about $89 million after both were disqualified from the program. But House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, said the legislature has had to allocate extra money to the program’s costs during each of the 10 legislative sessions he’s served, and even before that.
Hilbert also says that county assessors sometimes overvalue large manufacturing facilities, creating a budget shortfall when the exemption ends and companies successfully challenge those valuations to pay lower property taxes.
But that sounds like a problem with the valuation process, not a reason to take money from struggling towns, counties and schools. Lawmakers seem to be framing the issue as if these industry incentives and bad valuations are a given – and it’s simply a matter of working out how communities pay the price.
Even worse, the question doesn't say exactly how reimbursement is to be done, how much a community can receive, or how future Legislatures will handle any of it. So, the funding of communities affected by these tax breaks would always be up in the air.
- A yes vote keeps the current tax exemption, but it allows lawmakers to decide how much, if any, to reimburse counties, towns, and schools.
- A no vote keeps the current tax exemption, but it ensures communities continue to be fully reimbursed.
See how that works?
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The engineers of these state questions are counting on mostly sane Oklahomans to go ahead and sit this one out, but it might be a civic imperative fun to prove them wrong. If you tend to think Oklahoma can't get any worse, these state questions prove that at least our elected officials are creative when it comes to lowering the bar. At least they're always hard at work at something...
See you at the polls on August 25th, gang.
