The Tap: Monday, August 15, 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 #30 of The Tap, which was published on August 20, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

• Donald Trump delivered a speech on national policy in Ohio where he introduced the “three pillars” of his antiterrorism platform.
  • Trump said that he would introduce a new ideological screening test for immigrants similar to what was in place during the Cold War. “The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today. I call it extreme, extreme vetting. Our country has enough problems. We don’t need more,” he said. Trump continued, “In addition to screening out all members or sympathizers of terrorist groups, we must also screen out any who have hostile attitudes toward our country or its principles ― or who believe that Sharia law should supplant American law.”
  • He reiterated his call for a temporary ban on “immigration from some of the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism.”
  • Trump also emphasized the importance of alliances with "moderate Muslim reformers in the Middle East.” He said that he would seek to hold an international conference with the leaders of Jordan, Egypt, Israel, and “all others who recognize this ideology of death that must be extinguished.” Trump also noted that there was an opportunity for improved relations with Russia, saying, “I also believe that we could find common ground with Russia in the fight against ISIS. They too have much at stake in the outcome in Syria, and have had their own battles with Islamic terrorism.”

• The chairmen of the House Oversight and Government Reform and Judiciary Committees, U.S. Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), submitted a joint letter to the Justice Department requesting that it investigate Hillary Clinton for perjury. The letter provided four examples where Clinton allegedly lied under oath about her private email server, making statements that were “incompatible” with the conclusions of the FBI investigation.

• The Commission on Presidential Debates announced its official criteria for inclusion in the 2016 presidential debates, and current polling indicates that Gary Johnson and Jill Stein are unlikely to qualify. Candidates must reach 15 percent in an average of five national polls in order to participate in the debates. The CPD announced that it will use polling from ABC/Washington Post, CBS/New York Times, CNN/Opinion Research Corporation, Fox News, and NBC/Wall Street Journal. So far, neither Johnson nor Stein has hit 15 percent in any of these organizations' national polls.
  • Find more information in Ballotpedia’s latest fact check: “Are the presidential debates rigged?”

• Vice President Joe Biden campaigned with Hillary Clinton in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He argued that Donald Trump was too “dangerous” to be commander-in-chief. "If my son were still in Iraq and I say to all those who were there, the threat to their life has gone up a couple of clicks, it has gone up a couple clicks,” he said, referencing his son, Beau, who served in the Army and died of cancer last year. Biden added that Trump was “not qualified” to know the nuclear launch codes and could not be trusted.

• The New York Times noted that Donald Trump “has not held a single event aimed at black voters in their communities, shunning the traditional stops at African-American churches, historically black colleges and barber shops and salons that have long been staples of the presidential campaign trail.” Although Trump’s campaigning style leans heavily towards large rallies, in general, he has rejected invitations to speak at events for black leaders, such as the NAACP, National Association of Black Journalists, and National Urban League.
  • Read more about Trump’s African American outreach director, former reality television star Omarosa Manigault.

• The Obama administration released 15 Guantanamo Bay prisoners—the administration’s largest single release—bringing the total number of prisoners down to 61. They were transferred to the United Arab Emirates. According to the Associated Press, "The Office of the Director of National Intelligence says 5 percent of Guantanamo prisoners released since Obama took office have re-engaged in militant activities and an additional 8 percent are suspected of doing so. That compares with 21 percent confirmed and 14 percent suspected during the Bush administration."

• Aetna, one of the five major health insurers in the country, announced its decision to exit the Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchange market in 15 states in 2017. Plans will continue to be offered on the health insurance exchanges of just four states, Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska, and Virginia. Aetna said its decision was based on losses of $200 million during the first half of 2016, which the company expects to rise to over $300 million by the end of the year. As a result of the decision, some rural areas of Arizona will not have any ACA insurance offerings in 2017, the first time such a situation has occurred in any state since the exchanges opened in 2014. Aetna is the third major insurer to reduce its participation in the ACA market, following similar announcements earlier in the year from UnitedHealthcare and Humana.
  • A spokesperson for the Clinton campaign, Jesse Ferguson, said in a statement, “The progress we’ve achieved since the Affordable Care Act became law is undeniable. … Donald Trump has no interest in building on what works.” According to The Wall Street Journal, Ferguson also cited “20 million newly insured Americans, expanded consumer protections and free preventive care” and noted Clinton’s “proposals meant to improve the system.”
  • Trump’s deputy national policy director, Dan Kowalski, said, “Aetna’s decision to leave the Affordable Care Act’s public marketplaces is the latest blow to this broken law that is slowly imploding under its regulatory red tape.” The Washington Times reports that he also said “‘millions’ of Americans saw their bare-bones plans canceled under Obamacare, because of new coverage requirements, and pointed to insurance mandates on employers that have forced some to trim payroll or slash part-timers’ hours to avoid triggering costly fines.”
  • See also: 2016 presidential candidates on healthcare

• Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson offered the assistance of the DHS and other government agencies to the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) and other chief election officials to protect against cyber attacks during the upcoming elections. He said that DHS can help state officials “conduct vulnerability scans, provide actionable information, and access to other tools and resources for improving cybersecurity.” According to a press release, “DHS is not aware of any specific or credible cybersecurity threats relating to the upcoming general election systems.”

State

• The Colorado “End-of-Life Options Act” (I-145) was certified for the November ballot. The measure would make assisted death legal among patients with a terminal illness who receive a prognosis of death within six months. Needing 98,492 signatures, the primary campaign group Yes on Colorado End-of-Life Options submitted over 160,000 signatures on August 4, 2016. This measure joined four other measures already certified for the ballot: Amendment 69, Amendment T, Amendment U, and the $12 Minimum Wage Amendment (I-101). Another initiative designed to make it harder to put initiative constitutional amendments on the ballot by adding a distribution requirement was certified on August 16.

• The Superior Court of Sacramento County denied a petition requesting revisions to the language provided by the state’s legislative analyst on California Proposition 61. If petitioner Aref Aziz's request had been approved, the phrase "drug manufacturers might choose to raise VA drug prices” would have been changed to "drug manufacturers might choose to raise VA drug prices, subject to federal price caps on brand-name drugs." The decision came shortly after the voter guide’s public display period end date on August 15, 2016. Consequently, the ballot arguments and language for Proposition 61 have been finalized and no more legal challenges can be made. Proposition 61 would regulate prescription drug prices by requiring state agencies to pay what the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs pays for them.

• State officials in North Carolina petitioned the United States Supreme Court to stay portions of a federal appeals court ruling that struck down an election reform law passed by the state legislature in 2013. In particular, North Carolina requested that the high court intervene and allow the state to enforce its voter ID requirement, maintain 10 days of early voting (as opposed to the 17 days mandated by the appeals court in its ruling), and eliminate pre-registration for 16-year-olds. In July, the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled that the 2013 law had been enacted with discriminatory intent, overturning the decision of a lower federal court. The 2013 law reduced the number of early voting days, prohibited same-day voter registration, eliminated pre-registration for teenagers, and established a photo identification requirement for voters.

• The Service Employees International Union decided to drop efforts to get a measure on Arizona’s November 8, 2016, ballot that would have capped the pay of hospital executives if approved. Spokesman Steve Trossman said, “We have decided not to pursue the executive compensation initiative in this election cycle so we can put all of our energy and resources into the presidential race.” The announcement was made the day before Maricopa County Superior Court Judge David Gerlach was to hear arguments in a lawsuit on whether the organization had gathered enough valid signatures for the measure to appear on the ballot. Under the measure, the compensation of hospital executives, managers, and administrators in Arizona would have been limited to the salary of the United States president, currently $450,000 per year.
  • Two measures are currently slated to appear before voters: Proposition 205, which would legalize marijuana, and a measure concerning trust land management.
  • An initiative to raise the state’s minimum wage is awaiting the results of signature verification and a legal challenge.

• Hospital chain Iasis Healthcare said it would be pulling its managed care insurance plans off the health insurance exchange in Arizona in 2017. CEO Carl Whitmer said the decision was made due to the "instability" of the exchange and "uncertainty and lack of funding of government premium stabilization programs." The company’s medical loss ratio had risen to nearly 96 percent, meaning 96 cents of every dollar of premium revenue was spent on medical costs. The company also reported an $8 million dollar loss on its exchange plans.

Local

• In Los Angeles, labor and hospitality organizations as well as affordable housing advocates published an open letter criticizing the city’s agreement with Airbnb to allow the business to pay hotel taxes on behalf of its users. Airbnb and the city government reached the agreement in July, and it went into effect at the beginning of August. The letter stated, “The agreement with Airbnb gives legitimacy to an illegal industry that the City Council determined cannot continue to go unregulated." It called for short-term housing rental regulations proposed earlier this year by the city’s planning department to be implemented. The city government plans to use the revenue to pay for a housing voucher program for homeless citizens. In response to the letter, Mayor Eric Garcetti’s (D) office defended the tax collections but indicated that the mayor still supports a “permanent ordinance” regulating the industry.
  • Several large cities have regulated or considered regulating Airbnb in recent months. These cases include:
    • In July 2016, Airbnb sued the city of Anaheim due to the passage of a short-term housing rental law. The law, passed by the Anaheim City Council earlier in the same month, ceased the issuing of permits for properties rented for fewer than 30 days. Short-term rental permit holders were given 18 months to cease operations, starting on August 11, 2016. Airbnb also sued the city of San Francisco in June 2016 after its board of supervisors approved legislation earlier in June that restricts commercial postings from short-term housing rental websites and imposes fines for violating the law.
    • Chicago, New York, and Denver all passed laws regulating short-term rentals. In late June 2016, the Chicago City Council passed a law that required Airbnb to purchase a $10,000 license to operate in the city, enacted a 4 percent tax per rental for homeless services, and set a $60 fee per city address listed on the website. Earlier in the same month, New York lawmakers passed legislation that would levy fines of up to $7,500 on individuals using Airbnb to rent an entire apartment for fewer than 30 days. In Denver, the city council imposed an annual $25 licensing fee for short-term rental hosts.
• In Oregon, Wheeler County Judge Patrick Perry was recalled. More than 66 percent of voters approved the recall. Supporters of the recall alleged that Perry had an inappropriate relationship with a direct report earlier in 2016 and that his supervision of the human resources department led to "excessive situations needing litigation" requiring "thousands (of dollars) in fees and settlements." Recall supporters turned in 169 valid signatures, which was above the necessary amount of signatures. Perry was first elected in 2012 and presided over probate and juvenile matters. He also serves as chairman of the Board of Commissioners. In 2016, Ballotpedia has covered four local court recalls across the U.S.
• FILING DEADLINE: Deadline passed to file in the general election for 93 school board seats across 23 of South Carolina’s largest school districts by enrollment. The election will be held on November 8, 2016. These districts served 508,860 students during the 2013-2014 school year, which was 68.2 percent of all South Carolina public school students.

Preview of the day

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #29 of The Tap, which was published on August 13, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Local

• FILING DEADLINE: Deadline to file in the general election for 93 school board seats across 23 of South Carolina’s largest school districts by enrollment. The election will be held on November 8, 2016. These districts served 508,860 students during the 2013-2014 school year, which was 68.2 percent of all South Carolina public school students.
• Wheeler County, Oregon, Judge Patrick Perry will face a recall election. Supporters of the recall allege that Perry had an inappropriate relationship with a direct report earlier in 2016, and that his supervision of the human resources department has led to "excessive situations needing litigation" requiring "thousands (of dollars) in fees and settlements." Recall supporters turned in 169 valid signatures, which was above the necessary amount of signatures. Perry was first elected in 2012 and presides over probate and juvenile matters. He also serves as chairman of the Board of Commissioners. In 2016, Ballotpedia has covered 21 local court recalls across the U.S.