Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R) unveiled a proposal last week to bolster and expand the state’s $4 billion automotive industry. The four bills in the package include legislation that would:
- Supply financial aid to adult learners pursuing education and training in high demand industries
- Bolster state workforce programs that help businesses recruit, onboard, and train large numbers of job applicants during major expansions
- Develop a state fund to help close deals with companies by granting tax credits earlier in a business expansion
- Grant $5 million in tax credits annually to automotive manufacturers that invest $500 million or more in plant upgrades and agree to retain current workers
The automotive industry employs about 1 million workers annually. The proposal package goes now to lawmakers for consideration. (ROLLA DAILY NEWS, MISSOURI NET)
The Arizona House isn’t the only legislative body with its collective head up...in the clouds. As Cleveland.com reports, a pair of lawmakers in the Ohio House have introduced legislation to adopt an official Buckeye State cookie. The measure has drawn outrage on social media from folks who think lawmakers have more pressing issues to deal with. The bill’s authors, Reps. Brigid Kelly and Jessica Miranda, defend the measure, saying it was the brainchild of a third-grade class in Cincinnati and thus a great opportunity to teach kids about the legislative process. Because no other bill apparently would provide the same education.
-- By RICH EHISEN
The NEW JERSEY Department of Environmental Protection enacts a new rule to cap the amount of compounds known as PFNAs, short for perfluorononanoic acids, in Garden State drinking water. The man-made, toxic chemical compounds, once used in making nonstick cookware, have since been linked to a variety of health problems in humans (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER).
A federal judge imposes a 14-day hold on grizzly bear hunts in WYOMING and IDAHO to weigh the legality of lifting federal protections on the animals. U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen ruled that the threat of death to individual bears posed by the scheduled hunts is sufficient” to justify a delay in the state’s hunting seasons (ASSOCIATED PRESS).
A federal judge blocks plans by WYOMING and IDAHO to hold the first grizzly bear hunt in the lower 48 states in almost three decades. U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen ruled grizzlies weren’t sufficiently recovered to sustain hunting, and returned the bears to threatened status. The states are pondering an appeal (ASSOCIATED PRESS).
CALIFORNIA Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signs AB 1884, which bars restaurants from handing out plastic straws to customers unless they ask for one (CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR’S OFFICE).
California’s raging fire season is totally because we don’t have enough water out here to fight fires because we wasted it by sending it out to the Pacific Ocean. At least that’s what a certain tweet-mad president opined on the social platform last week. As the Sacramento Bee reports, the comments drew numerous rebukes from state fire and water officials, who said there is no correlation between the fires and available water supply. That of course did not stop President Trump from doubling down on that bit of intellectually-challenged thinking, as he spewed another tweet the next day again calling on Gov. Jerry Brown to “allow the Free Flow (sic) of the vast amounts of water coming from the North and foolishly being diverted into the Pacific Ocean” to fight fires with. Wow. Just wow. There’s definitely something in free flow here, but it sure isn’t water.
After much tinkering with amendments that lasted late into the night, South Carolina’s Republican-led Senate passed an infrastructure funding bill (HB 3516) last month.
“The Senate passed a bill tonight that will fix our roads, repair our broken DOT structure and do it in a way that is responsible to the S.C. taxpayer,” said Sen. Larry Grooms (R).
As amended, the Senate’s version of HB 3516 would increase the state’s 17 cents-per-gallon gas tax by 12 cents over six years, two cents more than the version of the bill passed weeks earlier by the House. But because of tax rebates and cuts tacked on to the Senate bill, it would actually provide slightly less new revenue for road and bridge repairs than the House version - $580 million per year versus $600 million - and require money to be drawn from state reserve and revenue funds.
House Majority Leader Gary Simrill (R), whose chamber became so frustrated with the Senate’s dickering at one point that it passed a measure inserting its version of HB 3516 into the state budget, said the Senate’s plan complicates the primary focus of the bill: providing money to fix the state’s crumbling roads.
“I don’t even understand how it could be workable,” he said on the House floor. “In my opinion, it was unintelligible.”
Simrill also said he wasn’t entirely sure the differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill could be worked out in conference committee, which must happen for the bill to go to Gov. Henry McMaster (R). (POST AND COURIER [CHARLESTON], LEXISNEXIS STATE NET)
Last week Juneau Superior Court Judge Philip Pallenberg struck down an Alaska law barring independent candidates from running in the state’s partisan primary elections. The state’s Democratic Party had challenged the law, contending it restricted the party’s right to associate with candidates of its choosing. And Pallenberg agreed, ruling that was an “essential associational right” established by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The decision opens the door for Alaska Gov. Bill Walker, an Independent, to run in the state’s Democratic primary next year, although Democratic Party Executive Director Jay Parmley said that wasn’t the party’s intention.
“This was never about the governor,” he said. “We’re just giving people an option — if you wish to have the Democratic Party’s support and you’re not a Democrat, you can run in our primary, win our nomination and have the support.”
Still, if Pallenberg’s ruling stands, it will let Democrats nominate candidates who are more competitive in the general election, said Forrest Nabors, an associate professor of political science at the University of Alaska Anchorage. The Democratic faithful might not like that idea, he said, but in a state where 53 percent of the voters are independent and only 15 percent are Democrats, the party has to appeal to unaffiliated voters. (ALASKA DISPATCH [ANCHORAGE])
After a string of recent Democratic special election upsets, including in deep red states, Republicans fended off a Democratic challenge in a congressional race in Arizona last month. Former state senator Debbie Lesko’s victory over emergency room doctor Hiral Tipirneni to hold on to the 8th Congressional District seat formerly held by U.S. Rep. Trent Franks (R-Arizona), who resigned last year amid allegations of sexual harassment, was a relief for Republicans, after their stunning losses in states like Alabama and Wisconsin. The national GOP poured over $1 million into the Arizona race in support of Lesko.
But there was still cause for Republican concern - and Democratic reassurance - in the Arizona election result. In 2016 Donald Trump carried the 8th, a conservative suburban district outside Phoenix, by over 20 percentage points. Lesko’s margin was only about five points, 52.6 percent to 47.4 percent. (NEW YORK TIMES, HILL)
Over the past 45 years, taxable sales as a proportion of consumer services have declined more in Utah than in nearly any other state, according to a new report from the Utah Foundation. The state actually had the same amount of per-capita sales tax revenue in 1978 than it did in 2016.
“The key takeaway is essentially the purchasing power of the revenue generated by sales tax is falling,” said Christopher Collard, a research analyst for the Utah Foundation. “All the indications point to the sales tax base continuing to erode.”
That erosion is due in part to exemptions and earmarks that have reduced the amount of sales tax revenue going into the state’s general fund by 20 percent over the last 15 years, the Utah Foundation report said.
Another major factor, according to the report, is the national shift from a manufacturing-based economy to a service-based one. When the sales tax was first implemented in 1933, 52 percent of the revenue it generated came from the sale of goods. Last year, that percentage was 32 percent.
The report noted that if the state broadened its sales tax base to include all personal consumption transactions, it could drop its effective sales tax rate to 2.1 percent (from its current rate of 6.2 percent) and generate just as much revenue.
Tax reform, including broadening the state’s tax base and lowering its tax rate, is a major policy goal of Utah Gov. Gary Herbert (R). (DESERET NEWS, LEXISNEXIS STATE NET)
CALIFORNIA Gov. Jerry Brown (D) vetoes SB 174, which would have allowed unauthorized immigrants to serve on public boards and commissions (CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR’S OFFICE).
CALIFORNIA Gov. Jerry Brown (D) vetoes SB 349, which would have prohibited law enforcement from making a civil arrest inside a courthouse of someone attending a court proceeding or with legal business before the court (CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR’S OFFICE).
Left to their own devices, humans are pretty good at wiping out native animal species. Such has definitely been the case for the so-called “prairie chicken” – known elsewhere as a grouse - of northwest Kansas. Long considered a nuisance, Sunflower State farmers and ranchers have recently discovered there’s something better than shooting them – charging people money to come look at them! Yep, as the Topeka Capital-Journal reports, the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism has started promoting ecotours that give bird watchers from all over the globe the chance to come observe the famous prairie chicken mating dance, which apparently is a thing. The tours have proven so popular that the state is now looking to offload them onto a private handler.
A federal judge extends until March her order blocking ARKANSAS from enforcing a law that limits how the so-called abortion pill mifepristone is administered. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker blocks enforcement of the law, which requires doctors providing the pill to maintain a contract with another physician with admitting privileges at a hospital who agrees to handle any complications, until March 14 (ARKANSAS ONLINE [LITTLE ROCK]).
The CALIFORNIA Assembly approves AB 1730, which would create a pilot program to provide temporary housing and other services for sexually exploited children. It moves to the Senate (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
-- Compiled by RICH EHISEN
The ALABAMA House and Senate endorse SB 73, a measure that would prohibit pharmacy benefit managers from employing contractual “gag clauses” to forbid pharmacists from telling customers if they can save money by buying a prescription out-of-pocket with cash. It moves to Gov. Kay Ivey (R) for consideration (YELLOWHAMMER NEWS).
The NEW JERSEY Assembly gives final approval to AB 3292, which would require opioid prescriptions to carry a warning label to inform users that opioids come with a risk of overdose and that the medication can be addictive. It is with Gov. Phil Murphy (D) for consideration (NJ.COM).
COLORADO Gov. Jared Polis (D) signs HB 1216, which caps co-payments on insulin medications for those with private insurance at $100. The law takes effect in January 2020 (STEAMBOAT PILOT & TODAY). Also in COLORADO, Gov. Polis signs SB 13, which allows doctors to recommend medical marijuana for any condition meriting a painkiller prescription (DENVER POST).
The ARIZONA Supreme Court rules that medical marijuana extracts used in oils, edibles and vaping are legal. The court said extracts fall under the state Medical Marijuana Act (ARIZONA REPUBLIC [PHOENIX]).
MAINE Gov. Janet Mills (D) signs HB 254, so-called “Good Samaritan” legislation that gives criminal immunity to persons who seek help for someone suffering from a drug-related emergency (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
The CALIFORNIA Senate approves SB 600, which would require health insurers to provide fertility preservation when a medical treatment may cause infertility. It moves to the Assembly (CALMATTERS)
Saying it would guarantee “a better auto insurance system for everyone,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed SB 1, a sweeping overhaul of the Wolverine State’s auto insurance laws.
One of the most significant changes contained in the measure is a tenet that allows drivers with health insurance that covers auto-related injuries and senior citizens to fully opt out of personal injury protection, or PIP, coverage. Drivers will instead choose their own level of personal injury protection: unlimited coverage, $500,000, $250,000 and a minimum $50,000 option for some Medicaid recipients. Each coverage level comes with a guaranteed rate reduction that begins July 1, 2020 and extends for eight years. Those reductions range between 10 percent for unlimited coverage and 100 percent for those who opt out.
The new law also caps what medical providers can charge auto insurance companies for care. It also contains provisions preventing the use of non-driving factors in determining auto insurance rates, such as gender, marital status, zip codes and credit score, though it does allow insurers to use “territory” when setting rates.
Whitmer had sought to tie insurance reforms with funding road infrastructure, but that idea was met with vehement resistance from the leaders of the GOP-controlled Legislature. She ultimately worked to broker a deal between the two parties that resulted in the measure gaining strong bipartisan support in both chambers. As a result, leaders in both houses are now working on road funding bills.
“By signing this legislation, we are providing relief to millions of drivers across the state and guaranteeing a better auto insurance system for everyone,” Whitmer said in a statement. “This historic deal shows that, when we put party aside, we can find common ground on our state’s toughest issues to provide realistic and affordable coverage options for drivers across Michigan.” (MICHIGAN GOVERNOR’S OFFICE, DETROIT NEWS, DETROIT FREE PRESS)
The U.S. Department of Energy is looking into whether 10,000 gallons of wastewater at a Cold War nuclear weapon production site in South Carolina can be reclassified from high-level waste to low-level waste and moved to low-level waste disposal sites in Texas and Utah. Since no disposal sites for high-level waste exist anywhere in the country, the waste at the Savannah River Site (SRS), held in about four-dozen aging storage tanks, would otherwise have to remain at that Aiken-area facility indefinitely.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) evidently likes the DOE’s plan.
“If the department’s study and analysis shows that this waste can be safely reclassified and transferred elsewhere, then the governor is in full support of any plan that would reduce risk in South Carolina,” McMaster spokesman Brian Symmes said in an email.
But Don Hancock of the Southwest Research and Information Center said some Texas and Utah residents wouldn’t appreciate the idea of shifting South Carolina’s problem to their states.
Geoff Fettus of the Natural Resources Defense Council, meanwhile, said, “The Trump administration is moving to fundamentally alter more than 50 years of national consensus on how the most toxic, radioactive and dangerous waste in the world is managed and ultimately disposed of.”
Fettus suggested another possible course of action by the DOE that some residents of South Carolina might not be too happy with: reclassifying the SRS waste as low-level and just leaving it there.
“I think this is just as much about what stays in the tanks, as to what comes out,” he said. (STATE [COLUMBIA])
Public pensions are relying more than ever on high-risk investments like real estate and hedge funds to boost their returns. But that approach doesn’t appear to be working.
In 2007 alternative investments comprised 9 percent of state and local pension portfolios, on average, according to Fitch Ratings. By 2017 that percentage had tripled. But while pensions’ median returns averaged 6.2 percent over that decade, between 2001 and 2017 - an interval encompassing a time when pensions were less reliant on alternative investments - the median average was slightly higher, at 6.4 percent.
“If you look at trends and allocation to riskier assets and the returns we see alongside them, you clearly see that you can’t necessarily say you’re getting the bang for the buck over the last 17 years,” said Fitch analyst Olu Sonola. (GOVERNING)
And right now, there might not be anybody being more awful than California Assembly members Brian Dahle and Kevin Kiley, who are facing off in a nasty race to fill a vacant seat in the state Senate. The two men – both Republicans - have gone after each other like hungry lions battling over the last piece of gazelle. As the Sacramento Bee reports, each has abused the truth to Trumpian proportions and seemingly disavowed anything resembling class or dignity. But given that every day we move more and more into a post-dignity, post-truth political world, maybe we ought not to be surprised. They might be in the same party, but it’s pretty clear they’re not ever going to be on the same team.
California Gov. Jerry Brown gave his 16th and final – we think – State of the State address last month. Although he can still speechify with the best of them, the 79-year-old Brown is these days a far more humble version of himself than the brash 36-year-old who took Golden State government by storm in 1974. That humility was hard earned, coming only after Brown’s relentless national ambitions had virtually detonated his career. But hey, whatever gets you there, right? It also appears to have finally rubbed off on the current frontrunner to replace Brown, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsome. A man also known to love him some him, Newsome just a few years ago used what was supposed to be a short introduction of Brown at that year’s State of the State to instead give a 30-minute stump speech for himself. It was, in a word, bizarre. This year, Newsome kept his intro to less than a minute, noting that “It only took me eight years to figure out that nobody came here to hear the Lt. Governor.”
NEVADA Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) signed two significant health care measures last week: AB 170, which codifies into Silver State law a prohibition on health insurers from denying patient coverage due to pre-existing health conditions, and AB 469, so-called “balance billing” legislation that ensures patients are required to only pay whatever copay, coinsurance or deductible they would have been responsible for at an in-network facility for emergency care. (RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL, NEVADA INDEPENDENT [LAS VEGAS])
MICHIGAN Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) said she is open to giving Wolverine State motorists the option of a $250,000 option in auto insurance medical coverage levels, but said she will “draw the line” and veto any plan that includes a full-opt out for drivers with health insurance. Michigan is currently the only state to mandate unlimited medical coverage in auto insurance policies. (DETROIT NEWS, MLIVE.COM)
After more than a year of negotiations with legislative leaders, NEW JERSEY Gov. Phil Murphy’s (D) push to legalize recreational weed is now dead for the year. Although the bill’s chances were thought to be very good in the Assembly, Senate Leader Stephen Sweeney (D) said the proposal was still a few votes shy in his chamber. Murphy and Sweeney said they will now seek to have lawmakers put the legalization question before voters in 2020. (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, NJ.COM)
Saying it was critical that Republicans hold on to the office, NEW HAMPSHIRE Gov. Chris Sununu (R) said he will not run for the U.S. Senate in 2020 and will instead seek a third term in the governor’s office. Sununu is one of the most popular governors in the nation, with an approval rate over 60 percent. (MORNING CONSULT, UNION LEADER [MANCHESTER])
FLORIDA Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said the FBI confirmed to him that two Sunshine State counties were breached by Russian hackers during the 2016 election. DeSantis declined to name the counties and said no data was stolen and no vote tallies were manipulated. (MIAMI HERALD, CNN)
Following a state audit that found significant underreporting of hate crimes, CALIFORNIA Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signs AB 1985, which sets minimum standards for how local law enforcement agencies investigate and report those crimes (LOS ANGELES TIMES).
NEW HAMPSHIRE Gov. Chris Sununu (R) signs HB 1319, which bans discrimination based on gender identity in housing, employment and public accommodations, in addition to the protections that already exist based on race, sex, religion and sexual orientation (NEW HAMPSHIRE PUBLIC RADIO).
After being short-handed for over a year, due to the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, a full-strength U.S. Supreme Court began its fall term last week with a docket full of major cases. They include: Gill v. Whitford, No. 16-1161, in which the court will consider whether there’s a constitutional limit to the amount of partisanship that can be involved in the drawing of voting districts; Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute, No. 16-980, concerning the constitutionality of Ohio’s aggressive efforts to purge its voter rolls of those who don’t regularly vote; Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, No. 16-111, dealing with whether businesses can refuse service to same-sex couples on religious grounds; Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, No. 16-258, concerning whether employers can use arbitration clauses in employment contracts to prevent their workers from banding together to sue them over workplace issues; Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, No. 16-1466, involving whether government workers who opt out of joining unions can be forced to support the unions’ collective bargaining efforts; and Carpenter v. United States, No. 16-402, involving the privacy of customer location data held by cellphone companies.
With Scalia’s replacement, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, having consistently voted with the court’s most conservative justices in the few cases in which he participated last term but swing-vote Justice Anthony M. Kennedy having been drifting to the left recently, it’s unclear which way the cases will go. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg said last month, “There’s only one prediction that’s entirely safe about the upcoming term.”
“It will be momentous,” she said. (NEW YORK TIMES)
In 1912 Montana passed a law prohibiting all corporate spending in the state’s elections. The law remained in place for 100 years, until the U.S. Supreme Court declared it to be in conflict with the court’s ruling in Citizens United v. FEC, barring limits on corporate political spending as an unconstitutional restriction of free speech.
Another law limiting the size of direct contributions to political candidates - imposed by the state’s voters in 1994 - remained in place. In 2012 that law was declared to be an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment too. That decision was overturned by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Charles Lovell to reconsider. Last year he again found the law unconstitutional, this time ruling that restrictions on campaign spending were unnecessary except when there was clear evidence of corruption.
“The disturbing thing is the judge was holding us to a standard of proving a candidate had approved a quid pro quo,” said Jaime MacNaughton, a lawyer for the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices.
On Oct. 30, however, the 9th Circuit again overturned Lovell’s ruling, saying the state had adequately demonstrated that direct political contributions could be used to exert influence over elected officials and that proof of an actual quid pro quo was unnecessary.
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) welcomed the appeals court’s decision.
“I’m glad the federal courts upheld Montana’s limits on money in elections,” he said. “For a century in Montana, winning an election for state office has meant going door to door and meeting face to face with everyday voters: democracy at its best. Today, we’re one step closer to keeping it that way. Elections should be decided by ‘we the people’ — not by corporations, millionaires, or wealthy special interests buying more television ads.” (GOVERNING, SPOKESMAN-REVIEW [SPOKANE])
The VERMONT House and Senate give final approval to HB 511, which allows people 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of marijuana and to grow up to two plants to maturity. It moves now to Gov. Phil Scott (R), who has indicated he will sign the measure into law (LOS ANGELES TIMES).
The NEW HAMPSHIRE House gives initial approval to HB 656, which would legalize possession of up to three-quarters of an ounce of marijuana, 5 grams of hashish and certain marijuana-infused products. The measure, which would also allow adults to cultivate up to six pot plants at home, moves to the House Ways and Means Committee (NEW HAMPSHIRE PUBLIC RADIO).
A federal appeals court in TENNESSEE upholds a 2014 voter-approved ballot measure that stripped the right to an abortion from the Volunteer State constitution. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals opinion denied the plaintiff’s appeal that the state’s vote-counting process was flawed (TENNESSEAN [NASHVILLE]).
With baby boomer retirements diminishing the ranks of California teachers, nearly one in three educators in the state leaving the job within the first seven years, and modest starting salaries doing little to attract people to the fill those positions, the state is facing a major teacher shortage. But a pair of Democratic state lawmakers - Sens. Henry Stern and Cathleen Galgiani - have proposed a legislative solution to that problem. A bill they introduced last month, SB 807, would exempt teachers from the state’s income tax and also allow prospective teachers to deduct the cost of obtaining a teaching credential.
“The teaching profession is critical to California’s economic success and impacts every vocation and profession in the state,” Sen. Stern said in a statement. “SB 807 addresses the immediate teacher shortage and sends a loud and clear message across the state and nation: California values teachers.” (LOS ANGELES TIMES, LEXISNEXIS STATE NET)