From the Dispatch - News

Setting Up Successful Health Insurance Marketplaces

PSN — Sat, 11 May 2013 16:03:00 +0000

With less than five months to go until state health insurance marketplaces are set to begin enrollment, Progressive States Network is hosting a webinar for legislators and legislative staff on how to set up successful health insurance marketplaces under the Affordable Care Act this Monday, May 13th at 4pm ET. Monday's webinar is part of a series that Progressive States Network is hosting in the coming months on the challenges and opportunities facing state legislators on health care. Future topics will include what lawmakers need to know about the ACA before 2014 and improving health outcomes while saving state budgets. (The webinar series is designed for legislators and legislative staff and supported by The Commonwealth Fund, a national, private foundation based in New York City that supports independent research on health care issues and makes grants to improve health care practice and policy.) Register for Monday's webinar here.

This week, President Obama began a push to remind the public of the many provisions of the health care law that have either already taken effect or will soon, including the exchanges in October, as states continued to work on getting their exchanges set up while also engaging in their own efforts to educate the public:

Colorado became the first state to kick off a public awareness campaign for a state exchange with a $2 million ad campaign. [ThinkProgress]

Other states, including Oregon and Kentucky, are expected to kick off marketing efforts next month. [Kaiser Health News]

Community health centers are poised to get $150 million to increase enrollment in exchanges. [Kaiser Health News]

The White House launched a new effort this week to increase awareness of the benefits of the Affordable Care Act including the exchanges, targeting women and young people. [AP]

Others in the federal government are sending signals that the exchanges will be up and ready to go starting October 1st. [USA Today]

The Department of Health and Human Services approved a model requested by the governor of Utah that will see the state and federal government divide responsibilities for the exchange. [AP]

Idaho has until May 20th to decide which parts of the federal exchange it plans to use. [Politico]

(This article originally appeared in the Stateside Dispatch, Progressive States Network's email roundup of the latest state policy news. Read the full Dispatch from May 11, 2013 here or sign up to receive the Dispatch in your inbox here.)

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Fast-Food Strikes Spread to Midwest as Anti-Worker Efforts Meet Strong Opposition

PSN — Sat, 11 May 2013 16:02:00 +0000

In recent months, unprecedented strikes by fast-food workers have taken place in both New York City and Chicago. This week, the action spread even further through the heart of the country, as workers in St. Louis and Detroit staged one-day work stoppages to demand higher wages and the right to organize. At the same time that such strikes are spreading, anti-worker legislative attacks that have already spread through many neighboring states in recent years are being met with strong opposition throughout the region as well. Workers in Missouri and states across the Midwest continued this week to stand up both in the streets and at statehouses to demand fair wages and respect on the job:

Like their counterparts in other cities, the more than 100 workers in St. Louis who went on strike this week were demanding a wage of $15 per hour. [Salon]

“I just feel that if we don’t stand up now, it’s never going to happen... They’re making billions off of us making little to nothing. So they can afford to share a little bit more,” said Tomecka Wilson, a striking worker in St. Louis. [The Nation]

On Friday, as many as 400 workers in 60 fast-food restaurants walked off the job in the Detroit metropolitan area, in the largest such action yet. [MSNBC]

“The growth of this entire thing has been quite organic... People are upset that their wages are low and their working conditions are bad," said Rev. Charles Williams II, president of the Michigan chapter of the National Action Network. [Washington Post]

Michigan became the first state with a "right-to-work" antidues law to see such an action. [Huffington Post]

Missouri's legislature sent a bill to Gov. Jay Nixon that would roll back prevailing wage legislation and lower wages for workers. [AP]

Anti-labor "paycheck protection" bills are also set to be voted on in both houses of Missouri's legislature. [PR Watch]

How the attacks in Missouri are part of a national right-wing effort targeting workers and the middle class. [Huffington Post]

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What States Stand to Gain from the Marketplace Fairness Act

PSN — Sat, 11 May 2013 16:01:00 +0000

This week, the U.S. Senate passed a bill that would help states fill their coffers, fund critical programs, and avoid damaging cuts by an over two-to-one margin in a bipartisan vote. Difficult to believe in this era of austerity and obstruction? The Marketplace Fairness Act would allow states to collect sales taxes on out-of-state online purchases, closing a loophole that currently gives online retailers a major advantage over in-state brick-and-mortar businesses. The bill has picked up support from some major retailers, including Amazon, as well as some conservatives, but is still expected to see strong opposition from anti-tax activists when it heads to the House. However, the bipartisan vote in the Senate this week may be one more indication of a slow-motion shift in the politics of taxation and spending underway in both D.C. and the states:

The Marketplace Fairness Act passed the Senate 69-27 this week, and would apply to all retailers with sales over $1 million per year. [ThinkProgress]

The proposal would "untie states' hands in the fight against online sales tax evasion," opening up an additional $23 billion a year in currently uncollected sales taxes. [Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy]

A battle is expected over the bill in the U.S. House as some online merchants and anti-tax activists gear up to oppose it. [Reuters]

A state like Washington stands to collect $845 million every two years if the bill is enacted. [Seattle Times]

Colorado is already preparing by passing legislation that will put the state in position to participate in the Marketplace Fairness Act. [Colorado Statesman]

An interactive map of what each state stands to lose in revenue without passage of the Marketplace Fairness Act. [NCSL]

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More Progressive Victories in Colorado

PSN — Sat, 04 May 2013 16:01:00 +0000

It wasn't so long ago that Colorado was considered a hotspot for ascendant conservative national movements, from the religious right to an anti-tax revolt to anti-immigrant extremism. But times (and demographics) are clearly changing, and quickly. With progressives empowered by recent elections, this session has seen Colorado's legislature advance, pass, and enact progressive legislation across a range of issue areas. And with the state's session drawing to a close in a matter of days, the wins are piling up. From voting rights to welcoming immigrants to enacting sensible gun laws and civil unions, the multiple progressive victories in Colorado this year provide a hopeful model and counter-example to the destructive agendas advanced by conservatives in statehouses across the nation in recent years. Here's how their session is finishing up:

This week will mark the end of "one of the noisiest legislative sessions in decades." [Denver Post]

State Rep. Dan Pabon: "I think we've been listening to the people of Colorado and they've told us, 'We put you in charge and we want you to get something done." [Denver Post]

The Colorado legislature passed a package of legislation to modernize elections and expand access to voting this week, including vote-by-mail. [National Journal]

Ten years after it was first proposed, Colorado's ASSSET tuition equity bill was officially signed into law by Gov. Hickenlooper this week. [KUNC]

The governor also recently signed the "Community and Law Enforcement Trust Act" into law, making Colorado the first state in the nation to repeal a "show me your papers" requirement. [Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition]

A bill to create driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants in Colorado is also moving forward. [Denver Post]

A bill to create a state earned income tax credit also advanced this week. [Denver Post]

Colorado's legislature also acted to strengthen the state's renewable energy standard this week. [ClimateProgress]

And civil unions became legal in Colorado this week -- here are some photos of the first couples to participate in ceremonies. [Denver Post]

(This article originally appeared in the Stateside Dispatch, Progressive States Network's email roundup of the latest state policy news. Read the full Dispatch from May 4, 2013 here or sign up to receive the Dispatch in your inbox here.)

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Activists Protest North Carolina's Turn to Right-Wing Extremism

PSN — Sat, 04 May 2013 16:00:00 +0000

No state is seeing a bigger and more devastating deluge of right-wing legislation move this year than North Carolina, where a tea-party-controlled legislature has been advancing bills alternatively dangerous and absurd -- and sometimes both. A voter ID proposal is just the latest to gain national attention, as residents of all fifty states get a glimpse of what an unfettered conservative movement in a state actually looks like, and activists in North Carolina raise the temperature in protest:

North Carolina's legislature, "a tragicomedy that seems to get more outrageous from week to week." [Charlotte Observer]

MSNBC's All In with Chris Hayes went over some of the craziness to take place this session in a segment this week. [MSNBC]

A voter ID bill that would ban student IDs as well as other bills to restrict early voting and same day registration all appear headed toward passage. [News Observer]

North Carolina college students have been taking a lead role protesting voter suppression efforts. [Colorlines]

Five students were arrested and thrown in jail as part of an action on May Day protesting the slew of legislative attacks on working families and disenfranchised communities. [Student Power NC]

Seventeen activists and civil rights leaders were arrested in total at the protest. [WRAL]

North Carolina's legislature has also introduced a "series of bills that would curtail the ability of cities and urban counties to govern themselves." [BusinessWeek]

A look at the big corporate money behind the extreme conservative agenda in the Tar Heel State. [Center for Media and Democracy]

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Congress Acts to Help Frequent Fliers, Leaves States in Lurch

PSN — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 14:03:00 +0000

Late this week, the U.S. Senate approved legislation by unanimous consent that would give the Federal Aviation Administration the ability to end furloughs of air traffic controllers, hoping to end a week of delays at airports across the nation that resulted from the automatic budget cuts in sequestration. These kinds of impacts were the intentional purpose of the blunt and painful automatic cuts of sequestration, which were originally intended to be so frightening that the possibility of their enactment would force an alternative federal budget compromise. Yet while business travellers might be breathing a sigh of relief as they fly home this weekend, the intentionally painful cuts to other critical programs are still being felt by states, kids, students, seniors, and other victims of sequestration -- and the pain they are feeling may soon get worse:

More on the "preposterous legislative sideshow" surrounding sequestration. [Center for American Progress]

Cancer patients, hungry seniors, kids enrolled in Head Start, and other victims of sequestration are not seeing their cuts restored. [Huffington Post]

A critical network of gauges that helps forecasters predict floods could also be partially shut down in the coming months due to sequestration cuts. [Stateline]

That gauge program is paid for by a combination of federal, state, and local governments, and any shutdown would likely affect states routinely threatened with spring flooding. [AP]

Ten school districts in New Mexico, Wisconsin, New York, Texas, and California could also take a huge hit from sequestration cuts. [Reuters]

Eleven states are considering ending their long-term unemployment programs entirely due to sequestration. [ThinkProgress]

Twelve other programs Congress is refusing to save from sequestration budget cuts while it helps business travelers include low-income housing, student aid, child care, heating assistance, and disaster relief. [ThinkProgress]

(This article originally appeared in the Stateside Dispatch, Progressive States Network's email roundup of the latest state policy news. Read the full Dispatch from April 27, 2013 here or sign up to receive the Dispatch in your inbox here.)

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Backlash Brews Against Corporate Education Reform

PSN — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 14:02:00 +0000

Recent scandals in Atlanta and Washington, D.C. that revealed coordinated efforts by teachers and administrators to manipulate student test scores are shining an even brighter spotlight on the failure of standardized test-centric policies in the states. A backlash is brewing in many states as more and more parents and legislators alike start asking questions about corporate education "reform":

A "coming revolution?" Legislators and parents in various states are reconsidering standardized test-driven education reforms. [The Atlantic]

The Minnesota House passed a $15 billion education bill this week that provides free all-day kindergarten statewide and eliminates controversial testing requirements for graduation. [Star-Tribune]

The "parent trigger" bill in Florida will go to a vote in the Senate next week, as a mysterious video from an out-of-state group circulates around the state. [Miami Herald]

Former Florida Democratic Senate leader Nan Rich: the bill is really about "laying the groundwork for the hostile, corporate takeover of public schools throughout Florida" [Washington Post]

Teachers and lawmakers from both parties in Louisiana are backing a "reverse parent trigger" bill to allow parents in failing charter schools to petition to return the schools to local control. [Diane Ravitch]

After endorsing an anti-immigrant state legislator as their "Reformer of the Year" last year, Michelle Rhee's StudentsFirst chose to bestow the honor on the co-author of Tennessee's "Don't Say Gay" bill this year. [Daily Kos]

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Conservatives vs. Conservatives on Medicaid

PSN — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 14:01:00 +0000

With more and more sessions drawing to a close, the latest count shows 15 states that have rejected expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, 20 that have agreed to comply with the law and expand coverage, and the rest still debating expansion. In many states -- including Florida and Ohio -- that debate is playing out in a contentious intramural fight among conservatives themselves. Conservative governors supporting expansion are running into opposition from ideologically opposed lawmakers in their own party, as the political debate over Medicaid increasingly appears to be taking place entirely on one side of the aisle:

The "unexpected consequences" for states that refuse to expand Medicaid include some that could make conservative lawmakers nervous. [AP]

Florida's legislature may be running out of time to expand Medicaid. [Kaiser Health News]

A House committee in Louisiana rejected a Medicaid expansion bill this week. [The Times-Picayune]

After removing it from the budget, Ohio lawmakers may not begin to resolve their Medicaid expansion debate until the fall. [Dayton Business Journal]

Hospital executives in South Dakota are pushing their state to expand Medicaid. [Rapid City Journal]

Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe signed a "private option" compromise expansion proposal into law. [Arkansas News]

Some conservatives in Arkansas are threatening violence against Republican legislators who voted for the plan. [ThinkProgress]

Amazingly, an accidental vote may have doomed Medicaid expansion in Montana. [Washington Post]

An Arizona columnist asks the question: "why is Medicaid expansion even an issue at this point?" [AZ Central]

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With Congress a Morass, States Continue to Look at Gun Violence and Immigration

PSN — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 14:02:00 +0000

This past week was saturated with crisis and tragedy following the events in Boston and Texas, but it also saw significant developments on two critical issues before the U.S. Senate that would likely have otherwise fully gripped the nation's attention. On guns, an already-weakened bipartisan compromise on universal background checks was blocked in the Senate by a minority of senators, ending for now the fight to pass any federal legislation in the wake of the Newtown tragedy. On immigration, the long-awaited full text of the so called "Gang of 8" immigration bill was released, drawing support from the White House, conditional praise from some advocates, and stoking opposition among anti-immigrant forces. With the ability of Congress to pass legislation on any major issue now perhaps even more in question, both issues also continued to play out on the state level this week as well:

"The inability of Democrats and Republicans to see eye to eye in Washington has led lots of people to look to the states as friendlier and more productive venues." [NPR]

After a minority of U.S. senators voted this week to kill compromise legislation on universal background checks, victims of gun violence are pledging to take the fight to state legislatures. [New York Times]

Four gun safety bills were approved by the Oregon Senate Judiciary Committee this week following two weeks of intense negotiations. [Register-Guard]

The full text of the Senate immigration bill. [Office of Sen. Schumer]

How the Senate immigration bill would affect a state like Colorado. [Denver Post]

How states like Maryland have been taking the lead on in-state tuition, "paving the way for reform" on the national level. [NBC Latino]

Under the Senate immigration bill, states would no longer face a penalty for offering in-state tuition to undocumented students. [National Immigration Law Center]

The bill also "misses the opportunity to neutralize dangerous state and local laws and policies that result in racial profiling." [National Immigration Law Center]

The Oregon Senate is set to vote next week on allowing driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants. [The Columbian]

The Vermont state Senate advanced a bill to allow driver's licenses for immigrant farm workers by a 27-2 vote. [Burlington Free Press]

A driver's license bill in Maryland is at the governor's desk and expected to be signed into law. [Washington Post]

(This article originally appeared in the Stateside Dispatch, Progressive States Network's email roundup of the latest state policy news. Read the full Dispatch from April 20, 2013 here or sign up to receive the Dispatch in your inbox here.)

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More Positive Signs for Voting Rights Laws

PSN — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 14:01:00 +0000

After a year that started off with a wave of efforts to suppress the vote - many of which continue - more and more states are now looking at enacting significant reforms to modernize voter registration and protect and expand voting rights. Here's a roundup of recent developments:

The Connecticut state House passed a joint resolution calling for a constitutional amendment to allow early voting and no-excuse absentee ballots. [The Day]

A sweeping proposal under consideration in Colorado could "change the way America votes" and increase voter participation. [Denver Post]

Pennsylvania progressive lawmakers want their state to become the 36th to have some form of early voting. [Post-Gazette]

Voters in West Virginia will soon be able to register to vote online. [AP]

Ex-felons will have their voting rights restored immediately thanks to legislation passed in Delaware. [Delaware Online]

A county clerk in Oregon on why his state should expand voting and enact automatic voter registration. [Oregon Live]

Other good news on voting rights legislation in Hawaii, Maryland, and Texas. [AFL-CIO Now]

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