The Tap: Friday, July 8, 2016

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

Review of the day

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #24 of The Tap, which was published on July 9, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

• U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) and her Chief of Staff Elias "Ronnie" Simmons pleaded not guilty to “charges of mail and wire fraud, conspiracy, obstruction and filing of false tax returns.” According to Assistant U.S. Attorney General Leslie Caldwell, "Congresswoman Brown and her chief of staff are alleged to have used the congresswoman's official position to solicit over $800,000 in donations to a supposed charitable organization, only to use that organization as a personal slush fund.” According to the indictment, donations to Brown’s charity, One Door, went into Brown’s and Simmons’ bank accounts and paid for “repairs to Brown's car and vacations to locations such as the Bahamas, Miami Beach and Los Angeles.” In addition, the indictment alleges that Brown used One Door funds to pay for “a golf tournament, lavish receptions during an annual Washington conference and the use of luxury boxes for a Beyonce concert and an NFL game between the Washington Redskins and Jacksonville Jaguars.”
  • After the hearing, Brown said, "My heart is just really heavy. But I'm looking forward to a speedy day in court to vindicate myself. We will present the other side."

• Five Dallas police officers were killed and seven were wounded by Micah Johnson, a “black U.S. military veteran of the Afghan war who said he wanted to ‘kill white people,’” according to Reuters. The attack occurred during a protest against this week’s fatal police shootings of black men in Minnesota and Louisiana. Two civilians were also wounded during the attack. After an hours-long standoff, the gunman was killed by a bomb-carrying robot.
  • In a statement, President Barack Obama commented on the attack, saying, “[T]here is no possible justification for these kinds of attacks. Grave violence against law enforcement. The FBI is already in touch with the Dallas police; anyone involved in these senseless murders will be held fully accountable. Justice will be done. I will have more to say about this when the facts become more clear. For now, let me just say that, even as yesterday I spoke about are need to be concerned as all Americans about racial disparities in our criminal justice system. I also said yesterday that our police have an extraordinarily difficult job and the vast majority of them do their job in outstanding fashion. I also indicated the degree in which we need to be supportive of those officers who do their job each and every day. Protecting us and protecting our communities. Today is a wrenching reminder of the sacrifices that they make for us. We also know that when people are armed with powerful weapons, it unfortunately make attacks like these more deadly and more tragic and in the days ahead consider those realities as well.”

• Key vote: The House passed S 524 - To authorize the Attorney General and Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants to address the national epidemics of prescription opioid abuse and heroin use, and to provide for the establishment of an inter-agency task force to review, modify, and update best practices for pain management and prescribing pain medication, and for other purposes by a vote of 407-5. The bill, which is designed to prevent opioid overdoses, is expected to easily pass the Senate and will be “one of Congress’s biggest achievements this year,” according to The Hill.

State

• Filing deadline: Washington initiatives
  • Supporters submitted signatures for five potential initiatives in Washington.
    • The Minimum Wage Initiative would increase the state minimum wage to $13.50 by 2020.
    • The "Extreme Risk Protection" Initiative would authorize courts to issue extreme risk protection orders to remove an individual from access to firearms.
    • The Motion Picture Competitiveness Tax Credit Increase Initiative would increase the amount of tax credit an individual can claim under the motion picture competitiveness program from $1 million to $4 million.
    • The "Vulnerable Individual Protection" Initiative would increase criminal identity-theft penalties and expand civil liability for consumer fraud targeting seniors and vulnerable individuals. It would exempt certain information regarding vulnerable individuals and in-home caregivers from public disclosure.
    • The "Government Accountability Act" would create a campaign finance system allowing residents to direct state funds to qualifying candidates, repeal the non-resident sales-tax exemption, restrict employment of former public employees and lobbying, and revise campaign finance laws.
  • Supporters needed at least 246,372 signatures for their measures to qualify for the ballot. At least 33 Initiatives to the People were vying for spots on the November ballot. These potential measures dealt with issues such as marijuana regulation, tax rate limits, LGBT policy, and single-payer healthcare.
  • Once the signatures have been gathered and filed, the secretary of state verifies the signatures using a random sample method. If the sample indicates that the measure has sufficient signatures, the measure is certified for the ballot. However, if the sample indicates that the measure has insufficient signatures, every signature is checked. Under Washington law, a random sample result may not invalidate a petition. However, the secretary of state is not required to review any petition that "clearly bears insufficient signatures."

• Filing deadline: Nebraska initiatives
  • Supporters submitted signatures for three of the four potential measures in Nebraska.
    • At least 81,136 valid signatures were required to qualify the Nebraska Horse Track Gaming Taxation Initiative and the Nebraska Horse Track Gaming Regulations Initiative for the ballot. Supporters submitted roughly 90,000 signatures for both initiatives.
    • At least 115,909 signatures were needed to qualify the Nebraska Horse Track Initiative Amendment for the ballot. Supporters submitted about 130,000 signatures for the initiative.
    • Supporters did not submit any signatures for the other potential measure, the Nebraska Child Custody Initiative, by the deadline.

• Filing deadline: New Mexico initiatives
  • Supporters needed at least 51,944 signatures to qualify veto referendum measures calling for the suspension of a law and 129,859 signatures to qualify veto referendum measures that would not suspend a law. There were no potential veto referendums circulating for 2016.

• Filing deadline: Arkansas initiatives
  • Supporters needed at least 50,916 signatures to qualify veto referendum measures for the ballot, 67,887 signatures to qualify initiated state statutes, and 84,859 signatures to qualify initiated constitutional amendments.
    • Supporters submitted more than 106,000 signatures for the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment. If the measure qualifies for the ballot, it will be up against a similar measure, known as the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act, which qualified for the ballot on July 7, 2016.
    • Supporters also submitted over 92,000 signatures for the Arkansas Casinos Amendment, which would allow three casinos to operate in the state.
    • Supporters of the Arkansas Legislative Term Limits Amendment were not able to gather enough signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot.

• Filing deadline: Oregon initiatives
  • Supporters submitted signatures for five potential initiatives in Oregon.
    • The Declaration of Emergencies Initiative (Petition #49) would require a two-thirds vote of the legislature to declare an emergency.
    • The Voter Privacy Initiative (Petition #50) would prohibit the release of private voter information.
    • The Measure 98 would require state funding for dropout-prevention and career and college readiness programs in Oregon high schools.
    • The Measure 99 would create the "Outdoor School Education Fund," continuously funded through the Lottery, to provide outdoor school programs statewide.
    • The Measure 100 would prohibit the sale of products from and parts of 12 species of endangered animals.
    • Supporters needed at least 58,789 signatures to qualify veto referendum measures for the ballot, 88,184 signatures to qualify initiated state statutes, and 117,578 signatures to qualify initiated constitutional amendments. There were no potential veto referendums circulating for 2016.
    • The Oregon secretary of state’s office will use a random sample method to verify the signatures. The first round of raw signatures must contain at least the required number of valid signatures. If this round is submitted at least 165 days before an election and does not contain enough valid signatures, additional signatures can be submitted prior to the final deadline, which has not yet been set by the secretary of state.

• The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that the sponsorship of the Nebraska Death Penalty Repeal Referendum's did not invalidate the petition drive used to place the initiative on the November ballot. Nebraskans for Public Safety filed a lawsuit in September 2015, challenging the initiative’s validity on the grounds that its ballot language was misleading and Governor Pete Ricketts was not listed as a sponsor for the initiative. Lancaster County District Judge Lori Maret rejected the lawsuit regarding ballot sponsorship on January 29, 2016, and oral arguments in the Nebraska Supreme Court appeal case were heard on May 25, 2016. Judge Maret has not made a ruling regarding the plaintiffs’ claim that the ballot language is misleading. The initiative is the only measure certified for the 2016 ballot; there are four measures that could potentially qualify for the ballot. The deadline for supporters to submit signatures for these potential measures is July 11, 2016.

• Former Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard (R) was sentenced to four years in prison and another eight years on probation for violating the state’s ethics law. He was also ordered to pay $210,000 in fines. On June 10, 2016, Hubbard was convicted on 12 felony violations and was automatically removed from office according to state law. He was found guilty of using his position as speaker for personal gain. He solicited consulting contracts and investments from a number of lobbyists and companies for his company Craftmaster Printing. Hubbard is appealing the conviction and is out on bond. A special election has been called for November 29, 2016, to fill the seat.

Local

• In California, the Orange County Registrar of Voters began to review petition signatures for the recall effort against Yorba Linda Water District board members Gary Melton and Robert Kiley. If enough signatures are deemed valid, the recall will be added to the general election ballot on November 8, 2016. The recall effort was initiated in March 2016. The effort was launched because of the board's decision to raise rates by 380 percent over five years. Eddy Jackson of the Yorba Linda Taxpayers Association served the recall papers to Melton and Kiley during the water board’s meeting on March 10, 2016. Jackson said the board used a "deceptive campaign that leveraged California's water crisis as a means to excessively increase water rates.”
  • Two other members of the five-person board, Ric Collett and Mike Beverage, are up for re-election in 2016. If the recall proponents are successful in getting the recalls on the general election ballot in November 2016, voters will be able to elect a new board majority. The board voted 5-0 to increase water rates.

Preview of the day

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #23 of The Tap, which was published on July 2, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

State

• Filing deadline: Arkansas
  • Initiative and referendum signatures. Potential state statutes, such as the Campaign Finance Reform Initiative, require 67,887 signatures to land the measure on the November 8 ballot, and potential constitutional amendments, such as the Casinos Amendment, need 84,859 signatures. The two potential veto referendums, the Local Government Anti-Discrimination Protections Referendum and the “Intrastate Commerce Improvement Act” Referendum, each need 50,916 signatures to make the ballot. Three legislatively referred constitutional amendments already made the ballot in Arkansas: the Gubernatorial Powers Amendment, the Removal of Cap on Bonds Amendment, and the Terms, Elections, and Eligibility of County Officials Amendment.
• Filing deadline: Nebraska
  • Initiative signatures. 115,909 signatures are needed for four measures to qualify for the November 8 ballot. These are the Horse Track Initiative Amendment, the Horse Track Gaming Regulations Initiative, the Horse Track Gaming Taxation Initiative, and the Child Custody Initiative. The Death Penalty Repeal Referendum already made the November ballot in Nebraska as a veto referendum.
• Filing deadline: New Mexico
  • Veto referendum signatures. There were no potential veto referendums for the 2016 ballot.
• Filing deadline: Oregon
  • Initiative signatures. Potential state statutes—such as the Fossil Fuel Expansion Ban Initiative (Petition #1), the Universal Background Checks Initiative (Petition #16), and the Measure 99—require 88,184 signatures to make the ballot in November. Potential constitutional amendments, such as the Estate Tax Ban Amendment (Petition #7), the “Healthcare is a Human Right” Initiative (Petition #16), and the Affordable Access to Healthcare Initiative (Petition #43), need 117,578 signatures to make the ballot. The Judicial Retirement Measure (Amendment 1) and the Measure 97 already made the 2016 ballot in Oregon.
• Filing deadline: Washington
  • Referendum and Initiative to the People signatures. Potential Initiatives to the People—such as the Bathroom Restricted to Biological Sex Initiative, the Single Payer Healthcare Initiative, and the Taxpayer Protection Act—need 246,372 signatures each to make the November ballot. Two Initiatives to the Legislature already made the ballot: the Carbon Emission Tax and the “Restoring the Voice of We the People” Initiative. There are no potential veto referendums for the 2016 ballot in Washington.

Local

• In California, petition signatures are due in order for the recall effort against Yorba Linda Water District board members Gary Melton and Robert Kiley to be added to the general election ballot on November 8, 2016. The recall was initiated in March 2016. The effort was launched because of the board's decision to raise rates by 380 percent over five years. Eddy Jackson of the Yorba Linda Taxpayers Association served the recall papers to Melton and Kiley during the water board’s meeting on March 10, 2016. Jackson said the board used a "deceptive campaign that leveraged California's water crisis as a means to excessively increase water rates.”
  • Two other members of the five-person board, Ric Collett and Mike Beverage, are up for re-election in 2016. If the recall proponents are successful in getting the recalls on the general election ballot in November 2016, voters will be able to elect a new board majority. The board voted 5-0 to increase water rates.