The OREGON Senate approves SB 608, which would impose the nation’s first statewide rent control regulation. Under the proposal, landlords could raise rent no more than 7 percent per year, plus the annual change in the consumer price index. They would also be barred from evicting a tenant for no reason if that tenant has lived in the residence for at least a year. It moves to the House (OREGON PUBLIC RADIO).
The ARIZONA House endorses SB 1014, which would decrease the required English instruction time for English language learners from the current standard of four hours per day to about two hours per day. The measure is now with Gov. Doug Ducey (R) for consideration (ARIZONA REPUBLIC [PHOENIX]).
The SOUTH DAKOTA House approves HB 1108, a bill that would prohibit public school instruction about gender dysphoria, discomfort or distress due to the discrepancy between a person’s gender identity and gender at birth, through seventh grade. It moves to the Senate (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
The SOUTH CAROLINA House approves HB 3398, a bill that would extend a requirement that Palmetto State fraternities and sororities keep publicly reporting conduct violations by the groups at colleges and universities (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
The WEST VIRGINIA Senate unanimously approves SB 440, which would ensure that state anti-hazing laws extend to fraternities and sororities that disassociate from a university or college but continue to operate independently. It moves to the House (METRO NEWS [CHARLESTON]).
The GEORGIA House unanimously approves HB 23, which would allow Peach State electricity cooperatives to also sell high speed internet service. The measure moves to the Senate (ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION).
UTAH Gov. Gary Herbert (R) signs SB 96, which implements only a partial expansion of Medicaid, a lesser expansion than what voters endorsed via ballot measure in Nov. 2018. See Governors in this issue for more details (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE).
IDAHO Gov. Brad Little (R) signs HB 12, which would allow any licensed health professional to prescribe and dispense the anti-overdose drug naloxone to those in danger of overdose, first responders and family members who might have reason to use the drug to save an overdose victim (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
The OKLAHOMA House approves HB 2591, which would strip Medicaid eligibility from providers of “services relating to pregnancy or termination of pregnancy” who do not report evidence of the rape of a minor. It moves to the Senate (TULSA WORLD).
The MONTANA Senate approves SB 100, a bill that would require doctors who provide abortion services to offer women seeking the procedure the opportunity to first see an ultrasound of the fetus. The bill, which also requires the women to sign a statement acknowledging they were given the option to see the image, moves to the House (KRTV [GREAT FALLS]).
The MONTANA House approves HB 219, a bill that would change the name of Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day in the Treasure State. It moves to the Senate (INDEPENDENT RECORD [HELENA]).
The LOS ANGELES City Council unanimously approves a statute that makes the City of Angeles the first to require companies that have contracts with the city to disclose under affidavit any contracts or sponsorships they or their subsidiaries have with the National Rifle Association. The NRA has vowed to challenge the ordinance in court (LOS ANGELES TIMES).
Also in L.A., the Council announces it will bar the sale of genuine fur products within city boundaries. West Hollywood, Berkeley and San Francisco also ban fur sales. The measure takes effect on Jan 1, 2021 (COURTHOUSE NEWS SERVICE).
The UTAH Senate approves SB 34, which would require Beehive State cities to take state-approved steps aimed at encouraging affordable housing to be eligible to receive state investment funds. It moves to the House (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE).
-- Compiled by RICH EHISEN
California Gov. Gavin Newsom gave an expansive State of the State speech last Tuesday. It covered a little of everything, from the oft-troubled high speed rail system to the endlessly-troubled plan to send Northern California water to Southern California. What it did not have was an encore appearance by Newsom’s two-year-old son Dutch, who famously made a somewhat humorous appearance during the gov’s inaugural address in January. This time, however, Newsom made sure to sequester young Dutch away from the big stage, saying “you’re going to have to pay attention to me this time.”
Some traditions never die...no matter how much they probably should. Case in point comes from Idaho, where last month a trio of freshman lawmakers introduced their first-ever bills to the full House of Representatives. As the Idaho State Journal reports, all three were fairly innocuous measures, and yet all three were met with “no” votes. Say whaaaat? That is, until the very last moment when most of the “no” votes turned to “yes” and the little ritual was over. Well, except for the case of a measure from freshman Rep. Doug Ricks. It was a minor change to the tax code, but it drew an intense debate from another freshman, fellow Republican Rep. John Green, who went off on his belief that tax withholding was “the greatest fraud against the American people to be perpetrated, including all Idahoans.” The measure passed all the same, albeit with 16 legitimate no votes.
We’re pretty sure that once upon a time former Arkansas Gov. James P. Clarke and attorney Uriah Rose were big deals in the Razorback State. They must have been because, after all, their accomplishments were recognized with statues at the state Capitol. But time rolls on, and soon both of those markers will be gone, replaced in favor of two new statues current lawmakers say will be more recognizable to statehouse visitors. As the Associated Press reports, the new statues will be of civil rights activist Daisy Bates and legendary country music singer Johnny Cash.
Speaking of dysfunction - Wisconsin! We could stop there, but let’s wade a tad further into the shallow end of the pool. From the moment voters gave sleepy-eyed Gov. Scott Walker his walking papers last November, Republicans have done everything they can to stymie new Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat. Not surprisingly, Evers is now returning the favor. As the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports, Evers is taking down the “Open for Business” signs Walker had placed over the traditional “Wisconsin Welcomes You” message on 23 signs around the state. Each of them will be re-made into a pair of “detour” signs for use in other areas. Reeps are about losing their minds over it, saying Evers is sending the “wrong message.” Some requested one of the removed signs to hang in their office. Because nothing sends the right message like a lawmaker displaying an “Open for Business” sign in their office.
-- By RICH EHISEN
The Valentine’s Day pressure is on. What gift will you choose to express your love to your sweetheart? Chocolate, roses and jewelry usually top the list of options—and the National Retail Federation projects that spending for Valentine's Day will top $20 billion this year. Jewelry captures nearly one quarter of that figure, with the rest spent on a variety of gifts, including 1 billion cards, 58 million pounds of chocolate and 110 million roses.
Global supply chains need greater transparency
But there’s a sinister secret on the store shelves: Many of the most popular Valentine’s Day gifts may be made with forced labor and child labor. While Ecuador has made strides in reducing child labor, the U.S. Bureau of International Labor Affairs notes that child labor still occurs in flower cultivation and harvesting, as well as in gold mining. Likewise, the Bureau says Colombia has done well at eradicating child labor from the rose industry, but still has child labor and forced labor in cocoa, emeralds and gold. Another hotspot, Sierra Leone, has child labor in supply chains for cocoa, diamonds and palm oil (often used in candles—another romantic gift).
A closer look at the chocolate supply chain
Organizations like Stop the Traffik have made it their role to inform the consumer of the unethical practices and the use of child labor. And consumer awareness is improving. The impact of an informed consumer and the changes to their spending patterns cannot be underestimated. Nielsen's "What's Sustainability Got To Do With It" report reveals sustainable chocolate sales growth of 16 percent in 2017, while overall category sales growth was 5 percent.
Consumer expectations for companies are shifting too. The 2017 Cone Communications CSR Study found that 86 percent of U.S. consumers expect companies to act on social and environmental issues. In addition, asset managers and investors increasingly expect companies to address environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors to support long-term, sustainable growth.
Governments, too, are working to address the issue of forced labor. Companies worldwide are under pressure to act following a commitment by world leaders at the 2017 G20 summit to take “immediate and effective measures” to eliminate child labor by 2025.
Chocolate companies hear the call to end forced labor
At the One Young World Summit, also held in 2017, Antoine de Saint-Affrique, CEO of Barry Callebaut (the firm is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of chocolate) said:
“Business cannot prosper if the society in which the business is, does not prosper. The fate of one is linked to the other. I am convinced that our company can and should contribute to fighting poverty in a way that has nothing to do with charity but in a way that makes good business sense, because when things make good business sense they tend to happen faster and they tend to be sustainable over time.”
“The cocoa farmers from which we buy, for the large part, live in poverty. The kids are made to work in the field and this has threatened their health and prevented a number of them from going to school. You cannot simply turn a blind eye to this for obvious moral reasons, but if you don’t believe in moral reasons you cannot either for very practical reasons.”
“If farmers do not earn a living, they will keep clearing tropical forest for new farmland. There will be no forest left, there will be no rain for the crop. If farmers cannot earn a living, they will simply not replant cocoa trees and eventually there will be no cocoa trees and therefore no chocolate.”
Business cannot prosper if the society in which the business is, does not prosper.
The fate of one is linked to the other.
Many of the biggest chocolate companies agree. In its March 2018 publication, “A Matter of Taste,” StopTheTraffik noted that Nestlé is leading the way in terms of transparency about its cocoa supply chain. The report notes, “In 2012, Nestlé became the first major chocolate company to start implementing a child labor monitoring and remediation system, considered par excellence within the industry.”
Hershey has tackled sustainable, ethical business practices as well. The company set a goal of 100 percent certified and sustainable cocoa sourcing by 2020 and has already hit the 60 percent mark toward that goal. Hershey has also expanded its Hershey Learn to Grow agricultural training programs which it says, “… help build healthy, productive communities through education, women’s empowerment and policies designed to prevent illegal and forced child labor in the company’s supply chain.”
The best news about the shifting attitudes is that it isn’t exclusive to chocolate. Just last month, Tiffany & Co. announced that it will clearly display the provenance of registered diamonds and it is “committing to 100% geographic transparency for every newly sourced, individually registered diamond, and will not source any diamonds with unknown provenance (even if responsible sourcing is assured) moving forward.” And beginning in 2020, Tiffany’s will include a diamond’s “craftsmanship journey” in addition to its provenance.
Putting the right risk mitigation processes in place
The importance of due diligence and ongoing risk monitoring to support more transparent supply chains should be a top priority for companies. Risks can surface at any supplier level and have negative consequences for the dominant brand. However, by fostering more transparent relationships with its suppliers, the dominant brand can embed best practices and standards throughout the supply chain.
So, before you make your Valentine’s Day gift decision, do a little research. Recognizing the potential dark side of the gifts we give—be it a box of chocolates or a little bling—and choosing brands committed to ethical sourcing will help reduce the exploitation of people and the environment. And that’s a Valentine’s Day gift that keeps on giving.
3 Steps to Take Now
When the sun went down on 2018, a half dozen states and the District of Columbia had laws in place ensuring workers could take paid time off to deal with family illnesses or the birth of a child. When the calendar closes on 2019, several more may have joined them.
To date, only California, New York, Rhode Island, New Jersey and the District of Columbia have paid family leave laws in effect. Massachusetts and Washington will come on board in 2020 and 2021, respectively. But according to data from LexisNexis State Net and the National Conference of State Legislatures, family leave bills are now pending in numerous states.
Sherry Leiwant, co-founder and co-president of A Better Balance, a New York-based non-profit that advocates for family-friendly workplace policies, expects even more to follow.
“You will be seeing a lot – a lot – of new or expanded statewide paid family leave laws this year,” she says. “We’re getting calls on this issue every day.”
One of those measures, New Jersey Assembly Bill 3975, is one likely to become law very soon. That bill – which would double the amount of time a Garden State worker could take off from the current six weeks to as much as 12 and grow the cap on wages a worker on leave could receive from a maximum of $633 a week up to $859 – is now with Gov. Phil Murphy (D). He is expected to sign it. The new law would go into effect in July 2020.
New York’s paid leave law is also undergoing growth, increasing from eight weeks of leave offered when the law took effect in 2016 to 10 weeks this year and to 12 weeks by 2021.
And in his January budget proposal, new California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) pitched extending the Golden State’s current six weeks of leave at 60 to 70 percent of pay to as much as six months, which would be spread out between parents of a newborn or newly adopted baby. The proposed expansion does not appear to include time off to care for an ill family member, as does the current law.
While paid leave has generally been championed by Democrats, it is growing in popularity in some GOP circles as well. Vermont Gov. Phil Scott and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, both Republicans, introduced a joint paid family and medical leave plan in January. If endorsed by lawmakers in both states, it would offer eligible workers up to six weeks off at 60 percent pay, with time off allowed for both new babies and caring for a sick close family member. There are, however, two significant differences from most Democrat-endorsed proposals: participation by employers would be voluntary, and the plan would be managed by a private insurer rather than a state agency.
Scott last week launched a separate companion proposal that allows state workers with children between the ages of six weeks and six months old to bring them to the office with them, providing the workers have their boss’s approval and their workplace has been deemed appropriate by the state Commissioners of Human Resources and Buildings and General Services.
A Better Balance’s Leiwant says the most likely states to endorse their own family leave laws this year include Oregon, Connecticut, Minnesota, Colorado and Maine. Bills have also been introduced in, among other states, Arizona, Montana, North Dakota, West Virginia, Maryland, Florida, Indiana and Kentucky.
That is the kind of momentum paid family leave advocates have been waiting for since California became the first state to adopt such a statute in 2002. But offering paid leave is one thing; paying for it is another.
All the current laws depend on a payroll tax to cover their costs. How much that tax is and who pays it varies by state. In California, for example, a .09 percent state payroll tax on workers’ first $115,000 of income has paid for the current system since its inception. Rhode Island also taxes only employees, while in New Jersey and New York the tax is paid by both workers and employers. In D.C. only employers pay the tax. In California, Newsom’s expansion proposal offers no new funding method, directing instead the formation of a commission that would develop a mechanism to pay for the expanded program.
One obvious option would be increasing the payroll tax. That is the case in New Jersey, where AB 3975 changes the current law taxing the first $34,000 in wages to taxing the first $131,000. That drew a sharp rebuke from Assemblymember Anthony Bucco (R).
“I think if you asked folks whether or not they’d rather keep the money in their pocket than have an expansion to the family leave act, that they may or may not ever use, I think most people would say they’d rather keep the money in their pocket,” he told NJ.com last week.
His reaction is not likely to be the last concern raised over how states go about paying for bills like AB 3975 or the expansion Newsom is promoting. While the concept of paid family leave is growing more popular with both parties, new taxes are never a popular option even in California, where Democrats hold a supermajority in both chambers.
Even so, Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez (D) has filed legislation (AB 196) that would guarantee 100 percent wage replacement for workers who utilize the family leave program.
“Many working class Californians aren’t able to use our Paid Family Leave program because they can’t afford to receive only a portion of their paycheck. A worker shouldn’t have to choose between meeting their household budget and taking necessary time off during critical moments in life,” she said in a statement.
A proposal has also been introduced before the Los Angeles City Council to mandate 100 percent wage retention for workers in that city. But neither that measure nor AB 196 offers any details for how that would be funded. Both proposals have already drawn criticism from business groups fearful the burden will eventually fall on employers.
The need to increase or implement taxes may well be the moat that slows the advance of such bills even in states where the governor or lawmakers generally support the idea. Vermont Gov. Scott, for example, vetoed a paid family leave measure that reached his desk last year, citing his opposition to the tax it called for to pay for it.
Many large corporate employers already offer generous family leave policies similar to those being proposed or already implemented at the state level. Some, such as Netflix, are even more generous, offering workers up to a year of paid leave. But one corporate titan, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, recently cut its own one-year policy back to a maximum of six months. The foundation said the longer absences were harming both the company’s productivity and the careers of those workers who took that much time off.
Washington resident LeAnne Ruzzamenti understands both the benefits of and the concern over expanded family leave. A former California resident, she was able to take almost four full months off – six weeks of family leave and the rest through disability insurance - when her twins were born in 2008. While federal law would have allowed her take time off unpaid, she says doing so would have been “a real luxury” that wasn’t realistic for her family at the time.
With Washington’s law set to take effect soon, her new employer recently informed her and her co-workers that they would start seeing the new payroll tax coming out of their checks. While Ruzzamenti notes she tends towards fiscal conservativism, she welcomes the new law.
“I was actually thrilled to see it,” she says. “I’m more than happy to pay an ongoing small fee to make sure this is available to families, men and women, in more places.”
Her concern is that advocates for expanding family leave work with employers to ensure they are on board and able to live with the new laws.
Leiwant of A Better Balance says that has always been the goal of family leave proponents. She also points to studies that show the broad economic benefit to policies that enable more women to enter and stay in the workforce.
“States that have adopted these laws are clearly the impetus for others to follow suit,” she says. “With so many women in the workplace, it’s something whose time has come.”
As of late January, legislation dealing with paid time off for workers to care for a newborn or ill family member was pending in at least 26 states, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures and LexisNexis State Net. Since California became the first state to enact a paid family leave law in 2002, five other states have passed such laws, with Washington most recently, in 2017. Five of those six states are also among those with pending paid family leave bills.
Massachusetts voters legalized marijuana for recreational use in 2016. But over two years later, most pot sales in the state still take place on the black market.
The main reason for that is the slow rollout of state-licensed pot shops, with only eight stores currently open.
“They’ve made it so inconvenient” to buy legally, said Jennifer Dudley, a 31-year-old cannabis consumer who lives in Reading.
She said the few available shops were “in the middle of nowhere,” and “the line was so crazy that I didn’t even bother going in -- I kept the black market alive instead.”
State regulators say they’re issuing licenses as quickly as they can. But the state’s cannabis law requires applicants to negotiate contracts with local governments before obtaining a license. And that process, often involving consultation with lawyers, architects and others, takes time and money.
At the rollout’s present rate, it could take three years or more before there are enough licensed pot shops in the state to reduce illegal sales appreciably. However, the state could set up a fund to assist applicants or let small operators share their licensing costs.
Massachusetts isn’t the only legal-pot state with a black market problem. Over 82 percent of pot sales last year in California were also illegal, according to cannabis market research firm BDS Analytics. To deal with the issue there, state lawmakers are considering reducing the tax on marijuana sales from 15 percent to 11 percent and suspending the $148 per pound fee on pot growers for three years.
But there is reason for optimism about the problem. BDS projects that pot sales in Massachusetts will be nearly 14 percent lower this year than they were last year, about 76 percent versus nearly 90 percent. And illegal sales made up about 33 percent and 39 percent of the total last year, respectively, in Colorado and Washington, the first two states to legalize recreational marijuana sales, in 2014. (BOSTON GLOBE, KCRA)
As a result of last year’s elections, Democrats or Republicans hold a trifecta -- control of both legislative chambers and the governor’s office -- in all but 13 states. While Republicans still hold most of those trifectas, 23, Democrats picked up six in November, bringing their total to 14.
The predominance of single-party control may not be the best thing for state fiscal policy, according to Brian Kirkell, principal at the tax consulting firm RSM.
“When you have a trifecta come into place there’s the ability for a state to ultimately think in a completely partisan manner,” he said. “In either direction -- left or right -- partisan tax policy isn’t always the best policy.”
When Republicans claimed a trifecta in Kansas in 2011, they enacted a series of tax cuts that resulted in years of budget deficits. And during the time that Democrats held a trifecta in Connecticut, that state suffered from budget deficits and runaway spending.
Kirkell said he’d be keeping a close eye on states with new Democratic trifectas. He predicted they would focus on policies like raising income taxes on high earners, broadening the sales tax, and reestablishing tax breaks eliminated by the 2017 federal tax overhaul.
Democratic-trifecta state Colorado is bucking that prediction a bit. While Gov. Jared Polis (D) wants to do away with the 20 percent federal tax cut for pass-through businesses, he wants to use that money to help pay for an income tax cut. (ASSOCIATED PRESS, COLORADO SUN [DENVER])
UTAH House Speaker Brad Wilson (R) kicked off the state’s 2019 session by calling for a tax cut of at least $225 million. According to the Utah Taxpayers Association, that would be the state’s largest tax cut, exceeding the roughly $220 million reduction engineered in 2007 by then-Gov. Jon Huntsman (R). (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE)
ARIZONA Gov. Doug Ducey (R) vetoed a bill passed by the Republican-controlled state Legislature that would have conformed the state’s tax code to federal tax code changes enacted in 2017, while cutting state taxes 0.11 percent across the board. The governor said the bill “hastily changes Arizona’s tax laws without any reliable data to back it up,” although the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, which advises the state’s lawmakers on budget matters, estimated that conforming to the federal changes without reducing state rates would cost individual taxpayers $195 million more and businesses an additional $40 million. (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, LEXISNEXIS STATE NET)
VERMONT Gov. Phil Scott (D) announced his support for a 92 percent wholesale tax on e-cigarettes in an effort to curb growing youth use of the electronic nicotine-delivery devices. The state’s General Assembly has considered but failed to pass e-cigarette taxes in the last few years. (VTDIGGER)
The ARKANSAS Senate approved a measure backed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) that would cut the top state income tax rate from 6.9 percent to 5.9 percent, saving the state’s highest earners $97 million. The House was expected to take up the measure this week. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Many of the bills dealing with cryptocurrencies and blockchain that have been introduced in 17 states so far this year call for legislative task forces or joint business-government study groups on those issues. “Legislators want to show they’re open for blockchain businesses to come in,” said Amy Davine Kim, chief policy officer for the Chamber of Digital Commerce. “They want to know what the industry wants. They want to be supportive.” (FORBES)
Nonfiction writers in RHODE ISLAND are seeking an expansion of the exemption from the state’s 7 percent sales tax for resident artists, composers and writers who sell their own “original and creative work.” That tax break currently applies only to writers of fiction and poetry. (PROVIDENCE JOURNAL)
-- Compiled by KOREY CLARK
Since 1972, Iowans have been the first to cast votes in the presidential nominating process. But California will hold its presidential primary on March 3rd next year. And while that’s still a full month after Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses on February 3rd, the state’s outsized influence over which candidates ultimately win their parties’ nominations, could be significantly altered.
With early voting in California scheduled to begin on the same day as Iowa’s caucuses, candidates might just skip Iowa and focus their early campaign efforts on California, which offers a far bigger reward.
“Candidates will not be able to ignore the largest, most diverse state in the nation,” said California Secretary of State Alex Padilla (D).
But some are more optimistic about next year’s caucuses. Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Troy Price suggested California’s move would draw more media attention to all the early nominating contests, which would include both Iowa’s caucuses and New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primaries.
“I think that when you front-load the calendar with a bunch of delegate-rich states, I do think that it actually makes these early contests even that much more important,” he said.
Price also said competing in Iowa would help candidates run in other Midwest and Rust Belt states that were key to Donald Trump’s victory in 2016.
“It’s one of the reasons why I think that Iowa having the role that it does is going to help make our candidates stronger going into the general election,” he said.
Price and Josh Putnam, a lecturer at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington who specializes in campaigns and elections, also said Iowa’s caucuses could be crucial for candidates who lack the resources to compete effectively in California.
“To the extent we’re going to see folks begin to focus on California, it’s going to be folks that have the resources to do that,” said Putnam.
And Putnam also noted that while it’s still early, “candidates are doing things now” that “tend to indicate they’re doing the kind of traditional things of going to Iowa and New Hampshire.”
For instance, the first trip U.S Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) made after becoming the first top-tier candidate to announce a potential presidential bid last year was to Iowa. And days after U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) announced her intention to run for president next year, she was standing in a coffee shop in Sioux City, saying, “We are planning on spending a lot of time in Iowa....” (DES MOINES REGISTER, REUTERS)
After picking up over 200 state legislative seats in the 2018 midterm elections, women now hold 2,112 legislative seats nationwide, nearly 29 percent of the 7,383 total, a record high, according to data from the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.
Women will also hold more leadership positions in the legislatures than ever before. Six house chambers will have female speakers. Nine senates will be led by women. And 51 women will serve in other top leadership positions, including deputy House speaker in New Hampshire and senate minority leader in California, Florida and Oklahoma.
Most of the female legislative leaders are Democrats, including five house speakers and six senate presidents. But Republican women were also chosen to lead the senate chambers this year in Alaska and Arizona.
Despite the significant gains for women, however, there are still 15 legislatures that have no women serving in top leadership positions. They include the legislatures in Alabama, Illinois, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. (HILL, CENTER FOR WOMEN AND POLITICS)
The TEXAS secretary of state’s office announced last month that it had flagged 95,000 registered voters for citizenship checks. The individuals were flagged because they had provided a form of documentation showing they were not citizens, such as a work visa or green card, when they applied for a driver’s license or state ID card. Civil rights groups are considering litigation to block the move. (TEXAS TRIBUNE, [AUSTIN])
VIRGINIA House Speaker Kirk Cox (R) said he’s backing a proposed constitutional amendment to turn over the job of drawing the state’s legislative and congressional districts to a bipartisan commission. Cox said the move was prompted by the protracted legal battle over the state’s Republican-drawn 2011 district maps that has led to the redrawing of a number of congressional districts by a federal court in a way that could favor Democrats. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
A federal court filing last month revealed that the National Nuclear Security Administration transported about half a metric ton of radioactive plutonium to NEVADA from SOUTH CAROLINA sometime before November 2018. That move came after a U.S. District Court in South Carolina ordered the material to be removed from that state but before Nevada sued the Department of Energy to block the transfer. (NEVADA INDEPENDENT [LAS VEGAS])
As of this writing, Democrats Ralph Northam, Justin Fairfax and Mark Herring are, respectively, the governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general for the state of Virginia. Whether any of them are in those positions by this time next week is an open question.
The revelation on Feb 1 that Northam was one of two young men in a picture in the 1984 Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook – one student was wearing blackface, the other Ku Klux Klan garb – sent a shockwave around the nation. Northam initially admitted that he was one of the young men. While the presumption was that he was the one in blackface, the governor did not confirm that. He later changed course, denying he was in the picture at all but admitting he had worn blackface – a notorious symbol of racism – to another event.
Calls immediately came from Republicans for him to step down. Some of his fellow Democrats initially defended him but were quickly drowned out by a growing chorus of other state and national Dems who urged him to immediately step aside in favor of Lt. Gov. Fairfax.
But that possibility was immediately called into question over allegations that Fairfax had sexually assaulted a woman in 2004. He has vigorously denied the accusation.
If both were to step down, Attorney General Mark Herring would become the next Old Dominion governor. But that also became problematic for Dems when Herring revealed that while in college he had also once worn “brown paint” and a wig to imitate a rap singer at a party. He issued a long written apology, saying, “That I have contributed to the pain Virginians have felt this week is the greatest shame I have ever felt.”
What happens from here is unclear. Northam and Fairfax have to-date vowed they will not resign their positions. Republicans have called on Herring to resign, but to date he has not indicated he will do so. He did, however, resign his position as co-chair of the Democratic Attorneys General Association. His announced 2021 gubernatorial candidacy is also now in question.
One option not likely to happen is all three resigning, which would hand the governor’s office to House Speaker Kirk Cox (R). Noted University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato recently laid out the possibility that Northam could resign in favor of Fairfax, who would then also resign after choosing a successor other than herring, thereby ensuring Democrats keep the governor’s office.
Beyond their personal futures, many political observers believe the trio’s travails may have dealt a body blow to their party’s chances of reclaiming the House or Senate, or both, in this fall’s legislative elections. But for now, the only thing certain in Virginia is uncertainty. (WASHINGTON POST, CENTER FOR POLITICS [UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA], NEW YORK TIMES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, HILL [WASHINGTON D.C.])
Saying “we need to be laser-focused on cleaning up water in our state,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) announced a reorganization of the Wolverine State’s Department of Environmental Quality, which drew intense criticism over its handling of the water crisis in Flint.
Under Executive Order 2019-03, the department would be known as the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy. Her order would also create the offices of Climate and Energy, Clean Water Public Advocate and Environmental Justice Public Advocate, all within the department.
The GOP-controlled House quickly voted along partisan lines to overturn the order. Republicans took specific exception to another element of the order they called a “de facto veto” of oversight panels they approved, including the Environmental Rules Review Committee, Environmental Permit Review Commission and Environmental Science Advisory Board. The Senate would need to endorse a similar resolution to overturn the order. As of this writing Senators had not taken up such a resolution.
Whitmer decried the GOP response.
“I think we need to be very clear: the House Republicans today, on a party line vote, voted down protections for drinking water. They voted down the creation of a public advocate for clean drinking water,” she said at a press conference. “Today's actions endangers our public and threatens to burn bridges, and that's unfortunate, because there are a lot of people in this state that our counting on us to clean up drinking water.” (DETROIT FREE PRESS, NEW YORK TIMES, MLIVE.COM)
Responding to a study that showed growth in cyberbullying in Bay State schools, MASSACHUSETTS Gov. Charlie Baker (R) refiled a bill that would require schools to teach kids about the dangers of taking and sharing sexually explicit photos or videos of minors as they relate to cyberbullying. The new bill would allow prosecutors to send teenagers who “sext,” or send explicit pictures to one another by text, to an educational diversion program rather than jail, while also making so-called “revenge porn,” or the sharing of sexually explicit images of someone without their permission, a felony. (BOSTON HERALD, STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE [BOSTON])
In the wake of the recent Los Angeles teacher strike, CALIFORNIA Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) called on State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond to establish a panel of experts to examine the impact of charter school growth on district finances. Newsom directed Thurmond to have a report to him by July 1. (EDSOURCE, CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR’S OFFICE)
Saying “I reject the federal contention that there exists an overwhelming national security crisis at the southern border, along which are some of the safest communities in the country,” NEW MEXICO Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) recalled the majority of the state National Guard troops former Gov. Susana Martinez (R) had ordered to the U.S. border with Mexico. Her order allowed approximately 15 Guard troops to stay deployed in certain areas “to assist with the ongoing humanitarian needs of communities there.” (GOVERNING, SANTA FE NEW MEXICAN)
Saying the state needed to rid itself of “the vestiges of Common Core,” FLORIDA Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) issued an executive order directing state Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran to spend a year creating new state curriculum standards, which would then be presented to the Legislature for the 2020 session. That session begins in January. Common Core, which Florida adopted in 2010, is a set of standards that sets goals for what K-12 students should learn in language arts and math by the end of each grade level. (MIAMI HERALD)
The NEW JERSEY Senate and Assembly endorse AB 3975, which would increase from six to 12 weeks the time Garden State workers may take off from work with pay after the birth or adoption of a child or to care for an ill relative. The measure which would also raise the cap on the reimbursement an applicant can receive to 85 percent of their wages, is now with Gov. Phil Murphy (D), who is expected to sign it into law (NJ.COM).
Also in NEW JERSEY, Gov. Murphy signs AB 15, a bill that will gradually raise the statewide minimum wage to $15 by 2024. The measure extends the deadline to hit $15 to 2026 for seasonal workers and businesses with five or fewer employees (NJ.COM).
MISSISSIPPI Gov. Phil Bryant (R) signs HB 366, which allows rural electric cooperatives to offer their customers high-speed Internet service. The co-ops had previously been banned from offering anything more than electricity (CLARION-LEDGER [JACKSON]).
The ILLINOIS Senate approves SB 1, a bill that would raise the Prairie State minimum wage to $15 by 2025. It moves to the House (CHICAGO TRIBUNE).
The NEW YORK Assembly and Senate approve AB 2572, which would bar the state from granting permits for drilling or oil or gas exploration in offshore areas controlled by the state. It moves to Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), who has said he will sign it into law (U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
The ARKANSAS House approves HB 1176, which would set minimum standards for breast milk sharing programs and encourage nonprofits to launch depositories and banks for human breast milk. It moves to the Senate (ARKANSAS GAZETTE-TIMES [LITTLE ROCK]).
The UTAH Senate approves SB 96, legislation that would limit eligibility under voter-approved Medicaid expansion to those at no more than 100 percent of the federal poverty line. The expansion ballot measure voters endorsed would match the federal eligibility standard of 138 percent of the federal poverty line. The measure moves to the House (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE).
The VIRGINIA House approves HB 2748, which would raise the legal smoking age in the Old Dominion to 21. It moves to the Senate (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
The IDAHO Supreme Court rejects a lawsuit claiming a voter-approved expansion of Medicaid is unconstitutional (BOISE STATE PUBLIC RADIO).