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Daily Brew: April 16, 2019

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April 16, 2019

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Today's Brew highlights changes coming to the Oklahoma Supreme Court + a new law that makes it easier for people holding occupational licenses to work in Arizona

  
The Daily Brew

Welcome to the Tuesday, April 16 Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

  1. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) will fill two state supreme court vacancies
  2. Arizona becomes the first state to recognize out-of-state occupational licenses
  3. Incumbent Honolulu council member defeated in Saturday special election

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) will fill two state supreme court vacancies

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) will have the chance to appoint two new justices to the nine-member Oklahoma Supreme Court. Justice John Reif had announced in March that he would retire on April 30, 2019. And last week, Justice Patrick Wyrick vacated his seat after he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve on the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma.

The nominations will be Stitt's first two appointments to the court and will narrow the balance of the court from a 6-3 majority of justices appointed by Democratic governors to a 5-4 majority of justices appointed by Democratic governors.

Stitt's appointments will serve until the state’s next general election in 2020. The two new members will then face a retention election along with two current justices. Thus, the results of the elections in 2020 will dictate whether a majority of judges on the court were appointed by Democratic or Republican governors. No appellate court justice has lost a retention election in Oklahoma.

Under Oklahoma state law, the governor appoints a justice to the court based on a list of names submitted by the Oklahoma Judicial Nominating Commission. This commission consists of six lawyers elected by the Oklahoma Bar Association, six non-lawyers appointed by the governor, and three additional non-lawyers, who serve as at-large members.  

Each state within the United States, plus the District of Columbia, has at least one supreme court, which is the court of last resort for state-level cases. Supreme courts don’t hear trials of cases-they hear appeals of decisions made in lower trial or appellate courts. At Ballotpedia, we regularly highlight the selection of judges to these courts since their decisions can impact public policy in their states.

So far in 2019, there have been 12 supreme court vacancies across seven of the 29 states where replacement justices are appointed instead of elected.

Oklahoma and Texas are the only two states in the country that have two courts of last resort. In Oklahoma, the state supreme court is the court of last resort for civil matters and the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals is the final arbiter of all criminal matters.

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Arizona becomes the first state to recognize out-of-state occupational licenses

People who achieve occupational licenses and certifications earn them according to rules established in a specific state, usually their state of residence. And the ability to transfer such licenses from one state to another can be difficult since state requirements often vary, even between neighboring states. I know this first-hand since before I started at Ballotpedia, I was a certified public accountant in Pennsylvania and then moved to another state. However, one state just changed its approach to this issue.

Arizona recently became the first state to pass legislation directing state regulatory agencies to issue licenses or certifications to new residents who were already licensed in their previous state. The law allows people who move to Arizona to continue working in their career field without having to attend state-specific training. For example, licensed nurses moving into the state would not have to go through a new process to become recertified as nurses in Arizona before working in an Arizona hospital.

The law lists requirements for new residents seeking Arizona licenses to work in regulated fields. It requires applicants to have a current certification in the same discipline in another state and have no record of disciplinary action or of the loss of a license in another state. The legislation passed the Arizona House by a vote of 36 to 24, with all 31 Republicans voting in favor and 24 of 29 Democrats opposed. It then passed in the state Senate by a vote of 18 to 11, with all 16 Republicans who voted being in favor and 11 of 13 Democrats voting against it.

In his 2019 State of the State Address, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey argued in favor of the law saying, “100,000 people will move here this year. There’s a job available for every one of them. Lots of them are trained and certified in other states. Standing in their way of earning a living in Arizona, our own licensing boards, and their cronies [...] And before those unelected boards feign outrage – let’s remember: workers don't lose their skills simply because they move to Arizona.”

Opponents of the law, like the National Board of Certified Counselors, argued, “Although the intent is to make it easier to work in Arizona, such legislation potentially exposes the public to mental health providers who have not met the minimum qualifications to practice in the state.”

Incumbent Honolulu council member defeated in Saturday special election

Last week, I previewed Saturday’s special election in Honolulu for the District 4 seat on its city council. Former state Representative Tommy Waters defeated incumbent council member Trevor Ozawa by 1,000 votes out of 34,000 ballots cast, 51.4 to 48.5 percent.

In November 2018, Ozawa defeated Waters by 22 votes out of over 36,000 ballots cast-a margin of 0.06 percent. Waters subsequently challenged the results over how mailed ballots were received and counted. The Hawaii Supreme Court determined that 350 absentee mail-in ballots were received after the 6 p.m. deadline on Election Day and commingled with other ballots received that day. Since these votes should not have been counted and given Ozawa’s small margin of victory, the court ordered a new election.

The outcome of Saturday’s election will also affect the prevailing governing majority of the council. Four of the council’s nine members have opposed incumbent Mayor Kirk Caldwell and his policies while four generally support the mayor. Waters, who campaigned with Caldwell, is expected to join the latter group. Ozawa had been a vocal critic of the mayor. Thus, Caldwell is expected to have a governing majority on the council. The city of Honolulu utilizes a strong mayor system in which the city council serves as the city's primary legislative body while the mayor serves as the city's chief executive.

The approximately 34,000 votes cast in Saturday’s special election represented 92.7% of the votes cast in 2018’s council race when statewide elections for governor, U.S. Senate, and members of Congress and the state legislature were also on the ballot.


See also

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