Daily Archives: July 18, 2017

AUSTIN The sunset red granite of the Texas state capitol stands at 302 feet. It towers over nearby Travis County and Austin municipal buildings, as if to convey a physical superiority over those lesser government bodies. When legislators return for a special session this week, they will advance a series of laws that would make that state supremacy more concrete.

Republicans who run Texas are increasingly targeting laws passed by cities and counties with so-called preemption measures, bills that would restrict a local government's power to pass laws regulating certain industries or setting policy. It is part of a national trend in which Republican legislators are moving to preempt local governments, on issues ranging from minimum wage laws to immigration enforcement and even the use of plastic bags at retail establishments.

Supporters say the preemption laws are meant to create a consistent set of laws around a state. Opponents say it is a way for conservative legislatures to overrule more liberal city governments, at the cost of local control.

"Part of it is motivated by our urban communities that are very blue and Democratic and have different ideas about the environment and workers rights. I think it's just offensive to Republican leaders," Gina Hinojosa, a Democratic state representative whose district includes the core of downtown Austin, said in an interview in her Capitol office.

In Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has the power to set the agenda in this week's special session, legislators will consider eight new measures to take power away from county and municipal governments.

Two proposals would set caps on taxes and spending. Two others would govern permitting and construction projects. One would prevent cities from requiring homeowners to seek approval before cutting down historic trees on their own property. Another would set a statewide standard for texting while driving, superseding local efforts to crack down on distracted driving.

The last, and perhaps most controversial, would limit a local government's ability to dictate whether transgender students have the right to use bathroom and locker room facilities of their choice.

The bill, similar to one passed in North Carolina last year, has generated intense opposition from business groups across Texas.On Friday, IBM, one of the largest employers in the state, took out a full-page ad in major papers around Texas opposing the bill. Business groups plan a rally at the CapitolMondayto reiterate their opposition to the bill, which they say will cost Texas billions in lost economic activity.

Abbott said the legislation is his way of ensuring local governments do not step on the rights of Texans.

"What we've seen in Texas is a growing rise of actions at the local level that infringe upon people's liberty. And just like I fought back against the federal government that was infringing on people's liberty, I'll fight back against federal, state or any government that infringes upon people's liberty," Abbott said in an interview in San Antonio, where he kicked off his bid for a second term as governor.

As Republicans have built their political power in state capitals across the country, Democrats who run the nation's largest cities have increasingly found themselves at loggerheads with state officials. Some state legislatures have prohibited local jurisdictions from raising the minimum wage. Others have blocked cities from enacting tougher restrictions on gun possession.

Earlier this year, Texas passed a law meant to crack down on so-called sanctuary cities, where local police do not comply with federal immigration detainer requests even though there are no sanctuary cities in Texas.

"Austin is always number one on that target list," Hinojosa said.

Nationally, at least 140 measures preempting local government actions were introduced in legislatures this year, according to Grassroots Change, a California-based group that opposes preemption laws. Nineteen of those measures became law, including three so far in Texas.

"These have really become just out-and-out fights between the state legislature and communities," said Mark Pertschuk, who runs Grassroots Change. "This is an issue of democracy."

One state, Arizona, has passed a law that could withhold state funding from city and county governments that pass laws any state legislator finds objectionable, a so-called blanket preemption. Texas Republicans proposed a similar measure, though state House Speaker Joe Straus (R) quietly killed that plan.

Pertschuk said laws that start at the city and state level have frequently become national models on everything from workers' rights to public health like child labor laws, fire prevention measures and smoking bans.

"Almost everything that keeps us from being crushed to death or dying from chronic disease too early in the history of the United States has been done at the local level," he said. Preemption laws "will stop innovation in civil rights, in safety and in community health."

Abbott, a former state Supreme Court justice and Texas attorney general before winning the governorship in 2015, said the state is well within its rights to set standards for local governments. It is the state constitution, not the United States Constitution, that lays out a city's or county's powers.

"Tell me in the [U.S.] Constitution where it mentions cities. Tell me where it mentions counties," Abbott said. "The way the country was created, the way it was designed, the architecture of the United States of America puts states at the centerpiece. States create counties and cities and give them the authority that they can have."

Both Abbott and Hinojosa said the clash stems from a changing Texas, in which the state's population is increasingly moving from rural areas to urban cores and booming suburbs. Four of the 10 counties that added the most new residents in the last year are in Texas, the Census Bureau reported in March.

Since 2010, 26 counties in America have added more than 100,000 new residents; eight of those counties are in Texas, more than any other state. That growth has meant a shifting power dynamic between cities and rural communities one the legislature wants to shift the other way.

"People have gone from a rural setting in Texas to a largely urban setting. With these rules and regulations coming out the way they are, at the local level, there truly is a patchwork quilt of rules and regulations that makes it impossible for people to live their lives, to know how they're governed," Abbott said. "It makes it difficult for Texas to retain its brand as a low-government, low-tax state."

See original here:

Texas Republicans take aim at liberal cities - The Hill

The Washington Budget & Policy Center has agreed to pay more than $30,000 in relation to violations of state campaign-disclosure law, according to the state Attorney Generals Office. The action stems from a complaint by the right-leaning Freedom Foundation.

Seattle Times Olympia bureau

OLYMPIA The Washington Budget & Policy Center has agreed to pay about $30,000 in relation to violations of state campaign-disclosure law, according to the state Attorney Generals Office.

The center didnt properly report independent expenditures that it made while opposing Initiative 1366, according to court records detailing the settlement.

Voters in 2015 approved I-1366, a Tim Eyman-sponsored, anti-tax proposal.

But a court tossed the initiative a few months later.

Under a Thurston County Superior Court judgment, the center, a liberal think tank based in Seattle, received $33,510 in penalties.

Half of that is suspended for four years, however, as long as the center doesnt commit any other campaign-finance violations during that time.

The court also ordered the center to pay $13,790 in attorney fees and court and investigation costs, according to a statement by the Attorney Generals Office.

The action stems from a complaint filed by the right-leaning Freedom Foundation, according to Misha Werschkul, executive director for the center.

We are committed to tracking and disclosing all reportable activities and we have taken action to update our internal policies and practices for campaign reporting, Werschkul wrote in an email.

The settlement comes as the Attorney Generals Office takes action on another Freedom Foundation complaint. The office last week announced a lawsuit against SEIU 14 over alleged campaign-finance violations.

The office determined the union made significant campaign contributions but failed to register and report as a political committee in at least 2014 and 2016, according to a statement released last week.

That lawsuit marks the seventh time in less than two years Freedom Foundation complaints have led to legal action and/or penalties against government unions or their allies for violating state campaign finance laws, according to a Freedom Foundation statement.

Continued here:

Liberal think tank in Seattle ordered to pay $30000-plus in campaign-disclosure fines - Seattle Times