Newly-minted North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper campaigned in part on repealing the state’s controversial “bathroom bill” that bars transgender people from using the bathroom that matches their gender identity. But while a strong majority of North Carolinians agree with him – 66 percent according to some polls – Cooper is left with the unenviable task of convincing the Republican-dominated legislature. On the one hand that might not be so tough given the millions and millions of dollars in revenue the state has lost after groups like the NCAA, the NBA and others protested by pulling big ticket items out of NC until the law is changed. But then again, Tar Heel voters also went with Donald Trump on Election Day, so GOP lawmakers might not be so fast to reverse field. And where does “The Donald” fall on this issue? Well, first he was against HB 2 and then he was for it. Which means tomorrow he might be for it again. Stay tuned.
Speaking of Chris Christie, the approval rating of the man formerly known as a viable presidential candidate has dropped into the teens. According to a new Quinnipiac poll, just 19 percent of New Jersey residents approve of his job performance, making him the least popular Garden State governor in almost 40 years. A Fairleigh Dickinson poll released just a day later pegs that number even lower, at just 18 percent. That matches the rating former Gov. Jim Florio garnered in 1990 and barely edges the low-mark of 17 percent Gov. Brendan Byrne received in 1977. Both of the former govs are Democrats. Even worse, a large percentage in the Farleigh Dickinson poll – 48 percent – believe Christie ordered the 2013 lane closures on the George Washington Bridge, a.k.a. “Bridgegate” – and a whopping 71 percent believe he should have been prosecuted for the closures. And for once Christie has found some bipartisan agreement: 52 percent of Republicans disapprove of him, with only 33 percent supporting him. On the plus side...uh, sorry there is no plus side for him.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed a slew of bills last week. As is usually the case with such mass signings, the bills address a wide range of serious issues like the use of solitary confinement in prisons and economic development. Perhaps less notable was Assembly Joint Resolution 23, which designated the third weekend in October to henceforth be known as “Shuck, Sip, and Slurp Weekend.” Relax. Alas, while it sure sounds like a job fair for aspiring political staffers, the bill is only intended to promote the enjoyment of oysters, wine, and beer in the Garden State.
The role of the media in exposing corruption was celebrated at the 17th International Anti-Corruption Conference in Panama earlier this month. The conference, which takes place every two years, aims to bring together “the entire spectrum of stakeholders” involved in global combating corruption and financial crime. It was attended by politicians, government officials, business representatives, law enforcement officials, academics, journalists, and NGOs. More than 1,600 people attended from around 130 countries.
The role of the media in exposing bribery and corruption was a major focus of the conference. One of the nominees for the anti-corruption award announced during the conference was the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), for its role in releasing the Panama Papers. In April, this group of media organizations released 11.5 million documents from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca. The documents revealed the extent to which complex corporate structures can be used to hide the true ownership of assets and bank accounts. The subsequent criminal investigations into allegations of financial crime based on these leaks have made global headlines in the second half of 2016.
Earlier this year, there have been other international endorsements of the role of the media in fighting bribery and corruption. At the London Anti-Corruption Summit in May, the communiqué praised the role of the media “in complementing and reinforcing corruption reporting systems including effective monitoring and follow up”. The United Nations offered support to the media earlier this month. In a factsheet written for International Anti-Corruption (9 December), the UN singled out the “unique position” of the media in providing checks and balances on governments and private sector firms.
This emphasizes how important it is that companies implement a detailed compliance system to prevent and detect financial crime. To commit financial crime not only exposes a company to financial and legal punishment, but also reputationally damaging media coverage. Companies should use systems that monitor negative news coverage of all their clients and suppliers.
During the conference, the NGO Transparency International announced that Brazil’s Operation Car Wash investigation had won their 2016 Anti-Corruption Award. Since it was launched in 2014, the operation has unveiled an allegedly widespread corruption scheme at the state oil company, Petrobras. Prosecutors allege that some of Brazil’s biggest construction companies agreed to pay bribes to politicians, civil servants and Petrobras executives to secure lucrative contracts with the oil company. Transparency International said the operation has led to “more than 240 criminal charges and 118 convictions totalling 1,256 years of jail time, including high-level politicians and business people previously considered untouchable”.
The award follows a report earlier this year by the University of Richmond Law School Anti-Corruption team, which said Brazil’s corruption cases are “actually evidence of newly enacted corruption laws taking effect”. The report’s author Professor Andy Spalding said these high-profile cases showed that the country has set up effective tools to fight bribery and corruption. A new law, the Clean Company Act of 2014, punishes bribery in the awarding of contracts. Bid rigging and fraud are also prohibited in public procurement, as well as bribery of Brazilian public officials.
But anti-corruption campaigners warn that Brazil should not relax its campaign against corruption. Earlier this week, tens of thousands of Brazilians protested in the streets after the lower house of Brazil’s parliament passed a number of amendments to an anti-corruption bill that is currently being considered. Protestors claim these amendments will water down the bill. Some people carried signs supporting prosecutor Sergio Moro and the Operation Car Wash team.
- Track negative news coverage and litigation histories of third parties in order to assess their potential to cause reputational damage from bribery and corruption.
- Implement systems that monitor watch lists of government sanctions and politically-exposed persons to mitigate the risk of conducting business with unethical third parties.
- Regularly update your screening of third parties to take into account developments in news coverage and watch lists.
With 2016 drawing to a close, we review the main developments in financial crime over the last year.
Beneficial ownership was arguably the most talked-about issue in financial crime in 2016. This was partly because of the release of the Panama Papers in April 2016. The revelations have led to high-profile resignations of government officials implicated in the Panama Papers, numerous criminal investigations into the allegations, and ongoing media coverage of the story.
Beneficial ownership is now firmly on the agenda of governmental and intergovernmental bodies trying to tackle financial crime. At the London Anti-Corruption Summit in May, it was announced that 40 jurisdictions have committed to automatically sharing beneficial ownership information with each other. This means law enforcement agencies in these countries will be able to see who really owns and controls every company incorporated in these jurisdictions.
Intergovernmental bodies like the G20 and the OECD have called on countries to do more to share beneficial ownership information. In October, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published proposals on how to improve the implementation of international standards on transparency, including the availability of beneficial ownership information.
A key trend in legislation in 2016 has been to encourage companies to report themselves to the regulators when they come across evidence of suspected financial crime within the company, or by a third party. In July, the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) agreed only its second ever Deferred Prosecution Agreement, with an anonymous company accused of bribery. The company quickly reported the evidence it had uncovered to the SFO, assisted the investigation and reviewed its compliance program. In return, it avoided a criminal conviction and received a penalty that is lower than the typical level of fine determined for bribery offences. France adopted new legislation which allows companies to enter into negotiated settlements in November, and the Australian government is considering doing the same.
In April, regulators in the US began a one-year pilot program to encourage companies to voluntarily self-disclose suspected breaches of the Foreign and Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Companies that voluntarily and promptly disclose the evidence of the suspected offence and fully cooperate with the government’s investigation can receive up to a 50 percent reduction off the typical level of fine.
Legislation to tackle money laundering was also strengthened in 2016. In July, the European Commission adopted a proposal to reinforce EU rules on anti-money laundering, which will counter terrorist financing and increase transparency about who really owns companies and trusts.
There have been significant changes in sanctions policies in 2016. The US has continued to reduce its sanctions against Cuba, North Korea, and Myanmar, and the EU has renewed sanctions against Russia. These changes and more were documented in a LexisNexis e-book released in November.
Events in 2016 might lead to further changes in sanctions regimes in the longer term. The UK voted to leave the EU in June 2016, which would mean the UK no longer automatically signs up to the EU’s sanctions policies. Since Donald Trump was elected as the next US President, his early statements suggest he will adopt a different sanctions policy to his predecessor.
2016 has brought further evidence that when a company or a country makes a serious attempt to combat bribery and corruption, it can actually improve its bottom line. A recent report by ethiXbase found that Singapore has gained a “significant competitive advantage” over its neighbors in the Asia-Pacific because of its robust anti-corruption laws and its tough stance on corruption in the private and public sector.
Figures released by the World Bank earlier in the year show that in the two fiscal years ending in June 2015, the Bank debarred or sanctioned 144 firms or individuals who were found to have engaged in corrupt practices. Companies that have been sanctioned and debarred are no longer eligible to apply for lucrative World Bank contracts.
The International Standards Organization published a new standard called the ISO 37001 in October, which companies can use to certify their anti-bribery and corruption compliance procedures. Experts predict that this standard will help companies to gain new contracts by demonstrating that they are honest and accountable.
A report by the World Bank in April identified technology as a central part of a strong compliance strategy, noting that good data collection by companies can help them to identify patterns which reveal where there are inefficiencies or corrupt practices.
The UK Financial Conduct Authority’s business plan for 2016/17 encouraged “the use of technology to reduce compliance costs”. Technology allows companies to quickly screen third parties against databases of up-to-date information on negative news, legislation, and watch lists of sanctions and politically exposed persons.
This year, there has been greater scrutiny on companies around their ethical sourcing practices. October 2016 marked a year since the Modern Slavery Act came into force in the UK. A report by the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre studied 27 company statements by FTSE 100 companies to find that only 56% explicitly complied with the minimum requirements of the Act. A report by LexisNexis in September showed that there is a “strong risk” of forced labor taking place in the construction industry and its supply chains.
Developments in all areas of the bribery and corruption landscape in 2016 show the continued importance of managing risk and strengthening compliance to meet a company’s regulatory, financial, strategic and reputational objectives. For more information on how LexisNexis can help your company negotiate these ever-changing risks, FOLLOW THIS LINK
When you're working on PR pitches to the media between major events or product launches, you may wish you had a magic spell up your sleeve. Your job is essentially to conjure something valuable - favorable coverage - out of thin air.
It's time to believe in magic. This kind of hype-building is possible, and in a world where a slim spin-off book can be optioned into a multi-film franchise of ready-made blockbusters, it should be obvious that PR departments and agencies can accomplish amazing feats.
Without further ado, here's your public relations spellbook, a fantastical spin on the very real concepts you should know. Just in time for the recent release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, this is your guide to tracking down the most elusive and powerful elixir your brand can hope for: favorable, earned coverage in independent publications.
When it's time to think of a pitch topic that will win you coverage between product or earnings announcements, you don't need supernatural intuition, just access to a publication's editorial calendar. The Business Journals recently pointed out that these lists of upcoming topics aren't closely guarded secrets, and many outlets include them in the PR and media kit sections of their sites.
If you know what kind of topics the publication is planning to delve into next, you can take one of those ideas as a hook, crafting a pitch that incorporates your product and becomes a great feature for the news source in question. Communication with the outlet is also totally acceptable. Get the details about what kind of pitches will perform best, then make one that fits the description.
When sorcerers want to get a message across, they can replicate their letters, sending a flood of mail that becomes a huge nuisance. That's not to say you should adopt this tactic - in fact, you should do the opposite. Remember that getting hundreds of copies of the same message via owl post can be hugely irritating for people who don't want to read the contents. PR Daily explained that when you send repeated emails to reporters who aren't interested, you're on track to be ignored.
Relevance is the key, so be sure to send your owl (or in this case, email) only to a journalist who covers the enclosed topic, and only sparingly. You want to make sure you're seen as a valuable source instead of a bother. If you're sending huge batches of messages to long lists of recipients in the hopes of getting noticed, that's a sure sign that you haven't thought enough about who the target audience is. Time to put the owls back in their cages and return to the drawing board.
Even in the magical world of PR pitches, there's no such thing as time travel. If you send a pitch too late to make a reporter's deadline, that's it - it's not getting picked up. This is why PR Daily explained that the pitching process should be scheduled around when media outlets can put out their stories. Internal deadlines can always be adjusted - it's other people's time restrictions that you can't change.
Not only should you get your pitches in before outlets go to press, you should hand all your materials in with time to spare. If journalists don't have enough time to create a good piece around your proposal, it won't make the cut.
Just as it would be foolish to chase down a dragon without a magical wand, a fast broomstick and the right collection of potions, you shouldn't pursue your PR strategy without high-quality tools. Your magical power comes from technology, and if your department or agency is operating without a modern and heavily automated media intelligence solution, you may be missing out on serious benefits.
When you have the right technology, you know about news and events that are happening anywhere in the world, on any form of media. From cutting-edge social platforms to the staples such as television and print, you can take the pulse of every one of these venues. When you're aware of everything affecting your brand and industry, you'll be able to conjure relevant and compelling pitches at any time - just like magic.
After you landed your story, don't let your magic go unnoticed. Share your wizardry with your powers that be with a set of campaign data and dashboards that highlight the results of your campaigns.
As Millennials grow to become the largest living generation, the donor focus of nonprofit organizations will begin to shift away from the reigning population champs, the Baby Boomers. Nonprofits must begin to perceive the significance of the needs and wants of this new population majority in order to achieve future fundraising success. The Millennial Impact Project, established in 2009, was created to understand how the millennial generation connects, involves and supports causes. The project’s 2016 Millennial Impact Report discusses new trends related to millennial engagement during election years. Take a look at our top five picks that nonprofits should take note of:
As you begin hunting for new donors to add to your existing donor database, make sure you’ve conducted thorough research on what motivates Millennials, particularly during election years. Check out Millennial Impact’s 2016 report for more information on trends tied to political years.
3 Ways to Apply This Information
States and local governments will face many challenges and opportunities as they navigate the turbulent waters of the coming Donald Trump administration.
Despite uncertainty about the precise policies of President-elect Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress, states may be playing under new rules on climate change, education, energy, health care, immigration and infrastructure, among other issues.
The biggest potential change — and the largest uncertainty — involves health care. Trump and GOP congressional leaders have repeatedly vowed to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act (ACA), better known as Obamacare. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) intends to make repeal of the ACA the first order of business when the House reconvenes on Jan. 3, 2017, after the holiday recess.
Repeal will be easier than replace. Ryan has discussed with Vice President-elect Mike Pence a plan to phase out Obamacare over a two- to three-year period so that more than 20 million people who have obtained health insurance under the ACA with the help of federal subsidies will not be left high and dry.
But health policy experts warn that “repeal and delay” could destabilize insurance markets in the nation’s $3 trillion health care industry. “The idea that you can repeal the Affordable Care Act with a two- or three-year transition period and not create market chaos is a total fantasy,” Sabrina Corlette of the Health Policy Institute of Georgetown University told the New York Times. “Insurers need to know the rules of the road in order to develop plans and set premiums.”
Even had Hillary Clinton won the presidency, Obamacare would have faced an overhaul. Several insurers have reported losses on policies issued under the ACA, and some of them announced before the election that they would no longer sell health care coverage on the federal and state ACA exchanges (marketplaces).
Trump has promised to retain two popular features of Obamacare: covering persons with pre-existing medical conditions and allowing children to remain on parents’ policies until they are 26 years old. But it’s unclear how Republicans intend to pay for these benefits if the ACA is repealed. Obamacare attempted to finance these provisions and subsidies for policy holders by requiring most Americans to purchase health insurance or pay a tax penalty. Republicans have talked about substituting tax credits for subsidies; Democrats worry that such credits won’t be sufficient to provide coverage for those with low incomes.
States could also be affected by changes in Medicaid, the federal-state program that provides health care for the poor and disabled and is the second costliest item after education in many state budgets. When Congress passed the ACA, states were required to expand Medicaid to cover families and individuals with incomes up to 138 percent above the poverty line (now $33,534 for a family of four.) When the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the law, it gave states discretion on this expansion. Thirty-one states have expanded Medicaid, not all of them to the full amount allowed.
Regardless of whether they have expanded or not, many states have sought more flexibility on federal Medicaid rules. They may get this if Rep. Tom Price (R-Georgia), Trump’s choice for health and human services director, is confirmed. Price, an orthopedic surgeon and fierce foe of Obamacare, favors giving states more leeway on health matters.
More flexible federal rules would allow innovations to reduce Medicaid costs and improve health care, as several states are already doing. But if Medicaid is reduced and the ACA repealed without adequate replacement, hospital emergency rooms will brace for an influx of sick people who lack insurance. Since the ACA became fully effective in 2014, uncompensated care at hospitals has declined $7.4 billion.
Here is how a Trump administration might impact other issues:
Climate and energy. During the campaign Trump called climate change a “hoax,” threatened to walk away from the Paris accord limiting greenhouse gas emissions and said he would scuttle the Clear Power Act championed by President Obama. Since the election, he has modified these positions, causing uncertainty about what he will do once in office.
But regardless of what Trump does, states such as California and Hawaii will continue pursuing ambitious goals of relying more on alternative energy. Many businesses will, too. Google, for instance, expects that 100 percent of its data centers and offices’ power will come from renewable energy sources by this time next year. Such actions make a difference. The shift of the American energy market away from fossil fuels to renewables has been driven more by economics than federal regulation, according to a recent report by the Breakthrough Institute. Ted Nordhaus and Jessica Lovering, the report’s authors, found that progress on reducing carbon in the atmosphere has been determined by specific energy, industrial and innovation policies, “not emissions targets and timetables or international agreements...”
Education. Trump proposed during the campaign a $20 billion grant program to encourage states to expand school choice through vouchers, charter schools and magnet schools. His choice of Betsy DeVos, a Michigan billionaire and charter school advocate as his secretary of education, suggests he intends to follow up on this promise in an effort to break up a public education system that Trump has called “a government-run monopoly.” Count on teachers unions and many Democrats to resist.
Infrastructure. For a report on state transportation needs, see “Election Issues To Be Considered by Lawmakers in 2017” in the Dec. 12 State Net Capitol Journal. Additionally, note that Trump’s promise to invest $1 trillion in U.S. infrastructure over the next decade has won cautious praise from Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), the new Senate minority leader. It’s unclear if congressional Republicans are as enthusiastic about infrastructure spending as Schumer and the president-elect.
Immigration. Any attempt at mass deportation of unauthorized immigrants by a Trump administration would provoke intense opposition from a myriad of state and city governments led by California, which is home to an estimated 2.4 million such immigrants. Conflicts also loom over “sanctuary cities” that protect immigrants from deportation by limiting cooperation with federal authorities. The Center for Immigration Studies lists 300 cities, counties and states as sanctuary jurisdictions, including the entire states of California, Connecticut, New Mexico and Colorado, and such cities as Boston, Chicago, New Orleans and New York. Trump has threatened to withhold federal money from jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with immigration authorities. But local police officials say that unauthorized immigrants won’t report crimes if doing so could reveal their immigration status.
During the campaign Trump called for deporting to their countries of origin the estimated 11 million unauthorized immigrants who live in the United States. Since the election he has focused on deporting two million to three million immigrants he claims have criminal records. Most recently, Trump expressed sympathy for so-called “Dreamers,” the 750,000 or so immigrants brought to the United States as children, many of whom did not know until adulthood that they were not citizens.
Again, it’s uncertain what Trump will do as president. But while congressional action would be needed to advance most of Trump’s agenda, he has considerable executive authority on immigration, as Obama demonstrated in protecting Dreamers over congressional objections and even court decisions.
As president, Obama has also deported 2.5 million immigrants, most of them Latinos, and many for relatively minor offenses, prompting the Economist to call him “deporter in chief.” These family-splitting deportations caused anguish in Latino communities but otherwise provoked no widespread outcry. Based on the outspoken opposition to Trump’s deportation rhetoric, it may be different this time.
Resistance to a militant deportation policy is most likely in California, a notable outlier in the 2016 election. Clinton carried California by 4.3 million votes, much more than her overall national lead in the popular vote. Democrats won a super majority in the Legislature, where bills have been introduced to provide legal assistance for immigrants facing deportation.
Overall, the nation is now more Republican than at any time since Herbert Hoover was in the White House from 1929 to 1933. Republicans control the White House, both houses of Congress, 68 of 98 partisan legislative chambers and 33 governorships. Democrats in most states are back on their heels.
In the age of Trump, nonetheless, red and blue states alike will face tests that require more than partisanship. It’s too early to know the full nature of these challenges, but significant changes are in the wind.
Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia have expanded Medicaid in accordance with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) but left to states discretion by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius in 2012. Seven of those states have obtained federal waivers giving them more flexibility in designing their Medicaid programs to reduce costs and improve care.
Source: Kaiser Family Foundation
Despite MASSACHUSETTS Gov. Charlie Baker’s (R) veto in August of a provision in a road funding bill passed by state lawmakers providing for a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax pilot program, the state hasn’t ruled out the possibility of imposing such a tax in the future. In an email sent to staffers at the Executive Office of Administration and Finance at the time of Baker’s veto, Department of Transportation Legislative Director Michael Berry said, “VMT...may be a tool that is needed down the road.” (REPUBLICAN [SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS], LEXISNEXIS STATE NET)
MISSOURI state Sen. Will Kraus (R) has proposed legislation to phase out the state’s 6.25-percent corporate income tax by 2019. Kraus said President-elect Donald Trump’s support for reducing corporate taxes could give his proposal momentum. (OZARK RADIO NEWS)
-- Compiled by KOREY CLARK
After months of not talking about taxes, other than to brag in speeches about lowering them on residents’ incomes during his six years in office, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said last week he was open to the idea of extending the state’s “millionaires’ tax,” which is set to expire next year.
“Before you do the tax policy you have to look at the numbers and you have to know what you need,” the governor told reporters at an awards ceremony.
He went on to say that what’s needed isn’t known yet because of “two big variables.”
“You have the receipts, which you have a guesstimate on receipts, but the big question is, you don’t know what the federal government is going to look like and you don’t know what they’re going to do with the billions of dollars that come to New York.”
Both of those variables pose potentially major pitfalls for the state. Its Division of the Budget projected a $3.5 billion deficit in tax receipts as of the end of September. And the possible repeal of Obamacare could add billions of dollars of additional uncertainty to the state’s budget. (POLITICO)
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to a Colorado law aimed at enabling the state to collect more of the sales taxes that go unpaid each year by Colorado residents on their out-of-state purchases, costing the state more than $170 million in lost revenue each year, according to recent estimates.
The law, passed in 2010, requires businesses located outside the state, including online retailers - hence the nickname of “Amazon tax” given to such laws - to either collect and remit sales tax on behalf of their Colorado-based customers or inform those customers of their obligation to pay their state’s 2.9 percent sales tax and submit information about those customers and transactions to the state. The Direct Marketers Association (DMA) - now known as the Data & Marketing Association (DMA) - challenged that law on the grounds that it violated the U.S. Constitution's Commerce Clause, barring undue restrictions on interstate commerce. But the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver upheld the law in February, and the Supreme Court’s refusal to take up the case leaves the 10th’s ruling in place.
“We are disappointed the Supreme Court did not take the case and are concerned it will only encourage other states to adopt similar laws and regulations that are designed to put arbitrary burdens on out-of-state sellers,” DMA Senior Vice President of Advocacy Emmett O’Keefe said in a statement.
Max Behlke, director of tax and budget policy for the National Conference of State Legislatures, likewise, said: “Other states, which have seen their revenue decline in sales tax, would be more apt to introduce and enact legislation like Colorado’s [law].” (REUTERS, DENVER POST)
Lobbyist spending last year in MISSOURI - which totaled about $690,000 - was down by more than $200,000 from any other year on record, and spending has continued to fall this year, according to analysis of Missouri Ethics Commission data by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Rep. Justin Alferman (R), who has pre-filed a bill for the 2017 session to ban lobbyist gifts to lawmakers, said he thinks greater public scrutiny of such gifts and the ban on meals sponsored by lobbyists at committee meetings imposed by Speaker John Diehl (R) in 2014 are the primary reasons for the spending decline. (ST LOUIS POST-DISPATCH)
The KANSAS Policy Institute, a conservative think tank with ties to the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, announced it is launching its own news service, called the Sentinel, to counter what it considers liberal bias in traditional media outlets. (LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD)
Oklahoma Sen. J.J. Dossett (D) has filed a bill (SB 9) that would do away with straight-party voting in the state.
“I think it is unnecessary to have the straight-party option,” he said. “I think it is something that might have had value in the past when people couldn’t inform themselves on the candidate and vote.”
Dossett also said his filing of the bill wasn’t motivated by last month’s election. But 56.4 percent of the state’s voters who went with the straight-party option in the 2012 general election were Republicans, a ratio that increased to 59.7 percent in 2014 and 62 percent on Nov. 8. And University of Oklahoma Political Science Department Chair Keith Gaddie said he doesn’t believe the bill has a chance of being approved by the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature.
Oklahoma is one of only 10 states that allow straight-party voting, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. (TULSA WORLD)
Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp (R) sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson this month saying the state had discovered an unsuccessful effort to breach computer systems housing its voter registration database by an IP address linked to the DHS.
“At no time has my office agreed to or permitted DHS to conduct penetration testing or security scans of our network,” Kemp wrote. “Moreover, your department has not contacted my office since this unsuccessful incident to alert us of any security event that would require testing or scanning of our network.”
The DHS said it was “looking into the matter.”
“DHS takes the trust of our public and private sector partners seriously, and we will respond to Secretary Kemp directly,” a spokeswoman for the department said.
Georgia was one of two states that declined federal government assistance with election security after the Federal Bureau of Investigation revealed in August that it was looking into hacking incidents involving elections systems in Arizona and Illinois. (WASHINGTON POST, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION)
Last week a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a voter ID law passed by Virginia’s Republican-controlled General Assembly in 2013, rejecting a challenge from Democrats that the law suppressed minority voting. The panel ruled that “the law was passed by the Virginia legislature through the normal legislative process, and that process was unaccompanied by any facts or circumstances suggesting the presence of racially discriminatory intent.”
That ruling comes only a few months after a different three-judge panel of the same court unanimously struck down a North Carolina voter ID law, saying it targeted minorities with “almost surgical precision.” The panel that issued last week’s decision, however, found that the facts in the Virginia case were “in no way” like those in the North Carolina one. The judges noted that the Virginia General Assembly “went out of its way to make its impact as burden-free as possible.”
“It allowed a broad scope of IDs to qualify; it provided free IDs to those who lacked a qualifying ID; it issued free IDs without any requirement of presenting documentation; and it provided numerous locations throughout the State where free IDs could be obtained.”
Thor Hearne II, an attorney for Virginia’s Department of Elections, also noted that while North Carolina’s voter ID law was passed just after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling eliminating the federal preclearance requirement for voting law changes in states with a history of voter discrimination, Virginia’s voter ID law was passed before that case was decided. (ASSOCIATED PRESS, WASHINGTON POST)
The OREGON Emergency Board rejected a plea by state correction officials for $3.8 million to help re-open the Oregon State Penitentiary Minimum in Salem to augment the state’s only current women’s prison. Gov. Kate Brown (D) has also asked lawmakers for $17.5 million to operate the prison, which is intended to combat overcrowding at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility. The state wants to shift 176 inmates from there to the re-opened facility by next June. The Emergency Board said they want to see if efforts to reduce the female prison population can alleviate the need for the new facility before committing funds to it. (BEND BULLETIN, WALLOWA COUNTY CHIEFTAIN)
NEW JERSEY Gov. Chris Christie (R) signed a bill last week that will require the Garden State to begin making quarterly payments to its beleaguered pension system. The new law – a version of a bill Christie has vetoed twice before - will require pension payments to be made on Sept. 30, Dec. 31, March 31 and June 30 of each year, instead of at the end of the fiscal year in June. In exchange, the pension fund will reimburse the state treasury for any losses incurred if the state has to borrow money to make a payment. (NJ.COM, BRISTOL HERALD COURIER)
A state judge threw out an executive order issued by LOUISIANA Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) that prohibited discrimination in government and state contracts based on sexual orientation and gender identity. State District Judge Todd Hernandez said the governor exceeded his authority because the order seeks to expand or create state law. Edwards said he would appeal the ruling. (ABCNEWS, TIMES-PICAYUNE [NEW ORLEANS])
-- Compiled by RICH EHISEN
North Carolina Gov.-elect Roy Cooper (D) threatened to sue the GOP-dominated Tar Heel State Legislature last week over the Republicans’ move to limit gubernatorial powers before he takes office. Cooper was reacting to legislation proposed in a surprise special session called by current Gov. Pat McCrory (R) – the man Cooper is ousting after a bitter battle that included major vote recounts before McCrory would concede – to consider bills that would end gubernatorial control over election boards, require the Senate to approve the new governor’s cabinet members and strip his power to appoint University of North Carolina trustees.
“If I believe these measures are unconstitutional, they will see me in court and they don’t have a good track record there,” Cooper said, adding “Most people might think this is a partisan power grab, but it’s really more ominous.”
Republicans have claimed the changes are necessary to ensure a balance of power in state government; Democrats have called them “a coup.” (POLITICO, NEW YORK TIMES)
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) has unveiled a series of agenda items he plans to pursue in the new legislative session, including the repeal of a law adopted earlier this year that requires state officials to rate and rank proposed transportation projects to determine which should get funding priority.
Other plans include attempting to revive a proposal to create manufacturing jobs in high-unemployment areas and doubling the amount of money the Old Line State spends on scholarships for low-income students to attend private schools. All three ideas face an uphill battle in the Democrat-dominated General Assembly.
The transportation rating legislation (HB 1013) became law after lawmakers overrode Hogan’s veto in April. But Hogan says the law will “wreak havoc on the entire state transportation system” because the scoring system it will utilize favors projects in urban areas over those in more rural jurisdictions. The law’s supporters counter that it will ensure fiscal accountability while also giving the Hogan administration the flexibility to choose lower-scoring projects over higher-ranking ones if he can justify the decision.
Hogan’s manufacturing proposal previously failed during the 2016 legislative session, though a Hogan spokesperson said earlier this month that his office has “worked out some of the kinks” that led lawmakers to reject the original proposal. That plan would have provided a 10-year tax exemption for new manufacturers and their employees in certain areas, including Baltimore, Western Maryland and the lower Eastern Shore.
The governor’s education proposal would double – to $10 million over the next three years – the amount the state dedicates to a program known as Broadening Options and Opportunities for Students Today. The plan has already drawn strong opposition from the state teachers union, which wants the program abolished. Last week the union called the scholarship proposal a “Trump-like initiative that sends taxpayer money from public schools to private schools.” (WASHINGTON POST, BALTIMORE SUN, LEXIXNEXIS STATE NET)
Saying “we’ve got the firepower,” California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) told a gathering of scientists on Wednesday that his state is ready to fight back against anticipated efforts by the incoming Trump administration to impede or halt their work on battling global climate change.
“We’ve got the scientists, we’ve got the lawyers and we’re ready to fight. We’re ready to defend,” he said at the American Geophysical Union’s annual fall meeting in San Francisco.
Brown’s address came one day after he called on President Barack Obama to permanently ban new oil drilling off the California coast and signed a memorandum of understanding with U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell to renew and expand joint efforts to grow offshore renewable energy development. Brown also joined Govs. Jay Inslee of Washington and Kate Brown of Oregon – both Democrats – in an agreement with officials from France and Chile and other international jurisdictions to battle rising ocean acidification caused by greenhouse gas emissions.
“The time has never been more urgent or your work never more important. The climate is changing, temperatures are rising, oceans are becoming more acidified, habitats are under stress – the world is facing tremendous danger,” Brown said. “It’ll be up to you as truth-tellers, truth seekers to mobilize all your efforts to fight back. We’ve got a lot of firepower. We’ve got the scientists, we’ve got the universities, we have the national labs and we have the political clout and sophistication for the battle – and we will persevere. Have no doubt about that.”
Brown also invoked his most enduring moniker – “Gov. Moonbeam” – to mark his commitment to continue using satellites for gathering climate data even if a new administration stops doing so, noting that he earned the nickname by suggesting in 1978 that California launch its own satellite to gather climate data.
“They called me Gov. Moonbeam because of that,” he said, adding, “If Trump turns off the satellites, California will launch its own damned satellite. We’re going to collect that data.” (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET, SACRAMENTO BEE, KQED [SAN FRANCISCO])
The CALIFORNIA Supreme Court rules that online travel companies are exempt from paying hotel occupancy taxes. The ruling rejects claims by the city of San Diego that companies like Expedia and Priceline are liable for paying the hotel taxes. But some observers say the wording of the ruling could open the door for cities to sue the hotels directly for the tax payments (BLOOMBERG BNA).
MICHIGAN Gov. Rick Snyder (R) signs SB 995, which authorizes the operation of autonomous vehicles on Wolverine State public roads. The legislation updates a 2013 law that allowed for the testing of autonomous vehicles in the state, but required a driver to be sitting behind the wheel (GOVTECH.COM).
Hoping to reduce recidivism, ILLINOIS Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) signs SB 3368, which requires the secretary of state's office to issue a standard Illinois ID card to ex-inmates at the time of release. The inmates must present a birth certificate, Social Security card or other documents (HERALD & REVIEW [DECATUR]).
MICHIGAN Gov. Rick Snyder (R) signs a trio of bills (House Bills 5542,5543,5544) that, among several things, provide assistance to human trafficking survivors and increase penalties against those convicted of forcing them into prostitution (MICHIGAN GOVERNOR’S OFFICE).
OHIO Gov. John Kasich (R) vetoes HB 493, which would have made it a fifth-degree felony, punishable by up to one year in prison, for a physician to perform an abortion without checking for a fetal heartbeat or performing the procedure after it can be detected, which could be as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. Kasich then signs SB 127, which bars the abortion procedure after the 20th week of pregnancy (COLUMBUS DISPATCH). The
OKLAHOMA Supreme Court strikes down a 2014 Sooner State law requiring doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital near their clinic, saying the measure “places an undue burden on a women’s access to abortion.” Earlier this year the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a similar law in TEXAS (Reuters).
The MISSOURI Supreme Court rules that a Show Me state law barring undocumented immigrants from being granted bail is unconstitutional. The court noted that the state constitution guarantees that “all persons” not charged with capital offenses are entitled to bail pending certain conditions and that lawmakers do not have the power to create “subsets” of persons to deny that right to (ST.LOUIS POST-DISPATCH).
The WEST VIRGINIA Board of Pharmacy announces it will ask all Mountain State prescription drug wholesalers to report on pharmacies that order a “suspicious” number of pain pills or other controlled substances. Those reports will then be forwarded to the attorney general’s office for review (CHARLESTON GAZETTE-MAIL).