On June 16, 2026, Oklahomans will vote on SQ 832. Visit www.sq832killsjobs.com to learn more.

When officials with the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) surveyed their Oklahoma members to see if employers wanted the organization to take a formal position on State Question 832, the response was overwhelming: Over 80 percent voted to oppose SQ 832.

The reason for that stance is simple, said Jerrod Shouse, the Oklahoma state director for NFIB.

“You’re really going to see the economy contract, the Oklahoma economy,” Shouse said in a May 28 interview on “Weighing In,” a podcast produced by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs and OCPA Action.

Under State Question 832, the minimum wage in Oklahoma will hit $15 an hour by 2029 and then continue rising annually based on increases in the cost-of-living in the nation’s largest urban centers, as measured by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers.

That would effectively tie Oklahoma’s wage mandate to the cost of living in places like New York City or San Francisco.

While SQ 832 would initially mandate that entry-level jobs pay $15 an hour in 2029, an analysis by The State Chamber of Oklahoma and Oklahoma Farm Bureau found SQ 832 would put Oklahoma’s minimum wage on a fast track to $35.61 per hour and continue rising thereafter.

In addition, SQ 832 eliminates minimum-wage exemptions that have been in place for decades for farms and ranches, part-time employment, and teenage employment.

The Economic Policy Institute, which supports SQ 832, put out a report in March that estimated the increased labor expenses created by the proposal will total more than $783 million annually at the $15-an-hour rate.

The repercussions of that dramatic increase in business costs will be felt across Oklahoma.

A forecast by the NFIB Research Center found that SQ 832 would cause Oklahoma to lose up to 16,000 jobs and lead to a loss of $700 million in economic output by 2035. Sixty percent of job losses would occur at small businesses. More than one in four job losses would occur at businesses with fewer than 20 employees, according to the analysis.

At the same time, consumers will pay higher prices for goods and services as employers struggle to cover the $783-million increase in labor costs created by SQ 832.

“When I am the small business owner and I have to pay my employees more, how do I make up for that?” Shouse said. “I have to raise the price of the products or goods that I sell.”

As a result, even as jobs are eliminated in Oklahoma, SQ 832 will also contribute to higher inflation for all Oklahomans.

“Everything is going to get more expensive,” Shouse said.

However, those higher prices can also cause consumers to pull back on spending, particularly for things such as eating at local restaurants or similar purchases, which can threaten the survival of many small businesses operating on small profit margins.

Shouse said the negative impacts will be especially notable in rural communities.

“Small businesses are already fragile as it is, especially in our rural areas,” Shouse said. “You get outside of the city limits, and people have to stretch a dollar a little bit further. It’s a different economy. And if you have fewer people walking in the door, it’s just going to make it a lot harder for them to be able to meet these mandates that the government has put on them.”

On its website devoted to SQ 832, the NFIB warns, “This is not a simple wage increase—it’s a permanent, automatic, uncapped mandate that drives up prices, eliminates jobs, harms small businesses and family farms, and puts Oklahoma at a disadvantage.

“Oklahomans’ wages should be determined between employees and their employers, not mandated by unelected federal bureaucrats and data gathered from California and New York,” the NFIB site continues.

“SQ 832 will also crush Oklahoma’s working families, who are already struggling to pay more for gas and groceries; small businesses, whose costs will increase; and family farms, which already operate on very thin margins,” the NFIB concludes.