The Tap: Tuesday, July 19, 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 #26 of The Tap, which was published on July 23, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

• FROM BALLOTPEDIA IN CLEVELAND: On the second day of the Republican National Convention, the Republican Party officially nominated Donald Trump as its presidential nominee. Donald Trump Jr., a New York delegate, and his siblings announced New York’s votes to the convention secretary. Trump Jr. said, "It is my honor to be able to throw Donald Trump over the top in the delegate count tonight with 89 delegates. Congratulations Dad, we love you."
  • Delegations from Utah, Nevada, Alaska, and D.C. cast their votes in the manner in which their delegates were allocated and bound; however, the RNC secretary recorded all of each delegation’s votes for Trump, rather than for the candidates each delegation announced. According to Ballotpedia staff writer Charles Aull, the vote discrepancy “has a lot to do with the complex intersection of state party rules and the official Rules of the Republican Party. The national rules require delegates in states that held primary elections or caucuses to be allocated and bound to a candidate based on the results of those primary elections or caucuses. The nuances of how those delegates are bound, however, are left largely up to the states. In some states, for example, delegates can become bound to a different candidate if the candidate to whom they were originally bound suspends his or her campaign. Similarly, delegates can also become bound to a different candidate if their original candidate’s name doesn’t appear on the official ballot. Whatever the state party decides—provided that it does not conflict with national rules—is what the convention enforces. That’s what happened with D.C., Utah, Nevada, and Alaska.”
  • See also: What happened with Utah, Nevada, Alaska, and D.C. at the convention tonight? and What happened last night at the nomination vote?

• The theme of the evening’s convention speeches was “Make America Work Again.” It featured appearances from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, retired neurosurgeon and former presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson, and Trump’s children, Tiffany and Donald, Jr., among others.

• The Hill reported that Unite Here, a labor union representing “270,000 workers in the hotel, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, distribution, laundry, transportation and airport industries,” endorsed Hillary Clinton. The union decided to endorse Clinton “because she opposes an excise tax on high-end healthcare plans under the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as the ‘Cadillac tax.’ The excise tax, which is set to go into effect after President Obama leaves office, would charge some companies that provide high-dollar healthcare benefits an additional tax on such plans,” according to The Hill. The endorsement said, “Most impressively, we did not have to ask Hillary Clinton to take this position. Indeed, it is just a reflection of her decades-long commitment to affordable health care for working families.”

• The Associated Press obtained a document outlining a side deal to the Iran nuclear accord that will ease restrictions on Iran’s ability to build a bomb before the end of the 15-year deal. A diplomat who shared the document “described it as an add-on agreement to the nuclear deal in the form of a document submitted by Iran to the International Atomic Energy Agency outlining its plans to expand its uranium enrichment program after the first 10 years of the nuclear deal.” The document describes what Iran is allowed to with its uranium enrichment program after the first 10 years of the agreement, details that were unclear before the release of the new document. According to the AP, the side agreement “says that as of January 2027 — 11 years after the deal was implemented — Iran will start replacing its mainstay centrifuges with thousands of advanced machines. Centrifuges churn out uranium to levels that can range from use as reactor fuel and for medical and research purposes to much higher levels for the core of a nuclear warhead. From year 11 to 13, says the document, Iran will install centrifuges up to five times as efficient as the 5,060 machines it is now restricted to using. Those new models will number less than those being used now, ranging between 2,500 and 3,500, depending on their efficiency, according to the document. But because they are more effective, they will allow Iran to enrich at more than twice the rate it is doing now.” The AP estimates that under these conditions, Iran could produce a nuclear weapon is six months or less.
  • While negotiating the deal, the administration said that it would take Iran at least one year to produce a nuclear weapon. U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz “said the document obtained by the AP posed no contradiction to that claim because ‘we made it very clear that we were focused on 10 years on the minimum one-year breakout time.’”

• A Reuters report indicated that Supreme Court nominee Judge Merrick Garland surpassed the 125-day record of Justice Louis Brandeis in waiting for Senate action on a nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States. The report tracks “the time from the date that a president officially presented the nomination to final action in the Senate, whether for or against the nominee.”
  • For more, see: Supreme Court vacancy, 2016: An overview

• The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officially removed the lesser prairie chicken from the federal list of endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. In 2015, a federal court ordered the agency to withdraw its decision to list the bird as a threatened species. Energy groups and land developers supported the ruling, arguing that listing the bird as threatened would close off lands that would otherwise be available for energy exploration, ranching, and land development. Environmental groups opposed the ruling, arguing that the species could go extinct without federal protection.

State

• Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Hugh Thompson announced that he will retire from the court in January 2017. His term would have expired at the end of 2018. Gov. Nathan Deal (R) will appoint a successor. Gov. Deal will also appoint two new justices in accordance with the law passed in May that will expand the court from seven justices to nine. These three appointments will place four justices appointed by Deal onto the new nine-member court.
  • The current seven-member court’s balance stands at 4-3 in favor of Democrat-appointed justices. In Georgia’s judicial selection system, justices are appointed only to midterm vacancies and otherwise are elected in nonpartisan elections; appointed justices must stand for the next contested election that occurs at least six months after the appointment. Both Georgia and Arizona are changing the sizes of their state supreme courts this year. All three forthcoming new justices must stand for election in 2018 to remain on the bench.

• The superintendent of public instruction in Washington state, Randy Dorn, filed a lawsuit against seven school districts and the state for how they fund education. The lawsuit, filed in King County Superior Court, argues that by using local taxes to supplement what the state provides for teacher salaries, the school districts are breaking the law. This supplemental pay could be as high as 46 percent of a teacher's salary. The goal of the lawsuit is to pressure the legislature to fulfill its obligation under a 2012 Washington Supreme Court ruling to provide greater funding for public education, Dorn said, and the districts involved were named as examples. Dorn also stated that such local funding of education leads to variations in education quality across the state, while the Washington Education Association argued that communities should be able to use local funding to respond to local needs.

• Covered California, the state’s health insurance exchange, announced average premium increases of 13.2 percent for 2017. The increase is the largest since the exchange opened in 2014; the previous two years both saw rate increases at an average of 4 percent. Executive Director Peter Lee stated that the primary reason for the increase was the coming end of two federal programs intended to stabilize premiums during the first few years of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act’s major provisions, such as the requirement that all individuals acquire health insurance. Other factors included rising prescription drug costs and the enrollment of “substantially sicker” consumers outside of regular open enrollment periods. Lee specifically stated the increases were not due to insurer profits. The 13.2 percent increase slated for 2017 in California is still lower than the nationwide average of 22.7 percent in the 36 states that have finalized next year’s rates.

• Federal Judge Lynn Adelman issued a preliminary injunction that will permit Wisconsin voters who do not have the required forms of identification to vote in this year's general election by signing affidavits swearing to their identity. In his opinion, Adelman wrote, "Although most voters in Wisconsin either possess qualifying ID or can easily obtain one, a safety net is needed for those voters who can’t obtain qualifying ID with reasonable effort. The ... affidavit option is a sensible approach that will both prevent the disenfranchisement of some voters during the pendency of this litigation and preserve Wisconsin’s interests in protecting the integrity of its elections." In 2011, Wisconsin approved a law requiring voters to present photo identification at the polls. The requirement has been the subject of ongoing litigation, and the requirement did not take full effect until 2015. Sean Young, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, applauded Adelman's decision. "Wisconsin's voter ID law has been a mistake from day one. This ruling is a strong rebuke of the state's efforts to limit access to the ballot box. It means that a fail-safe will be in place in November for voters who have had difficulty obtaining ID." State Attorney General Brad Schimel (R) did not indicate whether the state would appeal the decision.

• Alameda County, California, supervisors unanimously approved a ban on fracking. Although fracking does not occur in Alameda County, other types of oil and gas extraction do. Supporters have said the ban "is both preventative and symbolic of the county’s stance on environmental issues." Before passing the ban, county supervisors negotiated with the only oil and gas company working in the county, E&B Natural Resources. The company had previously commented on a draft version of the ban, stating that it was concerned with their ability to prove that they didn't violate the new rules. Alameda County is the fifth county to ban fracking in California. A sixth county, Monterey County, will vote on a potential fracking ban on November 8, 2016.

Local

• The Denver City Council elected a new president and president pro tempore. Albus Brooks (District 9) was the lone nomination for president and was elected 11-0 with one member abstaining from the vote. His deputy is Jolon Clark (District 7). This year’s uncontested vote returned the process to a sense of familiarity; 2015’s election featured a split vote and was the first non-unanimous vote on leadership in more than five years. Brooks was first elected to the council in 2011, while Clark was first elected in 2015. Denver is the 22nd-largest city by population in the United States and the largest city in Colorado.
• Recall elections were on the local ballot in Nebraska and Oregon:
  • In Nebraska, Madison Mayor Alvin Brandl was retained. The recall effort began due to criticisms regarding the people the mayor appointed to city boards and his alleged lack of transparency. In response to the recall effort, the mayor stated, “We came a long away, I think the city is doing great. We’re working in teams, we’re getting things done. As I stated there is always going to be some controversy somewhere I suppose.” Petitioners submitted 229 certified signatures to put the recall on the ballot, exceeding the 170 signature requirement.
  • In Oregon, Gardiner Sanitary District Board members Richard Nored and Susanna Noordhoff were both recalled. The recall effort began due to criticisms leveled against the board by former board member Mack Holman. Holman alleged that the board members improperly conducted government business by email and overcharged him when he requested copies of their emails from December 17, 2015, through March 2016. In 2014, all five members of the board were successfully recalled in an effort that was also initiated by Mack Holman. Petitioners submitted 22 certified signatures to put the recall on the ballot, exceeding the 13-signature requirement. Both board members were given an option to resign after the signatures were certified, but they refused.
• FILING DEADLINE: Deadline passed to run for 24 school board seats in 11 of Alabama’s largest school districts. One of five school board seats is up for election in Mobile County Public Schools, which is the largest district in the state. It served 58,808 students during the 2013-2014 school year. A primary election was held on March 1, 2016, and the general election will be held on November 8, 2016.

Preview of the day

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #25 of The Tap, which was published on July 16, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

• The Republican National Convention will continue with speeches by UFC President Dana White, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R), former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Tiffany Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R). The second day of the convention typically includes a roll call of the states, where presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will likely be nominated.

State

• The Republican National Convention will continue with speeches by UFC President Dana White, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R), former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Tiffany Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R). The second day of the convention typically includes a roll call of the states, where presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his vice presidential pick, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, will likely be nominated. Trump announced via Twitter on Friday, July 15, that he had chosen Pence as his running mate and vice presidential pick. Pence, who had briefly considered a run for the presidency himself, had been facing a tough re-election battle in Indiana. He officially withdrew from the gubernatorial race on July 15.

Local

• Recall elections will be on the local ballot in Nebraska and Oregon:
  • In Nebraska, Madison Mayor Alvin Brandl will be up for recall election. The recall effort began due to criticisms regarding the mayor's appointments to city boards and his alleged lack of transparency. In response to the recall effort, the mayor stated, “We came a long away, I think the city is doing great. We’re working in teams, we’re getting things done. As I stated there is always going to be some controversy somewhere I suppose.” Petitioners submitted 229 certified signatures to put the recall on the ballot, exceeding the 170 signature requirement.
  • In Oregon, Gardiner Sanitary District Board members Richard Nored and Susanna Noordhoff will be up for recall election. The recall effort began due to criticisms levied against the board by former board member Mack Holman. Holman alleged that board members improperly conducted government business by email and overcharged him when he requested copies of their emails from December 17, 2015, through March 2016. In 2014, all five members of the board were successfully recalled in an effort that was also initiated by Mack Holman. Petitioners submitted 22 certified signatures to put the recall on the ballot, exceeding the 13-signature requirement. Both board members were given an option to resign after the signatures were certified, but they refused.
• FILING DEADLINE: Deadline to run for 24 school board seats in 11 of Alabama’s largest school districts. One of five school board seats are up for election in Mobile County Public Schools, which is the largest district in the state. It served 58,808 students during the 2013-2014 school year. A primary election was held on March 1, 2016, and the general election will be held on November 8, 2016.