The Tap: Debate Season in Full Swing

October 8, 2016Issue No. 37

The week in review: October 1 - October 7
What's on Tap next week: October 8 - 14

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Federal

What's on tap?

• On Tuesday, October 4, the lone vice presidential debate of 2016 between Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine (D) and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) took place. The debate was held in Virginia, Kaine’s home state, and was moderated by Elaine Quijano of CBS News. Kaine and Pence talked job creation, immigration, terrorism, gun control, race relations, Russia, Syria, crime and justice, abortion, and their qualifications to assume the presidency. They also had a lot to say about each other’s running mates. The debate attracted about 37 million viewers on average, considerably less than the 84 million who tuned in to the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on September 26. Viewership of the 2016 VP debate was in fact the lowest for a VP matchup since 2000, when 29 million watched the debate between Joe Lieberman (D) and Dick Cheney (R). Ballotpedia’s coverage of the 2016 vice presidential debate included an Insiders Poll, statistical analysis, and commentary from Karlyn Bowman of the American Enterprise Institute and Ballotpedia Senior Writer Jim Barnes.
  • Insiders Poll: Ballotpedia surveyed more than 100 Democratic and Republican strategists, pollsters, media consultants, activists, lobbyists, and allied interest group operatives after the conclusion of the October 4 face-off, finding that an overwhelming majority of Republican Insiders and almost a quarter of the Democrats felt that the Indiana governor was the debate's “biggest winner.” Among the 59 Republican Insiders who responded to the survey, 90 percent said that Pence had prevailed. The 54 Democratic Insiders who responded were more divided: Nearly half said that Kaine had bested Pence, but a third called the debate a draw and nearly one-fourth said that Pence had done a better job than Kaine, whose biggest drawback in the encounter may have been the number of times he interrupted Pence in his zeal to press his case against Trump.
  • Commentary: Karlyn Bowman, an analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, wrote that Pence was “relaxed and in control” throughout the debate, while Kaine was “loaded for bear” and “came off as the smartest kid in class.” Of Pence, Bowman added, “He didn’t defend the GOP standard bearer, Donald Trump, but Pence did what he needed to do carefully by turning the points back to Clinton’s actions with great skill. … If last night’s performance was an indication, and if the Hoosier Republican he decides to reach for the GOP presidential nomination four years from now, he will be a formidable contender.” Barnes noted that, historically, vice presidential debates have had little impact on presidential races. “If you look at the history of presidential debates, you can’t expect that Indiana Republican Gov. Mike Pence's solid performance over Democrat Tim Kaine in the vice presidential debate at Longwood University on October 4 is going to shake up the main contest between his running mate, Donald Trump, and Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee. Success on the understudies’ debate stage, or lack thereof, hasn’t moved the needle in the polls in past presidential elections,” said Barnes.
  • Stats: Pence and Kaine both had about the same amount to say at the debate—roughly 7,800 words each. Kaine’s most frequently used word was “Trump,” which he said 84 times. He said “Donald” 71 times and “Hillary” 45 times. Pence’s most frequently used word was “Clinton,” which he said 62 times. Pence said “Hillary” 51 times and “Trump” 50 times. Russia was one the night’s biggest topics. The country was mentioned 47 times, while its leader, Vladimir Putin, was mentioned 25 times.

• What Clinton and Trump had to say about the debate:
  • Clinton: At the start of the debate, Clinton tweeted, “Lucky to have a partner like @TimKaine who stood up for our shared vision tonight—instead of trying to deny it.” According to The Washington Post, Clinton spoke with Kaine on the phone on Wednesday morning to congratulate him.
  • Trump: Trump live-tweeted the debate. Near the end of the event, he tweeted, “Mike Pence won big. We should all be proud of Mike!” The day after, at a rally in Nevada, Trump said, “Mike Pence did an incredible job, and I’m getting a lot of credit because that’s really my first so-called choice. That was my first hire, as we would say in Las Vegas. And I’ll tell you, he’s a good one. He was phenomenal. He was cool. He was smart. He was — I mean, you just take a look at him — he was meant to be doing what he’s doing and we are very, very proud of Gov. Mike Pence.”

• What Bill Weld, the Libertarian Party vice presidential nominee, and Ajamu Baraka, the Green Party nominee, had to say about the debate:
  • Weld took to social media during and after the debate. On Twitter, he critiqued both candidates and their running mates. After the debate, he said in a Facebook post, “It was a good debate. Wish I had been there. Unfortunately, there was a gaping ideological void left between two candidates representing polarizing tickets.”
  • Baraka participated in Democracy Now’s “Expanding the Debate” series on Tuesday night, answering the same questions posed to Kaine and Pence.

 

Federal

The Week in Review

Saturday, October 1

• The New York Times reported that Donald Trump claimed a financial loss totaling $916 million dollars on his 1995 tax returns. According to The Times, the loss was so substantial that “it could have allowed him to legally avoid paying any federal income taxes for up to 18 years.” The report was based on three pages of 1995 returns belonging to Trump and his ex-wife Marla Maples. A reporter at The Times received the documents in the mail in September. Members of the media, Hillary Clinton’s campaign, and some Republicans have criticized Trump for refusing to release tax records to the public. Trump has cited an IRS audit as his reason for not releasing tax records. In the first presidential debate on September 26, 2016, Clinton suggested that Trump has not released his tax returns because “he doesn't want the American people, all of you watching tonight, to know that he's paid nothing in federal taxes.” Trump responded at the debate by saying, “That makes me smart.”
  • The Trump campaign released an official statement in response to The Times article. It said, "The only news here is that the more than 20-year-old alleged tax document was illegally obtained, a further demonstration that the New York Times, like establishment media in general, is an extension of the Clinton Campaign, the Democratic Party and their global special interests. … Mr. Trump has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in property taxes, sales and excise taxes, real estate taxes, city taxes, state taxes, employee taxes and federal taxes, along with very substantial charitable contributions. Mr. Trump knows the tax code far better than anyone who has ever run for President and he is the only one that knows how to fix it.”
  • Surrogates for Trump—New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani—appeared on Sunday morning talk shows to address the report. Christie said, “What it shows is what an absolute mess the federal tax code is and that's why Donald Trump is the person best positioned to fix it. There's no one who has shown more genius in their way to maneuver around the tax code and to rightfully use the laws to do that and he's already promised in his tax plan to change many of these special interest loopholes and get rid of them so you don't have this kind of situation. … [T]his is actually a very, very good story for Donald Trump.” Giuliani said, “The man’s a genius. He knows how to operate the tax code for the people that he’s serving.” In a different interview, Giuliani added, “Don’t you think a man who has this kind of economic genius is a lot better for the United States than a woman, and the only thing she’s ever produced is a lot of work for the F.B.I. checking out her emails?”
  • On Monday, Hillary Clinton criticized Trump's business acumen and tax strategy during a campaign rally in Ohio. She said, "Well, then you all know that in the debate he said it was smart to avoid paying taxes. Yesterday, his campaign was bragging it makes him a genius." Clinton continued, “Here’s my question: What kind of genius loses a billion dollars in a single year? This is Trump to a T. He’s taken corporate excess and made a business model out of it. He abuses his power, games the system, puts his own interests ahead of the country’s. It’s Trump first and everyone else last.”

• The Clinton campaign and Democratic Party announced that they had raised a combined $154 million in September. "Mrs. Clinton’s campaign took in $84 million last month, which officials said was the best fundraising month of the campaign. The figures leave Mrs. Clinton well positioned for a final spending splurge on television, digital outreach and field mobilization as polls show her moving slightly ahead of Donald J. Trump. The figures show Mrs. Clinton behind the blazing pace set by President Obama in his 2012 re-election bid, when Mr. Obama and the Democrats raised $181 million in September," The New York Times reported.

Sunday, October 2

• Hillary Clinton was criticized by Donald Trump for how she described supporters of Bernie Sanders at a private fundraiser in February. "Some are new to politics completely. They’re children of the Great Recession. And they are living in their parents’ basement. They feel they got their education and the jobs that are available to them are not at all what they envisioned for themselves. And they don’t see much of a future," she said in audio leaked by The Washington Free Beacon last week. Trump tweeted in response, "Bernie should pull his endorsement of Crooked Hillary after she decieved [sic] him and then attacked him and his supporters."

• Speaking at a church in North Carolina, Hillary Clinton discussed gun violence and improving police-community relations. She said that police officers should receive training on implicit bias and called for the release of the Charlotte police shooting video of Keith Lamont Scott. "I’m a grandmother, and like every grandmother, I worry about the safety and security of my grandchildren, but my worries are not the same as black grandmothers, who have different and deeper fears about the world that their grandchildren face," she said.
  • See also: 2016 presidential candidates on the Black Lives Matter movement

Monday, October 3

• The New York Attorney General’s Office ordered Donald Trump’s charity organization, The Donald J. Trump Foundation, to cease all fundraising activity in the state of New York. In a letter, the attorney general’s office stated that the foundation had violated a state law, “which requires charitable organizations that solicit contributions in New York State to register with the Charities Bureau and to provide annual financial reports and annual audited financial statements.” The letter said that The Trump Foundation had not registered with the Charities Bureau “and was thus not permitted to engage” in fundraising activities in the state of New York. The Washington Post reported last week that Trump’s foundation was not certified to solicit money from the public in New York.
  • Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in a statement, “While we remain very concerned about the political motives behind AG Schneiderman's investigation, the Trump Foundation nevertheless intends to cooperate fully with the investigation.” New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is a Democrat and a supporter of Hillary Clinton.
  • The Washington Post—which reported last week that Trump’s foundation was not certified to solicit money from the public in New York—has previously written that the foundation received more than $2 million from companies that owed money to Trump or his business but were told to pay the foundation instead. The Post also reported in mid-September that the Trump Foundation had spent $258,000 to settle lawsuits related to Trump’s for-profit business, an accusation that the Trump campaign has denied.
  • See also: Donald J. Trump Foundation

• Trump discussed cybersecurity at a campaign event in Virginia. Speaking before a crowd of veterans, he said, “Cyberattacks from foreign governments — especially China, Russia, North Korea, along with nonstate terrorist actors and organized criminal groups — constitute one of our most critical national security concerns. The scope of our cybersecurity problem is enormous. Our government, our businesses, our trade secrets and our citizens — most sensitive information — are all facing constant cyberattacks and reviews by the enemy.” Calling cybersecurity “the warfare of the future,” he also suggested using it to combat terrorism: “We should turn cyberwarfare into one of our greatest weapons against the terrorists.”
  • See also: 2016 candidates on cybersecurity

• Also in Virginia, Trump talked about mental health issues among veterans. He said, “When you talk about the mental health problems, when people come back from war and combat, they see things that maybe a lot of the folks in this room have seen many times over. And you're strong and you can handle it, but a lot of people can't handle it. And they see horror stories, they see events that you couldn’t see in a movie — nobody would believe it.” Hillary Clinton and her supporters, as well as some members of the media, criticized Trump’s comments, suggesting that they implied veterans with mental health issues are not “strong” and “can’t handle it.”
  • In an interview with CNN, Vice President Joe Biden said, “This is an ignorant man. This guy says things he has no idea about. He's not a bad man, but his ignorance is so profound, so profound. The number of people coming home with unseen injuries, post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury, is significantly higher. What's this say about a guy who doesn't have any notion of that? Look at what these kids are going through. Look at the sacrifices they're making. And look what they go to sleep dreading.”
  • In response to the criticism, the Trump campaign released a statement from retired Lt. General Michael Flynn, a surrogate for Trump. The statement said, “The media continues to operate as the propaganda arm of Hillary Clinton as they took Mr. Trump’s words out of context in order to deceive voters and veterans—an appalling act that shows they are willing to go to any length to carry water for their candidate of choice. Mr. Trump was highlighting the challenges veterans face when returning home after serving their country. He has always respected the service and sacrifice of our military men and women—proposing reforms to Veteran Affairs to adequately address the various issues veterans face when they return home.
  • See also: 2016 candidates on the military and veterans

• Michael Chertoff, the lead Republican counsel for the congressional Whitewater investigation in the 1990s, endorsed Hillary Clinton in an interview with Bloomberg. Chertoff said that he made his decision based on Clinton's national security positions. She "has good judgment and a strategic vision how to deal with the threats that face us," he said. Chertoff also questioned Donald Trump’s temperament, saying, “Not only did he seem at the debate to lose his temper, but to get up at 3:30 a.m. and reach for your smartphone is to me a hysterical reaction. If you’re president, the button you reach for is not the Twitter button; it’s the nuclear button.”
  • See also: Republicans and their declared positions on Donald Trump

• Priorities USA, a super PAC supporting Hillary Clinton, launched a new ad targeting a comment Donald Trump made during the first presidential debate—“That makes me smart”—in response to Clinton’s accusation that he has paid nothing in federal taxes. The ad, titled “Smart,” features a clip from the debate followed by a woman saying, “When I saw Donald Trump say that he thought it was smart to get out of paying taxes, I felt like I was being called stupid. … We have schools that need money and roads that need to be fixes and veterans that need help. I want a president who’s proud of our country, not a president who’s proud of getting out of paying taxes.” The ad will be placed into a rotation of ads that Priorities USA is running in Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Florida, Nevada, Iowa, New Hampshire, and Colorado.

• Former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) said that independent voters would be better served voting for Jill Stein than Gary Johnson. "I said if the independents, who don't know what to do and who should they pick, I say if you tend to lean towards progressivism and liberalism and you're interested in expressing yourself, you can vote for the Green Party," Paul said. He added, "I think she's probably best on foreign policy at the moment. But on Gary Johnson, he does not come across with a crisp libertarian message."

• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed allowing an increased amount of ethanol in gasoline—from 10 percent to 30 percent and higher. The rule was issued as part of the Renewable Fuel Standard, which requires a level of corn ethanol and other biofuels in gasoline diesel supplies. The goal of the standard is to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which are naturally present gases that trap heat in the atmosphere. The EPA’s rule is part of President Barack Obama’s (D) plan to address human-made climate change, the theory that rising greenhouse gas emissions from human activity contribute to changes in the global climate. Ethanol and biofuels emit fewer emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases than regular gasoline, but most cars older than model 2001 vehicles cannot process ethanol blends higher than 10 percent, according to the EPA. The rule is designed to allow higher ethanol blends to be sold at the pump for vehicles that can run on a higher blend.

Tuesday, October 4

• Gary Johnson, addressing some of his past comments on foreign policy, said in an interview on MSNBC, “The fact that somebody can dot the I’s and cross the T’s on a foreign leader or a geographic location then allows them to put our military in harm's way. We elect people who can dot the I’s and cross the T’s on these names and geographic locations, as opposed to the underlying philosophy, which is, let's stop getting involved in these regime changes.” In two different interviews on MSNBC last month, Johnson attracted criticism for his knowledge of foreign policy issues. In one interview, when asked to name a foreign leader whom he respects, Johnson said, “I’m having a brain freeze.” In another interview, when asked how he would deal with the refugee crisis in the Syrian city of Aleppo, Johnson responded, “What is Aleppo?”
  • See also: 2016 candidates on foreign affairs

• The Boston Globe reports that former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, Johnson’s running mate, “plans to focus exclusively on blasting Donald Trump over the next five weeks, a strategic pivot aimed at denying Trump the White House and giving himself a key role in helping to rebuild the GOP.” Regarding Trump, Weld said to the Globe, “I think Mr. Trump’s proposals in the foreign policy area, including nuclear proliferation, tariffs, and free trade, would be so hurtful, domestically and in the world, that he has my full attention. … I have had in mind all along trying to get the Donald into third place, and with some tugging and hauling, we might get there.” Commenting on the future of the Republican Party, Weld said, “Maybe somebody is going to come up with a new playbook, and I don’t know who it’s going to be, but it would be fun to participate.” According to the Globe, “Weld insisted he and Johnson remain ‘happy warriors’ and said Johnson is fully supportive of his anti-Trump campaign.”
  • Weld responded to the Globe’s story in a Facebook post. He said, “The story did not, unfortunately, focus on my assurance that I believe Gary Johnson to be the best candidate for President, and that I would not be on the ticket with him if that were not the case. My Libertarian hat is firmly planted on my head, and will remain there. … Let there be no doubt. I am the Libertarian nominee for Vice-President, proudly running with Gov. Gary Johnson.”

• Judge Reggie Walton of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia rejected a lawsuit filed by the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch for a draft criminal indictment of Hillary Clinton from the Whitewater investigation in the 1990s. Walton wrote that Clinton was a private citizen at the time and had a "substantial privacy interest" that outweighed any public interest in the document. "It's difficult to imagine how a person running for the presidency enjoys a form of ‘privacy’ concerning their near-indictment on criminal charges that somehow supersedes the public's right to know,” said Judicial Watch spokesman Chris Farrell.

• The U.S. Supreme Court heard argument in two cases.
• In Bravo-Fernandez v. United States, the court examined the limits of double jeopardy protection. Juan Bravo-Fernandez and an accomplice were convicted of bribery in a trial, but those charges were vacated on appeal. They were also acquitted in the same trial of Travel Act and conspiracy violations. Bravo-Fernandez said that he cannot be retried on bribery charges because a jury acquitted him on related offenses in an earlier trial and, in acquitting him on those charges, the jury "necessarily found that the government failed to prove issues that the government would have to relitigate in ... new prosecutions,” which he argued would violate the Fifth Amendment.
• In Shaw v. United States, the court reviewed whether a defendant can be guilty of committing bank fraud under U.S. law if financial institutions affected by the fraud are not the defendant’s intended victims. Federal law provides that bank fraud is committed when a party “knowingly executes, or attempts to execute, a scheme or artifice to defraud a financial institution." Shaw argued that because the financial institution was not his primary target for the fraud, he could not have knowingly executed a scheme to defraud the bank.

• A Monmouth University poll of Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race released Tuesday showed incumbent Pat Toomey (R) and Katie McGinty (D) to be tied 46-46. The same poll found Hillary Clinton to have a 10-point lead over Donald Trump.

• In 2015, Yahoo complied with an order directing the company to search all users’ incoming emails for a digital signature thought to be used by agents of a foreign terrorist organization. The order came from a judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. According to Reuters, “Some surveillance experts said this represents the first case to surface of a U.S. Internet company agreeing to an intelligence agency's request by searching all arriving messages, as opposed to examining stored messages or scanning a small number of accounts in real time.”

• Army Staff Sgt. Adam S. Thomas, a highly decorated 31-year-old special forces soldier, died after an improvised explosive device blast in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar Province. Thomas was supporting Operation Freedom’s Sentinel, a mission to assist and advise Afghan forces. Since Operation Freedom’s Sentinel commenced on January 1, 2015, there have been 24 military casualties and 124 wounded in action.

Wednesday, October 5

• The editors of The Atlantic endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. The magazine, which was founded in 1857, has only endorsed two other presidential candidates: Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and Lyndon B. Johnson 1964. "In its founding statement, The Atlantic promised that it would be 'the organ of no party or clique,' and our interest here is not to advance the prospects of the Democratic Party, nor to damage those of the Republican Party. If Hillary Clinton were facing Mitt Romney, or John McCain, or George W. Bush, or, for that matter, any of the leading candidates Trump vanquished in the Republican primaries, we would not have contemplated making this endorsement. We believe in American democracy, in which individuals from various parties of different ideological stripes can advance their ideas and compete for the affection of voters. But Trump is not a man of ideas. He is a demagogue, a xenophobe, a sexist, a know-nothing, and a liar. He is spectacularly unfit for office, and voters—the statesmen and thinkers of the ballot box—should act in defense of American democracy and elect his opponent," the editors wrote.

• The Nation also endorsed Hillary Clinton. The editors wrote that although Clinton "isn't a perfect ally" for progressive social movements in the U.S. like Occupy Wall Street and the Fight for $15, "[o]n almost every issue you can think of, Clinton is so much better than Trump that comparison seems like a meaningless exercise."
  • See also: 2016 presidential candidates on Wall Street and banking policy and labor and employment

• NextGen Climate, an environmental advocacy organization founded by billionaire Tom Steyer, has expanded its reach to 300 campuses in 12 battleground states with the purpose of educating young voters about the differences between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on climate change. The pro-Clinton group "is also doing persuasion work related to U.S. Senate races and other contests," according to The Washington Post. Steyer has contributed $38 million dollars in contributions to super PACs this presidential cycle. His political contributions for various election activities topped more than $70 million in the 2014 election cycle.

• The Trump campaign released a statement on the Paris Climate Accord after it was announced that the international climate change deal would go into effect on November 4, 2016. The Trump campaign called it a “bad deal” that will “impose enormous costs on American households through higher electricity prices and higher taxes.” The statement went on to say, "As our nation considers these issues, Mr. Trump and Gov. Pence appreciate that many scientists are concerned about greenhouse gas emissions. We need America's scientists to continue studying the scientific issues but without political agendas getting in the way. We also need to be vigilant to defend the interests of the American people in any efforts taken on this front." The Paris Climate Accord seeks to reduce emissions and fund climate mitigation projects in developing countries.
  • See also: 2016 candidates on climate change

• In an interview with The New York Times, Gary Johnson compared the targeting of civilians by the Syrian government in that country’s civil war to the bombing of a hospital by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Asked if he saw a “moral equivalence” between deaths caused by the U.S. and the Syrian government, the Times reports that Johnson responded “sarcastically,” saying, “Well no, of course not — we’re so much better than all that. We’re so much better when in Afghanistan, we bomb the hospital and 60 people are killed in the hospital.” He also suggested that Hillary Clinton bears “shared responsibility for what’s happened in Syria,” adding, “I would not have put us in that situation from the get-go.”
  • See also: 2016 candidates on foreign affairs

• A Quinnipiac University poll of Florida’s U.S. Senate race released Wednesday showed incumbent Marco Rubio (R) leading Rep. Patrick Murphy (D) 48-44. Rubio has consistently led in polls by a small margin since his entry into the race.

• The U.S. Supreme Court heard argument in three cases.
• In Salman v. United States, the court reviewed the appropriate standard for federal courts in order to prove someone obtained a “personal benefit” as part of an insider trading scheme.
• In Buck v. Davis, the court examined if the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ requirements for obtaining a certificate of appealability—a procedural requirement certifying that an appellant has made a substantial showing of a constitutional right—were “unduly burdensome.” Buck alleged that he had ineffective assistance of counsel (IAC) at his sentencing for capital murder and that his death penalty conviction must be vacated.
• In Manuel v. City of Joliet, the court reviewed the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals’ rationale for prohibiting malicious prosecution claims under the Fourth Amendment. Ten other federal circuit courts permit malicious prosecution under the Fourth Amendment, but the Seventh Circuit does not unless all existing remedies under state law are first exhausted.
  • For full details on the Supreme Court’s 2016 term, click here.

• The State Department issued a statement criticizing Israel’s proposal to construct a new settlement and industrial zone in the West Bank. Deputy State Department spokesperson Mark Toner said in a statement, “We strongly condemn the Israeli government's recent decision to advance a plan that would create a significant new settlement deep in the West Bank. … Proceeding with this new settlement is another step towards cementing a one-state reality of perpetual occupation that is fundamentally inconsistent with Israel's future as a Jewish and democratic state. Such moves will only draw condemnation from the international community, distance Israel from many of its partners, and further call into question Israel's commitment to achieving a negotiated peace.”

• On August 27, 2016, Harold Thomas Martin, a government contractor who worked for the NSA, was arrested during an FBI raid on his home and charged with theft of government property and unauthorized removal of classified materials, according to court papers that were unsealed on Wednesday. Martin worked for Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp., the same company that employed Edward Snowden, who leaked stolen government records in 2013. According to The Wall Street Journal, Martin’s arrest “followed a probe launched in August after an entity calling itself Shadow Brokers claimed online to have a large cache of files that appeared to be NSA spying tools, and said it was looking to sell the information. Such programs are used to penetrate computer systems of foreign governments like Russia and China, according to officials familiar with the matter, and for that reason are among the NSA’s most closely held secrets.” Officials are unsure why Martin stole the information. The investigation in ongoing.

• Federal judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reviewed a request from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to block construction along a section of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The Dakota Access Pipeline is an approximately 1,170-mile, $3.8 billion crude oil pipeline stretching from North Dakota to Illinois. Construction on the pipeline is 60 percent complete. The construction site in question is near Lake Oahe in South Dakota and includes land with cultural and historical artifacts that the tribe considers important. In court, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe accused the Army Corps of Engineers, which approved the project, of not sufficiently consulting with the tribe before approving permits for the pipeline. The Corps argued back that the agency adequately consulted with the tribe. On September 9, 2016, a federal judge blocked an injunction requested by the tribe; the injunction would have halted construction on the pipeline. In response, the Army Corps said it would not authorize the pipeline's construction on Corps lands while the agency reconsiders the pipeline's permit.

• The United Nations announced that the Paris Agreement on climate change reached the threshold necessary to formally take effect on November 4, 2016. President Barack Obama praised the announcement, saying, “If we follow through on the commitments that this Paris agreement embodies, history may well judge it as a turning point for our planet.” The United States was one of more than 200 countries that signed the agreement, a non-binding treaty approved in December 2015. The agreement’s long-term goal is to keep any increase in the average global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) by the year 2100. Each country that signed the agreement pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by adopting an emissions target determined by that country’s government. According to The Wall Street Journal, “The deal doesn’t legally require countries to curb emissions or take other steps on climate change—in the U.S. that would have likely required ratification by the Senate, which President Barack Obama was unlikely to get—but it does require countries to release their targets and report emissions.”

Thursday, October 6

• Thirty former Republican lawmakers released a signed letter to their fellow Republicans denouncing Donald Trump. The letter stated, “Our party's nominee this year is a man who makes a mockery of the principles and values we have cherished and which we sought to represent in Congress. Given the enormous power of the office, every candidate for president must be judged rigorously in assessing whether he or she has the competence, intelligence, knowledge, understanding, empathy, judgment, and temperament necessary to keep America on a safe and steady course. Donald Trump fails on each of those measures, and he has proven himself manifestly unqualified to be president. … It is in that spirit that, as Donald Trump’s unfitness for public office has become ever more apparent, we urge our fellow Republicans not to vote for this man whose disgraceful candidacy is indefensible. This is no longer about our party; it’s now about America. We may differ on how we will cast our ballots in November but none of us will vote for Donald Trump.” Among the signatories were four former Representatives from key 2016 swing states: Bill Clinger of Pennsylvania, Jim Leach of Iowa, Tom Petri of Wisconsin, and G. William Whitehurst of Virginia. All four spent more than a decade in Congress.
  • See also: Republican and their declared positions on Donald Trump

• GOP strategist and media consultant Mindy Finn will be independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin’s running mate, BuzzFeed reports. Finn worked on Mitt Romney’s 2008 campaign and George W. Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign. In 2015, she founded a nonprofit called Empowered Women. She has been an outspoken critic of Donald Trump. Criticism of Trump has been a component of McMullin’s campaign. In August 2015, she likened Trump to “an abusive boyfriend.” In January 2016, she said, "[Trump's] a master at propaganda. He’s a bully. And he’s dangerous.”
  • McMullin is on the ballot in 11 states and is registered as a write-in candidate in 23 others. On the states where his name will appear on the ballot, his running mate is currently listed as Nathan Johnson. McMullin’s campaign website said that Johnson is a “a close personal friend of Evan’s who agreed to serve as a placeholder because of the extraordinarily tight time-lines an insurgent campaign like ours entails.” According to ABC News, the McMullin campaign has a “legal plan” to replace Johnson’s name with Finn’s.

• Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) rejected the Clinton campaign’s request to extend the state's voter registration deadline past next Tuesday, October 11, in the wake of Hurricane Matthew. “Everybody has had a lot of time to register. On top of that, we have lots of opportunities to vote: early voting, absentee voting, Election Day. So I don’t intend to make any changes," Scott said.
  • See also: Voting in Florida

• President Barack Obama commuted the sentences of 102 individuals. According to a White House press release, “The vast majority of today’s grants were for individuals serving unduly harsh sentences for drug-related crimes under outdated sentencing laws. With today’s grants, the President has commuted 774 sentences, more than the previous 11 presidents combined. With a total of 590 commutations this year, President Obama has now commuted the sentences of more individuals in one year than in any other single year in our nation’s history.”

Friday, October 7

• Super PACs Planned Parenthood Votes and Priorities USA Action will launch a 30-second digital ad next week targeting Donald Trump’s stance on abortion. The ad opens with a comment made by Trump during the primaries in which he suggested that “there has to be some form of punishment” for women who have abortions. The ad then shows text on the screen that reads “Donald Trump wants: Roe v. Wade overturned, abortion banned, Planned Parenthood defunded.” The ad concludes by stating, “Donald Trump is too dangerous for women.” The ad is the first joint effort of the 2016 general election season by Planned Parenthood Votes and Priorities USA Action, the main super PAC backing Hillary Clinton. It will run on Facebook and Instagram in three key battleground states: North Carolina, Nevada, and Pennsylvania.
  • See also: 2016 presidential candidates on abortion

• NBC News reports that Democrats entered into the general election season with a five-to-one “paid staff advantage” over Republicans in the presidential race. The report says that at the end of August, “Democrats employed at least 4,200 people working to elect Hillary Clinton.” This included 800 with the Clinton campaign, 400 with the Democratic National Committee, and 3,000 in state parties. At that same time, Republicans had about 880 paid staff working on behalf of Donald Trump. This included 130 with the Trump campaign, 270 with the Republican National Committee, and 480 in state parties. The report was based on an analysis of FEC filings.

• The Washington Post obtained audio and video of Donald Trump having an “extremely lewd” conversation about women in 2005. For details, see the full story. Trump released a statement in response, saying, “This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course - not even close. I apologize if anyone was offended.”

• The Trump campaign cancelled more than $1.6 million in ad buys in seven key battleground states: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Iowa, and Colorado. According to Politico, “The ad cancellations cover the period that begins next Tuesday, and mostly represent smaller markets in the various states.” Trump campaign spokesperson Jason Miller tweeted, “A few media buying updates on our increased media spend, which is growing by an extra $1M. State-by-state levels remain roughly same… Our data-driven campaign is shifting resources from over-performing markets to new battlegrounds w/in the battlegrounds. Buy is growing.”

• Secretary of State John Kerry called for a war crimes investigation of Russia and Syria for their attacks on Syrian civilians. According to the Associated Press, “Kerry said Syrian forces hit a hospital overnight, killing 20 people and wounding 100, describing what would be the latest strike by Moscow or its ally in Damascus on a civilian target.” Kerry said to reporters, "Russia and the regime owe the world more than an explanation about why they keep hitting hospitals, and medical facilities, and women and children.” He added that Russia’s and Syria’s actions "beg for an appropriate investigation of war crimes. They are beyond the accidental now, way beyond." He also accused the two countries of having a strategy to "terrorize civilians."

• WikiLeaks released alleged excerpts of Hillary Clinton's paid Wall Street speeches obtained from an email exchange between Clinton's advisors. In one excerpt flagged as potentially damaging, Clinton discussed the middle class: "My father loved to complain about big business and big government, but we had a solid middle class upbringing. We had good public schools. We had accessible health care. We had our little, you know, one-family house that, you know, he saved up his money, didn't believe in mortgages. So I lived that. And now, obviously, I'm kind of far removed because the life I've lived and the economic, you know, fortunes that my husband and I now enjoy, but I haven't forgotten it." In another excerpt from a 2013 speech, Clinton commented on trade, "My dream is a hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders, some time in the future with energy that is as green and sustainable as we can get it, powering growth and opportunity for every person in the hemisphere."
  • See also: 2016 presidential candidates on Wall Street and banking policy

 

Congress is NOT in session	SCOTUS is IN session
Congress is in fall recess until November 13, 2016.	The Supreme Court is off for the federal holiday on Monday, returning to hear oral argument in three cases on Tuesday. The court will next hear cases during their November sitting, beginning on Monday, October 31.

What’s On Tap Next Week

All week

• Need a jolt to get you through the rest of the election cycle? Ballotpedia is covering all the issues outside the presidential election that you need to know about before you vote. Check out our webinars on topics including preemption conflicts, ballot measures, and municipal elections. The webinars are free and will last 20 minutes with a question-and-answer session.

Sunday, October 9

• The second presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump takes place Sunday night. Ballotpedia’s coverage will include an Insiders Poll, statistical analysis, and commentary written by guest writers. Here’s everything you need to know before the action starts:
  • The debate starts at 9 pm Eastern Time. Like the first debate, it will run 90 minutes, commercial-free.
  • The venue is Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
  • Moderating the debate will be Martha Raddatz of ABC News and Anderson Cooper of CNN.
  • The format is a town hall. The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) said in a statement, “The second presidential debate will take the form of a town meeting, in which half of the questions will be posed directly by citizen participants and the other half will be posed by the moderator based on topics of broad public interest as reflected in social media and other sources. The candidates will have two minutes to respond and there will be an additional minute for the moderator to facilitate further discussion.”
  • On October 4, 2016, the CPD announced that Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein were not invited because they did not meet the 15 percent polling average threshold required by the CPD. In a statement, the CPD said that its board of directors had "determined that the polling averages called for in the third criterion are as follows: Hillary Clinton (44.8%), Donald Trump (40.8%), Gary Johnson (7.4%) and Jill Stein (2.6%). Accordingly, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump qualify to participate in the October 9 debate. No other candidates satisfied the criteria for inclusion in the October 9 debate. The criteria will be reapplied to all candidates in advance of the third presidential debate."
  • What’s at stake? Clinton experienced a considerable bump in national and state polls following the first debate. On the day of the debate, Real Clear Politics' national polling average had Clinton at less than 2 percentage points above Trump—43.1 to 41.5—in a four-way race including Johnson and Stein. By October 5, 2016, her lead had grown to almost four points. On top of this, she padded leads in key battleground states like Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Virginia and actually took the lead—as of October 5—in Florida, where Trump had led in the days leading up to the debate. Clinton's goal, therefore, will be to maintain or increase her lead in the polls, while Trump's goals are to halt her momentum and begin turning the tide in his favor.
  • More than 80 million people tuned in to the first debate, a record in the history of presidential debates. In the past, viewership of second debates has come close to or even exceeded the viewership of first debates. In 2008, 52.4 million watched the first debate between John McCain (R) and Barack Obama (D), but 63.2 million watched the second. In 2012, 67.2 million watched the first debate between Mitt Romney (R) and Obama, while 65.6 million watched the second.
  • The second presidential debate takes place less than one month before the general election.
  • The third and final debate will take place on October 19 in Nevada.

Monday, October 10

• U.S. Senate Election in Arizona: Incumbent Sen. John McCain (R) and Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D) will debate at 7 p.m. in Phoenix, Arizona, in one of Ballotpedia’s races to watch. The candidates will discuss foreign, domestic, and regional issues. It will be their first and, currently, only debate. It will air live on Arizona PBS and on The Arizona Republic's website and Facebook page at 7 p.m. local time.
  • See also: United States Senate election in Arizona, 2016

Tuesday, October 11

• The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in three cases. In Manrique v. United States, the court will review when and how many notices of appeal must be filed when challenging a sentence imposing restitution. In Samsung Electronics v. Apple, the court will consider when a design patent is applied only to a component of a product, should a patent infringer’s profits be forfeited on the entire product or just on those components protected under patent. In Pena-Rodriguez v. Colorado, the court will examine whether a Colorado rule of evidence that prohibits the use of jury deliberations as evidence generally can still prohibit the use of such testimony when the testimony provides evidence of a juror's racial bias.
  • For more: see Supreme Court cases, October 2016-2017 term

• Barry Silverman, a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, will assume senior status on the court. Judge Silverman’s elevation creates an Article III vacancy. Judge Silverman’s successor must be nominated by the president, and that nomination is subject to the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate. There are 29 active judge positions on the Ninth Circuit. There is one vacant seat. Lucy Haeran Koh was nominated by President Obama to fill the outstanding vacancy. Her nomination is pending a final confirmation vote in the Senate.

Thursday, October 13

• U.S. Senate Election in North Carolina: Incumbent Sen. Richard Burr (R) and Deborah Ross (D)—participants in one of Ballotpedia’s battleground races—will debate at 7 p.m. It will be their first and, currently, only debate. It will air live on television stations throughout the state.
  • See also: United States Senate election in North Carolina, 2016

Friday, October 14

• U.S. Senate Election in Ohio: Incumbent Sen. Rob Portman (R) and former Governor Ted Strickland (D) will debate in one of Ballotpedia’s races to watch. The debate, which is co-sponsored by The Vindicator and WFMJ, begins at noon. This will be the first of three scheduled debates.
  • See also: United States Senate election in Ohio, 2016

• U.S. Senate Election in Nevada: Rep. Joe Heck (R) and former Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto (D) will debate in one of Ballotpedia’s battleground races. It will be their first and, currently, only debate. The debate will be broadcasted on KLAS-TV, Channel 8. It will be co-hosted by KINC-TV, Channel 15, Spanish-language Univision/Entravision.
  • See also: United States Senate election in Nevada, 2016

• U.S. Senate Election in New Hampshire: Incumbent Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R) and Governor Maggie Hassan (D) will debate in one of Ballotpedia’s battleground races. The radio debate will be on WGIR-AM with Jack Heath. This will be the third of six scheduled debates.
  • See also: United States Senate election in New Hampshire, 2016

• U.S. Senate Election in Wisconsin: Incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson (R) and former Sen. Russ Feingold (D) will debate in one of Ballotpedia’s battleground races. This will be the first of two scheduled debates.
  • See also: United States Senate election in Wisconsin, 2016

 

Where was the president last week?	Federal judiciary
President Barack Obama remained largely in Washington, D.C., last week. On Friday, he traveled to Chicago, Ill., for a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee event.	104 total federal judicial vacancies 65 pending nominations 16 future vacancies

Back to top for State, Local, and fact checks updates

State and Local

What's on tap?

• Need a jolt to get you through the rest of the election cycle? Ballotpedia is covering all the issues outside the presidential election that you need to know about before you vote. Check out our webinars on topics including preemption conflicts, ballot measures, and municipal elections. The webinars are free and will last 20 minutes with a question-and-answer session.

 

Highlights

Local

On Tuesday, October 11, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) plans to begin a teacher strike after it authorized the decision on September 28, 2016. The strike is a response to multiple rounds of failed contract negotiations between the CTU, Chicago Public Schools (CPS), and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D). Contract negotiations to replace a pact that expired in June 2015 have been underway for more than a year. The CTU’s bargaining team rejected a contract proposal that was presented as part of the district’s operating budget in January 2016. A second contract proposal, presented to the CTU in April 2016, was also rejected after teachers staged a one-day walkout. The strike could be canceled if progress is made in the contract negotiations. Chicago Public Schools is the largest school district in Illinois and the third-largest school district in the United States. It served 396,641 students during the 2013-2014 school year—19.2 percent of all Illinois public school students.

State

Ballotpedia’s state ballot measures team released their cost-per-required signature report. This report is an in-depth look at the total signature gathering costs and the cost-per-required-signature for measures that qualified for state ballots in 2016. According to the data currently available, initiative proponents spent at least $75,904,421.44 on petition drives to put the 74 initiatives and five veto referendums before voters. More than half of that money was spent on initiative efforts in California.

 

State

The Week in Review

Ballot measures update

• In 2016, 165 measures across 35 states have been certified for the ballot. Eight were decided earlier in the year; the other 157 will go before voters in November.
  • Over 205 million Americans will be affected by the results of ballot measure elections in November.
  • Seventy-four of the 165 measures certified this year are citizen initiatives, while five are veto referendums. That is more than double the 35 citizen initiatives certified in 2014—in fact, this year features more citizen initiatives on the ballot than in any year since 2006. Low turnout in the 2014 elections likely contributed to more citizen initiatives being proposed and certified, as fewer total votes cast in 2014 led to a reduced petition signature burden in 2016 in many states.
• Ballotpedia has coverage of ballot measures going back to 1777.
  • Explore our data by year, by subject, or by state.

Sunday, October 2

• The Center for Public Integrity released the results of an investigation detailing the close relationship between some state insurance commissioners and private insurance companies. State insurance commissioners are typically responsible for the oversight of the private insurance industry, which can include consumer protection, rate changes, and handling complaints or fraud cases. "[H]alf of the 109 insurance commissioners who have left their posts in the last decade have gone on to work for the industry they used to regulate—many leaving before their terms expire. Just two moved into consumer advocacy," said the report. The investigation also detailed instances of insurance commissioners owning stock in private insurance companies, taking vacations paid for by private insurance companies, and frequently attending events held by insurance lobbyists. Data collected by the National Institute on Money in State Politics found that in six of the 11 states that elect insurance commissioners, private insurance companies were among the top contributors to commissioners' campaigns over the past decade—despite bans on such contributions in four of those states. Former Texas insurance commissioner and consumer advocate Bob Hunter said that personal relationships between commissioners and private insurance carriers raise “among the public more and more doubt about the honesty of government and about government generally." President John Huff of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners asserted that "state insurance regulators are committed to their shared dual responsibilities of consumer protection and the regulation of insurance company solvency."

Monday, October 3

• Maryland regulators released the state's final hydraulic fracturing (fracking) regulations. The proposed regulations would ban fracking in three of the state's watersheds, mandate four layers of steel casing and cement around oil and gas wells to prevent leaks into underground water sources, and require drillers to release a list of the chemicals used during the fracking process. Ben H. Grumbles, Maryland's secretary of the environment, said the regulations were "the most stringent in the country." Environmental groups criticized the proposed regulations and expressed a plan to support legislation banning fracking next year. The regulatory process requires a 30-day comment period with the potential for a review by the state legislative regulatory review committee. The regulations can be found here.
• Alaskan residents are receiving about half the amount expected earlier in the year as part of their dividend checks from the Alaska Permanent Fund. The Alaska Permanent Fund, established in 1976 after the discovery of oil in the state, pays out annual dividends to state residents. To date, the fund has paid out over $21 billion since payments started in 1982. In 2015, Alaska residents received $2,072 from the fund, a record amount. Earlier in 2016, payments were expected to be about $2,100 per resident. However, Governor Bill Walker (I) reduced the payments to $1,022 in a series of line-item vetoes to the state’s budget, which is facing a deficit caused in large part by low oil prices.
  • This cut is being challenged in court by state Senator Bill Wielechowski (D) and two former Republican lawmakers who claim that the governor acted illegally in vetoing fund earnings appropriated for the dividends. According to Wielechowski, “It was not done legally, it was not done appropriately and it did not belong in the budget, and because it didn't belong in the budget, the governor couldn't veto it.” The governor responded by saying that Wielechowski had “failed to work toward a solution” for the budget deficit and called the lawsuit a political maneuver designed to aid the senator’s 2016 re-election bid. An effort to recall Walker over the veto is also currently underway. Alaska currently has a divided government: Republicans control the state legislature while Walker, though formerly a Republican, was elected as an independent.

Tuesday, October 4

• The South Carolina Department of Insurance announced that only one insurance company, BlueCross BlueShield, would be selling plans on the state’s health insurance exchange in 2017. Aetna and UnitedHealthcare decided earlier in 2016 to withdraw from South Carolina’s exchange. The department’s announcement came after BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina decided to pull its subsidiary, BlueChoice, off the exchange “to save money by pursuing a ‘one-company approach.’” A spokeswoman for BlueCross BlueShield declined to speculate whether it would continue to sell exchange plans in 2018. Consumers can also purchase plans off the exchange, where they may have more choices but would not receive federal subsidies to cover the cost of premiums. South Carolina is one of five states that will have a single insurer offering exchange plans statewide in 2017.
• Georgia Attorney General Samuel Olens (R) interviewed for the position of president at Kennesaw State University. On October 3, 2016, University System of Georgia Chancellor Hank Huckaby confirmed after months of speculation that Olens was being considered for the position. The interview took place in a closed-door meeting, and the hiring committee will vote on Olens' candidacy on October 12, 2016. Georgia is one of 43 states that directly elects its attorney general; however, Olens’ current term does not expire until 2018. If he is selected for the position at Kennesaw State, a replacement attorney general would be appointed by Governor Nathan Deal (R) to serve the remainder of Olens’ term. Randy Evans, a personal lawyer for Deal and co-chair of the governor's judicial selection committee, speculated to the Daily Report that Deal might nominate Department of Economic Development commissioner Chris Carr to replace Olens if the attorney general seat becomes vacant. Deal appointed Carr to his current position in November 2013; he previously served as chief of staff to U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R). Georgia is one of 23 Republican trifectas. Across the country, Republicans control 27 of the 50 attorney general seats.

Wednesday, October 5

• The Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) released the first two rounds of their “16 in ‘16: Races to Watch” list. These lists each highlighted 16 Republican candidates in 16 races that the GOP decided to target on November 8, 2016. Out of the 32 races listed, 27 are state legislative races—12 in state senates and 15 in state houses. The other five races on the list are state executive races. New Mexico has the most races on the list—five of them.
• The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) released the first two rounds of their "Essential Races" list. The lists highlight 30 Democratic candidates in 30 races that Democrats are targeting. Out of the 30 races listed, 11 are state senate races and the other 19 are state house races. Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, and New Mexico have the most races on the list—three each.
• Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Heidi Brieger dismissed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the cap on charter schools in the state, thereby maintaining the current cap limit until voters decide on Question 2 in November. Opponents of the measure argued that the judge’s ruling supported the notion that lifting the cap would be harmful to students in traditional public schools, while supporters argued that the decision was reflective of the problems with the status quo in that some students are “shut out” from quality education. If the measure is approved, the approval of 12 new charter schools or expansion of existing charter schools would be allowed each year, starting in January 2017. Question 2 is one of four measures that will appear on the ballot in Massachusetts on November 8, 2016.
• New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D) wrote a letter to the New York State Commission on Legislative, Judicial and Executive Compensation asking for a pay raise from $79,000 per year to $116,900, or a 47 percent raise, for all New York state legislators. In his letter, Heastie argued that legislators must contend with the same monetary stressors that their constituents face, such as rising cost of living, loan debt, and other living expenses. He also stressed that the salary of state legislators had not been raised since 1999 and that lawmakers living in downstate New York City face particularly large challenges in paying bills because of the higher cost of living relative to those legislators living in upstate New York. Assemblyman Gary Finch (R-126) came out against the proposal, arguing that, although he believed legislators should get a raise, the 47 percent increase proposed by Heastie was “borderline outrageous” and “a little bit unbelievable.” Compared to state legislative salaries across the country, New York legislators currently earn the third-highest salary. California legislators earn the most at $100,113 per year.
• Major party candidates for governor of New Hampshire debated at New England College. Executive Councilors Colin Van Ostern (D) and Chris Sununu (R) differed widely on a range of topics including the minimum wage, gun control, and the opioid addiction epidemic. Van Ostern also supported Medicaid expansion while Sununu questioned the state's ability to fund the expansion. Van Ostern criticized Sununu's record of voting against granting state contracts to Planned Parenthood providers; Sununu stated the move was in response to Governor Maggie Hassan’s (D) refusal to investigate the organization for alleged trafficking of fetal body parts. Hassan declined to seek re-election this year in favor of a bid for a U.S. Senate seat. The gubernatorial race is currently rated "Toss-up." New Hampshire has had a divided government since 2011. If Democrats lose the governorship in 2016, Republicans may win trifecta control of the state. Alternatively, if Democrats retain the governorship and pick up majorities in the state Senate and House—both are battleground chambers in 2016—Democrats could gain a trifecta.

Thursday, October 6

• Ballotpedia published a preview of its analysis of state executive elections between 2011 and 2016. We found that 60.2 percent of incumbents ran for re-election on average. Of the 93 offices up for election in 2016, only 51 incumbents are running for re-election, or about 55 percent. Four years prior, when the same offices were up for election—94 seats were up in 2012—63 incumbents sought re-election, equal to 67 percent. However, both years saw a similar percentage of open elections due to term limits, indicating that more incumbents declined to run for re-election or are running for election to new offices in 2016 than in 2012.
• The New Mexico State Legislature adjourned its special session with a budget deal but no decision on the death penalty. Legislators approved a budget-cutting plan that will generate $327.8 million in savings for the current fiscal year. The state is currently facing a $458 million budget shortfall for the fiscal year that began in July 2016. The deficit was caused in part by larger-than-expected declines in oil and gas prices. In an early morning session, the New Mexico House of Representatives voted 36-30 to reinstate the death penalty, but the state Senate did not vote on the bill before the special session adjourned. The bill would have limited the use of lethal injection to those convicted of murdering a child or law enforcement officer. The death penalty was repealed in 2009 by then-Gov. Bill Richardson (D). The six-day special session cost more than $250,000. New Mexico currently has a divided government: Republicans hold both the governorship and state House, while Democrats control the state Senate.
  • Voters in California, Nebraska, and Oklahoma will vote on death-penalty-related ballot measures in November.
    • In California, voters will decide two competing citizen initiatives, one to repeal the death penalty and one to revise and expedite the death penalty process.
    • Nebraska ballots will feature a veto referendum challenging the legislature’s decision to repeal the death penalty.
    • The Oklahoma Legislature put a question before voters about whether to protect the legality of the death penalty by putting it into their state constitution.
• President Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court dismissed an appeal from retired Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justices Ronald Castille and Stephen Zappala Sr. to challenge the ballot question for the amendment designed to increase the judicial retirement age from 70 to 75 appearing on the Pennsylvania ballot in November 2016. Castille and Zappala Sr., along with attorney Richard A. Sprague, alleged that the question on the ballot is "misleading" and "deceitful" because it states the proposed constitutional law—a retirement age of 75—but not the existing constitutional law—a retirement age of 70. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court previously heard the case and issued a 3-3 decision that allowed the amendment to remain on the ballot. The ballot question reads, "Shall the Pennsylvania Constitution be amended to require that justices of the Supreme Court, judges, and magisterial district judges be retired on the last day of the calendar year in which they attain the age of 75 years?" The judicial retirement amendment is the only measure appearing on the ballot in Pennsylvania in November.
• Opponents of Amendment V in South Dakota urged the support campaign group, Vote Yes on V, to return contributions it received from Open Primaries and TakeItBack.org, claiming that the organizations solicited donations to specifically fund the amendment. In South Dakota, outside groups can contribute to ballot measure campaigns, but it is illegal for them to raise money for the express purpose of influencing or funding a ballot question. As of October 6, 2016, Vote Yes on V had raised more than $300,000, and about 72 percent of its funds were contributed by Open Primaries and TakeItBack.org. If approved, Amendment V would establish nonpartisan elections. It is one of 10 ballot measures that will appear on the ballot in South Dakota on November 8, 2016.

Friday, October 7

• Superior Court Judge Andrew Guidi overturned primary election results for Alaska State House District 40, declaring incumbent Ben Nageak (D) the winner pending an appeal with the state’s Supreme Court. After a tight primary election that saw Nageak defeated by challenger Dean Westlake by eight votes, Nageak filed a suit to challenge the result, alleging a number of “voting irregularities” on the day of the primary. Nageak’s complaints included accusations that some polling places had insufficient numbers of poll workers and a “disproportionate number of ballots cast by special needs voters.” Judge Guidi said that, in most cases, these accusations were not legitimate, but acknowledged that in the city of Shungnak, 51 voters were given both a Republican and Democratic ballot. Alaska’s state election law states that a voter may only cast one ballot, which led Guidi to determine that this precinct committed election malconduct. Poll workers in Shungnak also did not attend election training. Guidi went on to say that, because Shungnak is close to Westlake’s home of Kotzebue, poll workers either knowingly or “recklessly” disregarded the law. After making the decision that these ballots were not legitimate, Guidi used an Alaska Supreme Court precedent case to reallocate the votes. Guidi’s tally showed Nageak winning by two votes. This case will proceed onto the Alaska Supreme Court for a decision due by October 14, 2016, when absentee ballots are scheduled to be sent to voters.
  • District 40’s results are notable because it is considered a rural district. In Alaskan politics, rural Democrats typically caucus with the Republican majority in the legislature. Nageak is a member of the Republican caucus, while his primary opponent, Westlake, was backed by the Alaska Democratic Party. The Alaska House is currently in Republican control and is not likely to flip to Democratic control.
• Florida State Representative Reggie Fullwood (D-13) pleaded guilty to one charge of wire fraud and one charge of failure to file an income tax return and officially filed to end his re-election bid. Fullwood was indicted on 14 charges in April 2016 and originally pleaded not guilty to all charges. In the indictment, Fullwood was accused of transferring money from campaign finances into the account of one of his businesses. That money was then allegedly used on personal expenses. Through this plea, Fullwood and prosecutors avoided the trial originally scheduled for October 11, 2016. Under the charges, Fullwood could face a maximum of 21 years in prison, but will likely face a reduced sentence as part of the plea arrangement. According to the Duval County supervisor of elections, Fullwood’s name may still appear on ballots, but voters will be instructed that their vote will go to the Democratic replacement. This replacement has not yet been announced.
  • President Obama (D) won 67 percent of the vote in Fullwood’s district in both 2008 and 2012, indicating that the district is largely Democratic and will likely remain under Democratic control. Mark Griffin is the Republican candidate for District 13. The Florida House is safely under Republican control, with 81 seats total to the Democrats’ 38. So, even if Fullwood’s seat goes to Griffin in November, the political landscape of the state will be essentially unchanged. The state of Florida is currently under a Republican trifecta, having control of the House, the Senate, and the governor’s mansion.

 

What’s On Tap Next Week

Monday, October 10

• The Nevada State Legislature will convene a special session to consider financing for the $1.9 billion stadium plan for the Oakland Raiders professional football team. Legislators will look at a measure that will raise room taxes in Clark County. If the measure is approved, it will provide $750 million in bonds to build the stadium. The Davis family, the current owners of the Oakland Raiders, will provide $500 million for the project and Las Vegas Sands owner Sheldon Adelson has pledged $650 million. Sen. Julia Ratti (D), Sen. Jesse Haw (R), Assemblywoman Stephanie Smith (D), Assemblyman Kyle Stephens (R), and Assemblyman Dominic Brunetti (R) have all been appointed to the state legislature before the special session to fill vacancies. Nevada is one of 23 Republican trifectas, meaning that the Republican Party has control over the governorship, the state Assembly, and the state Senate. The state Senate has been identified by Ballotpedia as one of 20 battleground chambers in the 2016 elections.

Tuesday, October 11

• Join Ballotpedia's preemption webinar at 11 a.m. CT as our experts discuss the tug-of-war between city and state governments that has developed behind the scenes of the 21st century's biggest policy debates. Interest groups advancing policy reforms ranging from bans on fracking to higher minimum wages have led local and state officials to tussle over appropriate responses. Mayors, city councils, and community activists are passing ordinances and initiatives on wages, gun control, and LGBT issues in order to fill gaps perceived in existing law. Governors and state legislators have pushed back against these local responses, citing their interests in creating uniform policies across all local governments in their states.

Wednesday, October 12

• Join Ballotpedia's ballot measures webinar at 11 a.m. CT as our experts discuss the 165 ballot measures across 35 states that will affect over 205 million Americans in this year's elections. These measures cover a wide variety of issues including marijuana, healthcare, the minimum wage, tobacco, gun control, taxes, and more. As of September 30, 2016, almost $507 million was spent on the ballot measure campaigns tracked by Ballotpedia, with much of this spending centered in California. Join to learn more about how this year's ballot measures stack up against previous years, who is spending money to support or oppose ballot measures, and the political context surrounding ballot measures.

Thursday, October 13

• Join Ballotpedia's municipal government webinar at 11 a.m. CT as our experts discuss how public safety and crime have become major talking points across the nation in 2016.

 

State government in session

All states whose initials appear in red or blue in the list below have unified Republican or Democratic Party control across the state house, the state senate, and the office of the governor. Ballotpedia identifies these as “trifectas.” There are seven Democratic and 23 Republican trifectas. One state—New Jersey—is in regular session; Ohio is in a skeleton (non-voting) session. Massachusetts is in an informal session.

• Skeleton session: In a typical skeleton session, a clerk, a presiding officer, and another legislative member are the only people present. The presiding officer will convene the session day and adjourn it minutes later. Lawmakers who live more than 50 miles from the statehouse can deduct lodging and meal expenses on their federal income tax forms for each day the legislature is in skeleton or regular session.
• Informal session: In an informal session, no attendance is taken and only a few members attend the session. These sessions address day-to-day business and non-controversial bills. The bills do not require debate or a roll-call vote, and they must be passed unanimously. If one member objects, the measure is blocked.

Three states are in recess:

• PA until 10/17
• MI until 10/18
• CA until 11/30

The following states have adjourned their regular sessions:

• AK, AL, AR, AZ, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MO, MN, MS, NC, NE, NM, NH, NY, OK, OR, RI, SC, SD, TN, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, WY

Four states have no regular sessions in 2016:

• MT, ND, NV, TX

State government special elections

As of this week, 47 seats have been filled through legislative special elections in 2016. Nine involved party changes: four from Republican to Democratic (Oklahoma, SD 34; Massachusetts, HD Twelfth Essex; Kentucky, HD 62; and New Hampshire, HD Rockingham 21), three from Democratic to Republican (Texas, HD 118; Minnesota, HD 50B; and New York, SD 9), one from Democratic to independent (Texas, HD 120), and one from Republican to independent (Louisiana, HD 85). Another 13 (not including runoff elections) have been scheduled in nine states. An average of 37 seats were filled through special elections in each of the past three even years (2010: 26, 2012: 45, and 2014: 40).

Local

The Week in Review

2016 elections

• In 2016, Ballotpedia is covering municipal elections across 12 of America’s largest counties by population, 46 of America's 100 largest cities by population, local judicial elections across all 39 states holding elections, school board elections across 643 of America's 1,000 largest school districts by student enrollment, all local ballot measures in California, and notable measures across the United States.
  • So far this year, Ballotpedia has covered 27 city elections, 28 states with local judicial elections, 306 school board elections, and 162 local ballot measures in California. Ballotpedia will be covering all of the approximately 450 local California measures on the ballot in November.
• Most elections, including local elections, are held during spring and fall months. Summer and winter months contain relatively few elections and filing deadlines.

Monday, October 3

• San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer (R) endorsed a proposal for a new San Diego Chargers football stadium. The proposal, also known as Measure C, will appear on the ballot on November 8, 2016. It requires approval by two-thirds of voters to become law. If passed, Measure C, would replace the aging Chargers stadium with a new facility and convention center in a bid to keep the team in the San Diego area. To help fund the $1.8 billion project, Measure C would raise San Diego’s hotel tax from 10.5 percent to 16.5 percent. Faulconer publicly endorsed the measure after receiving a written agreement from Chargers Chairman Dean Spanos. The agreement guarantees that no money from the city’s general fund would be used in the construction of the facilities and that any non-NFL event money earned at the facilities would be given back to the city. The agreement also includes safeguards for the city if the team were to leave San Diego prior to the completion of the stadium or before the cost of building the stadium was paid in full. Opponents, including city Councilmen David Alvarez, Chris Cate, and Scott Sherman as well as Councilman-elect Chris Ward, argued that there has been limited public input on Measure C, that it would allow for large electronic signs to be installed in the downtown area, and that the multi-billion dollar National Football League would profit off of public spending. Supporters of the measure argued that it would build a multi-use, modern event center that could be used 300 days out of the year. San Diego is the second-largest city in California and the eighth-largest city in the U.S. by population.
• In New Jersey, the Burlington County Board of Freeholders voted unanimously to ban the hiring of anyone collecting a taxpayer-funded retirement pension. Board member Latham Tiver proposed the ban, which is the first of its kind in New Jersey according to county officials. Tiver said the ban was adopted to prevent pension abuse and “double-dippers”—state and local government employees who return to a government position after retirement. These employees collect both a state pension and an annual salary from taxpayer-funded sources. Currently, 18 of the 1,300 Burlington County government employees fall into this category. James Kostopolis, a Democratic candidate for Burlington County sheriff, has been labeled a “double-dipper” by the all-Republican board. Kostopolis is a retired police lieutenant with 35 years of law enforcement experience. If elected, he would earn an annual salary of $120,000 while continuing to collect his state pension. Republican officials have called on Kostopolis to freeze his pension if elected, but he argued that the salary would be paid regardless of his candidacy. He also argued that his election would save the county the $28,000 per year it spends on sheriff’s pensions and benefits. Opponents have criticized the hiring ban, saying that it deprives the county of experienced teachers, police officers, firefighters, and other union members who wish to return to service after retirement. Proponents have responded to these criticisms, saying that pensions were created to support people no longer in the workforce and weren’t intended to supplement salaries.
• Cleveland City Council member Zack Reed called on the council to denounce the endorsement that presidential nominee Donald Trump (R) received from the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association (CPPA). Reed will introduce a resolution during the council’s meeting on October 10, 2016, stating that the CPPA’s endorsement of Trump “implies that the union does not take seriously the need for reform and to rebuild trust in the community it services.” The city council could vote on the non-binding resolution next week, which would serve to publicly record the council’s dissent if passed. Reed’s announcement came shortly after union president Steve Loomis confirmed that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) would hold an event on behalf of Trump’s campaign at the CPPA union hall on October 11, 2016. Reed argued that the union’s endorsement will increase the community’s distrust of the police, especially among black and Hispanic citizens. The Cleveland Police Department has been working with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to correct a pattern of excessive force after multiple allegations were made against its officers. As part of the reconciliation and reform effort, the Cleveland Community Police Commission (CCPC) was formed in partnership with the DOJ. Loomis is a CCPC board member, and Jeffrey Follmer, a former CPPA president and current board member, accused Loomis of putting personal political views ahead of the union’s efforts to rebuild community trust. Cleveland is the second-largest city in Ohio and the 48th-largest city in the U.S. by population.
• In California, officials in the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) announced that they failed to obtain accreditation for a new high school. A public elementary and middle school, Madison Park Academy, was expanded to include grades 9-12 during the 2016-2017 school year. The 75 members of the senior class will be the first to graduate from the school. The OUSD officials discovered that proper accreditation had not been obtained from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) prior to the start of the school year. The WASC certifies that a school’s courses are state-approved. Without the accreditation, Madison Park seniors cannot gain admission to the University of California or California State University systems with traditional qualifications such as grade point averages and transcripts. Instead, students will have to rely on SAT or other test scores or demonstrate an exceptional reason for admission. The WASC will vote on Madison Park’s accreditation application in December and a decision will be announced in January 2017, but college applications for California state system schools are due in November 2016. In response to the mistake, the OUSD hired an accreditation coordinator and pledged to send a college and career readiness counselor to Madison Park twice per week. The district will also sponsor a college admissions course and has given the school $10,000 for activities such as college campus tours. Officials said no other schools in the district lack accreditation. The Oakland Unified School District is the 12th-largest school district in the state. It served 47,194 students during the 2013-2014 school year—roughly one percent of all public school students in California.
  • Four of the seven seats on the OUSD Board of Education are up for by-district general election on November 8, 2016. In her bid for re-election to District 1, incumbent Jody London is running against challenger Don Macleay. District 3 incumbent Jumoke Hinton Hodge faces challengers Benjamin Lang, Lucky Narain, and Kharyshi Wiginton. The District 5 race features incumbent Roseann Torres and challengers Mike Hassid, Mike Hutchinson, and Huber Trenado. In District 7, incumbent James Harris is running against challenger Chris Jackson.

Tuesday, October 4

• Alaska held general elections for six school board seats across two of the state’s largest school districts. Three seats were up for election on both the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District. One other district, the Anchorage School District, already held elections in April. These three districts had an enrollment of 80,048 K-12 students during the 2013-2014 school year, which was 60.8 percent of all public school students in the state.
• In Detroit, opponents of a proposed transportation millage launched an organized campaign against the tax increase. Detroit-area voters will decide on a 1.2-mill, 20-year Regional Transit Authority plan (RTA) on November 8, 2016. The anti-tax opposition group No Massive Transit Tax (NMTT) launched the first organized campaign against the proposed millage. The coalition group is supported by the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance and the Wayne County Taxpayers Association. Leon Drolet, treasurer of NMTT, said the RTA plan is outdated and the group argued the millage is a large tax hike on top of what residents already pay through gas taxes, vehicle registration fees, and the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority. NMTT suggested that it would be cheaper to lease a vehicle for each of the region’s mass-transit users than to fund the RTA plan. The Vote Yes for Regional Transit campaign for the millage increase said the plan was moderate and would cost the average homeowner $95 per year. It would cost $120 per $100,000 of property valuation. The Ford Company, the Lear Corporation, and DTE Energy came out in support of the RTA tax. Detroit is the largest city in Michigan and the 18th-largest city in the U.S. by population.
• The New York City Police Department (NYPD) announced that Seattle-based Vievu L.L.C. will provide the department with up to 5,000 body cameras over the next five years. In 2013, a federal judge found NYPD’s stop-and-frisk practices to be unconstitutional and ordered that at least five of the city’s precincts had to establish a pilot program using body cameras. An investigation conducted by The New York Times found that none of the approximately 35,000 police officers in the city were wearing a body camera in 2016. One pilot program—involving 54 officers—was created, but it concluded in March 2016 with no further action by the police department. The newspaper also found that the majority of the NYPD’s patrol vehicles do not have dashboard cameras. Several large American cities have implemented large numbers of body cameras and dashboard cameras as standard practice. In Chicago, 2,000 body cameras are in use, and 1,160 are in use in Los Angeles. Other cities, such as Charlotte, Las Vegas, and Houston, also provide officers with body cameras. NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) argued that procuring and using body camera technology for the largest police force in the U.S. takes time. Although the NYPD has chosen a company to provide it with body cameras, no contract has been signed. New York City is the largest city in the U.S. by population.
  • • In September, the Kansas City Police Department began a test of a police body camera system. The three-month test will outfit 25 officers with cameras that must be turned on manually. The test is designed to see how footage would be stored and whether the current body camera equipment could be implemented more widely. Police chief Darryl Forté said in a statement that the test would be important because a number of agencies nationwide had promised to roll out body camera programs but had been forced to recall them after seeing the costs associated with video storage. Kansas City is the 37th-largest city in the country by population and the largest in Missouri.
• The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) ordered the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to abolish an 8.5-percent special education cap. The DOE Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) sent a letter to Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Morath telling the state to discontinue the use of the 8.5-percent cap, to ensure that school districts identify any students in need of special services, and to determine which districts might have refused to act on special education referrals in the past. The state must also inform all school districts that they cannot deny or delay referrals to artificially lower special education enrollment numbers. The TEA must submit a letter to the DOE outlining the steps it will take to meet these requirements within 30 days. During the 2013-2014 school year, Texas had 5,077,659 students enrolled in a total of 8,731 schools in 1,254 school districts.
  • Concerns about Texas’ compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act were raised after an investigation by the Houston Chronicle found the state had a special education enrollment rate that was nearly half of the national average. After the release of the report, the superintendents of two of Texas’ largest school districts called on Morath to abolish special education enrollment targets. Superintendent Michael Hinojosa of the Dallas ISD and Superintendent Pedro Martinez of the San Antonio ISD said that state-imposed penalties were keeping thousands of students out of special education programs once those programs had reached their planned enrollment figures. The TEA officials responded to the concern saying that the target was only in place to ensure school districts were providing services to students who needed them and that some districts had erroneously identified students as having special needs in the past.

Wednesday, October 5

• In Minneapolis, a study of the proposed $15 minimum wage was released. The report, led by the Roy Wilkins Center for Human Relations and Social Justice at the University of Minnesota, investigated the potential economic impact of both a $12 and a $15 minimum wage in the Minneapolis area. According to the report, a $15 minimum wage would increase pay for workers with minimal impact on local businesses. In restaurants, the study found that a $15 minimum wage could cause the number of employees in the industry to drop between 0 and 3.3 percent. A concurrent rise in employee earnings could be as high as 28 percent, with a 5 percent increase in food costs. A higher minimum wage would affect around 71,000 workers employed in the Minneapolis restaurant, retail, non-hospital health care, and administrative support service industries. According to the study, about half of these workers would be members of a minority group. Members of the Minneapolis City Council and local business leaders were skeptical of the study’s findings. Matt Perry, president of the Southwest Business Association, noted that the study did not account for the ease of relocating a business to a surrounding area with a lower minimum wage. Minimum wage activists, including Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, were pleased with the findings and pointed to the report’s thoroughness and the economic credentials of its authors. Minneapolis is the largest city in Minnesota and the 46th-largest city in the U.S. by population.
  • The debate over a $15 minimum wage in Minneapolis began earlier in 2016:
    • On July 28, 2016, the city council proposed letting voters decide on a $15 minimum wage. City Attorney Susan Segal advised the council not to place the issue on the November ballot. Segal said that the proposal was an ordinance, not a charter amendment, and could not be decided by voters.
    • On August 10, 2016, the city council decided to block the proposal to add a $15 minimum wage vote to the ballot on November 8, 2016. Minimum wage supporters filed a legal complaint against the city asking the Hennepin County District Court to reverse the decision. The case was referred to the Minnesota Supreme Court for review.
    • On August 31, 2016, the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a $15 minimum wage proposal could not go before Minneapolis voters on the ballot on November 8, 2016. The court released an opinion stating that the Minneapolis city charter does not grant citizens the right to vote on policy decisions. Instead, full power over policy is vested with the city council. Ginger Jentzen, director of the minimum wage advocacy group 15 Now, expressed frustration over the decision. According to Jentzen, months of activism had created support for the higher minimum wage on the city council. While Mayor Betsy Hodges (D) expressed tentative support for a minimum wage increase, the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce interim president supported only state-level minimum wage reform, not changes at the city level.
  • Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington D.C. have all begun the implementation of a $15 minimum wage.
    • Two more cities—Miami Beach and San Diego—approved smaller minimum wage hikes in June 2016. The Miami Beach City Commission voted in favor of increasing the minimum wage to $10.31 in 2018 with additional increases over time until it reaches $13.31 in 2021. San Diego voters approved Proposition I by more than 63 percent of the vote, which will increase the city’s minimum wage to $11.50 in January 2017. San Diego is the second-largest city in California and the eighth-largest city in the U.S. by population.

Friday, October 7

• In Philadelphia, ridesharing companies Uber and Lyft continued to operate after receiving a cease and desist order. The injunction was issued by court of common pleas Judge Linda Carpenter on October 6 and took effect immediately. If the companies continue to operate, they may be held in contempt of court. Uber spokesman Craig Ewer said that the company was reviewing the judge’s order before taking action. The companies released a joint statement noting that the injunction was issued in response to a lawsuit filed against the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) in which neither Uber nor Lyft were named. The companies had been operating under temporary authorization granted by the Pennsylvania General Assembly ahead of the Democratic National Convention held in Philadelphia in July 2016. That authorization expired on October 1, 2016, and the PPA announced that it would treat Uber and Lyft as illegal car services beginning on October 6, 2016. Ridesharing companies operate legally elsewhere in the state under authorization from the Pennsylvania Public Utility, which controls private car service in all parts of Pennsylvania except Philadelphia. That authorization will expire at the end of 2016. Unless the state legislature acts to reauthorize Uber and Lyft’s operations before its session ends on November 8, 2016, the companies will continue to be illegal in Philadelphia. Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania and the fifth-largest city in the U.S. by population.
  • Several events preceded the court order:
    • Uber and Lyft began operating in Philadelphia in 2014. The PPA sought to regulate the services and used sting operations to catch ridesharing service drivers. The companies continued to operate in the city as an unregulated and illegal industry.
    • In July 2016, a temporary bill was signed by Gov. Tom Wolf (D) that authorized a 90-day legal period of operation for Uber and Lyft in Philadelphia. The bill gave the PPA regulatory oversight of the companies during the three-month period surrounding the Democratic National Convention.
    • Ron Blount, president of the Taxi Workers Alliance of Philadelphia, and others, filed a lawsuit against the PPA in response to the bill. The suit stated that the PPA failed to provide equal protection to all providers of car services. The suit also stated that the strict regulations on taxi drivers made it impossible to compete with the less-regulated ridesharing services and that cab owner revenue had dropped by 50 percent since 2015.
    • On September 28, 2016, the PPA’s director Vince Fenerty resigned amid allegations of sexual harassment. Members of the Philadelphia City Council ordered a review of all of the PPA’s operations.
    • On October 5, 2016, the PPA announced the adoption of relaxed regulations for taxi drivers in response to the lawsuit. The regulatory changes include loosening some inspection requirements on taxis, dropping the requirement for a two-way radio in each taxi, and removing shields between passengers and drivers if a camera is installed in the vehicle. Blount responded to these changes saying, “I would say we’re halfway there now. For the taxicabs there’s some relief.”

 

What’s On Tap Next Week

Saturday, October 8

• The Midland Independent School District (MISD) in Texas will hold a special tax ratification election. The MISD board of trustees unanimously adopted an increased tax rate for the 2016-2017 school year in August 2016. Under Texas state law, the board must get voter approval to pass a property tax rate above $1.04 per $100 of property valuation. The board proposed a rate of $1.09 per $100 of property valuation, which would increase the property taxes on a home valued at $200,000 by $60 per year. As a result, the board ordered the special election. In the spring of 2016, the MISD learned it would be required to pay $51 million to the state under the Texas Robin Hood law, which is a $4 million increase over the previous year's payment. The Robin Hood law obligates property-rich districts like Midland to send money to the state for redistribution to poorer districts. The payment increase came after a fall in commodity prices led to an unexpected revenue decline in the Midland area, which is dominated by the oil and natural gas industries. Consequently, the MISD estimated a $25 million deficit for the 2016-2017 school year. The Midland Independent School District is the 53rd-largest school district in the state. It served 23,560 student during the 2013-2014 school year—roughly 0.5 percent of all Texas public school students.

Tuesday, October 11

• The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) plans to begin a teacher strike on this date after it authorized the decision on September 28, 2016.
• The turmoil between CPS and the CTU has been ongoing:
  • On August 24, 2016, the CPS school board unanimously approved a $5.4 billion operating budget for 2016-2017. The budget included $30 million in concessions from the CTU. In response, Chicago teachers marched in front of CPS headquarters. The budget was first proposed in early August and included increased property taxes and personnel cuts. It also offered gradual pay increases for teachers and phased out district payments into CTU pension and insurance funds. The inclusion of $945 million in borrowing for unspecified construction projects received backlash from CTU leaders after 1,000 teachers, aides, and support staff were laid off earlier in the month due to district budget shortfalls.
• Join Ballotpedia's preemption webinar at 11 a.m. CT as our experts discuss the tug-of-war between city and state governments that has developed behind the scenes of the 21st century's biggest policy debates.

Wednesday, October 12

• Two Klamath County Irrigation District board members will face a recall election. An effort to recall Brent Cheyne, Grant Knoll, and Ken Smith from their positions was launched earlier in 2016. Petitions were filed against the three officials on July 25, 2016, by Ed Bair, Jason Chapman, and Ross Fleming, all of whom previously served on the board. Supporters cited high fees paid to out-of-town attorneys, the departure of several district employees, and the board’s failure to conduct business in a public forum in accordance with public meeting laws as reasons for the recall. In September 2016, the recall petitions for Cheyne and Smith were certified for the ballot. On September 27, 2016, the recall petition for Knoll was certified. His recall election is tentatively scheduled for November 7, 2016.
• Join Ballotpedia's ballot measures webinar at 11 a.m. CT as our experts discuss the 165 ballot measures across 35 states that will affect over 205 million Americans in this year's elections.

Thursday, October 13=

• Join Ballotpedia's municipal government webinar at 11 a.m. CT as our experts discuss how public safety and crime have become major talking points across the nation in 2016. At the municipal level, this conversation has had the greatest impact on mayoral elections. Republican mayors across America’s largest 100 cities, headlined by San Diego’s Kevin Faulconer, face competition from Democratic rivals to hold on to their posts. Join this webinar to learn how public safety issues and partisan politics are affecting elections in 2016.

 

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Fact Check

Fact Check by Ballotpedia

State and local fact checks

• Fact check: Does California face a historic housing crisis? California’s 2017 budget includes an increase of $400 million for affordable housing to address “a housing crisis of historic proportions,” according to Ben Metcalf, director of the state Department of Housing and Community Development. Housing prices are near—but have not yet matched—record-high 2006 levels, nor are they the highest in the nation. However, homeownership rates and rental vacancy rates are both at historic lows, indicating that many Californians in the most popular metropolitan areas face great difficulty buying a home or renting an apartment.
• Fact check: Would inmates convicted of violent crimes in California be eligible for early parole under Proposition 57? Because neither Proposition 57 nor California state law define what constitutes a “nonviolent felony”—and state law only specifies 23 felonies as violent—inmates convicted of such crimes as assault with a deadly weapon and domestic violence might be eligible for early parole if the measure passes.

• Fact check: Is there a federal court order that would prohibit sex offenders in California from being paroled under Proposition 57? In November, Californians will vote on Proposition 57, the California Parole for Non-Violent Criminals and Juvenile Court Trial Requirements Initiative. If approved, Proposition 57 would make it easier for eligible prisoners to qualify earlier for parole. Proponents contend that the measure is needed to reduce prison crowding and claim that a federal court order prohibiting sex offenders from qualifying for early parole will help prevent it from having a negative impact on public safety. Ballotpedia reviewed the federal court orders impacting the parole process in California, and none of those orders require the state to exclude sex offenders from consideration for early parole. The prohibition on sex offenders is a state policy, not a federal court mandate.

 

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