An initiative petition seeking to raise the minimum wage is unconstitutional and should be tossed out, opponents argued Wednesday.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a challenge to State Question 832, which asks voters to gradually increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour in 2029 from the current rate of $7.25. Future increases would be tied to the Consumer Price Index.
Supporters say the increase is needed because the minimum wage has not been raised in nearly 15 years and has not kept up with inflation.
But the measure faces opposition from the State Chamber of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Legal Foundation.
“It unconstitutionally delegates the amount of the state’s minimum wage to the (U.S.) Department of Labor by tying annual changes to the minimum wage to the Consumer Price Index,” said Mithun S. Mansinghani, an attorney for the challengers.
The CPI is an index which is changed on an ongoing basis based on the U.S. Department of Labor’s discretion, he said.
The Oklahoma Constitution prohibits the Legislature from delegating its authority.
“Indeed, the initiative petition here is a particularly egregious delegation of state legislative authority because it delegates to a federal entity, with no explicit guidelines or standards, no state backstop, no state forum for Oklahomans to go to,” he said.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has sided with the challengers.
The state question proposes a change in state law and is not a constitutional amendment. Supporters need to collect 92,263 signatures to get it before voters. Supporters want it on the November ballot.
Several prior bills that would increase the minimum wage failed to garner legislative approval.
Justices peppered Mansinghani with questions about removing the section of the initiative petition that ties wage increases to the CPI, but letting the rest of it move forward.
Because it is a statutory change, lawmakers could make changes to it after it passed, justices said.
“I don’t think this court should put itself in the shoes of an initiative petitioner and say we are going to rewrite your initiative petition,” Mansinghani said. “I think you should give them the opportunity to if they want to amend it.”
Justice James E. Edmondson said he was struck that challengers want the entire initiative petition tossed out, but object to severing the offending section that links some future increases to the CPI.
Melanie Wilson Rughani is an attorney for proponents, Kelsey Cobbs and Dustin Phelan.
She said the state’s Quality Jobs program, which was championed by the State Chamber, provides large tax incentives for companies that bring quality jobs to Oklahoma.
The Legislature pegged those salaries to the CPI, among other things, she said.
“I don’t know how you distinguish that from the initiative petition here,” Rughani said.
States that determine their own minimum wage tie it to the CPI, she said.
Oklahoma’s minimum wage is currently tied to the federal minimum wage.
After 2030, the Oklahoma Legislature can determine the minimum wage, she said.
State and federal programs across the country reference the CPI because it is a stable index, she said.
If the court severed the CPI provision, it would be up to the Oklahoma labor commissioner to determine cost of living increases that would impact the minimum wage, Rughani said.
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