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State Senates thread


RoseWilder

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1 hour ago, clueliss said:

And the Missouri house drop kicked (blocked) that minimum wage stuff.  As I figured they would.

http://www.komu.com/news/missouri-house-moves-to-block-higher-st-louis-minimum-wage

I 'liked' your post because it's good you posted this... but I actually don't like the contents. :pb_sad:

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17 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

I 'liked' your post because it's good you posted this... but I actually don't like the contents. :pb_sad:

I think that goes for many of the things we all post in the politics thread. I appreciate all the different articles and analyses, but some of them make me want to scream.

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Remember when I said that with Missouri that was a battle between the 2 metro areas and the rest of the state with minimum wage?

http://www.komu.com/news/kansas-city-council-approved-increased-minimum-wage
Kansas City voted to approve an increase in the city's minimum wage - even though Mayor Sly Jones essentially admits that the state is going to block said move.

 

Meanwhile - the State House voted to block a move by St. Louis from doing the same.
http://www.komu.com/news/missouri-house-moves-to-block-higher-st-louis-minimum-wage

 

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Finally some good news. I'm glad that the courts are attempting to hold Republicans responsible for the vile, disgusting things they do: 

 

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Some more good ol' Republican Family Values™. 

nashvillescene.com/news/features/article/20854379/in-a-divorce-trial-serious-allegations-about-sen-joey-hensley

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A doctor and his younger nurse fall in love. They continue their torrid affair even after his ex-wife tips off the nurse’s husband, a local politician, to the salacious goings-on. As the divorce moves forward, discovery turns up that the nurse is not just the doctor’s employee and his lover, but his patient, with a predilection for pain pills. And, oh, she’s his second cousin, too.

But this is not General Hospital, not Grey’s Anatomy. This is the town of Hohenwald (pop. 3,703) in Lewis County, where bitter divorce proceedings have brought to light possibly unethical behavior by Dr. Joey Hensley, a Republican state senator who also happens to be a family physician — and one who has run for office since 2002 on a platform of conservative Christian values.

Hensley, 61, was subpoenaed to appear last week in Williamson County Circuit Court to testify in the divorce proceedings of Hohenwald Vice Mayor Don Barber and his wife Lori. He refused to show up, citing legislative and medical privilege.

Hensley gained national notoriety in 2012 as a sponsor of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which would have banned public school teachers from even mentioning that homosexuality exists. During one hearing that year, Hensley commented, “I don’t think Modern Family is appropriate for children to watch” — because it features a married gay couple raising children. This session, Hensley is sponsoring a bill from the Tennessee Family Action Council that would make children created using donor sperm illegitimate — an attempt to make it harder for gay and lesbian parents to establish paternity. He is also a sponsor of the so-called “Milo Bill,” aimed at liberal practices on college campuses.

Said it before, will say it again.  Hyprocrisy, thy name is Republican.  Also, fuck you Senator.

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@47of74 and  @RoseWilder Surprise, surprise! In the UK, districts are much less homogeneous, so this sort of gerrymandering is, thank FSM, much harder. But it does happen.

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On 3/7/2017 at 4:48 PM, Audrey2 said:

So, based on your quote from the article, regarding how grocery store baggers and fast food workers shouldn't be working to sustain your family, my question is this. Who should be working at these jobs during the day? Should grocery stores and fast food restaurants only be open in the evenings and on weekends, si they can be staffed by these minimum wage high school and college workers

If Paul Ryan gets his way about finally getting rid of our entitlement programs, we are going to have a lot more seniors working well past retirement age in order to afford luxuries like food, clothing, and shelter. :pb_sad:

 

 

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15 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

If Paul Ryan gets his way about finally getting rid of our entitlement programs, we are going to have a lot more seniors working well past retirement age in order to afford luxuries like food, clothing, and shelter. :pb_sad:

 

 

Which then causes more unemployment in younger generations.  Older Americans retiring frees up jobs for everyone else.

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Good Grief Kansas.  

And they're trying to keep the colleges and universities from going all weapons free workplace.  or something.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article138080013.html

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New bill would keep Kansas colleges from regulating guns on campus

A new campus carry law in Kansas takes effect July 1 and will affect universities in the state, including the University of Kansas. File photo

BY HUNTER WOODALL

hwoodall@kcstar.com

 

TOPEKA 

As efforts in the Kansas Legislature to stop a law allowing concealed handguns on college campuses have stalled, a new bill in front of lawmakers would add another layer to the law.

Under HB 2220, Kansas universities and the state board of regents would not be able to enforce rules or regulations put in place about how people carry or store their concealed handguns on campus.

Rep. Blake Carpenter, a Derby Republican, said he brought the bill forward and cited a concern that universities are preparing to limit gun owners who want to carry a handgun on campus from having “a round in the chamber.”

He said he was also concerned about other limitations and policies that college campuses have approved for when the campus carry law takes effect July 1.

“The bill originated when I found out that the universities and regents, they’re basically passing these policies that affect how an individual will carry their handgun,” Carpenter said. “For me, I carry with a round in the chamber and I always do.”

The law allowing campus carry was passed in 2013, with a four-year exemption for college campuses and public hospitals put in place to allow them time to prepare for the change.

Efforts by some lawmakers and students to extend the ban on guns on campus indefinitely have failed to make progress in Topeka.

But in 2015, lawmakers changed gun laws again to allow people 21 and older to carry a concealed handgun without a permit.

That change has made some lawmakers and members of the public uneasy as the date to allow concealed handguns on college campuses approaches.

And gun rights supporters, including a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association, have maintained that the campus carry law should be kept in place.

Rep. Stephanie Clayton, an Overland Park Republican who opposes the new bill and campus carry, said Friday that the “majority of the Legislature supports common sense gun legislation.”

“A bill like that is very reflective of, again, the anti-university, anti-intellectualism that you see from a certain subset of legislators,” Clayton said. “But I would also say that that subset of legislators is not representative of the people of the state and not representative of the Legislature.”

Zoe Newton, chairwoman of the Kansas Board of Regents, testified against the bill last week.

The law would throw out policies already drafted to prepare for campus carry, including one that bans people from carrying a round in a gun’s chamber, according to her written testimony.

“The board’s policies are designed to set reasonable standards that do not infringe on the right to carry concealed, but instead attempt to ensure that the transition to concealed carry on campus will be as seamless as possible,” Newton said in her written testimony.

Certain public buildings, like those on a college campus or a public hospital, can continue to ban guns past July 1 if they make security changes that include armed guards and metal detectors.

While supporters of a repeal of campus carry said the bill’s chances are not yet finished in the Legislature, it would likely have to be amended to another bill in either the House or Senate to get a full vote.


Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article138080013.html#storylink=cpy

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3 hours ago, Childless said:

Which then causes more unemployment in younger generations.  Older Americans retiring frees up jobs for everyone else.

Yup. Unless we start having a whole bunch of seniors running for Congress and winning, Republicans won't care. You know how Ryan and company are very much members of the "Got mine, screw you!" club. :pb_sad:

Personally, I'd love it if Ryan lost his job to a senior whose platform was something like: I'd prefer to be home playing with my grandkids, traveling, and working on my hobbies, but Congress keeps making it harder for seniors to survive. Let's fix things, so I can go back home, and not have to run again." 

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I can't remember if this was posted. "‘Satirical’ Texas bill turns language of antiabortion laws on men"

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A new bill in Texas takes aim at men’s medical procedures.

On Friday, State Rep. Jessica Farrar (D-Houston) filed Texas House bill 4260, titled “Man’s Right to Know Act,” which would require men to wait 24 hours after an “initial health care consultation” to receive an elective vasectomy, colonoscopy or Viagra prescription.

The bill, in case it’s not clear yet, is a send off on antiabortion legislation, particularly in Texas. Farrar told the Texas Tribune she knows the “proposed satirical regulations” will not be enacted. That isn’t their purpose.

“What I would like to see is this make people stop and think,” Farrar told the newspaper. “Maybe my colleagues aren’t capable of that, but the people who voted for them, or the people that didn’t vote at all, I hope that it changes their mind and helps them to decide what the priorities are.”

For example, the 24-hour waiting period mirrors a law passed in Texas in 2011, which forces women to have an ultrasound at least 24 hours before an abortion, according to Planned Parenthood. Farrar told the Texas Tribune this waiting period “messes with women’s heads.”

Her bill would also require men seeking those procedures to receive a booklet of informational materials titled “A Man’s Right to Know.” It “must contain medical information related to the benefits and concerns of a man seeking a vasectomy, Viagra prescriptions or a colonoscopy.”

The “rules and procedures for the creation of and distribution” of the materials will “exactly follow the rules and procedures of the informational booklet entitled ‘A Woman’s Right to Know,’ ” the bill stated, referring to the booklet doctors are legally required to give women seeking an abortion, in accordance with a 2003 informed consent law.

...

Finally, Farrar’s bill would ban “unregulated masturbatory emissions.”

“Emissions outside of a woman’s vagina, or created outside of a health or medical facility, will be charged a $100 civil penalty for each emission, and will be considered an act against an unborn child,” the four-page bill read. Furthermore, emissions created in medical facilities “will be stored for the purposes of conception for a current or future wife.”

“A lot of people find the bill funny,” Farrar told the Houston Chronicle. “What’s not funny are the obstacles that Texas women face every day, that were placed there by legislatures making it very difficult for them to access health care.”

She fears the barriers to women’s health will only grow with the new administration, which is why she filed the bill this year.

“Especially with Trump as president, I think these folks are on fire now. They’re off the chain now,” Farrar told the Texas Tribune. “If they can elect someone based on making racist remarks and derogatory remarks toward women and such, then we’ve just given them license to offend and license to be even worse than before.”

...

Sadly, it won't pass, but it should, in every state where there are ridiculous laws that treat women badly.

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7 hours ago, clueliss said:

Good Grief Kansas.  

And they're trying to keep the colleges and universities from going all weapons free workplace.  or something.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article138080013.html

 

Apart from an upvote and downvote, we need a :censored: vote in these politics threads...

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4 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

On Friday, State Rep. Jessica Farrar (D-Houston) filed Texas House bill 4260, titled “Man’s Right to Know Act,” which would require men to wait 24 hours after an “initial health care consultation” to receive an elective vasectomy, colonoscopy or Viagra prescription.

Can I just close my eyes and pretend that Ms. Farrar is my Representative for a minute? Please?

My State Representative spends his time bragging about how he helped get campus carry passed, chanting "Drill, baby, drill!", proselyting, or crying in his beer about abortion. :pb_rollseyes:

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http://www.pitch.com/news/blog/20855265/missouri-state-rep-thinks-six-weeks-of-parental-leave-is-marxist

Apparently,  this jerkwad from SW Missouri thinks 6 weeks of maternity leave is Marxist.  (there is a link to his twitter and a video on his twitter)

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Missouri state rep thinks six weeks of parental leave is Marxist

DAVID MARTIN

 MAR 17, 2017 2 PM

 

Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens announced this week that workers in the executive branch who are primary caregivers will receive six weeks of paid parental leave following a birth or adoption. Secondary caregivers will get three weeks.

Greitens' order is sensible, if not all that generous. Most high-income countries provide between three months and one year of paid leave.

But state Rep. Mike Moon, a majestically mustachioed Republican who represents a district between Joplin and Springfield, sees communism in Greitens' modest policy change. He recorded a video in which he says the policy "appears to be in concert with Karl Marx promotion of conflict between classes."

 
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16 hours ago, candygirl200413 said:

@onekidanddone I'm WAITING now for Mike Pence's expose to come out after I read that!

Ohhh (insert evil laugh here) yes, pass the popcorn.:popcorn:

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Whoever came up with this is a genius. In more ways than one.

Democrats introduce Make Access Records Available to Lead American Government Openness Act

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'By refusing to release the White House visitor logs, President Trump is only validating the rampant concerns about who may be pulling the levers in his administration,' says New Mexico politician [...]

The Make Access Records Available to Lead American Government Openness Act – or MAR-A-LAGO Act – demands the administration publish records for the White House “or any other location where Donald Trump regularly conducts official business.” 

 

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I have that labeled under, it's Kansas and they're in a panic.  But if they do this, I will breath easier since Mom is on Medicaid due to dementia (and in Kansas)  

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7 minutes ago, clueliss said:

I have that labeled under, it's Kansas and they're in a panic.  But if they do this, I will breath easier since Mom is on Medicaid due to dementia (and in Kansas)  

I file this under "Now that Republicans are in charge, we can take the expansion and not look like we approve of the black guy".

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1 hour ago, RoseWilder said:

This is interesting, and unexpected. I hope more states follow: 

 

Our Democratic Governor in VA has already been pushing it, but the Repubs hold both the Va House and Senate.

Quote

RICHMOND — The failure of Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare has emboldened Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) to renew his stalled crusade to expand Medi­caid in Virginia. On Monday, he proposed an amendment to state budget language to give him power to set an expansion in motion, and called on the Republican-controlled General Assembly to immediately begin making plans.

But Republican legislators were unmoved by the plea, saying they would reject the amendment and that they stood firm against expanding Medicaid.

McAuliffe, though, said national momentum is on his side. He pointed to three other Republican-controlled states — Kansas, North Carolina and Utah — that are considering an expansion of the federal health program for the poor and disabled under the Affordable Care Act, and said Virginia can’t afford to be left behind.

...

An estimated 400,000 Virginians could be covered under an expansion of Medicaid, according to the McAuliffe administration. That translates to $6.6 million in federal money per day, or $10.4 billion total so far, that Virginia has declined, officials said.

“We have worked on this for many years. I would ask . . . that we do the common-sense thing to bring this money back to care for our citizens,” McAuliffe said.

Virginia Republicans have resisted every attempt to join the expansion, which has been one of McAuliffe’s priorities since taking office in 2013. They argue there is no guarantee the federal government will continue to reimburse at 90 percent after 2020, potentially leaving the state on the hook for hundreds of millions in costs.

After failing to get an expansion in a budgetary showdown during his first year in office, McAuliffe has tried numerous tacks, but this year he had all but surrendered. In the budget he submitted in January, he included language that said the governor could begin implementing Medicaid expansion if the ACA was still in place by Oct. 1, when the new fiscal year begins.

Hanging over that was the assumption that President Trump would follow through with his campaign pledge to kill Obamacare. Republicans who control the state legislature’s money committees made clear they’d never give McAuliffe that power even if the ACA was repealed, and they stripped the language out of the budget they sent to his desk last month.

On Monday, McAuliffe revived that language as an amendment to the budget. He also called on the General Assembly to immediately convene a special joint committee that had been created to assess the impact that repealing the ACA would have had on Virginia.

The legislature will gather April 5 to consider the governor’s amendments and vetoes, but leaders said Monday that McAuliffe’s new budget language stands no better chance this time.

In a joint statement, the Republican leadership of the House of Delegates said expanding Medi­caid would lead to increased costs and eventually blow a hole in the state budget.

“The lack of action in Washington has not changed that and in fact, the uncertainty of federal health policy underscores the need to be cautious over the long term,” the leaders, including House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) and the man selected to replace him as speaker when he retires next year, Del. Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights), said via email.

“Virginians can barely afford our current program, much less an expansion,” they said. “Every federal dollar not spent on expanding a broken program is a dollar not borrowed from future generations.”

McAuliffe said he had notified the Republicans over the weekend that he intended to make this case, but that he had spoken only with Cox. The governor declined to characterize his discussion, saying he doesn’t negotiate in public.

“This just happened on Friday,” McAuliffe said, suggesting that the issue needs more time. “There are no more excuses. If you just don’t want to do Medi­caid expansion because you’re afraid of the tea party or for some other reasons, that’s a different issue. . . . It’s really up to the Republicans in the legislature.”

Not all Republicans have been so ironclad in their opposition.

Even before the failure of Congress to come up with a replacement for Obamacare, conservative radio host John Fredericks labeled McAuliffe “Gov. Mc­Genius” for continuing to push for Medicaid expansion.

On his March 13 program, Fredericks noted that even the Republican alternative would have continued to provide federal funding to states that expanded Medicaid — suggesting that there is little risk that Virginia would be left on the hook for the cost of expansion.

“You were right, I was wrong,” Fredericks said.

I hope the Repubs will back down. Unfortunately, there are many teabaggers in VA.

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Sometimes reading political news makes me feel like my head is going to explode. This is one of those moments. 

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/iowa-gop-abortion-bill-will-grant-parents-of-unmarried-women-rights-to-control-adult-daughters-bodies/

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An anti-abortion bill being offered by Republicans in Iowa would effectively ban all abortions and give parents rights over the bodies of unmarried adult daughters.

A state House panel on Wednesday voted to send SF 471 — the so-called “personhood” bill — to the full committee. The bill states that life begins at conception, giving fetuses the same rights as people.

Anticipating that the “personhood” provision of the bill will likely be struck down by courts, the GOP bill also provides criminal punishment for anyone who performs an abortion more than 20 weeks after conception. The bill makes exceptions if the life of the mother is at risk. However, it does not make exceptions for rape or incest.

Iowa House Democrats noted on Wednesday that HF 53, to which SF 471 is a successor, also gives parents the legal right to prevent unmarried adult daughters from having an abortion.

WTF? Parents now have legal rights over the bodies of their ADULT unmarried daughters. Has Bill Gothard taken over the Iowa state senate? 

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