State Houses Thread

[AmazonGrace]

 

[LeftCoastLurker]

Two more seats flip from red to blue last night!

[fraurosena]

It looks like Scott Walker's in trouble now.

GOP governor sued for not holding elections he fears his party will lose

Quote

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s strategy to stop the long string of Republican losses in special elections is simply to stop calling special elections.

But Democrats are fighting back.

According to Reuters, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC) is suing to force Walker to hold special elections in state legislative districts vacated by Republicans appointed to the governor’s administration.

Walker previously refused to call special elections for Assembly District 42 and Senate District 1, claiming that the state House term was almost over and it could wait until the midterms.

But there is obviously an ulterior motive. Walker is afraid he’ll lose these GOP-leaning seats, as happened in January when Democrat Patty Schactner flipped the heavily rural, pro-Trump Senate District 10. At the time, Walker referred to that special election as a “wake up call.”

Walker also seems to be following the lead of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, who decided to simply leave the 13th Congressional District open for a year following the resignation of Rep. John Conyers and deprive Detroit of congressional representation.

Heading into November, Walker is himself one of the most vulnerable Republican governors as he seeks a third term. He and his allies have imposed numerous measures to restrict the vote and block ethics investigations into their government. Refusing to call elections altogether is simply another phase of their war on accountability.

The NRDC, the brainchild of President Obama headed up by former attorney general Eric Holder, has jumped into legal and political battles across the country for fair elections. They scored a major victory last year by helping elect Gov. Ralph Northam in Virginia, where Democrats now gain a veto over Republican gerrymandering.

With this lawsuit, Walker is now on notice that democracy is not optional. If he cannot allow the people of his state to have representation, he has no businesses wielding power in a representative government.

 

[onekidanddone]

5 hours ago, LeftCoastLurker said:

Two more seats flip from red to blue last night!

Where is the Snoopy Dance reaction emoji? 

26 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

It looks like Scott Walker's in trouble now.

GOP governor sued for not holding elections he fears his party will lose

 

I gotta hit up my Wisconsin connection on this one.

[fraurosena]

And the Repugliklans continue their abuse of power. Please take it away from them in November.

Georgia Senate committee votes to remove tax break that would benefit Delta

Quote

A Georgia Senate committee has moved to get rid of a part of a bill that includes a tax break that would benefit Delta Airlines after the airline sought to distance itself from the National Rifle Association (NRA).

The Senate Rules committee on Wednesday voted to remove the $50 million jet fuel tax exemption that was part of a larger tax-cut package, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

The publication reported the full Senate could vote on the measure this week.

If the Senate approved the measure, it would go back to the House for approval. The House had previously voted in support of the tax-cut bill including the exemption ahead of Delta's announcement regarding the NRA.

The move to delete the tax exemption comes after Delta — which is based in Atlanta — joined a growing number of companies that have sought to distance themselves from the NRA since the deadly shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla.

Republican officials in the state earlier this week threatened to block tax legislation that benefits Delta if the airline doesn't restore its relationship with the NRA.

“I will kill any tax legislation that benefits @Delta unless the company changes its position and fully reinstates its relationship with @NRA," Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle (R), who is running for governor this year, tweeted earlier this week.

"Corporations cannot attack conservatives and expect us not to fight back."

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday invited Delta to relocate its headquarters to New York. Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) also offered up Ohio as an option for Delta to relocate to.

I'm taking a wild guess here and say that Delta probably doesn't donate to Repugs.

[AmazonGrace]

 

[fraurosena]

This is just sick. 

Kentucky: Child marriage ban delayed after opposition from conservative group

Quote

Politicians in Kentucky are stepping up their fight to end child marriage in the state after a planned vote on the matter was postponed because of opposition from a conservative group.

Under current law, 16 and 17-year-olds can marry with their parents’ permission. Any age under 16 can also get wed, as long as they are pregnant and marrying the father of their child.  

A new bill that would prohibit anyone aged 16 or under from marrying and prevent any 17-year old from tying the knot without the approval of a judge, who would have to be convinced that the minor is mature, self-sufficient and not being coerced into marriage.

A 17-year-old would also be prevented from marrying someone who is more than four years their senior.

Nationwide, more than 200,000 children under 18 – some as young as 10 – were married between 2000 and 2015. In most cases, the minor is a girl and her spouse is an older man.

During that period, 10,618 marriages in Kentucky, 279 of which took place in 2015.  

“This bill would take Kentucky from behind the national curve to a leadership position in the movement to end child marriage,” said Jeanne Smoot, senior counsel at the Tahirh Justice Center, a national organisation that advocates for legal and social justice for girls and women.

In the last two years, four US states – Virginia, Texas, New York and Florida – have passed legislation banning or severely restricting child marriage.

Despite strong support from Whitney Westerfield, Chairman of Kentucky's Senate Judiciary Committee, a vote in the new bill was delayed last week after the conservative Family Foundation of Kentucky expressed concern about the wording.

Although the group does not oppose a minimum age, it wants to see parents retain their rights to give permission for minors to marry.

Kids as young as 10 marrying? What are you, America? A third world backwards underdeveloped country pandering to pedophiles? Fuck. How sick can you get?

[Howl]

Texas is so Teavangelical that the Republican Governor Greg Abbot is endorsing primary opponents further to the right of several current moderate Republican state representatives and senators.  And when I say moderate Republicans, in this state "moderate" means EXTREMELY conservative folks, but folks who would not support, for example, school vouchers.  In the past, the Governor endorsing primary opponents of sitting state representatives and senators of his or her own party just was. not. done.  However, desperate times call for desperate measures, and to get a far-right agenda passed in 2018, they need far-right candidates.

[Bethella]

@fraurosena The Tennessee legislature killed a bill to ban child marriages yesterday, but apparently media reports got them to reconsider the bill (apparently they didn't realize just how fucked up the laws are currently).

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2018/03/08/republicans-reverse-decision-bring-back-bill-ban-child-marriages-debate/408765002/

[Cartmann99]

I was reading about some of the Democrats running for office here in Texas, and came across an openly gay man running for the Texas House:

https://m.facebook.com/notes/armando-gamboa-for-tx-hd-81/our-story/372901153165657/

Stay safe, Mr. Gamboa!

Edited March 9, 2018 by Cartmann99
Itchy trigger finger, sorry!

[Howl]

16 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

I was reading about some of the Democrats running for office here in Texas, and came across an openly gay man running for the Texas House:

https://m.facebook.com/notes/armando-gamboa-for-tx-hd-81/our-story/372901153165657/

Stay safe, Mr. Gamboa!

That's a brave young man; he's a Democrat running for office in the middle of the oil patch. Wishing him well! 

[GreyhoundFan]

I'm posting this here because, apparently it's not illegal... "Alabama Sheriff Legally Took $750,000 Meant To Feed Inmates, Bought Beach House"

Spoiler

A sheriff in Alabama took home as personal profit more than $750,000 that was budgeted to feed jail inmates — and then purchased a $740,000 beach house, a reporter at The Birmingham News found.

And it's perfectly legal in Alabama, according to state law and local officials.

Alabama has a Depression-era law that allows sheriffs to "keep and retain" unspent money from jail food-provision accounts. Sheriffs across the state take excess money as personal income — and, in the event of a shortfall, are personally liable for covering the gap.

Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin told the News that he follows that practice of taking extra money from the fund, saying, "The law says it's a personal account and that's the way I've always done it."

Sheriffs across the state do the same thing and have for decades. In most cases, the public doesn't know how much money is involved because sheriffs do not need to report extra income of less than $250,000 a year.

But in Etowah County, that cap was exceeded, and the News found the paper trail.

The News discovered the eye-popping figures on ethics disclosures that Entrekin sent to the state: Over the course of three years, he received more than $750,000 in extra compensation from "Food Provisions."

The paper also found that Entrekin and his wife own several properties worth a combined $1.7 million, including a $740,000 four-bedroom house in Orange Beach, Ala., purchased in September.

Without the provision funds, Entrekin earns a little more than $93,000 a year, the paper says.

In a statement emailed to NPR, Entrekin said the "liberal media has began attacking me for following the letter of the law."

"The Food Bill is a controversial issue that's used every election cycle to attack the Sheriff's Office," Entrekin said. "Alabama Law is clear regarding my personal financial responsibilities of feeding inmates. Until the legislature acts otherwise, the Sheriff must follow the current law."

Before he made headlines for profiting off the law, Entrekin was better known for being indebted by it.

When Entrekin's predecessor died while still in office, all the money in the food provision account went to his estate — as state law dictated, a county official told NPR. Entrekin had to borrow $150,000 to keep the inmates fed. He was paying down that debt for years, The Gadsden Times reported.

In 2009, while he was still in debt from paying for inmates' food, Entrekin told the Times that he personally thought the law needed to be changed. But he noted that it might cost more money for taxpayers if the county commission had to manage jail kitchens through an open bid process.

David Akins, the chief administrative officer of the Etowah County Commission, agrees with that assessment. He says the commission is not eager to take on that duty, as some other local governments have done.

"The sheriff can feed inmates cheaper than the county can," he said.

Alabama's controversial system hearkens back to a different era, when county jails were more of a mom and pop operation and feeding inmates was often the responsibility of a sheriff's wife.

Today in Alabama, sheriffs are personally responsible for feeding inmates in their jails and receive funds to cover the cost. For state inmates, it's less than $2 per inmate per day; for county, city or federal inmates, the amount can be higher.

If sheriffs feed inmates on less than that, they can "keep and retain" whatever is left over.

Lawyer Aaron Littman, at the Southern Center for Human Rights, said in a January statement that the practice of pocketing leftover funds was a "dubious interpretation" of the law that "raises grave ethical concerns, invites public corruption, and creates a perverse incentive to spend as little as possible on feeding people who are in jail." He argues the sheriffs are supposed to manage the funds, not personally profit from them.

But local governments across the state say the law is clear that the money can be kept for personal use.

"That's the way it was set up years ago," Akins from the Etowah County Commission tells NPR. "That's just the way it's been in the state. ... Of course, state legislators could always change that if they wanted to."

He doesn't see a problem with the practice.

"I think if the inmates were not being fed properly, it might be a concern," he said. "But I'll guarantee you that if they're not fed properly, the federal government would let us know about it."

In some cases, the federal government has objected.

In 2009, then-Sheriff Greg Bartlett of Morgan County was briefly tossed in jail after acknowledging that he had personally profited, to the tune of $212,000, from a surplus in the jail-food account. Prisoners testified about receiving meager meals.

To cut corners, Bartlett used charitable donations and "special deals," as CBS put it — including once splitting a $1,000 truck full of corn dogs with a sheriff of a nearby county and then feeding the inmates corn dogs twice a day for weeks.

He defended himself by noting that his profit was legal under state law, but an exasperated federal judge said the sheriff had an obligation to feed his inmates adequate food.

The story made national headlines, and Bartlett agreed to no longer dip into the jail food fund.

In 2015, a sheriff in Morgan County loaned $150,000 from the inmate food fund to a corrupt car lot. The loan was revealed when the business, facing theft and scam charges, went bankrupt.

Again, that sheriff's use of the food money was legal under state law; it was only prohibited in Morgan County because of the county's particular history.

Aside from individual lawsuits like those, it's hard to tell exactly how much money earmarked for inmate food is going to sheriffs because no funds under $250,000 need to be reported to the state.

This January, two advocacy groups sued for access to records that could reveal how much jail food money was being turned into personal profit. The groups said 49 sheriffs had refused to provide records of where funds were spent.

Then in February, reporter Connor Sheets of the News began revealing Entrekin's spending history and his ethics disclosures.

Sheets' investigation has also made headlines because of the arrest of a key source.

Sheets spoke with a landscaper named Matt Qualls who mowed Entrekin's lawn in 2015 and noticed the name of the account on his checks — the "Sheriff Todd Entrekin Food Provision Account." He shared pictures with Sheets.

"A couple people I knew came through the jail, and they say they got meat maybe once a month, and every other day, it was just beans and vegetables," Qualls told Sheets. "I put two and two together and realized that that money could have gone toward some meat or something."

Sheets' initial story was published on Feb. 18. On Feb. 22, Qualls was arrested and charged with drug trafficking after an anonymous call complained of the smell of marijuana from an apartment.

Qualls, who had never been arrested before, faces six charges and is being held on a $55,000 bond, Sheets reports. He is detained in a jail that Entrekin oversees.

Qualls was arrested by Rainbow City Police, not by the sheriff's department.

The Etowah County Drug Enforcement Unit added extra charges to his case, including a charge of drug trafficking, which the Rainbow City Police chief said was based on inaccurate weight calculations. (The unit counted 14 grams of pot, infused in five cups of butter, as more than than 1,000 grams worth of marijuana.)

"Penalties for drug trafficking are extremely steep in Alabama, where people have been imprisoned for life for the crime," Sheets notes.

The sheriff's office denies involvement in Qualls' case, noting that the landscaper was not arrested or charged by the sheriff's office. The extra charges were added by the Drug Enforcement Unit, which consist of agents drawn from the sheriff's department, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.

Wow, just wow.

[JMarie]

Has this been mentioned yet?  Minnesota wanted to create a registry for residents with autism.

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/text.php?number=SF3367&session=ls90&session_year=2018&session_number=0&version=latest

Quote

Sec. 7. AUTISM REGISTRY LEGISLATIVE PROPOSAL.

(a) The commissioner of health, in collaboration with the commissioner of human 
services, and in consultation with stakeholders, shall draft legislation to establish a statewide 
autism registry program with the purpose of estimating the prevalence, monitoring trends, 
and identifying risk factors impacting the rate of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) among 
children under age eight.

Didn't someone once insist on registries for certain segments of society?  Hitler? (said in the SNL Church Lady's voice)

And here's a state senator who was in favor of it, but "changed" his mind.  To make things worse, the registry was squashed together with a sex trafficking prevention training bill, so anyone who voted against it would appear to be against such training.

Quote

Jim Abeler @jimabeler 22h22 hours ago

Note: No registry coming. Having one was bad advice I got from MDH in our effort to study environmental factors, to complement genetic research going on elsewhere. Read again: the registry is abandoned. I have said that from the beginning. I sincerely apologized. End of story.

Abeler is an anti-vax chiropractor, his RN wife runs a colonics center, and their six kids all have J names.

[47of74]

South Carolina certainly didn't learn anything from the last time...

Quote

A group of Republican state legislators in South Carolina introduced a measure Thursday that would allow the state to secede from the United States if the federal government began to seize legally purchased firearms in the state.

The bill, which was referred to the state House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, would allow South Carolina lawmakers to debate whether to secede from the United States if the federal government were to violate the Second Amendment.

It states that "the general assembly shall convene to consider whether to secede from the United States based upon the federal government's unconstitutional violation of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution if the federal government confiscates legally purchased firearms in this state."

The measure, introduced by GOP Reps. Mike Pitts, Jonathon Hill and Ashley Trantham, comes amid an intense debate over the nation's gun laws that was reignited in February after a deadly mass shooting in Parkland, Fla.

Maybe this time we'll let the teabilly fornicate sticks go and not try to get them back.

[GreyhoundFan]

"Kentucky legislators send tax cuts for wealthy, tax hikes for the other 95 percent to governor’s desk"

Spoiler

The Kentucky legislature passed a sweeping tax overhaul this week, and now lawmakers are asking Gov. Matt Bevin to sign a bill that would slash taxes for some corporations and wealthy individuals while raising them on 95 percent of state residents, according to a new analysis.

The proposal arrives on the Republican governor's desk at a charged moment in Kentucky politics: The bill flew through the legislature on short notice, and thousands of teachers went to the State Capitol building earlier this week to protest cuts to their pension system.

Bevin's position on the tax overhaul, Kentucky's biggest in more than a decade, remains unknown. He said in a statement that the bill and the state budget, which was also passed by the legislature and is awaiting his signature, may not be “fiscally responsible.” Bevin has until April 13 to sign or veto the bill or send it back to the legislature with modifications.

The plan would flatten Kentucky's corporate and personal income-tax rates, setting both at 5 percent. Currently, Kentucky's corporate tax rate runs between 4 and 6 percent, while its income-tax rate ranges from 2 to 6 percent. The new flat rate of 5 percent for everyone means that small companies and Kentuckians with below-average incomes will face tax hikes, and higher earners will get tax cuts.

The bill attempts to make up for those cuts by nearly doubling the cigarette tax and imposing sales taxes on 17 additional services, including landscaping, janitorial work, golf courses and pet grooming. The state's nonpartisan legislative staff estimated the plan will, on net, raise money, although other experts are skeptical.

Residents of Kentucky, like everyone else in the country, are also affected by the federal GOP tax law passed in December. The Kentucky plan shares some characteristics of that overhaul, including the proposal to lower taxes faced by some businesses. But in contrast with the congressional GOP effort, Kentucky Republicans are aiming to avoid dramatically increasing the deficit.

That is one reason the Kentucky plan includes an expansion of the sales tax, which is expected to hit most state residents. Overall, the plan would give an average $7,000 tax cut to the richest 1 percent of Kentuckians, who average more than $1 million of annual income, according to a report released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Kentucky Center for Economic Policy. But 95 percent of the state's taxpayers would see a tax increase, and those earning between $55,000 and $92,000 a year would face the largest tax increases — about $213 a year, the analysis found.

Meanwhile, someone earning $8 million a year — such as John Calipari, the head coach of the University of Kentucky men's basketball team — would receive a tax cut of close to $80,000 a year, said Jason Bailey, the executive director of the center. As a share of their income, the poorest Kentucky residents would face the biggest tax hikes, in part because of the increase in the cigarette tax, according to Bailey.

The plan would generate an additional $239 million in state revenue in 2019 and an extra $248 million in 2020, according to the legislature's nonpartisan scorekeeper.

Bevin's office did not reply to a request for comment.

... < charts >

Several Republican states have passed similar tax overhauls since the tea party wave of 2010, according to Richard C. Auxier, an analyst at the Tax Policy Center. But Kentucky's effort does not assume the steep cuts will generate enough economic growth to pay for themselves, as the Kansas and Oklahoma tax overhauls did, Auxier said. Instead, as in North Carolina, the Kentucky legislature is trying to raise money for the cuts by broadening the tax base.

“Republican governors want to cut or eliminate corporate and income taxes, and they face a choice: Do you shift that burden to low-income residents with a sales-tax increase, or do you blow a hole in your budget?” Auxier said. “Kentucky is opting for the first approach.”

Some Republican legislators have defended the revenue increases by arguing that the tax plan, which was passed alongside a state budget plan, will allow the state to avoid cuts to the schools while increasing the competitiveness of state businesses. The thousands of Kentucky teachers rallying at the State Capitol on Monday were protesting limits on their sick-leave benefits and smaller pension benefits.

“This plan makes Kentucky more economically competitive while also maintaining our ability to fund vital investments in education,” Kentucky House Majority Leader Jonathan Shell (R) told The Washington Post in a statement. “By lowering rates and eliminating outdated deductions, we are providing the revenue necessary to make the investments we need while also making Kentucky more attractive to industry and job creation.”

Conservative policy analysts have also been broadly supportive. “In essence, this bill is broadening the tax base and lowering rates, which is what sound tax policy looks like,” said Morgan Scarboro, a policy analyst at the Tax Foundation, a right-leaning think tank.

But Democrats are urging Bevin to reject the measure, citing projections that it would raise taxes for low-income Kentuckians.

“This came in at the 11th hour in a 300-page bill that we did not see until the day it arrived,” said state Rep. Angie Hatton (D), who represents a low-income county in eastern Kentucky's coal country. “And it cuts taxes for the rich on the backs of the poor.”

 

[onekidanddone]

Small bit of good news for a change

 

[CTRLZero]

7 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

But in contrast with the congressional GOP effort, Kentucky Republicans are aiming to avoid dramatically increasing the deficit.

While I'm sad that they aren't making John Calipari pay his fair share, I'm impressed that they are apparently acknowledging and hoping to avoid deficit spending.  The folks in Washington DC don't seem to understand that concept.  I feel for the folks living paycheck to paycheck who are being squeezed, but it's the GOP way.  I'll be interested if the governor signs.

[AmazonGrace]

Why do you need schools to begin with? Just cart the kids to church every day. The same goes for the hospitals because Jesus can heal the sick.  You don't need to fund the fire department if people just pray that there will be no fire. You don't need no stinking insurance companies because if there is an accident ,  thy will be done.  No farms because look at the birds, they neither sow or or reap but their Heavenly father feeds them. No  grocery stores because Jesus can multiply food. You don't need to fund the military because blessed are the peacemakers. You don't need the police if everyone is at church at all times because people will see if you commit a crime. You don't need  airports, because people can go to the nearest church. No parks and gardens because God created the earth and saw it was good. No libraries because the Reverend read a book once and he can tell you what it said.

[CTRLZero]

10 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

No libraries because the Reverend read a book once and he can tell you what it said.

I like the term the court used, "illegally underfunded," because it's shocking and unacceptable how poorly paid, understaffed and deteriorated some of these school systems have become.  It's good to see some activism by the teachers in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, etc.   The fundamentalists we follow here are poor substitutes for a good quality public education system, and it's unfortunate they vote against adequately funding schools.

[AmazonGrace]

 

[Cartmann99]

8 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

 

From the article:

Quote

Miller’s relationship with Redalen isn’t his first involvement with doctors that has raised questions.

In February 2015, shortly after taking office, Miller charged the state $1,100 for a trip to Oklahoma in which he received a pain-killing treatment called the “Jesus Shot” that was created by Dr. John Michael Lonergan, who goes by “Dr. Mike” and previously had his medical license in Ohio revoked after being convicted of tax evasion.

A Houston Chronicle story on the trip prompted a criminal investigation by the Travis County district attorney’s office. Prosecutors declined to bring charges, saying that they would difficulty proving in court that Miller had criminal intent for charging taxpayers for the trip.

Redalen said that, although he is aware Miller has chronic pain caused by his days as a rodeo cowboy, Miller has never asked him for medical advice or treatment.

“He doesn’t pick my brain for anything in medicine,” Redalen said. “He is a true Texas gentleman.”

Yeah, well that "Texas gentleman" is a crook who called Hilary Clinton the c-word, and you married a fifteen year old girl, so both of you can go straight to hell as far as I'm concerned.

[LeftCoastLurker]

Arizona house passes bill requiring women seeking abortions to say why.

Spoiler

The Arizona state House of Representatives passed a bill that would require women seeking abortions to fill out an invasive questionnaire that asks the reason for the procedure.

The legislation, passed on Monday, would force women to answer questions, including whether the abortion is elective for economic reasons, if the pregnancy was from a rape or incest, if the woman does not want children at this time, if the abortion is due to fetal or maternal health, and if the patient is having “relationship issues” such as domestic abuse or an extramarital affair.

The bill passed along party lines, 35-22, the Arizona Star reported. A version already has been approved by the state Senate, which now must decide whether to accept House amendments. 

State Rep. Eddie Farnsworth (R) said the bill was about “getting information,” according to the Arizona Star. But when Rep. Daniel Hernandez (D) suggested the questionnaire add questions asking women whether they lacked access to affordable health care and had access to comprehensive sex education, Farnsworth shut the idea down.

“Sex education is not a health-care issue,” Farnsworth said. “Having access to contraception is not a health-care issue.” 

Research shows that when women are given access to safe and affordable contraception, abortion rates drop. 

The bill does not require women to disclose their identity on the questionnaire, but they would have to provide their race, ethnicity, age, educational background, marital status and the number of prior pregnancies and prior abortions. 

Jodi Liggett, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, 
told Bustle that the questionnaire is an anti-abortion tactic designed to shame women for their health care decisions. 

“This is about making the abortion experience as shaming and degrading as possible for people, to thereby discourage them from following through with their decision,” Liggett said. “Nothing more.”

State Rep. Athena Salman (D), who opposed the legislation, said “it’s none of the government’s business why a woman is getting an abortion.”

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Ohio violated Planned Parenthood’s freedom of speech in effort to defund it, federal court rules"

Spoiler

Ohio’s efforts to cut off Planned Parenthood from receiving funds for preventive health programs violate the organization’s First Amendment rights, a federal appeals court has ruled.

On Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit struck down a 2016 law that banned Ohio abortion providers or abortion rights promoters from receiving funds through six federal health programs. The programs are intended to help low-income patients receive prevention services for sexually transmitted diseases, breast and cervical cancer, infertility and HIV/AIDS, among other things.

States have been allowed to refuse to subsidize abortions for years. But the problem with refusing to give preventive health funds to Planned Parenthood on those grounds, the court ruled, is that those services are completely unrelated to abortions. Therefore, the court found, Ohio has unfairly punished Planned Parenthood compared to other grant recipients simply because the health provider advocates for abortion rights “on its own time and dime.”

The panel ruled unanimously that this is a violation of Planned Parenthood’s freedom of speech and creates an “unconstitutional condition.” Judge Helene N. White, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote that the government “may not require the surrender of constitutional rights as a condition of participating in an unrelated government program.”

Joining her were Judge Eugene E. Siler Jr., a George H.W. Bush appointee, and Judge Eric L. Clay, a Bill Clinton appointee.

“Ohio’s important interests in preferring childbirth to abortion, promoting life, and not subsidizing abortions have only the most tenuous relationship to” the 2016 law, White wrote. “Precluding Plaintiffs from funding under the six federal preventive-health programs that have nothing to do with abortion does little to promote these interests.”

The law was passed in 2016 after three controversial “sting” videos created by antiabortion activists went viral the previous summer. The videos purported to show Texas Planned Parenthood employees discussing the illegal sale of fetal tissue, which the organization staunchly denied. The two activists had gained entry to Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast by feigning interest in a research partnership involving donated fetal tissue, which is legal in Texas.

The videos, which were later found by various government agencies and judges to be manipulated, enraged conservatives and antiabortion advocates, spurring legislation across the country seeking to defund Planned Parenthood in retaliation.

“The bill is not about women’s health care,” Ohio’s Republican Senate president, Keith Faber, said on the day the bill passed the Senate, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “It’s about whether we’re going to fund an organization that has its senior leadership nationally, who by the way gets money from Ohio, who believe it’s good public policy to chop up babies in a way that makes their parts more valuable so they can buy a Lamborghini.”

Gov. John Kasich (R) signed the bill into law in February 2016, despite the fact that multiple federal and state investigations, including in Ohio, found no evidence of the sale of fetal tissue at Planned Parenthood. In fact, the two antiabortion activists were indicted by a Houston grand jury for infiltrating Planned Parenthood with fake IDs and soliciting the sale of fetal tissue, charges that were later dropped on technicalities.

Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio and Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio sued the state’s health department months after the law was passed. They succeeded in obtaining an injunction from a U.S. District Court in September 2016. Had the law not been blocked, it would have cut more than $1.3 million in funding from Planned Parenthood, preventing it from providing various free health services to low-income patients.

According to the 6th Circuit ruling, the Ohio Planned Parenthood plaintiffs together administered more than half of all sexually transmitted disease tests in Ohio under the federally funded STD Prevention Program. Roughly 75 percent of Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio’s patients and 40 percent of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio’s patients are low-income. Many of them live in “medically underserved areas,” where alternative health care providers would be difficult to find in the event that the patients were unable to receive services at Planned Parenthood because of the funding cut, the 6th Circuit said.

The Ohio Attorney General’s Office did not immediately return a request for comment on the ruling. It said in a statement to the Cleveland Plain Dealer that the office is reviewing the ruling.

In its legal arguments, the attorney general’s office asserted that Planned Parenthood “seeks a constitutional guarantee to public funding — a guarantee that forces Ohio, against its own judgment, to give public money to large abortion providers. The Constitution contains no such guarantee.”

The 6th Circuit said it was “unpersuaded” by the state, that the state “mischaracterized” Planned Parenthood’s  argument and presented no evidence that the law served a legitimate interest in preventing taxpayer-funded abortions.

“We are thrilled that today’s decision will safeguard our patients’ access to care,” Jerry Lawson, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio, said in a statement. “This victory is critically important for tens of thousands of Ohioans across our state that rely on Planned Parenthood for care and education each year. Our patients deserve to have their health care come before political agendas. This isn’t about politics; it’s about access to health care.”

 

[AmazonGrace]