Oklahoma voters to decide constitutional amendment to allow for public infrastructure districts within municipalities

The Oklahoma State Legislature passed a constitutional amendment to create a process for establishing public infrastructure districts within municipalities. Voters will decide on the amendment on Nov. 5, 2025.

Public infrastructure districts would be governed by a Board of Trustees, which would have the authority to levy a special assessment of up to 10 mills (up to $100 per $100,000 of assessed value) on properties benefiting from improvement projects. Municipalities would have the ability to impose limitations on the powers of public infrastructure districts. The state legislature would be authorized to enact legislation to implement public infrastructure districts, including legislation regarding how the board of trustees will be established.

In Oklahoma, a constitutional amendment requires a simple majority vote in both chambers of the Oklahoma State Legislature.

The constitutional amendment was introduced as Senate Joint Resolution 16. It was approved in the Senate on March 12, 2024, by a vote of 38-7. Votes in favor came from 32 Republicans and six Democrats while six Republicans and one Democrat voted no. The House approved the amendment by a vote of 66-27. Votes in favor came from 60 Republicans and six Democrats, while 16 Republicans and 11 Democrats voted against the measure.

From 2000 to 2020, 56 legislatively referred constitutional amendments appeared on the ballot in Oklahoma. Of the 56 amendments, voters approved 43 (76.79%) and rejected 13 (23.21%). An average of four or five legislatively referred amendments appeared on the ballot during even-numbered years from 2000 to 2020. The last time the state legislature referred a constitutional amendment to the ballot was in 2020. That measure, which would have redirected Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) money to secure federal funding for Medicaid, was defeated.