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Daily Brew: January 24, 2019

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January 24, 2019

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Today's Brew highlights how lawmakers alter ballot initiatives approved by voters, the impact of the government shutdown on federal rule-making, and how the 2018 elections impacted Florida’s Supreme Court

  
The Daily Brew

Welcome to the Thursday, January 24 Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

  1. Legislators have altered nine ballot initiatives in five states and D.C. since 2017
  2. 14 documents published in last week’s Federal Register as government shutdown continues
  3. Florida Gov. DeSantis (R) appoints third supreme court justice this month, changing court’s majority

Legislators have altered nine ballot initiatives in five states and D.C. since 2017

When voters approve a ballot measure, that isn’t always the end of the journey for that issue. Sometimes, what happens next is called legislative alteration, which is an action by lawmakers at the local or state level to directly amend or repeal a citizen initiative that was approved by voters.

In 2018, Ballotpedia tracked two instances of legislative alteration:

  • an ordinance in the District of Columbia overturning Initiative 77 (June 2018), an initiative voters previously approved to increase the minimum wage for tipped workers; and
  • a bill in Utah to repeal and replace Proposition 2, the medical marijuana initiative approved in November 2018.

In 2017, we tracked seven initiatives in four states that were repealed or amended through legislative alteration.

There were also proposed bills for legislative alteration of two additional initiatives, one in Oklahoma and one in Maine. The bill in Maine was to delay the implementation of the 2016 ranked-choice voting initiative and was approved by the legislature and signed by the governor. But the legislative alteration attempt was prevented through a successful veto referendum petition targeting the bill and supported by voters in June 2018.

State legislators in Oklahoma, Utah, and Washington are currently considering bills to legislatively alter initiatives passed in 2018. These include:

  • In Utah, legislation was proposed to make changes to Proposition 3, the initiative to expand Medicaid coverage, regarding levels of coverage and the timeline.
  • In Washington, legislators are considering a bill to amend Initiative 940, an initiative concerning police training and criminal liability, and
  • In Oklahoma, legislators are considering a proposal to make 2016's drug and property crime initiative, State Question 780, retroactive.

Five more facts about legislative alteration.

  1. Eleven of the 21 states that feature the initiated state statute power have no restrictions on how soon or with what majority state legislators can repeal or amend initiated statutes.
  2. Four states have restrictions on how soon state legislators can repeal or amend initiative statutes—ranging from two to seven years.
  3. Six states have restrictions on how large of a supermajority vote is required in the legislature to repeal or amend initiative statutes.
  4. Two of these states have restrictions both on how soon and with what majority state legislators can repeal or amend initiative statutes. California and Arizona are the only two states with voter approval requirements for changes to or the repeal of citizen-initiated state statutes.
  5. Constitutional amendments proposed by the state legislature must be put before voters for ratification in every state but Delaware, so state legislators cannot directly amend those. But in certain states, just because voters approve a public initiative doesn’t always result in it becoming law.
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14 documents published in last week’s Federal Register as government shutdown continues

During the week of January 14 to January 18, the Federal Register increased by 88 pages, bringing the year-to-date total to 194. A total of 14 documents were published, including three notices, one presidential document, and ten rules.

Due to the government shutdown, fewer pages have been added to the Federal Register thus far in 2019 as compared to recent years. During the same week in 2018, the number of pages in the Federal Register increased by 856 pages, with 462 documents published. As of January 18, the 2019 total trailed the 2018 total by 2,690 pages.

The Federal Register is a daily journal of federal government activity that includes presidential documents, proposed and final rules, and public notices. It is a common measure of an administration’s regulatory activity.

The Trump administration has added an average of 65 pages to the Federal Register each week in 2019 as of January 18. In 2018, the Trump administration added an average of 1,301 pages to the Federal Register each week. Over the course of the Obama administration, the Federal Register increased by an average of 1,658 pages per week.

According to government data, the Federal Register hit an all-time high of 95,894 pages in 2016.

Florida Gov. DeSantis (R) appoints third supreme court justice this month, changing court’s majority

On Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) selected Carlos G. Muñiz for a spot on the Florida Supreme Court, marking DeSantis’ third such appointment this month. These vacancies resulted from the retirement of three judges on January 7 who had reached the mandatory retirement age. Two of the outgoing justices were appointed by then- Gov. Lawton Chiles (D), while the third retiring judge was a joint decision between Chiles and incoming Gov. Jeb Bush (R) in December 1998.

While Florida’s previous governor, Rick Scott (R), began the process of naming replacements for the outgoing justices, the state Supreme Court ruled in October 2018 that only Gov. Scott’s successor could select new judges since their terms didn’t end until after the new governor was to be sworn in. Thus, Florida’s 2018 gubernatorial election would determine which party would make these appointments.

Gray Rohrer wrote in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "If Republican Ron DeSantis wins the governor’s race, he’ll be able to move the court to a solid conservative majority. If Democrat Andrew Gillum wins, he could possibly preserve the liberal majority." And David Smiley of the Tribune News Service wrote, "Republican Ron DeSantis or Democrat Andrew Gillum will control the tilt of the seven-member court, potentially swaying a generation of precedent-setting legal opinions on issues like labor, school vouchers, gun rights and healthcare."

On November 6, 2018, DeSantis defeated Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum (D) and four other candidates in the gubernatorial election by fewer than 43,000 votes out of over 8 million votes cast, or 0.4 percentage points.

All seven members of the Florida Supreme Court were appointed by Republican governors--three by Gov. DeSantis, one by Gov. Rick Scott, and three by Gov. Charlie Crist. Crist was the Republican governor of Florida from 2007 to 2011. He changed his party affiliation to Democrat in 2012.

Newly appointed judges serve for at least one year, after which they appear in a yes-no retention election held during the next general election. If retained, judges serve six-year terms. DeSantis, previously chose Florida Third District Court of Appeal Judges Barbara Lagoa and Robert Luck to serve on the state’s highest court. Florida is one of 22 Republican trifectas.

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See also

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