New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s ample girth has been the subject of more than a few jokes over the years, including by the governor himself. But we never knew just how much the governor likes food and drink...until now. As New Jersey Watchdog reports, Christie has used 80 percent of the $360,000 he has been allotted in a special expense account during his five years in office to pay for food, booze and desserts, including over $82,000 at New York Giants and Jets NFL games alone. But the real heft in Christie’s expense comes not so much from his prodigious spending on food and drink, but the cost of security to protect him during his numerous jaunts out of state on his all-but-undeclared presidential campaign. As the NJW reports, those costs hit almost $500,000 in 2014 alone, or 21 times the amount spent on Christie’s predecessor, Gov. Jon Corzine, in 2009.
-- By RICH EHISEN
The VERMONT General Assembly has given final approval for a bill that would allow Vermonters to register to vote on Election Day. If Gov. Peter Shumlin (D) signs SB 29 -- and a spokesman said he supports the measure -- it would make the state the 14th to enact such a law (BURLINGTON FREE PRESS, LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
The MISSOURI Legislature has passed a bill that will prohibit municipalities from imposing fines of more than $300 for minor traffic offenses and jailing offenders for failing to pay fines (ST LOUIS POST-DISPATCH)
This month, a herd of goats was placed in a fenced area of a roundabout in Olympia, Washington. The goats, rented from Rent-A-Ruminant of Vashon Island, are part of a pilot project being undertaken by Washington’s Department of Transportation to determine whether the $725 per-day plus delivery for the “weed warriors” and the $1,000 to erect temporary fencing is more cost effective than maintenance crews with gas-powered tools.
It’s basically an evaluation of this as a tool for vegetation management,” said Ray Willard, manager of WSDOT’s Roadside Maintenance Program. (OLYMPIAN)
The Obama administration denied a request from MASSACHUSETTS Gov. Charlie Baker (R) for additional federal money to help the Bay State cover the estimated $350 million incurred clearing snow, repairing damaged facilities and taking emergency protective measures for residents during this winter’s historic snowstorms. Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator W. Craig Fugate sent Baker a letter last Tuesday denying his request that impacted communities be allowed to apply for reimbursement for snow-related costs incurred over a 72-hour period, up from the 48 hours previously approved by FEMA (STATEHOUSE NEWS [BOSTON]).
NEW YORK Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) launched a multiagency task force last week to investigate the unlawful practices and unsafe conditions in Empire State nail salons. The task force will conduct salon-by-salon investigations with the goal of recovering unpaid wages, closing down unlicensed salons and those that are not in compliance with state law. It will also institute new rules that salons must follow to protect manicurists from potentially dangerous chemicals found in nail products and begin a six-language education campaign to inform them of their rights (NEW YORK TIMES, NEW YORK GOVERNOR’S OFFICE).
-- Compiled by RICH EHISEN
NEW YORK Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is seeking $150 million to provide tax credits for individuals and businesses that support public education, families with incomes of less than $60,000 per year that have children in non-public and out-of-district public schools, and public school teachers who buy instructional materials and school supplies for their students (TIMES UNION [ALBANY]).
GEORGIA Gov. Nathan Deal (R) signed a $21.8 billion 2016 budget that includes over half a billion dollars for K-12 education (WXIA [ATLANTA], LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
MONTANA Gov. Steve Bullock (D) has vetoed three major tax bills passed by the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature this session. The latest was a measure that would have reduced the state’s seven income tax brackets to two and based capital gains taxes on those rates (ASSOCIATED PRESS, MISSOULIAN, LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
NORTH CAROLINA will take in about $400 million more in revenue this year than previously projected, due to lower-than-expected tax refunds (NEWS & OBSERVER [RALEIGH]).
LOUISIANA Senate President John Alario (R) said this month the Legislature needs to come up with an additional $1 billion to avoid deep cuts to higher education and health care (NOLA.COM).
CALIFORNIA Gov. Jerry Brown (D) released a revised budget last week that sets aside $3.8 billion for the state’s Rainy Day Fund and increases funding for K-12 schools and community colleges by $6 billion. The May Revision also establishes a state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for low-income residents, prevents tuition increases for in-state, undergraduate students at the state’s universities for two years, adds $1.2 billion from cap-and-trade auction proceeds to expand programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and allocates $2.2 billion for water conservation and supply expansion programs (CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR’S PRESS OFFICE).
-- Compiled by KOREY CLARK
The MISSOURI House approves an omnibus environmental bill that would, among several things, require oil and natural gas companies to obtain permits before using the extraction process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The state also would have to consider employment and industrial development goals in regulating water pollution, and the Department of Natural Resources would have to make sure changes to waste or sewer treatment utilities are affordable for ratepayers. The measure moves to Gov. Jay Nixon (D) for consideration (HEARTLAND CONNECTION [KIRKSVILLE]).
The CALIFORNIA Senate approves SB 277, a bill that would require all students but those with medical exemptions to be vaccinated in order to attend public schools in the Golden State. The bill, which would abolish the current rule that allows parents to cite personal beliefs to opt their children out of getting the shots, moves to the Assembly (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
The PENNSYLVANIA Senate approves SB 3, legislation that would legalize the use of marijuana for medicinal reasons in the Keystone State. It moves to the House (MARIJUANA POLICY PROJECT).
TENNESSEE Gov. Bill Haslam (R) signs HB 143, so-called “right-to-try” legislation that allows terminally ill people to try experimental medications not yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (WBIR.COM [KNOXVILLE]).
The MISSOURI House approves SB 145, which would require health insurance companies to cover the diagnosis and treatment of eating disorders. It moves to Gov. Jay Nixon (D) for consideration (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH).
The TEXAS Senate approves SB 2065, which would clarify that Lone Star State pastors can legally refuse to perform marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples. It moves to the House (TEXAS TRIBUNE).
The WISCONSIN Assembly approves AB 177, which would require food stamp recipients to use at least two-thirds of their allotment on nutritious food and bar them from buying seafood or shellfish with public funds. The Assembly also endorses AB 192, which would require workers seeking unemployment benefits to take and pass a drug test. Both measures move to the Badger State Senate (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL-SENTINEL).
Gov. Mike Pence (R) vetoes HB 1270, a bill that would have allowed state residents to use advance deposit wagering to bet on horse races. Advance deposit wagering allows bettors to deposit funds into an account and then place pari-mutuel wagers through the Internet or via phone wagering (BLOOD-HORSE.COM [LEXINGTON]).
OREGON Gov. Kate Brown (D) signs SB 941, which requires gun buyers and sellers who aren’t related to visit a licensed gun dealer who can run a background check. The Beaver State becomes the eighth to adopt such a statute (KATU.COM [PORTLAND]).
How does the lack of rain in Brazil impact your supply chain? While it may sound improbable, but in today’s global economy, a drought can have a ripple effect that travels further than once thought possible. A water shortage leads to problems at hydro-electric power plants, which leads to inconsistent power supply to manufacturers, which leads to—you guessed it—critical parts not being delivered where and when you need them. In a post on SupplyManagement.com, John Glen, Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) economist and senior economics lecturer at the Cranfield School of Management, said “With no simple solution, supply chain managers must be the eyes and ears of their business wherever their supply chains lead.” On-going risk monitoring is crucial to understanding just how your supplier network could be impacted.
You’ve done your supplier checks, but that is just a start. Once you’ve vetted your suppliers, you need to continue to monitor factors that could negatively impact the third parties on whom you rely. Here are 6 considerations:
These are just a few of the considerations that companies must address when it comes to managing supplier risk. Are you equipped to handle the challenge?
Remember the movie Captain Phillips from a couple years ago? It told the true story of the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years. It was dramatic, memorable—and to a point, accurate. But there’s a hidden, perhaps less Hollywood-worthy story that puts organizations at risk every day: supply chain security. According to a Procurement Leaders blog, managing global supply chain risk is one of the Top Ten Challenges for Future Leaders of Procurement. As the blog says, “Whether it’s droughts in one country or floods in another, risk is global and managing it requires a huge amount of forethought.” Understanding risk—whether it’s knowing which countries have an increased risk of piracy or identifying third-parties that jeopardize compliance with regulatory requirements—is critical to your organization.
The best way to prepare for the unexpected is to know what is going on—within your organization and along your supplier network. Putting a robust due-diligence and monitoring strategy in place is a necessity. With relevant, reliable information from global news sources, sanctions lists, company information and more, you’ll be better equipped to identify country risks, assess potential clients, partners and suppliers, and monitor critical risk categories to see hidden risks—before they climb aboard.
On April 28-30, compliance and supply chain leaders gathered in Houston, Texas for the 8th Global Supply Chain Compliance (SCC) meeting. This year’s focus was “Putting words into action in an uncertain landscape for Oil & Gas.” As such, the event organizer, Hanson Wade, offered a top ten list for SCC:
1. Develop customized compliance training that is risk-based, cost-effective and function-specific.
Our own Mark Dunn, segment leader of entity due diligence & monitoring, had the pleasure of attending and shared two key insights from the event.
This isn’t a challenge exclusive to Oil & Gas. Just last fall, Brent Snyder, deputy assistant attorney general with the U.S. Department of Justice, gave a speech entitled “Compliance is a Culture, Not Just a Policy.” In the speech, Snyder notes,
“If senior management does not actively support and cultivate a culture of compliance, a company will have a paper compliance program, not an effective one. Employees will pick up on the lead of their bosses. If the bosses take compliance seriously, the employees are far more likely to take it seriously. If they don’t, the employees won’t. It’s as simple as that.” Because the Oil & Gas industry exists within such a high-regulated environment and operates in many regions that represent high compliance risks, it is crucial that an organizations leaders embrace a due-diligence and on-going monitoring program—and pass that commitment on to the entire organization.
Conducting due diligence to mitigate risk is a necessity, but many companies struggle with the logistics of implementing a due-diligence process with limited data resources or personnel. Efforts to conduct due diligence on the open Web can lead to dangerous gaps in risk identification because information is incomplete—or worse, inaccurate. On the opposite side of the coin, companies may outsource due diligence to risk advisors. In addition to limiting a company’s ability to respond proactively, outsourcing all due diligence can be cost prohibitive. Risk assessment allows a company to establish criteria for in-house versus out-sourced due diligence. With the right due-diligence and monitoring solutions, companies can establish more economical and accurate ways to keep up with compliance risk.
Editor: Rich Ehisen Associate Editor: Korey Clark Contributing Editor: Mary Peck, David Giusti Editorial Advisor: Lou Cannon Correspondents: Richard Cox (CA), Lauren Davis (MA), Steve Karas (CA) and Ben Livingood (PA), Cathy Santsche (CA), Dena Blodgett (CA) Graphic Design: Vanessa Perez Design
By now you probably know that the tax cuts championed by Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback have been a fiscal disaster for the Sunflower State, creating an $800 million budget deficit and blowing up the state credit rating. Things are so bad that at least eight school districts were forced to shut down early last week due to lack of cash. Some folks are not too happy about it, either. As reported in the Kansas City Star, one such person was Brownback’s waitress where he and his family were dining at a Topeka eatery last week. When the gov got the bill, he discovered she had put an X through the line where diners usually leave a tip and wrote “tip the schools” off to the side. For those who wonder about such things, yes it was her last night on the job. Her choice, not his.
The NEW HAMPSHIRE Senate endorses HB 136, which would ban minors from using tanning beds. It goes to Gov. Maggie Hassan (D), who is expected to sign it into law (UNION LEADER [MANCHESTER]).
The KANSAS Legislature overrides a veto by Gov. Sam Brownback (R) of SB 117, a bill that requires ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft to have drivers undergo background checks and to carry additional auto insurance coverage beyond the $1 million Uber offers when drivers are logged into its network or transporting passengers. Uber officials said the override would cause them to immediately cease all operations in the Sunflower State (KMBC.COM [KANSAS CITY]).
WISCONSIN Gov. Scott Walker (R) signs AB 143, a bill that imposes statewide regulations on ridesharing services and bars local governments from imposing their own standards (WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL [MADISON]).
GEORGIA Gov. Nathan Deal (R) signs two ridesharing bills: HB 225, which requires drivers to undergo a background check, and HB 190, which requires ridesharing companies to maintain commercial liability insurance coverage for their drivers of up to $1 million (ATLANTA BUSINESS CHRONICLE). * Also in GEORGIA, Gov. Deal signs HB 110, which legalizes the sale and possession of fireworks in the Peach State (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET, WJCL.COM [SAVANNAH]).
The CALIFORNIA Assembly approves AB 216, which would ban stores and smoke shops from selling vaping or electronic cigarette devices to anyone under 18. It moves to the Senate (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
INDIANA Gov. Mike Pence (R) signs HB 1019, which overturns a law that allowed state boards to set wages on government construction projects (INDIANAPOLIS STAR).
The TEXAS House approves HB 411, which would prohibit payday lenders and auto title loan businesses from placing telemarketing calls to residents on the Lone Star State “do not call” list. It moves to the Senate (TEXAS TRIBUNE [AUSTIN]).
The MISSOURI Legislature gives final approval to HB 722, a bill that bars local governments from restricting the use of single-use plastic bags or from enacting ordinances that require businesses to provide employee benefits that “exceed the requirements of federal or state laws, rules or regulations,” including wages. The measure moves to Gov. Jay Nixon (D) for consideration (ST. LOUIS PUBLIC RADIO).
The CALIFORNIA Assembly unanimously approves AB 1322, a bill that allows barbershops and hair salons to serve their customers free beer and wine. It moves now to the Senate (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
Stymied by lawmakers in his effort to raise the statewide minimum wage, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said he will instead seek to raise the wage specifically for Empire State fast food workers. In an op-ed in the New York Times last Thursday, Cuomo cited a law that allows the state’s labor commissioner to “investigate whether wages paid in a specific industry or job classification are sufficient to provide for the life and health of those workers — and, if not, to impanel a Wage Board to recommend what adequate wages should be.” He said he will ask for just such a board to look into the pay for fast food employees.
Cuomo noted the rising gap between CEO pay and that of workers nationwide, particularly in fast food. Cuomo said that the average fast food CEO in 2013 made $23 million, more than quadruple what they made in 2000 and exponentially higher than the $16,920 average salary for entry-level fast food workers in the Empire State.
“Nowhere is the income gap more extreme and obnoxious than in the fast-food industry,” he wrote.
The push drew a sharp rebuke from the National Restaurant Association, which said targeting the fast food industry was unfair and could possibly do more harm than good, particularly among teenage workers who already face greater than 20 percent unemployment.
“The restaurant industry trains New York’s workforce and provides real pathways to the middle class and beyond. Dramatic increases to the minimum wage will hinder restaurant owners’ ability to continue to provide entry-level opportunities and stepping stones for those who need it most,” National Restaurant Association President and CEO Dawn Sweeney said in a statement.
But in his op-ed, Cuomo disputed the opinion that most fast food workers are teenagers. Rather, he said, “73 percent are women, 70 percent are over the age of 20, and more than two-thirds are raising a child and are the primary wage earners in their family.” He further noted that New York leads the nation in spending on public assistance for those workers at $6,800 annually per worker, a total of almost $700 million a year.
This is not the first time Cuomo has addressed the minimum wage for a specific industry. In 2012, he raised the wage for home health care workers, and the following year he convinced lawmakers to raise the statewide wage from $7.25 to $8.75 per hour. (NEW YORK TIMES, WASHINGTON POST, NATIONAL RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION, CNNMONEY.COM)
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 last month that states can prohibit judicial candidates from personally soliciting campaign donations. The decision (in Williams-Yulee v. Florida Bar), upholding a Florida law similar to those in 29 other states, rejected the argument that such a restriction violates the First Amendment guarantee of free speech.
“Judges are not politicians, even when they come to the bench by way of the ballot,” the court said. “And a state’s decision to elect its judiciary does not compel it to treat judicial candidates like campaigners for political office.”
One of the biggest surprises about the decision was that it ended a nearly unbroken string of rulings from the court rejecting campaign restrictions as violations of free speech.
The court said the difference in this case is that while elected officials are free to carry out the wishes of their supporters, judges are expected to be disinterested parties.
“In deciding cases, a judge is not to follow the preferences of his supporters, or provide any special consideration to his campaign donors,” the court said, adding that “therefore, our precedents applying the First Amendment to political elections have little bearing on the issues here.”
Another big surprise about the ruling was that it was conservative Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. who joined with the Supreme Court’s liberals -- Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan -- in forming the majority. And he got an earful from the court’s minority.
“The First Amendment is not abridged for the benefit of the Brotherhood of the Robe,” fellow conservative Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in his dissent.
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, usually the court’s swing vote, added: “Whether an election is the best way to choose a judge is itself the subject of fair debate. But once the people of a State choose to have elections, the First Amendment protects the candidate’s right to speak and the public’s ensuing right to open and robust debate.” (WASHINGTON POST)
With the state’s economy continuing to improve, California lawmakers were expecting a budget surplus this year of about $2 billion. But last week Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D) announced that the projected surplus had surged by as much as $8 billion over the last four months, driven partly by capital gains taxes.
Most of that windfall will go to K-12 schools, in accordance with Proposition 98, approved by the state’s voters in 1988. Some of the money will also go into the state’s rainy day fund, as required by Proposition 2, which voters approved in November. But that will still leave about a billion dollars for lawmakers and interest groups to fight over.
“We know we’re not going to get everything we want,” said Atkins. “No one ever does.” (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS)
The U.S. travel destinations with the fastest growing short-term rental markets are not big cities, according to a 2014 report from HomeAway, Inc. which offers rentals worldwide through numerous websites, including VRBO.com. Based on a comparison of traveler inquiries in Q1 2013 and Q1 2014, the top markets were Mexico Beach, Cape San Blas, Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach, Florida; Moonridge and Balboa Peninsula, California; Lavallette and Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey; Manteo, North Carolina; and Crested Butte, Colorado. Based on a year-over-year comparison of rental listings, the top markets were Moab and Park City, UTAH; Cape San Blas and Clearwater Beach, Florida; Bryson City and Carolina Beach, North Carolina; Dauphin Island, Alabama; Winter Park, Colorado; South Padre Island, Texas; and Lavallette, New Jersey.
Source: HomeAway.com
Key:
States with fastest growing short-term rental markets based on traveler inquiries: California
States with fastest growing markets based on rental listings: Utah, Alabama, Texas
States with markets in both categories: Florida, North Carolina, Colorado, New Jersey
Political campaigns have undoubtedly become more cynical and nasty in recent years. But not every close race has to end with court battles and protests. Case in point comes from Platte, South Dakota where a recent tie in the mayoral race was decided in the most simple of manners: a roll of the dice. As the New York Daily News reports, when incumbent Rick Gustad and challenger Steve Christensen finished in a dead heat, they looked to a city law that allows such things to be determined by either a high card draw or with the two combatants rolling the dice. Gustad chose the dice, rolling a four. Unfortunately for him, Christensen rolled a seven and will become the new mayor. Which makes me wonder why, with the parties set to spend obscene amounts of money on the 2016 presidential election, we don’t decide all elections that way.
Eight years ago, two guys who needed to pay the rent on their San Francisco apartment came up with the idea of renting out air mattress space on their floor and serving breakfast during a design conference when the city’s hotels were full. To facilitate the process, they created a simple website, and Airbnb was born. The company is now a $20-billion business with over 1,000,000 short-term rental listings in more than 34,000 cities and 190 countries, making it bigger than major hotel operators like Wyndham Worldwide and Hyatt Hotels. But that growth has drawn considerable attention lately from state and local government officials in the United States, especially in two of the company’s key markets, New York and California.
Airbnb has been at odds with New York officials for about a year and a half. In late 2013, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman subpoenaed the company, demanding it turn over information about its “hosts” -- the thousands of residents who’ve listed rooms and residences on the company’s Web site -- possibly in violation of a 2010 state law barring the rental of an apartment for less than 30 days unless a permanent resident of the apartment is present. After a state judge ruled last May that Schneiderman’s subpoena was “overbroad,” he issued another one. In response, Airbnb removed thousands of New York listings from its site. But Schneiderman said that’s not enough. A 41-page report released by his office in October indicated that 72 percent of Airbnb rentals “appeared to violate” state and local laws.
The company hasn’t spent all of its time sparring with Schneiderman, however. Last month it sent a letter to all 213 members of the New York Legislature asking that it be allowed to collect and remit hotel occupancy taxes on behalf of its hosts. The company has estimated those taxes would have amounted to $65 million this year, a more than threefold increase over the $21 million estimate for last year, according to the information technology news website TechCrunch. But since the short-term residential rentals Airbnb promotes aren’t legal in the state, tapping that potential revenue stream would require a new legal framework effectively legitimizing the company’s operations. The company was hoping that would actually happen as part of this year’s state budget process, according to a story last month by CNET.
“Unfortunately, one of the casualties of this year's budget negotiations was a provision governing taxes in online marketplace transactions that could have generated millions of dollars of vital revenue for New Yorkers,” Airbnb stated in its letter to lawmakers, according to the CNET story.
But an analyst quoted in the story said succeeding in New York could help Airbnb elsewhere.
“If Airbnb can achieve legitimization from the legal authorities in a major market like New York, this could serve as a bellwether for many other markets where Airbnb faces similar legal challenges,” said Douglas Quinby, vice president of research for PhoCusWright, which provides data, information and analysis to the travel industry.
Airbnb has achieved some degree of legitimization in the city where it was founded, San Francisco. This past February the “Airbnb law” took effect in the city, legalizing short-term rentals.
The thinking behind the law was expressed by former San Francisco Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, the law’s author, in an interview with NPR last year.
“Under current law in San Francisco, law forbids renting residential apartments for less than 30 days to ensure that our housing wouldn't be used as de facto hotels,” he said at the time. “But we know that the current reality is that these laws are broken every day. The estimates are, in San Francisco, over the past year, we've seen over 100,000 incidents.”
Since the new law went into effect, Airbnb has been remitting nearly $1 million a month in hotel taxes to the city. (The company is also collecting taxes in a handful of other U.S. cities, including Portland, Chicago and Washington, D.C.) But although the San Francisco law limits hosts from renting their entire homes for more than 90 days a year, it allows them to rent rooms in their homes 365 days a year as long as they reside on the premises during those rentals. Critics and even the city department tasked with administering the law say that provision makes the law unenforceable because there’s no way to determine when hosts are actually present. Questions have also been raised about the impact of short-term rentals on affordable housing and neighborhood character in the city. So the city is now considering changing the law. One proposal, from San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and Supervisor Mark Farrell, would limit all rentals of less than 30 days, whether hosted or unhosted, to 120 days a year, as well as create a new office to enforce the city’s short-term rental laws.
“We are trying to strike a balance between people who do occasional home-sharing to get by, while still preserving neighborhood character and our stock of affordable housing,” said Tony Winnicker, a senior adviser to Mayor Lee, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Supervisor David Campos has proposed an alternative plan that would cap all short-term rentals at 90 days a year and impose a fine of $1,000 a day on any company that promoted renters who weren’t registered as businesses with the city, which Airbnb called “a Trojan Horse proposal that effectively bans home sharing,” according to the Chronicle.
Meanwhile, a coalition of local landlords and housing activists calling itself ShareBetter San Francisco is planning a November ballot initiative seeking voter approval of restrictions on short-term rentals. Dale Carlson, a former library commissioner for the city and one of the group’s leaders, said the Lee and Farrell proposal didn’t go far enough.
“It completely indemnifies Airbnb and other hosting platforms that are aiding and abetting illegal activity,” he said in a statement. “And it denies regular people the opportunity to effectively defend their own homes and neighborhoods.”
Airbnb has fought back. In mid-April it sent an email blast to hundreds of San Francisco business owners, merchant associations and community organizations describing how it has benefited small businesses in the city. The email summarized the results of a study the company commissioned showing that the Airbnb community pumped almost $469 million into the city’s economy in 2014 -- up from $56 million in 2011 -- and supported 3,600 jobs at the neighborhood businesses it patronized, and that hosts earned an average of $13,000 a year, “money they use to pay the bills and stay in San Francisco and shop at businesses like yours.”
According to The Wall Street Journal, Airbnb has also commissioned research from an academic at the University of British Columbia to look into the widespread claim that its service drives up rental rates in cities across the country. The conclusion of the study, by Thomas Davidoff, an assistant professor at the Sauder School of Business, was that Airbnb increases rents only slightly. Davidoff found, for instance, that the price of a one-bedroom unit went up by about $6 a month on average in New York City and about $19 a month in San Francisco. Davidoff noted, however, that since Airbnb’s listings generally aren’t spread out evenly across cities but are concentrated in the most desirable neighborhoods, rent pressure is likely to be higher in those areas.
“It’s not an affordability issue. It’s a luxury neighborhood issue or a bohemian neighborhood issue,” he said.
Share Better wasn’t swayed by the evidence.
“So Airbnb is touting a study they paid for that finds that Airbnb increases rents for regular people all over the country?” it said. “Airbnb is fueling an affordable housing crisis from New York to California, making it harder for everyday people to make ends meet.”
In California, the battle over short-term rentals isn’t being waged only at the city level. A bill was introduced in the state’s Senate in February that would require short-term rental companies to disclose the addresses of their hosts, the number of nights their properties were rented and the amounts that were paid to the cities and counties where those hosts are based; prohibit such companies from operating in cities and counties where short-term rentals are banned; and authorize cities and counties to penalize hosting companies up to $5,000 per day for failing to comply after receiving written notice of a violation.
The goal of the measure, SB 593, according to its author, Sen. Mike McGuire (D), is to reinforce local control over short-term rentals and make sure all applicable hotel taxes are paid.
“This is no longer couch surfing; this is a multibillion-dollar business,” McGuire said, according to the Chronicle. “Our bill is simple: All it does is make online vacation rental businesses follow local laws.”
Airbnb has resisted releasing personal information about hosts partly out of fear that it might scare them off to competing sites like HomeAway/VRBO, which function more like classified ad services and, consequently, don’t monitor how often guests stay at listed properties. The company has also voiced broader privacy concerns. In a blog post, its head of public policy David Owen said SB 593 would “force Internet platforms like Airbnb to hand over broad swaths of confidential, personal information to bureaucrats who will sift through it in search of potential violations of local planning and zoning laws.” Owen also cited similar concerns about SB 593 expressed by other organizations, including the Santa Monica-based advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, which characterized the bill as “a blank search warrant and a basic violation of our civil rights.”
But as the Los Angeles Times reported, Sen. McGuire issued a statement calling those claims “hogwash and disingenuous” and insisting his bill “does not require anyone to divulge the names or any other information about consumers who rent lodging through vacation rental businesses.”
“Nowhere does the bill require any host to provide any information about renters to any government agency,” he said. “What it does do is make big corporations follow local laws.”
SB 593 went on to pass the Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing on an 8-0 vote and now resides in the Senate Committee on Governance and Finance, according to LexisNexis State Net’s legislative database.
The impact of Airbnb hasn’t been limited to major urban centers on the east and west coasts. The News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina reported last month that the city’s last registered bed-and-breakfast was shutting its doors in June due to competition from local homeowners renting out rooms on Airbnb.
“We’ve been really, very severely impacted for about two years now,” said Doris Jurkiewicz, owner of the Oakwood Inn, which has been in operation as a bed & breakfast in the city’s historic Oakwood neighborhood -- although not under the same ownership -- for 31 years.
The N & O reported that there are at least nine Airbnb rentals within blocks of The Oakwood, nearly all going for less than the $129 to $179 a night the B&B charges. But Jurkiewicz said her competitors “don’t have to play by the same rules,” allowing them to undercut her prices. She said she and her husband had to obtain a special-use permit from the city, they had to ensure their historic home, built in 1871, met certain design standards, and they also have to pay taxes on their rental income.
Airbnb has garnered other negative headlines. In March of last year, for instance, the Business Insider website reported that a host had her New York City penthouse apartment trashed by a guest who threw a huge party there without her permission. And last month The New York Times ran a story about an Airbnb guest from America who was bitten by an Argentinian host’s Rottweiler, necessitating a two-night hospital stay.
Both incidents raised questions about Airbnb’s responsibility for the welfare of its hosts and guests, with both of the individuals involved initially having faced resistance from the company about reimbursing them for their losses. When told Airbnb wouldn’t cover his medical expenses because the company’s liability coverage didn’t extend outside of the United States, Mike Silverman, the dog-bite victim, said the company ought to provide some sort of insurance backstop wherever it does business.
“There’s just an obligation on the part of an organization that is providing hospitality to have some level of protection for both their hosts and for the guests that use that facility,” he told the Times. “They seem to want to deny that they are in the business that they are in.”
The ride-sharing service Uber faced similar criticism over its handling of a fatal car accident in San Francisco last year, as SNCJ reported. The Airbnb incidents, at least, appear to have ultimately been resolved to Silverman’s and the New York penthouse owner’s satisfaction. And the headlines for the company haven’t all been bad. Last month it announced it was expanding operations into Cuba after the Obama administration loosened travel restrictions on the island nation. And the month before, it announced it would be the “official alternative accommodation service” for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, which doesn’t have enough hotel rooms to host the hundreds of thousands of visitors expected to attend the games. More importantly, given the company’s -- and peer-to-peer businesses’ -- tremendous growth and popularity, and the company’s efforts to legitimize its business, it seems inevitable it will emerge from its current battles with a workable truce.
GEORGIA Gov. Nathan Deal (R) signs SB 8, which among several things allows the criminal justice system to treat minors forced into prostitution by human traffickers as victims rather than criminals (GWINNET DAILY POST).
OKLAHOMA Gov. Mary Fallin (R) signs HB 1518, which allows Sooner State judges to depart from mandatory minimum terms if they determine such sentencing would pose an injustice to the defendant or be unnecessary for public protection (OKLAHOMAN [OKLAHOMA CITY]).
TENNESSEE Gov. Bill Haslam (R) signs SB 6, legislation that requires all Volunteer State law enforcement agencies to adopt written policies to ban racial profiling (WBIR.COM [KNOXVILLE].
Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) promised swift action last week to implement a task force’s recommendations for improving the relationship between Buckeye State law enforcement and the communities they serve. Kasich said a variety of new policies and standards will be in place within 90 days.
Kasich put together the task force last December in the wake of the shooting death of 12-year-old Cleveland resident Tamir Rice at the hands of police and a subsequent report from the U.S. Department of Justice that called out the city’s police force for a litany of systemic problems that were creating increased tension between police and the public.
“This is about an extremely serious problem, that everyone has to understand has to be resolved,” Kasich told reporters. “We don’t have time for politics in this.”
He plans to implement most of the new standards via executive order, though lawmakers will have to pass legislation on others. He issued the first order (2015-04K) on April 29, which will create the Ohio Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board, a 12-member panel made up of police and community members tasked with devising statewide standards for the use of deadly force and recruiting and hiring practices by law enforcement. He promised more would soon follow.
“We will create the first statewide standards on a number of these things,” Kasich said. “We don’t want people in the streets, burning buildings and hating one another. We have to do this. It has to work.” (CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER, COLUMBUS DISPATCH, OHIO GOVERNOR’S OFFICE)
A bill to bring online voter registration to Texas came before the state’s House Elections Committee this month. Dozens of people signed up in support of the measure, HB 76, and a number of experts testified about its viability, but a handful of people from the state’s largest county, Harris, testified against it.
Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Mike Sullivan said there was nothing wrong with the current system of voter registration, and the proposed plan, which would allow residents with a valid driver’s license or state-issued ID to enter their information online and sign up to vote, could create discrepancies that could undermine the voter roll. Others suggested an online system could also provide a new avenue for voter fraud.
Ultimately, that testimony was enough to convince some members of the committee the state wasn’t ready for online voter registration, according to Rep. Celia Israel (D), the author of HB 76.
“There were just too many folks out there who would rather believe a partisan official from Harris County as opposed to a nonpartisan state employee who tells you, ‘We could do this,’” she said.
Sullivan, a Republican, denied Israel’s charge.
“I’ve been in politics a long time,” he said. “When you lose an argument, you sometimes go straight to partisan politics as the reason you lost.”
But Israel said she wasn’t giving up.
“There’s always twists and turns between now and June 1,” she said.
Israel’s bill remains pending in the Elections Committee, along with another nearly identical bill, HB 953, which also received a hearing this month. A companion bill in the Senate, SB 385, hasn’t received a hearing yet. (TEXAS TRIBUNE, LEXISNEXIS STATE NET)
Last Tuesday, Michigan voters rejected Proposition 1, the transportation funding measure put before them by Gov. Rick Snyder (R) and state legislative leaders. Voters made it very clear how they felt about the complicated plan, which included higher vehicle registration fees, additional funding for education and local governments, and a tax credit for the working poor, voting the measure down 80 percent to 20 percent.
Michigan political historian Bill Ballenger said that margin of defeat rivaled some of the “doozies” from the 1970s and ‘80s when a series of property tax questions were on the ballot.
“This is up there with the rest of them as one of the greatest ballot turkeys of all time,” he said.
The result is expected to touch off a fight between tea party conservatives who want to address the state’s road issue without increasing taxes and other lawmakers who still think the state’s residents will support a tax or fee increase to fix the roads. (DETROIT NEWS, DETROIT FREE PRESS)