State Question 832, which would dramatically increase Oklahoma’s minimum wage to $15 an hour and continue further boosting it every year, is similar to a law that mandated a $20-an-hour wage for fast-food employees in California.

Now the California wage law is resulting in restaurant bankruptcies in that state, according to recent reports.

The Friendly Franchisees Corporation, which operates 65 Carl’s Jr. locations, filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California on April 2, 2026. The bankruptcy has been blamed, in part, on the surging expenses created by California’s minimum-wage law, which is similar to the proposed SQ 832 in Oklahoma.

Business analyst Earl Cotton wrote, “In 2024, California implemented a law requiring fast-food workers to earn at least $20 per hour, the highest mandated minimum wage for the industry in the country. For a franchisee running 65 locations, each staffed by dozens of hourly employees, that’s a seismic shift in the cost structure. Many operators responded by raising menu prices, but that created a painful paradox: higher prices to cover higher wages, which makes customers think twice before pulling into the drive-thru.

“Imagine trying to fill a bathtub while the drain is getting wider,” Cotton continued. “That’s essentially what California franchisees have been dealing with.”

The WhenInYourState website reported, “Restaurant operators have faced rising costs in recent years, including labor and food inputs, which can pressure margins—especially when customer demand softens. In California, AB 1228 set a $20-per-hour minimum wage for covered fast-food workers, effective April 1, 2024, a change that increased labor costs for many large fast-food operators in the state. Operators often respond by adjusting staffing, operations, and menu pricing, but higher prices can also weigh on traffic if consumers pull back on discretionary spending.”

Capital Digest, a financial news site, reported on the bankruptcy filing, noting, “None of this happens in a vacuum. California has spent years layering costs onto businesses, higher minimum wages, stricter labor rules, environmental mandates, permitting delays, and rising commercial rents driven partly by land-use restrictions. Each new rule sounds reasonable in a press release. Stacked together, they form a weight that crushes the operators least able to absorb it.”

Carl’s Jr. locations are not the only fast-food restaurants being forced into bankruptcy by California’s SQ 832-style wage law, according to reports.

When the Geddo Corporation, a California-based franchisee and operator of Farmer Boys restaurants, filed chapter 11 petitions on March 31, ElevenFlo, a site that focuses on business bankruptcy news, pointed to California’s $20 minimum-wage law as a factor.

“The Geddo Corporation filing follows a pattern of California-based restaurant franchisees seeking chapter 11 protection in 2025 and 2026,” the site noted.

Under State Question 832, the minimum wage in Oklahoma will more than double from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour by 2029, and then continue rising at a rapid pace every year thereafter 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. And SQ 832 applies to nearly all businesses in Oklahoma, regardless of size, treating small family-owned businesses like giant corporations.

At an October 2025 study conducted by members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, James Leewright, president and CEO of the Oklahoma Restaurant Association, warned that, adjusted for cost-of-living differences, a $20-an-hour wage in California was comparable to a $14-per-hour wage in Oklahoma, meaning the impact of SQ 832 could be even more severe than California’s law.

The Economic Policy Institute, which supports SQ 832, put out a report in March that estimated SQ 832 will increase labor costs by more than $783 million annually for Oklahoma employers at the initial $15-an-hour rate, with further cost increases added in each subsequent year. Other supporters of SQ 832 have indicated it will increase labor costs by as much as $1 billion annually, even in its early stages.

The increased cost of labor is expected to drive up prices for countless goods and services in Oklahoma, including at restaurants.

Should SQ 832 become law, most economists believe it will reduce restaurant jobs in Oklahoma even as it also increases consumer prices.

When the Employment Policies Institute commissioned a survey of 166 American economists in March and April, the survey found that 64 percent believe a $15-an-hour minimum wage will reduce the number of hospitality jobs, including restaurant jobs.

At $20 an hour, which SQ 832 could mandate in relatively short order, 89 percent of economists believe it will result in fewer hospitality jobs. At more than $20 an hour, the survey found that 96 percent of economists predict a negative impact on hospitality jobs.

The Employment Policies Institute survey also found that 59 percent of economists believe a $15-an-hour minimum wage will increase consumers’ cost of living. If the minimum wage is boosted above $20 an hour, 84 percent of economists believe surging costs are likely, with 42 percent predicting an above-$20 wage mandate will increase consumer costs “significantly.”