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:
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Taxes are on the minds of many this week as April 15th approaches. They're also on the minds of many conservative governors -- in states such as Louisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Nebraska -- who have seen their radical tax proposals to further enrich corporations and the wealthy run into major resistance from voters, businesses, and even conservative lawmakers. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who this week withdrew his regressive plan that would have eliminated the state income tax while raising the sales tax, has seen his standing drop sharply in the polls. In the run up to Tax Day, increasing attention is being focused on how tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations increase burdens on the middle class.
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With the long lines on Election Day still somewhat fresh in the minds of voters, and as the year kicks off with efforts to rig the electoral vote and lessen the impact of the votes of historically disenfranchised communities, lawmakers in some states are introducing proposals to expand and protect the vote:
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A huge victory in Montana last week restored the state’s longstanding ban on corporate political spending on behalf of state political candidates and parties, overturning a lower court’s ruling and flying in the face of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision that grants corporations the same free speech rights as individuals.
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Based on an innovative model
from Washington state, states have the opportunity to help
veterans improve their benefits and save millions of dollars for their
own budgets.
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The Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission
(FEC) decision earlier this year gave corporations the same First
Amendment rights as citizens with regard to advocating for or against
political candidates, unleashing
a flood of new corporate cash into state races and a range of new
state policy initiatives that aim to protect the integrity of their
elections. In response, states are pursuing other reforms, such as
requiring shareholder approval for corporations spending election cash,
tighter public disclosure and attribution in ads, public financing of
elections, and calling for a federal constitutional amendment to reverse
the Citizens United decision.
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During Montana's 90-day legislative session lawmakers moved beyond the bitter acrimony that bedeviled their last meeting two years ago. Instead, legislators worked to craft a compromise budget that made new investments in health care and education, but saw agency spending drop 2%. While working families were protected on key issues, the state did take several steps back on the environmental front as laws regulating resources extraction and energy infrastructure saw rollbacks in multiple areas.
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Recently conservatives in Montana sought to roll back the annual cost-of-living wage increases for minimum wage workers that voters overwhelmingly approved in 2006 by 73-27%. Montana is one of twenty-seven states (plus the District of Columbia)
that has a minimum wage higher than the federal minimum wage, and one
of eleven states that index the minimum wage to the consumer price
index. Montana progressives successfully fought a conservative push by
the restaurant industry to keep wages stagnant.
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In a positive step forward for federal respect of state regulatory powers, President Obama directed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reconsider a previously denied waiver to allow California to set more stringent auto emissions and fuel efficiency standards than required by federal law. In a statement by the White House, President Obama said "the federal government must work with, not against, states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions." The directive represents not only greater respect for state authority, but also a sharp break from the climate policies of President Obama's predecessor.
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Washington State minimum wage workers got a raise January 1st to $8.55
per hour -- now the highest minimum wage in the country. Like nine
other states, Washington automatically increases its minimum wage each
year at the rate of inflation to make sure families don't face a de facto pay
cut as rising costs eat into family budgets. Because the federal
minimum wage is not indexed to inflation in this way, we have seen a
decline in its value from $9.34 in inflation-adjusted dollars down to
just $6.55 per hour this past year. This trend highlights why state
efforts to index the minimum wage to keep up with inflation are so
critical.
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Fallout from Montana Voter Challenge Plan Continues: Last week we highlighted the tremendous job that Forward Montana
and other local advocates did in bringing a massive attempt to
challenge voters in Montana to a stop. In just a few days the plan was
abandoned amid serious public backlash. This week there has been
additional fallout as the executive director of the state GOP has stepped down. Clearly trying to keep people like deployed soldiers from voting wasn't a popular activity in the big sky state.
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A couple of weeks ago, we outlined the rash of voter suppression
activities cropping up, like clockwork, around the nation. This week we
cover the new suppression efforts that have come to light since.
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This Dispatch is a roundup of what ballot initiatives will
appear on state ballots across the country this November. Whether it's
workers rights, energy policy, education, transit, abortion or health
care, ballot initiates give voters a chance to directly vote on an
issue.
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This November Coloradans will have a chance to vote on a simple proposition:
Should employers have to provide a legitimate reason before they fire an employee?
Virtually all states already prohibit firings on the basis of race,
gender, age or religion and many other criteria; Colorado's Ballot Amendment 55 would
merely boil employer responsibility down to a simple requirement that
they provide a "just cause" reason for terminating any employee.
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On April 3rd, Iowa Governor Chet Culver signed into law HF 653, which provides
Iowans with the opportunity to register and vote on Election Day. Governor
Culver
stated,
Here in Iowa , we want to make it as easy as possible for Iowans to be
involved in the democratic process. This bill achieves this goal. I strongly
believe getting more people to vote is good for democracy and good for the
future of this state.
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When the Montana State Senate voted overwhelmingly two weeks ago to oppose approval of reauthorization of "Fast Track" Trade Promotion authority for new trade deals, it sent a powerful message that the American people and state governments are tiring of misguided trade deals.
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Every wonder which corporations are dodging your state corporate income
tax? Unfortunately, you usually can't find out since corporations have
maneuvered to keep their tax returns secret from the public-- including
from state legislators who have to write tax policy without knowing
which companies are abusing loopholes to evade paying their fair share
of taxes.
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Early this week, the Montana State Senate took a shot at out-of-control U.S. trade policies when it overwhelmingly passed (44-6) a resolution calling on Congress not to renew the President's "Fast Track" trade promotion authority. That fast track power gives the President the ability to negotiate trade deals with no amendments allowed by elected officials, leading to a history of bad trade deals that limit opportunity for workers and state legislatures' ability to govern.
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Over a dozen groups have
filed protests against a plan by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to
open up the top of Colorado's Roan Plateau to leases for drilling,
which could be put up for bid as early as November. Oil and gas drilling already takes place on the plateau, but federal land managers have chosen to open the top
of the Roan Plateau for drilling without waiting until resources at the
bottom of the plateau are tapped. Oil in the undeveloped plateau could supply the U.S. with all of 5.8 hours worth
of its oil needs. Gas in the undeveloped Plateau could supply the U.S.
demand for a little over a month. All this in exchange for permanently
scarring the unique landscape and rendering it unfit for hunting and
recreation. And, more unsettling, is that the BLM recognizes the
ecological and recreational importance of the area. A recent BLM study found that
streams on the Plateau would meet the requirements to be designated as
part of the Wild and Scenic Rivers System by Congress. The BLM Draft Management Plan recognizes that several areas within the Plateau met the criteria to be designated as Areas of Critical Environmental Concern.
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If states won't raise the revenue needed for local needs, the least
they can do is let those cities and towns tax themselves. At least
that's the proposal by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, who this week proposed eliminating some of the restrictions
that prevent Boston and other towns from raising local revenue through
sales taxes, meals taxes or many other fees that comparable cities
use. This proposal joins a slew of other proposals for expanding local
revenue options:
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