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The State and Local Tap: New Jersey governor signs $15 minimum wage legislation

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February 9, 2019Issue No. 147

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Week in review
On tap next week

THE WEEK IN REVIEW

Here's what happened in State and Local politics last week.

Ballot Measures Update

2019:

  • One statewide measure has been certified for the 2019 ballot so far: a transportation bond issue in Colorado automatically put on the ballot when voters rejected two proposed bond issues at the November 2018 election.
  • Four of the 26 states with a process for citizen-initiated measures allow for ballot initiatives or veto referendums on ballots for elections in any odd-numbered years: Colorado, Maine, Ohio, and Washington.
    • Other states that frequently feature statewide measures referred to the ballot by the legislature in odd-numbered years include Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, and Texas.
  • Signatures for two citizen initiatives have been submitted, and enough signatures were verified for both to qualify them for the ballot if state legislators do not enact the measures themselves. Both are Washington Initiatives to the Legislature—the name of indirect initiatives in Washington:
    • Washington Initiative 976, Limits on Motor Vehicle Taxes and Fees Measure
      • More than the 259,622 required signatures were found to be valid through the secretary of state’s random sample verification method.
    • Washington Initiative 1000, Affirmative Action and Diversity Commission Measure
      • Proponents submitted 393,825 signatures by the deadline on January 4, and, on February 7, 2019, the secretary of state certified that more than the 259,622 required signatures were valid, sending the initiative to the legislature and then to the ballot if the legislature does not approve it.

2020:

  • Six statewide measures are certified for the 2020 ballot in four states: California, Iowa, Michigan, and Nevada.
    • Four of them are citizen-initiated measures, one is a legislative referral, and one is an automatic constitutional revision commission question.

Saturday, February 2

Virginia Gov. Northam (D) addresses yearbook photo, faces calls to resign

  • Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D) held a press conference to further discuss a photo from his 1984 Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook which contained an image of two men, one in blackface and the other in a Ku Klux Klan robe. At the press conference, Northam said that upon further reflection, he believed "that I am not either of the people in that photo. I stand by my statement of apology to the many Virginians who were hurt by seeing this content on a yearbook page that belongs to me. ... It was my responsibility to recognize and prevent it from being published in the first place."
  • After the press conference, the Virginia House Democratic Caucus, the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, U.S. Senator Mark Warner, and U.S. Sen Tim Kaine, among others, issued statements or tweets calling on Northam to resign. Virginia Senate Minority Leader Richard Saslaw (D) stated his support for the governor, saying that Northam shouldn't be entirely judged on something that happened 30 years ago.

Monday, February 4

New Jersey governor signs $15 minimum wage legislation

  • New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) signed legislation to increase the state’s minimum wage over five years, reaching $15 in 2024. Thereafter, the minimum wage will be tied to increases in the Consumer Price Index. New Jersey is the fourth state, following California, Massachusetts, and New York, to enact $15 minimum wage legislation.
  • On January 1, 2019, New Jersey’s minimum wage rose from $8.60 to $8.85 an hour. The first increase under the new law will take effect on July 1, 2019, which will raise the minimum wage to $10 per hour.

The combination of the two means that the minimum wage in the state will increase a total of $1.40 in 2019—the largest increase in a state minimum wage in 2019. California, Maine, and Massachusetts each had a $1.00 increase on January 1, 2019.

  • With trifecta control of state government, Democrats were able to pass the minimum wage increase without the support of legislative Republicans. In 2016, Democratic legislative leaders considered putting the issue before voters as a constitutional amendment after then-Gov. Chris Christie (R) vetoed a statute. Referring constitutional amendments to the ballot does not require the governor’s signature.
  • Of the 29 states with a minimum wage above the federal requirement of $7.25, 14 were enacted via citizen-initiated measures in states with divided governments or Republican trifectas. None of the ballot initiatives were on the ballot in a state with a Democratic trifecta. Fifteen of the increases were enacted via legislative bills in states with Democratic trifectas or, in the case of New York, a divided government. None of the increases occurred via legislation in Republican trifectas. In Michigan, legislators under a Republican trifecta amended a citizen-initiated measure in December 2018. The legislation, like the citizen-initiated measure, was designed to increase the minimum wage to $12 but over a longer time period.
  • As of February 5, 2019, ballot measures to increase state minimum wages have been proposed for the 2020 ballot in Florida, Nevada, and South Dakota.

Tuesday, February 5

Republicans flip Minnesota State Senate seat

  • Jason Rarick (R) defeated Stu Lourey (D) and Legal Marijuana Now candidate John Birrenbach to flip control of the District 11 seat in the Minnesota State Senate in a special election on Tuesday. Rarick's win gives Republicans a three-seat majority in the Minnesota State Senate, up from the 34-33 majority they held before state Sen. Tony Lourey (D) resigned in January. Tony Lourey, who is Stu Lourey's father, resigned after newly-elected Governor Tim Walz (D) appointed him to serve as state human services commissioner, prompting the special election.
  • Rarick’s win represents the only state legislative special election so far in 2019 that has flipped from one party to the other. With all precincts reporting, Rarick received 52 percent of the vote to Lourey's 46 percent. This state Senate seat had been held by Lourey’s father and grandmother, both Democrats, since 1997. Donald Trump won the district in the 2016 presidential election by 13 points.
  • Minnesota is the only state in the U.S. with a divided legislature, meaning Republicans hold a majority in one chamber and Democrats, in the other. The state’s governor is also a Democrat.
  • Thirty-eight state legislative special elections have been scheduled or held in 15 states so far in 2019. Between 2011 and 2018, an average of 77 such special elections were held each year. In the four odd-numbered years during that period, an average of 91 state legislative special elections have taken place each year. In the even-numbered years, an average of 63 such special elections were held annually. From 2011 through 2018, an average of 11 seats flipped party control each year. During this time, 49 seats flipped control to Democrats, 35 flipped to Republicans, and four were flipped by independent candidates from either of the two major parties.

Alaska House reaches record for period without a majority after another speaker vote

  • The Alaska House matched the state record for the longest period without a majority in place, 22 days, which was set in 1981. Without a majority, the House cannot conduct legislative business or appoint committees.
  • Republicans have a 23-16 majority (the chamber has one independent), but three Republicans—Reps. Gary Knopp, Louise Stutes, and Gabrielle LeDoux—are not aligned with the other 20 Republicans under the leadership of Rep. David Talerico. Knopp does not believe a narrow Republican majority will be effective and instead argues for a bipartisan power-sharing agreement. Stutes and LeDoux aligned with Democrats from 2017 to 2018 and have both said they want to join another bipartisan coalition.
  • Amid this deadlock, the House held a vote for a permanent speaker on February 5. Talerico was voted down 20-20, the same result as the last vote for speaker on January 22. In both cases, 20 Republicans voted for Talerico while 16 Democrats, Knopp, Stutes, LeDoux, and independent Daniel Ortiz voted against him. Knopp said he could possibly vote for Talerico in the future but first wanted to form a bipartisan majority with what he called “success potential.” Rep. Bryce Edgmon, the Democratic speaker from 2017 to 2018, was also nominated for permanent speaker, but he declined to be considered.
  • On February 4, The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported that eight House members (four Republicans, three Democrats, and independent Ortiz) were working on a power-sharing arrangement similar to those used by other evenly-split state legislatures. Two members of the group, Reps. Grier Hopkins (D) and Bart LeBon (R), said they wanted to reach an agreement before February 13, the day Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s (R) budget proposal is set to be released.

Idaho Supreme Court upholds Medicaid expansion initiative, dismissing legal challenges

  • The Idaho Supreme Court voted to uphold Proposition 2, dismissing legal challenges to an initiative that was approved by voters in November 2018. Proposition 2 expanded Medicaid eligibility in Idaho to those under 65 years old whose income is at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty level, and who are not eligible for other state insurance coverage. Under the Affordable Care Act, however, 5 percent of income can be excluded when calculating Medicaid eligibility, which means that the measure increased the income threshold to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Proposition 2 was approved last year by a vote of 61 percent to 39 percent.
  • On November 21, 2018, Brent Regan, head of the Idaho Freedom Foundation’s board of directors, filed a lawsuit in the Idaho Supreme Court seeking to block Proposition 2. The lawsuit stated, "In essence, Proposition 2 has delegated to the federal government for its future determination Idaho’s percentage of financial contribution and therefore Idaho’s share of the costs Idaho will be forced to pay for Medicaid expansion."
  • Chief Justice Roger Burdick, writing for the 3-2 majority in dismissing the lawsuit, wrote, "If we were to accept Regan’s argument that any reference to a federal statute delegates lawmaking authority to the federal government, then many of Idaho’s statutes would be unconstitutional, and in fact, the option of any cooperative federal-state program would be curtailed." Justices of the Idaho Supreme Court are elected in nonpartisan elections, but four of the court’s five members were appointed by Republican governors prior to standing for election.
  • As of November 2018, a total of 36 states and Washington, D.C., had expanded or voted to expand Medicaid, while 14 states had not. Medicaid expansion initiatives were on the ballot in four states in November 2018. It was approved in three: Idaho, Nebraska, and Utah, and defeated in Montana. The first ever citizen initiative to expand Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act was approved in Maine in 2017. Legislation was introduced in both the Idaho and Utah 2019 legislative sessions to amend or repeal the Medicaid expansion initiatives.

New Mexico Supreme Court upholds constitutionality of closed primaries

  • The New Mexico Supreme Court dismissed a challenge to the legality of closed primaries in the state. The initial suit was brought by former attorney general Paul Bardacke (D), who argued that New Mexico's closed primary process serves private organizations (in this case, political parties) in violation of a state law prohibiting the use of public money to benefit private organizations. The state supreme court did not address this argument in its order, which summarily dismissed the challenge.
  • A closed primary is a type of primary election in which a voter must affiliate formally with a political party in advance of the election date in order to participate in that party's primary. In 14 states, including New Mexico, at least one political party conducts closed primaries for congressional and state-level offices. In 11 of these states, including New Mexico, all political parties conduct closed primaries. In the 2016 presidential election cycle, political parties in 27 states utilized closed primaries and/or caucuses as part of the presidential nominating process.
  • In New Mexico, state supreme court justices are appointed by the governor, who makes a selection from a list of candidates recommended by a commission. After being appointed, each justice must stand in the next partisan election in order to retain his or her seat.

Thursday, February 7

Measure to allow affirmative action in Washington certified to the legislature, may appear on November 2019 ballot

  • Initiative 1000 was certified to the legislature after enough signatures were found to be valid. Proponents submitted 395,938 signatures and, using a random sample method, the secretary of state's office found that 76 percent of the signatures were valid—more than the 259,622 required signatures.
  • Initiative I-1000 would allow affirmative action without the use of quotas in the state of Washington. This means that characteristics such as race, sex, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, sexual orientation, disability, or veteran status could be used as factors when considering a person for education or employment opportunities. I-1000 would, however, ban preferential treatment, meaning those characteristics could not be the sole or deciding factor when considering a person for education or employment opportunities. I-1000 would also ban discrimination based on the specified characteristics. The measure would also create the Governor's commission on diversity, equity, and inclusion, which would be responsible for ensuring compliance with the measure, and would be required to issue an annual report on the progress of state agencies in achieving the measure's goal of "guaranteeing every resident of Washington state equal opportunity and access to public education, public employment."
  • Initiative to the Legislature is the name for indirect initiated state statutes in the state of Washington. Upon signature verification, these initiatives go before the Washington Legislature at its next regular legislative session. The legislature must take one of three actions:
    • The legislature can adopt the initiative as proposed, in which case it becomes law without a vote of the people.
    • The legislature can reject or refuse to act on the proposed initiative, in which case the initiative must be placed on the ballot at the next state general election.
    • The legislature can approve an alternative to the proposed initiative, in which case both the original proposal and the legislature’s alternative must be placed on the ballot at the next state general election.
  • Washington I-200 of 1998 banned preferential treatment and discrimination in public education, employment and contracting based on sex, race, and ethnicity. Voters approved the measure by over 300,000 votes (58 percent to 42 percent) making Washington the second state to enact such a measure at the time.
  • Seven other states besides Washington currently ban race-based affirmative action at all public universities. In Arizona, California, Michigan, Nebraska, and Oklahoma, all bans were passed by voters at the ballot box. In Florida, Governor Jeb Bush created the ban through executive order. In New Hampshire, the legislature passed a bill banning the consideration of race.
  • The following constitutional amendments prohibited discriminating against or granting preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting:
    • California Proposition 209 (1996)
    • Michigan Proposal 2 (2006)
    • Nebraska Measure 424 (2008)
    • Oklahoma State Question 759 (2012)
  • The Oklahoma measure was referred to the ballot by the state legislature while the California, Michigan, and Nebraska measures were initiated by citizens.
  • Arizona Proposition 107 (2010), a legislatively referred amendment, banned affirmative action programs in the state that were administered by statewide or local units of government, including state agencies, cities, counties, community colleges, and school districts.

Supreme Court stays enforcement of Louisiana law requiring doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals

  • The Supreme Court of the United States voted 5-4 to stay enforcement of a Louisiana law, enacted in 2014, that requires doctors performing abortions to possess admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. The high court's majority, comprising Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor, provided no commentary explaining its order. Associate Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Clarence Thomas voted to deny the request for a stay, and Kavanaugh authored a dissent.
  • In 2016, a federal judge struck down the 2014 law, citing its similarity to a Texas law struck down by the Supreme Court in 2016, but this decision was reversed by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which voted 2-1 in 2018 to uphold the Louisiana law. In its order, the Supreme Court ordered that its stay remains in effect either until it agrees to take up the case and issues a final ruling or declines to hear the case, in which event the stay would be terminated and the appellate court's ruling would stand.

Special Elections

  • As of this week, 38 state legislative special elections have been scheduled in 15 states in 2019. Elections have been held for three Democratic seats and one Republican seat. One seat has flipped from Democratic control to Republican control. In special elections between 2011 and 2018, one party (either Republicans or Democrats) saw an average net gain of four seats across the country each year.
    • An average of 91 seats were filled through special elections in each of the past four odd years (2011: 94, 2013: 84, 2015: 88, 2017: 98).
    • An average of 55 seats were filled through special elections in each of the past five even years (2010: 26, 2012: 45, 2014: 40, 2016: 65, 2018: 99).

Upcoming special elections include:

February 12

February 19

February 23

February 26

Local Politics: The Week in Review

Elections Update

Tuesday, February 5

Duval Democrats announce official opposition to Lenny Curry's re-election

  • The Duval County Democratic Party announced it had passed a resolution opposing the re-election of Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry (R). Curry faces Councilwoman Anna Brosche (R), former Atlantic Beach City Councilman Jimmy Hill (R), and Omega Allen (I) in the March 19 general election. If no candidate receives a majority of the vote, a runoff election will be held on May 14.
  • While the local party officially opposes Curry, both the mayor and Brosche have gained official endorsements from Democratic members of the council. Tommy Hazouri (D) has endorsed Curry and also appeared in a campaign ad in support of him. Brosche, meanwhile, picked up an endorsement from Garrett Dennis (D). There are still four other Democratic members of the city council who have not yet endorsed a candidate in the race. Four of the council's 13 Republicans have endorsed in the race: all of them endorsed Curry.
  • Twenty-six of the 100 largest cities by population will be holding mayoral elections in 2019. Of those, five (Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, San Antonio, and Dallas) are among the 10 largest cities. Democrats currently hold the mayor's office in 18 of the cities with elections this year, while Republicans and independents hold four each. In total, Democrats hold 60 of the 100 mayorships, while Republicans hold 28, Independents eight, and there are four mayors of unknown political affiliation. Tampa is the largest city by population in Florida and the 13th-largest city in the United States.

Albuquerque voters defeat three school funding measures

  • Albuquerque Public Schools district voters defeated three school funding measures in elections held in Bernalillo County.
  • One measure would have renewed the capital improvements tax on all properties in the school district. Another would have increased the property tax levy for purchasing, constructing, leasing, improving, or furnishing school buildings, property, and vehicles, among other things. The third measure would have authorized the school district to issue up to $200 million in general obligation bonds for capital and equipment for the district. Had all three measures passed, the combined increase in annual property taxes would have been $2 per $1,000 in assessed property value. None of the measures received more than 43 percent support.
WHAT'S ON TAP NEXT WEEK

Here's what is happening in State and Local politics this week.

Tuesday, February 5

Minnesota State Senate District 11 special election to be held

  • A special election for Minnesota State Senate District 11 will take place on Tuesday. If state Rep. Jason Rarick (R) wins the special election, Republicans will gain a three-seat majority in the chamber. If Stu Lourey (DFL) wins, Republicans will again hold a one-seat majority.
    • Lourey, Rarick, and Legal Marijuana Now candidate John Birrenbach are running in the special election. The special election was called when state Sen. Tony Lourey (DFL)—who is Stu Lourey's father—resigned in January 2019 after Governor Tim Walz (DFL) appointed Tony Lourey to serve as human services commissioner.
    • Donald Trump (R) won the district in the 2016 presidential election by 13 points. The district has been held by a Lourey since 1997. Tony Lourey was in the seat since 2007, and his mother, Becky Lourey (DFL), held the seat from 1997 to 2007.
    • Before Tony Lourey's resignation, Republicans held a 34-33 majority in the state Senate. Republicans gained that majority in the special election for Minnesota State Senate District 13 won by Jeff Howe (R) on November 6, 2018. The state Senate had been split 33-33 since May 2018, when Michelle Fischbach (R) resigned to serve as lieutenant governor. Democrats control the governorship and the Minnesota House of Representatives.
    • Mail-in ballots must be received no later than Election Day. Click here and here for more information.

States in session

Forty-three states are in regular session and two states are in recess. Two states, Oklahoma and Nevada, will begin their legislative sessions on February 4.

Nevada holds legislative sessions in odd-numbered years. This year, Nevada's legislature is the first majority-female legislature in U.S. history. Nevada is also one of six states that flipped from divided government to Democratic control after the 2018 elections.

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Local Politics: What's On Tap Next Week

Monday, February 11

Early voting in all 50 Chicago wards begins

  • Chicago begins early voting in all 50 wards for municipal elections which take place on February 26. Locations are open for early voting seven days a week through February 25, the day before the election. Click here to see addresses and hours for locations in all wards.
  • One early voting location—the Loop Super Site at 175 W. Washington St.—has been open since January 29. The Loop Super Site will remain open for all Chicago voters to cast early ballots through February 25 as well.
  • The offices of mayor, city treasurer, and city clerk as well as all 50 city council seats are on the ballot. A runoff election is scheduled for April 2 for any race in which no candidate receives a majority of the vote on February. 26.
  • The Chicago Board of Election Commissioners states that "Government-issued photo ID is not required but is helpful if there is a question about the registration, address, signature or if there are two voters with the same or similar names at the same address.” Also, “any voter who needs to register for the first time or file an address update or a name change must show two forms of ID, one of which shows the voter's current address."
  • Subscribe to The Deep Dish, Ballotpedia's weekly newsletter serving up the latest in Chicago's 2019 elections.


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The Tap covered election news, public policy, and other noteworthy events from February 2016 to February 2022.

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