by George Smith, Student Reporter
Oklahomans will vote on state questions affecting criminal justice and healthcare when they go to the polls Nov. 3.
State Question 805, if approved by voters, will lower the amount of time served in prison for people convicted of nonviolent crimes by ending the use of sentence enhancements.
State Question 814, if approved, would take payments to the state’s Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust, also known as TSET, and use that money to help fund the state’s recently expanded Medicaid program.
WHAT IS A STATE
QUESTION?
“State Questions are measures to change Oklahoma laws or the state constitution that appear on the ballot for all voters. They can be added to the ballot by the Legislature or by an initiative petition from citizens,” a statement on the Oklahoma Policy Institute’s website reads.
Historically, state questions initiated by citizens have had a hard time being passed into law. However, the most notable state question to become law, State Question 788, was a citizen-initiated question. This question was passed in 2018 to legalize the use of medical marijuana in Oklahoma.
STATE QUESTION 805
People convicted of nonviolent crimes who later find themselves in the state’s court system for committing another crime sometimes face harsher jail or prison sentences.
Actions in which the law is broken, but in which no other person is involved, are typically considered nonviolent crimes. Nonviolent crimes include: speeding, stealing, larceny and embezzlement, and various alcohol- and drug-related crimes, such as driving under the influence, distributing to minors, or using a fake ID. As long as no other persons are injured during these transgressions, then these crimes are classified as nonviolent.
Currently, all forms of domestic abuse are classified as nonviolent crimes in Oklahoma. Other crimes considered nonviolent under state law include: drug trafficking, leaving the scene of a collision resulting in injury or death, theft of an automobile, aircraft, or farm equipment; cruelty to animals, child pornography, and rape in the second degree.
Governor Kevin Stitt has signed into law House Bill 3251, which adds four forms of domestic abuse currently classified as nonviolent crimes to the list of violent crimes. These are: domestic abuse by strangulation, domestic assault with a dangerous weapon, domestic assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and domestic assault and battery with a deadly weapon. This law will go into effect Nov. 1.
However, if State Question 805 is passed, it is just the people’s vote as to what the State Legislature should write into law. State questions are not enacted into law after an election; rather, they are presented to the Legislature to be voted into law. If State Question 805 becomes law, it will “freeze” the definition of nonviolent crimes from Jan. 1– before some forms of domestic abuse were reclassified as violent crimes. As a result, those crimes would continue to be considered nonviolent.
STATE QUESTION 814
State Question 814 is a proposed solution to provide the additional funds the state needs to supports its Medicaid program.
Each year, Oklahoma and 45 other states receive tens of millions of dollars from large tobacco companies that sell their products nationally. These payments are made as the result of a lawsuit. States are incentivized to handle the funds appropriately, with most states using the funds to pay for addiction treatment programs and education about tobacco usage.
Of the payments Oklahoma receives, 75% are invested into the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust, while the other 25% goes to State Legislature and the Attorney General’s Office to be used as state revenue. If State Question 814 becomes law, those percentages would be swapped. The State Legislature and attorney general’s office would receive more funding than the endowment trust fund.
Oklahoma legislators are constitutionally mandated to fund the expansion of Medicaid, which is projected to cost the state between $123 and $164 million annually, according to the Oklahoma Policy Institute.
TSET funds health initiatives and research for the state. Proponents of State Question 814 say that, with the money already invested in TSET, the 25% payment will be a sufficient amount of revenue to continue the program. The State Legislature, overseeing 75% of the payments, would then have funding to help cover the rising cost of Medicaid.
However, State Question 814 does not specify that all of the funds must be appropriated to Medicaid, meaning the Legislature could use some of those funds elsewhere in the budget.