OKLAHOMA CITY, OK (June 9, 2026) – Ahead of early voting this week, NFIB State Director Jerrod Shouse shared how State Question 832 will negatively affect Oklahoma’s family farms and ranches in a conversation with the Oklahoma Farm Report’s KC Sheperd.

CLICK HERE for the full conversation. Excerpts of the interview are below:

State Question 832 will result in forever price hikes and lost jobs for Oklahomans.

“When the government comes in and says, ‘You must pay this wage that is a new wage that is, let’s say, double what you’re paying now,’ that’s going to have a crazy effect on how their business operates,” Shouse said. “It has a lot of effects on a small business that, frankly, a larger business may or may not be able to absorb. But it’s really going to hit small business owners just squarely right in the jaw.”

State Question 832 eliminates agricultural exemptions, harming Oklahoma’s family farms and ranches.

“The State Question gets rid of a lot of the exemptions that are related to ag, and that’s going to be really difficult for our small family farmers and ranchers out in the rural areas,” Shouse said. “They are also dealing with price increases—an increase in fuel, an increase in equipment. Those sorts of things are cutting into their costs. An increase in the amount of wages they’re going to have to pay is going to make that even tougher for them.”

State Question 832 is more than a simple wage increase. It’s a permanent, automatic, uncapped wage mandate driven by cost-of-living rates in New York and California, not Oklahoma.

“It sounds good, right? Having a little bit extra money in your pocket,” Shouse said. “That may be a short-term positive, but when you tie this to the Consumer Price Index, meaning what inflation is doing. If inflation goes up 1.3% or 4.1% year-over-year, then the minimum wage is going to go up, too. This is going to go up forever. It’s not just a guess; it is reality. The Consumer Price Index goes up every single year, and therefore so will the minimum wage.”

State Question 832 will have a chilling effect on the small business economy.

“I think you’re going to see places that maybe have 12 employees, they may only have nine going forward, and maybe they’re going to have to reduce their hours,” Shouse said. “Small business owners are going to have to find ways to make this work economically. Their margins are already thin; they already don’t have a lot of money to pay their employees to begin with. […] Small businesses that are honestly trying to grow and expand, this [State Question 832] is going to have a chilling effect on them.”

CLICK HERE for the full conversation.