Capitol Comments

As they grapple with public health crisis, state leaders have limited budget-balancing options

Tim Anderson

Saturday, July 25, 2020 at 09:52 AM

As most states in the Midwest entered a new fiscal year in July, the unknowns about FY 2021, and beyond, far outweighed the knowns. Will more federal assistance be made available to help close budget shortfalls? How big will those shortfalls be? Will the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic be felt the entire fiscal year?

“It’s been very hard for states to forecast given the uncertainty of the public health emergency,” Shelby Kerns, executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers, said during a July webinar of The Council of State Governments’ Midwestern Legislative Conference.

But she told legislators of one unmistakable fiscal reality: “States will be grappling with the impact of COVID-19 for years to come.”

The options to fix out-of-balance budgets fall into three broad categories: cut spending, raise more revenue or tap into savings. But some of the specific strategies traditionally used by legislators may not be available this time around. “What’s different about this fiscal crisis is the public health emergency, which can limit or change some of the options,” Kerns said. “In addition to increased spending being required to respond to the pandemic, some cuts may be impossible, or least unwise.”

Wisconsin schools’ use of physical restraint, seclusion will get more state scrutiny under new law

Tim Anderson

Friday, July 24, 2020 at 06:06 PM

Already one of the seven Midwestern states that limited schools’ non-emergency use of physical restraints and seclusion on students, Wisconsin has a new law that further restricts these techniques, while also strengthening the rules on training, data collection and parental notification.

SB 527 was signed by Gov. Tony Evers in March.

“This is a pretty tough issue, and every time we take it on it takes a long time and many redrafts of the legislation,” says Wisconsin Sen. Luther Olsen, primary sponsor of SB 527, as well as the state’s original law from 2012 on physical restraint and seclusion. “You have people coming from very different sides — advocates for students and children with disabilities, and advocates for schools. You want to get to a place where you’re protecting everybody.”

MLC Chairman’s Initiative on Literacy: Cases challenge state school systems on grounds they deprived individuals of 'right to literacy’

Tim Anderson

Friday, July 24, 2020 at 06:02 PM

In their federal lawsuit against the state of Michigan, seven students of Detroit’s public schools told of buildings that were unsafe and of classrooms that were unfit for learning.

The smell of “dead vermin and black mold in hallways.”

Teachers absent as many as 50 days a year.

Classes run by substitute teachers, paraprofessionals or even the students themselves.

Out-of-date textbooks having to be shared by multiple students.

Classroom temperatures exceeding 90 degrees, or freezing cold other times of the year.

“The basic thesis of the case was that these were schools in name only, and they were not capable of delivering even basic literacy instruction,” says Mark Rosenbaum, director of Public Counsel, the largest pro bono law firm in the nation and an attorney for the student-plaintiffs. “As a result, the students were not being put in a position where they could better their circumstances or where they could be meaningful participants in a democracy.”

South Dakota amends its siting laws to try untangling varying county special, conditional use zoning rules

Carolyn Orr

Friday, July 24, 2020 at 05:58 PM

In a series of roundtables that South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem held with agriculture and energy groups, one issue that came up repeatedly was the need for consistency in the state’s widely variable county special and conditional permitting processes.

Before SB 157 became law in March, county zoning rules in South Dakota varied from none to very restrictive.

Noem told a Senate State Affairs Committee hearing in February that it revises county planning and zoning laws in ways that will keep permitting “fair, open and honest” by creating “a more predictable process for businesses and families that want to create or expand agriculture or energy infrastructure.”

After death of George Floyd, push for state-level change intensifies: Proposals seek new police training, protocols and ways to prosecute misconduct cases

Mitch Arvidson

Friday, July 24, 2020 at 04:53 PM

Eight minutes and 46 seconds. That’s how long Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on George Floyd’s neck while three other officers stood by and watched as Floyd died.

Twenty rounds. That’s how many shots were fired by three Louisville, Ky., police officers into the home of Breonna Taylor as they executed a no-knock search warrant, killing her as she slept.

Twelve years old. That’s how old Tamir Rice was when he was shot and killed by a Cleveland police officer while holding a pellet gun in a public park.

This list can go on and on.

According to The Washington Post, 5,424 people have been shot and killed by police since Jan. 1, 2015. (See sidebar for state-by-state data for the Midwest.) African Americans make up 24 percent of those shot and killed by police; in 353 of these 1,298 incidents, the individual possessed neither a gun nor a knife. (African Americans make up 13.4 percent of the U.S. population.)

Supreme Court to Decide if Government Policy Changes May Moot a Lawsuit

Lisa Soronen

Monday, July 13, 2020 at 01:19 PM

The question the Supreme Court will decided in Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski is whether the government changing a policy after a lawsuit has been filed renders the case moot if the plaintiff has only asked for nominal damages.

Georgia Gwinnett College students Chike Uzuegbunam and Joseph Bradford sued the college over its Freedom of Expression policy, which only allowed students to engage in expressive activities in two designated areas after getting a...

Supreme Court Holds Creek Reservation Exists in Oklahoma

Lisa Soronen

Thursday, July 9, 2020 at 04:24 PM

In a 5-4 decision the Supreme Court held in McGirt v. Oklahoma that for purposes of the Major Crimes Act (MCA) three million acres, including most of the City of Tulsa, is a Creek reservation.

Per the federal MCA only the federal government may prosecute Native Americans who commit specific crimes within “Indian country.” Oklahoma state court convicted Jimcy McGirt, a member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, for three serious sexual...

SCOTUS Holds a Sitting President May be Issued a State Criminal Subpoena

Lisa Soronen

Thursday, July 9, 2020 at 01:03 PM

The President’s tax returns are unlikely to be available to the public soon as a result of two Supreme Court cases. Nevertheless, Trump v. Vance is a victory for state and local government authority. In this case the Supreme Court held 7-2 that the U.S. Constitution doesn’t “categorically preclude, or require a heightened standard for, the issuance of a state criminal subpoena to a sitting President.”

Regardless of this decision, the...

Supreme Court Okays ACA’s Expanded Contraceptive Mandate Exemptions

Lisa Soronen

Wednesday, July 8, 2020 at 02:26 PM

In a 7-2 decision in Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania the Supreme Court held that religious employers and employers with moral objections may be exempted from the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) contraceptive mandate.

The State and Local Legal Center (SLLC) filed an amicus ...

Justice Kavanaugh Allows Illinois Governor’s Stay-At-Home Order with Religious Exemption to Stand

Lisa Soronen

Tuesday, July 7, 2020 at 01:17 PM

Without explanation, without referring the matter to the entire Court, and without calling for a response, Justice Kavanaugh denied a request for an emergency injunction to strike down Illinois Governor Pritzker’s executive order limiting gatherings to 50 people while exempting religious gathering.

Likely Justice Kavanaugh refused to grant the injunction because the standard is high. The Supreme Court only grants...

Capitol Comments

“It’s been very hard for states to forecast given the uncertainty of the public health emergency,” Shelby Kerns, executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers, said during a July webinar of The Council of State Governments’ Midwestern Legislative Conference.

But she told legislators of one unmistakable fiscal reality: “States will be grappling with the impact of COVID-19 for years to come.”

Already one of the seven Midwestern states that limited schools’ non-emergency use of physical restraints and seclusion on students, Wisconsin has a new law that further restricts these techniques, while also strengthening the rules on training, data collection and parental notification.

SB 527 was signed by Gov. Tony Evers in March.

In their federal lawsuit against the state of Michigan, seven students of Detroit’s public schools told of buildings that were unsafe and of classrooms that were unfit for learning.

The smell of “dead vermin and black mold in hallways.”

Teachers absent as many as 50 days a year.

Classes run by substitute teachers, paraprofessionals or even the students themselves.

Out-of-date textbooks having to be shared by multiple students.

Classroom temperatures exceeding 90 degrees, or freezing cold other times of the year.

In a series of roundtables that South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem held with agriculture and energy groups, one issue that came up repeatedly was the need for consistency in the state’s widely variable county special and conditional permitting processes.

Before SB 157 became law in March, county zoning rules in South Dakota varied from none to very restrictive.

Eight minutes and 46 seconds. That’s how long Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on George Floyd’s neck while three other officers stood by and watched as Floyd died.

Twenty rounds. That’s how many shots were fired by three Louisville, Ky., police officers into the home of Breonna Taylor as they executed a no-knock search warrant, killing her as she slept.

Twelve years old. That’s how old Tamir Rice was when he was shot and killed by a Cleveland police officer while holding a pellet gun in a public park.

This list can go on and on.

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