Daily Brew: November 14, 2018

November 14, 2018

Today's Brew brings you another update on how the midterm elections impacted partisan control at the state level + a state supreme court resignation   Welcome to the Wednesday, November 14 Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day: State legislative supermajorities increase from 21 to 23 in 2018 elections West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Allen Loughry resigns San Francisco ballot measure that implements a tax aiming to fund homelessness services was approved last week. Now what? State legislative supermajorities increase from 21 to 23 in 2018 elections Note: Depending on the state, supermajorities (typically when one party controls either three-fifths or two-thirds of a chamber) can do anything from overriding gubernatorial vetoes to convicting impeached executive or judicial officials to passing constitutional amendments to raising taxes. Most of these special actions are only available if a party has a supermajority in both chambers. Specifically, supermajorities can become most relevant when a legislature is at odds with a sitting governor. Think North Carolina and the conflict between the Democratic Governor, Roy Cooper, and the Republican legislature, during the 2017-2018 sessions. Four states saw their full supermajority status change in last Tuesday’s elections. Democrats now have supermajorities in both chambers in California, Illinois, and Oregon, bringing their total full supermajorities from four to seven. Republicans lost a full supermajority in North Carolina, bringing their total from 17 to 16. Overall, the number of supermajorities increased from 21 to 23. Overall, Republicans have supermajorities in 16 states while Democrats have supermajorities in seven states. The remaining chambers have majorities that do not reach supermajority threshold. Eleven individual chambers changed supermajority status, including those that contributed to changes in California, Illinois, Oregon, and North Carolina. Democrats gained supermajorities in six individual chambers California Senate Connecticut Senate Illinois House Nevada Assembly Oregon House Oregon Senate Republicans lost supermajorities in five chambers Michigan Senate North Carolina House North Carolina Senate Pennsylvania Senate Texas Senate Three supermajorities will now face a governor from the opposite party—Kansas, Maryland, and Massachusetts. Kansas is newly divided after electing Laura Kelly (D) as governor and re-electing its Republican supermajority. Maryland and Massachusetts re-elected Govs. Larry Hogan (R-Md.) and Charlie Baker (R-Mass.) and Democratic supermajorities. Learn more about your state West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Allen Loughry resigns Justice Allen Loughry resigned effective Monday. Loughry was first elected to the court as a Republican in 2012. Loughry is the third West Virginia Supreme Court justice to resign in recent months, following a series of investigations and indictments. Loughry has been suspended without pay since June 8 as a result of allegations of criminal misconduct. On June 20, Loughry was indicted on 22 federal counts of fraud, witness tampering, and making false statements. On October 12, he was convicted of 11 counts and found innocent of 10 counts. The jury was hung on one count. His resignation leaves one vacancy on the court. Loughry was also impeached by the state House of Delegates, who approved 11 articles of impeachment on August 13. Loughry was named in seven of the articles. Gov. Jim Justice (R) issued a proclamation for a special session that had been slated to begin yesterday to "consider matters relating to the removal of Allen Loughry, Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, including, but not limited to, censure, impeachment, trial, conviction, and disqualification." The governor rescinded the proclamation after accepting Loughry's resignation. West Virginia held a special election for two supreme court seats on November 6. Tim Armstead and Evan Jenkins won the Division 1 and Division 2 seats, respectively. Gov. Justice had already appointed Armstead and Jenkins to the court on August 25 as interim justices. West Virginia Supreme Court elections have been nonpartisan since  2016. Armstead previously served as a Republican in the West Virginia House of Delegates and Jenkins was a Republican representative in Congress. They serve alongside Margaret Workman, who was elected as a Democrat in 2008, and Beth Walker, who ran unsuccessfully as a Republican in 2008 and was elected in a nonpartisan election in 2016. For more on the situation in West Virginia, see here→ San Francisco ballot measure that implements a tax to fund homelessness services was approved last week. Now what? San Francisco voters approved Proposition C last Tuesday, a business tax measure to fund homelessness services. Proposition C authorizes a gross receipts tax of 0.175 percent to 0.69 percent on businesses with over $50 million in gross annual receipts. The measure also authorizes a tax of 1.5 percent on payroll expenses for certain businesses with over $1 billion in gross annual receipts and administrative offices in San Francisco. The measure was approved with 61 percent of the vote. Proposition C had attracted over $7 million in contributions from support and opposition campaigns prior to the election. Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, was a vocal supporter of Proposition C, while Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square, had opposed the measure. Following the election, San Francisco Controller Ben Rosenfield stated that funds from Proposition C could not be used until a legal dispute is resolved regarding the vote requirement for the measure's passage. According to Article XIII C, Section 2d of the California Constitution, local governments may not enact, extend, or increase a special tax without a two-thirds (66.67 percent) supermajority vote of the electorate. The article, adopted in 1996, defines a special tax as “any tax imposed for specific purposes, including a tax imposed for specific purposes, which is placed into a general fund.” However, proponents of Measure C, have stated that this law does not apply to special taxes proposed through citizen initiatives. In August 2018, a lawsuit was filed challenging a commercial rent tax that was passed through a citizen initiative in June 2018. The initiative had passed with 51 percent approval. However, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, the Building Owners and Managers Association of California, the California Business Properties Association, and the California Business Roundtable filed a lawsuit stating that the measure should have required a two-thirds supermajority vote because it proposed a special tax for childcare programs. The decision would be applied to Proposition C, which passed with 60 percent approval. Until that decision is known, the tax will be collected but funds will be held. Learn more→