Ah, spring. The time of year when cleaning is somehow a seasonal obligation.
But truly, there’s nothing wrong with having a little extra motivation to tidy one’s environs, jettison old crap you don’t need any more, and enjoy fresh, clean surroundings.
And maybe while you’re at it, you can unclutter your brain, too.
Because, as always, there’s lots and lots of statehouse action to gunk it up.
Here, let me put that in some neat little boxes for you …
Campaign Action
[Virginia]: As the commonwealth’s House Democratic caucus held its second candidate training of the cycle this past weekend, my colleagues at Daily Kos Elections were hard at work doing math and stuff.
- But not just any math. They were figuring out just how much Virginia’s new, un-racially gerrymandered House of Delegates map benefits Team Blue.
- Turns out, it’s, like … a lot.
- See, under that old, GOP-drawn, unconstitutionally racist map, Hillary Clinton won 51 of the state’s 100 House of Delegates seats—despite the fact that she beat Trump solidly statewide in 2016 (50-45, specifically).
- Also in 2016, Democrats held just 34 of those House seats.
- That all changed, of course, when Dems flipped 15 seats in November 2017.
- After that election, one Democrat held a Trump-won seat, and three Republicans represented Clinton-won districts.
- But this all gets blown up under the new map.
- That court-drawn map creates 56 Clinton-carried districts—reasonable for a state that gave her a five-point win over Trump—and puts Republicans in seven seats she won (that one Dem-held Trump seat now would have gone for Clinton).
- It’s worth noting that much of Virginia’s state House map remains unaltered.
- The court-ordered remedy to Republicans’ effort to undermine the voting power of black voters to create more safe seats for their party changes only 25 of the 100 districts—those found to be racially gerrymandered and the neighboring seats that had to be tweaked accommodate the necessary fixes.
- If you’re really looking to nerd out, here’s a cool chart that compares the 2016 presidential results in each redrawn seat under the new maps and the old map.
- The garbage fire consuming the commonwealth’s three constitutional statewide officeholders could still end up being a drag on other Democrats this fall (though recent polling indicates this is not the case), but all things considered, Team Blue could end up having a pretty rosy November.
- … and by “rosy” I mean flip the two House seats needed to take the majority and the single Senate seat needed to control that chamber, giving Democrats unified government in Virginia for the first time in almost 30 years (and just in time for the next round of redistricting).
[Texas]: Last week in this space I wrote about a big new study quantifying the strength of copy-paste “model legislation” and its outsized influence in state legislatures around the country.
- These model bills tended to have two recurring characteristics that really jump out:
- They tend to have deceptive titles and descriptions that hide their true intent.
- And many of the bills that override local governmental authority on issues like
- raising the minimum wage,
- implementing paid family or sick leave,
- banning plastic bags, and
- improving gun safety
- … are cribbed from special interest group-created “model” legislation.
- This latter bit has been all the rage in recent years among GOP-controlled legislatures, who just can’t stand the strength of Democrats in many cities in their states.
- In state-shaped seas of red, these cities became islands where Dems could advance progressive policies.
- … until Republican lawmakers bring the hammer down on local control and gut city ordinances via state-level bill that “pre-empt” municipal action.
Fun fact: North Carolina’s infamous “bathroom bill” from 2016 was actually one such attempt to pre-empt local authority—the city of Charlotte had just passed a measure protecting its transgender residents.
- Texas is seeing a lot of this type of legislation.
- Previous fights over local authority in the state focused on things like (sigh) a “bathroom bill,” banning “sanctuary cities,” and pre-empting local tree removal ordinances.
Truly, there is no local power too small for Republicans to try to usurp.
- This year, Texas Republicans are trying to
- curtail communities’ ability to raise revenue through property taxes,
- prevent localities from creating publicly financed campaign programs (heaven forfend the influence of big donors be reduced), and
- outright eliminate any local authority to establish and improve labor standards, like providing paid sick leave, specific employment benefits, and even water breaks.
Oh, and while we’re tossing things in the Texas box, Republicans are pushing a bill that would impose the death penalty on women who have abortions.
- It won’t pass, but nothing reveals more about the true nature of the so-called “pro life” movement than their willingness to kill a woman over her medical decisions.
This measure is part of a clear nationwide push to eliminate a woman’s right to obtain an abortion.
- Mississippi and Kentucky already have fresh laws on the books that effectively ban abortion at six weeks—before most women even realize they’re pregnant.
- Georgia and Ohio are about to become members of this awful club, too.
- In Alabama, legislation that would criminalize all abortion except for when the mother’s health is at stake (like the above-referenced measures, there’s no exception for rape or incest) is being considered.
- North Dakota’s governor just signed a bill that outlaws the specific procedure considered by the medical community to be safest for performing second-trimester abortions.
[Wisconsin]: Last week in this space, I lamented progressives’ loss of a Wisconsin Supreme Court election.
- This week, I’m here to report that the state’s GOP lawmakers are mad that they have to deal with a Democratic governor, Tony Ever, so they’re basically just pissing in the sandbox instead.
- I mean, Republican legislative leaders made it clear they had little intention of dealing in good faith with their new state executive when they rammed through several measures after the election aimed specifically at stripping Evers of powers they sure didn’t mind a Republican governor having, so really, what were we expecting?
- GOP House Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald whine that the governor won’t sit down to meet with them, but emails show them ignoring attempts by the governor’s office to do just that.
- They’re also bitching about being asked to meet with Evers’ chief of staff, even though they seemed okay with taking meetings with former Republican Gov. Walker’s chief of staff.
- And apparently, the two Republican leaders are mad that Evers’ used his executive power to quickly scrub state code of offensive language (like “mental retardation”) when the GOP had introduced slow-moving legislation to do so.
So much for Republicans being all about that government efficiency.
- As the majority party, Wisconsin Republicans are responsible for bringing legislation to the floor.
Hopefully Vos and Fitzgerald decide to play nice with the gov in time to pass a state budget ...
[Arizona]: Apparently, Republican lawmakers in Arizona don’t care much about silly concepts like “conflict of interest.”
- I mean, it’s the only way to explain why so many of them not only fail to recuse themselves from voting on legislation that has direct impacts on their financial fortunes, but even go so far as to sponsor the very same.
- Take Sen. David Gowan, who works as a salesman for a fireworks company.
- Or Sen. Eddie Farnsworth, who’s been voting on charter school bills for years and fighting increased regulation.
- He recently sold the chain of charter schools he owned for $13.9 million.
- Or Rep. Kevin Payne, who owns a food truck and is pushing a bill that would expand the places where food trucks are allowed to operate.
Regrettably, this legislation did not place a taco truck on every corner.
Welp, that’s all for this week. You should knock off early, finally get to tackling all that junk in your closet. Or on your floor. Or in your sink. I mean, doesn’t that sound like a great way to spend your time when the weather’s finally nice? Just print this out and show it to your boss, I’m sure she’ll applaud your industriousness and/or suggest you clean off your desk, too.