Archive for May, 2011
Challenges to Health Care law go to Appeals Court
Last Updated on Monday, 9 May 2011 01:43 Written by rslcpol Monday, 9 May 2011 01:43
From PilotOnline.com:
Just down the hill from Virginia’s Capitol, state and federal lawyers will renew their arguments this week over the constitutionality of the nation’s health care overhaul.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments Tuesday in two cases challenging the constitutionality of the year-old Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
A three-judge panel will hear a lawsuit filed by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who has received national attention for leading the state’s effort to thwart President Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy initiative. The same three-judge panel will hear arguments in a separate lawsuit filed by Liberty University, which is challenging the constitutionality of both the individual and employer insurance mandates in the health care law.
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NV: Budget and taxes dominate Legislature
Last Updated on Monday, 9 May 2011 01:21 Written by rslcpol Monday, 9 May 2011 01:21
From RGJ.com:
The budget and taxes will dominate the Nevada Legislature as the session enters its 14th week today.
Democratic lawmakers on Thursday unveiled their long-awaited tax plan that, along with additional projected revenues, would generate $1.5 billion over the next two years.
The proposal includes lifting the sunset on taxes set to expire June 30; a gradual phase-out the modified business tax in favor of a margins tax paid on business revenue; and implementing a 1 percent to 4 percent tax on some services.
State Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, and Assembly Speaker John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, said they hoped the proposal would be a starting point for discussion on revamping Nevada’s tax structure that is heavily reliant on tourism and casino taxes — two revenue sources prone to economic volatility.
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GOP Stands up to Governor’s Tax Hikes
Last Updated on Monday, 9 May 2011 01:18 Written by rslcpol Monday, 9 May 2011 01:17
From The Sun:
It may be the governor himself who lacks courage to close a budget deal.
In March, five Republican senators reported that they had “reached an impasse” in negotiations with the governor because their “substantive reform proposals to create jobs, require responsible state spending, eliminate abusive pension practices, and implement meaningful governmental reforms” had been “either rejected or so watered down as to have no real effect.”
The senators concluded that the governor was “unable to compel other stakeholders to accept real reform.”
Later that same month, it was the governor, not the Republicans, who pulled the plug on budget negotiations. Rather unconvincingly, the governor claimed a deal was impossible because Republicans were asking for too many reforms.
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Ohio Secretary of State Proposes Election Changes
Last Updated on Friday, 6 May 2011 01:41 Written by rslcpol Friday, 6 May 2011 01:41
Secretary of State Jon Husted is working to make sure Ohio doesn’t become a Florida sized problem in 2012.
From Dayton Daily News:
Husted also warned the panel that unless changes are made, the heavy use of provisional ballots next year in a close presidential election in Ohio could lead to major problems.
“I am concerned that in a close election, what punch cards were to Florida in 2000, provisional ballots will be in Ohio come 2012 if we do not strike the right balance and work together to provide uniformity in the casting and counting process,” Husted said.
He testified on Senate Bill 148, sponsored by Sen. Mark Wagoner, R-Ottawa Hills. It follows Husted’s plan for overhauling the election procedures.
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The Survey Says… California is Worst state for Business
Last Updated on Friday, 6 May 2011 01:30 Written by rslcpol Friday, 6 May 2011 01:30
On the flip side, Texas ranks first followed by North Carolina, Florida, Tennessee and Georgia.
From The Sacramento Bee:
Many of the nation’s top business executives apparently have no love for California.
For the seventh year in a row, a survey of chief executives has ranked the Golden State as the nation’s worst in which to do business.
More than 500 U.S. CEOs polled by Greenwich, Conn.-based Chief Executive magazine based their opinions on numerous factors, including regulations, tax policies, work force quality, education resources, quality of living and infrastructure.
“ABC – Anywhere But California,” said T.J. Rodgers, CEO of Cypress Semiconductor, a $668 million chip-making firm in San Jose. “It’s expensive, it’s hostile to business and environmental regulations are more of a drag on business than protecting the environment.”
Cypress Semiconductor, which also has overseas operations, said it once had 1,500 workers in California but is now down to about 600.
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Nevada Democrats try to raise taxes
Last Updated on Friday, 6 May 2011 11:23 Written by rslcpol Friday, 6 May 2011 11:23
From Las Vegas Review Journal:
Nevadans could pay more for everything from plumbing to car repairs, from legal services to yard upkeep to raise money for schools and social services under a $1.5 billion plan detailed by Democratic lawmakers Thursday.
The proposal includes a new tax on services and another on business revenue.
They would boost state general fund spending for 2011-13 by about $920 million more than the $6.1 billion budget proposal from Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval.
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Feeling under siege in states, Unions Focus Political Activity
Last Updated on Thursday, 5 May 2011 02:05 Written by rslcpol Thursday, 5 May 2011 01:29
From USA Today:
Feeling under siege in more than a dozen states, some of the nation’s largest labor groups are focusing their political activity to challenge state laws that sharply curb union rights or to oust the legislators who crafted them.
That could hurt congressional Democrats who rely heavily on organized labor for campaign money and get-out-the vote efforts. Democrats received 93% of the money union-affiliated political action committees donated to federal candidates in last year’s midterm elections, according to data collected by the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics.
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Rove: 2012 Electoral Math looks good for the GOP
Last Updated on Thursday, 5 May 2011 01:26 Written by rslcpol Thursday, 5 May 2011 01:26
From the Wall Street Journal:
The number 270 will come to dominate almost every waking moment for the Obama re-election high command in Chicago—as well as for their counterparts in the headquarters of the GOP nominee next year.
Two hundred seventy is the number of Electoral College votes needed to win the White House. Strategists on both sides will obsess on how to cobble together enough states to reach that total.
Since the 2008 election, 18 states have experienced a change in their number of electoral votes because of the decennial census. Some (mostly red ones) have gained electoral votes and some (mostly blue) have lost electoral votes. John McCain would have closed the gap by 14 electoral votes in 2008 if the contest had been run under the 2012 Electoral College distribution.
Most states are not in play. Mr. Obama will not win Utah and Wyoming, and the Republican nominee will not carry the District of Columbia or Rhode Island. But right now 14 states (with 172 electoral votes) are up for grabs.
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WI: Leader of Recall Group Seeks Restraining Order against Democrats
Last Updated on Wednesday, 4 May 2011 01:15 Written by rslcpol Wednesday, 4 May 2011 01:15
Seems that people who signed the recall petition against Democrat Senator Dave Hansen are now being harassed.
From JSonline.com:
A man who headed a recall effort against state Sen. Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) is seeking a temporary restraining order to stop the state Democratic Party from harassing people who signed or circulated petitions to recall Hansen.
David Vander Leest, the representative of the Recall Dave Hansen committee, filed his request for a TRO in Brown County on Monday. A hearing was set for May 16.
Vander Leest said some people who signed the petition have gotten as many as 10 calls from people seeking to see if they were misled into signing the petitions.
Posted under Dems Behaving Badly, State Legislature News | No Comments
MS Secretary of State: Redistricting Belongs in the State
Last Updated on Monday, 2 May 2011 01:22 Written by rslcpol Monday, 2 May 2011 01:22
Check out the recent Letter to the Editor written by Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann:
Dear Fellow Mississippians–
As a fervent believer in State’s rights and the State Constitution, it is incomprehensible to me that the State of Mississippi would willingly toss Redistricting, such an important issue to all Mississippians, into Federal Court. Redistricting is the cornerstone of determining who represents your interests. It is key to your representation and your voice in government. Now, some individuals seek to limit your ability to have a voice in your elected leadership by pitching the responsibility to the Federal Court system in the form of a lawsuit, rather than follow a process clearly outlined in the State Constitution.
The State Constitution states, “Should the Legislature adjourn, without apportioning itself as REQUIRED hereby, the governor by proclamation shall reconvene the legislature within thirty (30) days in a special apportionment session…and it shall be the MANDATORY duty of the Legislature to adopt a joint resolution of apportionment. Should a special apportionment session not adopt a joint resolution of apportionment as REQUIRED hereby, a five-member commission consisting of the chief justice of the Supreme Court as chairman, the Attorney General, the Secretary of State, the speaker of the House of Representatives and president pro tempore of the Senate shall immediately convene within one hundred eighty days (180) of adjournment of such special apportionment session apportion the legislature…”
The State Constitution, the foundation of our State’s rights, provides a clear roadmap for redistricting. Legislators were elected by their fellow citizens to perform this important task every ten years following the decennial census. Legislators failed to accomplish redistricting this year, but the State Constitution gives lawmakers another year to approve new lines. Redistricting should be completed by representatives and senators elected on the STATE level by citizens of this STATE and in accordance with the State CONSTITUTION.
The NAACP v. Barbour, Hood, Hosemann, et.al, lawsuit was filed only 42 days AFTER the census was delivered to the Legislature and BEFORE the Constitutional process was exhausted. In an attempt to skew the lines in their favor, individuals sought federal intervention to place what is clearly a state issue into the hands of the United States government.
So what is a REASONABLE time for the Legislature to finish the redistricting process? Article 13, Section 254 clearly says, “The Legislature shall, at its regular session in the SECOND year following the 1980 decennial census and every ten (10) years thereafter…apportion the state in accordance with CONSTITUTION of the state and of the United States…”
What other parts of the Constitution will be IGNORED for political expediency by a group seeking advantages for their own political agenda?
When we lose the roadmap of our Government (the Constitution), we lose our direction as a State.
Sincerely, Delbert
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