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The Tap: Monday, April 4, 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 #11 of The Tap, which was published on April 11, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

  • During its lone session for this week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued three opinions.
    • The court handed down a per curiam ruling in Woods v. Etherton reversing the judgment of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court found that the Sixth Circuit erroneously applied the benefit of the doubt to the state habeas court and to Etherton’s appellate counsel under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA) and in accordance with the court’s 2013 holding in Burt v. Titlow.
    • Justice Samuel Alito wrote for a unanimous court in Nichols v. United States. The court reversed the judgment of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals and held that the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) does not require a registered sex offender to update his or her state registration when the offender moves to a non-SORNA jurisdiction.
    • Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote for a unanimous court in Evenwel v. Abbott, affirming the U.S. District Court’s finding that states may use total population counts when drawing legislative districts. The case originated in Texas; plaintiffs Sue Evenwel and Edward Pfenninger argued that state legislative district populations should take into account only the number of registered or eligible voters residing within those districts. Total population counts have typically been used for redistricting purposes. Total population tallies include non-voting residents, such as illegal immigrants, prisoners, and children. The plaintiffs alleged that this tabulation method dilutes the voting power of citizens residing in districts that are home to smaller concentrations of non-voting residents.
  • The Supreme Court granted certiorari in Pena-Rodriguez v. Colorado. The court will hear arguments next term on whether the Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury may be violated by rules that prohibit evidence of statements made during jury deliberations—also known as “no impeachment” rules—if the rules bar evidence of juror racial bias when challenging a verdict. The case comes on appeal from the Supreme Court of Colorado.
  • The Treasury Department announced some temporary and proposed regulations that could limit corporate tax inversions—when a company moves its tax residency to a low-tax country. The department announced that it would no longer acknowledge foreign parent stock that came about as a result of an inversion, among other changes. In a press release on the regulations, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said, “Treasury has taken action twice to make it harder for companies to invert. These actions took away some of the economic benefits of inverting and helped slow the pace of these transactions, but we know companies will continue to seek new and creative ways to relocate their tax residence to avoid paying taxes here at home.”
  • The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a bill that gives companies the ability to sue in federal court for theft of intellectual property and trade secrets. The bill, which was supported by the White House and Senate Republicans, “would give companies the right to sue in federal court to recover damages, enforce injunctions and prevent the further dissemination of stolen trade secrets,” according to Reuters.
  • FILING DEADLINE update: California’s official candidate list was released. Although the filing deadline was nearly a month ago, the California Secretary of State released its official primary candidate list on Monday.
    • The U.S. Senate seat currently held by Barbara Boxer (D) will be up for election in 2016. Boxer is retiring at the end of the current term. A total of 34 candidates filed to run in the race to replace Boxer, and among those were seven Democrats and 12 Republicans. The front-runners in the race include Attorney General Kamala Harris (D), Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D), former state Republican Party Chair Tom Del Beccaro (R), former state Sen. Phil Wyman (R), and former state Republican Party Chair Duf Sundheim (R). Due to California’s top-two primary system and the large number of Republican candidates running, the race could easily come down to two Democrats in November. The race is rated safely Democratic.
    • California has 53 U.S. House seats up for election in 2016. Of those 53, 39 are currently held by Democrats and the remaining 14 are held by Republicans. California has two races currently labeled as battlegrounds: CA-7, which is held by Ami Bera (D), and CA-25, which is held by Stephen Knight (R). Additionally, two seats are currently designated as races to watch: CA-10 and CA-52.
    • In the House, 49 of the 53 incumbents are seeking re-election. Of those 49, 13 will not face a contested primary. Due to California’s top-two primary system, this means that two or fewer total candidates across all political parties filed to run in the race. Only one incumbent, Democrat Jackie Speier (CA-14), is completely unopposed.
  • District Court Judge Carl Barbier approved an $18.7 billion settlement between the BP oil company, the federal government, and five Gulf Coast states over BP's role in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. On April 20, 2010, an explosion caused by a surge of natural gas at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig off the coast of Louisiana resulted in the largest marine oil spill in history. The explosion and subsequent sinking of the oil rig resulted in 11 deaths, 17 injured, and between 2.45 million barrels (BP's estimate) and 4.19 million barrels (the federal government's estimate) of crude oil spilled in the ocean. Under an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, the company pleaded guilty to 11 counts of felony manslaughter, violating the Clean Water Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and additional criminal charges. The company has spent billions of dollars in the aftermath of the spill: $20 billion for a compensation fund for those affected, $4.5 billion in fines for the criminal charges, and the above-mentioned settlement.
  • TransCanada, the operator of the Keystone pipeline, announced that a section of the pipeline in South Dakota had to be shut down after crude oil was spilled. It was originally reported that 187 gallons of crude oil had spilled, but this figure was later updated to an estimated 16,800 gallons. This portion of the Keystone pipeline transports oil from Canada to Cushing, Oklahoma. In 2008, TransCanada proposed expanding this pipeline. This expansion, known as the Keystone XL pipeline, became a microcosm for the larger debate about consuming fossil fuels, and the expansion of the pipeline was rejected by President Obama in November 2015. Depending on the measure used, many studies argue that pipelines are the safest means for transporting oil.

State

  • On Monday, April 4, Gov. Jerry Brown signed minimum wage bill SB 3 into law.
  • Virginia Sen. John Miller (D) passed away from an apparent heart attack. Before going into politics, Miller spent nearly two decades at Norfolk TV station WVEC as a journalist and news director. He also served as press secretary to then-U.S. Rep. Paul Trible (R), then worked at Christopher Newport University and Orion Air Group. Miller was initially elected to District 1 of the state Senate in 2007. Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) said in a statement, “A loyal friend to public schools, he took a leadership role in reforming and modernizing the Standards of Learning tests. He had a clear vision of the challenges facing Virginia, and he put forward clear goals for reaching solutions on issues ranging from climate change to redistricting reform.” Miller was 68. The partisan balance of the Virginia State Senate stands at 18 Democrats, 21 Republicans, and the vacancy left by Miller.
  • Three Democratic state representatives in Tennessee filed a formal complaint of workplace harassment after a Republican colleague sent a copy of the film “America’s Mosques Exposed!” to each member of the state legislature. John Ray Clemmons, along with Barbara Cooper and Johnnie Turner, alleges that Susan Lynn “distributed this without any regard for the safety of Muslim employees of the state of Tennessee who did or may have come in contact with this DVD.” Lynn said that she made sure she followed protocol in delivering the DVDs, which she said the film’s producer, “constituent” Louie E. Johnson Jr., would have delivered himself were he able to.
  • The Tennessee General Assembly passed legislation that would recognize the Bible as the state’s official book. Sponsored by Deputy Speaker Sen. Steve Southerland (R) and Assistant Majority Floor Leader Rep. Jerry Sexton (R), the measure passed the Senate by a vote of 19 to 8, and the House passed the bill last April by a vote of 55 to 38. The measure will now go before Gov. Bill Haslam (R) for his signature. If signed by the governor, Tennessee would become the first state to adopt the Bible as their official book. Last year, Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery (R) issued an opinion on the constitutionality of legislation that would make the Bible the official state book. Slatery said that if passed, the legislation would violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
  • Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s (R) administration posted a summary online of proposed changes to the state’s Medicaid program. The plan would require all enrollees in the state to contribute 2 percent of their monthly income to a health savings account (HSA), but would cap total annual contributions at $99. Enrollees who fall behind on their payments for more than two months would lose their coverage. After public comment, the state plans to submit the proposal to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for approval. CMS has not approved plans submitted by other states that propose revoking enrollees’ coverage for failing to contribute to an HSA.
  • FILING DEADLINE: Colorado
  • FILING DEADLINE: Tennessee

Local

  • In Kansas, a recall effort against Thomas County Sheriff Rod Taylor did not make it to the ballot. Recall organizers were unable to gather enough petition signatures before the submission deadline. The recall petition stated that Taylor "willfully engaged in misconduct while in office and willfully neglected to perform duties." The original recall petition provided eight examples of Taylor’s misconduct, including calling a staff member "Ms. Cleavage" and telling her to "hike up her skirt and go back and serve these papers,” as well as negligent handling of inmates and individuals in custody, taking nearly two hours to respond to a 911 call regarding a case of battery, and cutting the seat belt in his work vehicle "because he didn’t like to wear it and it kept ‘dinging.'”

Preview of the day

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #10 of The Tap, which was published on April 4, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

State

  • Filing deadline: Colorado
    • State legislatures: Both Colorado legislative chambers have been identified by a Ballotpedia analysis as top legislature battlegrounds in 2016. Republicans hold a one-seat majority in the Senate while Democrats maintain a 3-seat advantage in the House. With a Democratic governor, the state is one of 20 with a divided government. There are 18 state Senate and 65 state House seats up for election in 2016.




The Tap covered election news, public policy, and other noteworthy events from February 2016 to February 2022.
March: 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31
April: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30
May: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31
June: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30
July: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31
August: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31
September: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30
October: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7• 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31
November: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30
December: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 31
January: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31
February: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17
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