Source: http://www.aroundthecapitol.com/nooner/2018-06-22.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 23:03:26+00:00

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Happy Friday, Noonerites! It's going to be a toasty day in SacTown. I'm working on the balcony at the Nooner Global Headquarters before it gets too hot to be outside. I drink coffee out of an insulated metal Klean Kanteen. It's well insulated on the inside, but is quite hot to the touch from the sun already. Had to move it into the shade.
I can certainly think of points in the Clinton presidency when his name could be replaced as the second word in the second story.
Giants won last night, MadBum gets his first win of the year, and they are back at .500. They host the Padres again tonight at 7:15. Since it'll still be 100 at that time, I won't be watching but will be at the movies instead. This is a great weekend for movies. Let someone else pay for the air conditioning.
Meanwhile, Dodgers at Mets @ 4:10, A's @ White Sox @ 5:10, and Angels host the Blue Jays @ 7:07.
But, of course, the real sports this weekend will be happening on the pitch. Mexíco faces South Korea tomorrow at 8am PDT.
SCOTUS handed down three decisions this morning, but not the biggest remaining one affecting California politics, Janus v. AFSCME, which challenges the ability of public sector unions to collect fees for non-political representation costs of employees who opt out of joining the union. An interesting case that was handed down was that the searching cell phone location records by police of an armed robbery suspect in custody is a Fourth Amendment search and thus required a judicial warrant.
Fascinating 5-4 decision authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, who was joined by the four "liberals." And there were four different dissenting opinions written by the other "conservatives."
These final days of the Court's session are brutal when I'm both watching/reading decisions and trying to write The Nooner!
There are ten cases left from this term. The justices are back at the bench with more decisions on Monday, but it's unlikely that they will hand down ten on one day. They will likely also sit on Tuesday, and can knock out four on one day and three on the other.
Abbot v. Perez - This is the strange Texas racial redistricting case. The original maps in 2011 were found by the federal district court to be racially gerrymandered and the court redrew the maps, which were approved by the Texas state legislature. First, there is a procedural issue, as there was no lower-court injunction and thus it may not be under the jurisdiction of SCOTUS. If the high court finds it does have jurisdiction, they move on to whether the maps interfere with the voting rights of African-Americans and Latinos. Some have lumped this case in with the other redistricting cases, which is not proper to do. Those were challenges not on race, but partisan gerrymandering. Under the political doctrine, SCOTUS says "can't touch this."
I want to see the Notorious RBG in parachute pants.
Currier v. Virginia - A person was charged with breaking and entering and larceny, as well as a felon-in-possession in connection with the B&E. He agreed to separate the charges into two trials. In the first, breaking and entering, he was found not guilty. He thus argues that, because he was found not guilty in B&E, the second trial on felony-in-possession can not move forward.
Florida v. Georgia - A fight over water in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River, which flows from Georgia into Florida. Florida wants to limit the amount of water Georgia takes from the river. The Supreme Court appointed a special master to hear the case, which went directly to SCOTUS under original jurisdiction since the disput is between two states. This could be interesting if Three States ever comes into play.
Janus v. AFSCME - Can public sector unions collect dues from employees who elect not to join the union in an "agency shop," collect fees for the costs of representation, such as grievance representation? I've written about this frequently, as it would have a big impact on California politics as unions restructure their finances. Things do not look good for the unions.
NIFLA v. Becerra - In this First Amendment case, the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates challenges a California law--AB 775 (Chiu) Chapter 700, Statutes of 2015-- that requires crisis pregnancy centers that are licensed that provide such things as pregnancy tests and ultrasounds to post notices that free and low-cost abortions may be available, and requires unlicensed centers that provide mostly counseling to provide disclaimers in advertisements that the center does not provide medical services. The district court denied, and the Ninth Circuit upheld, a preliminary injunction sought by NIFLA.
Ohio v. American Express - Can a credit card issuer include in its merchant contract a prohibition against retailers trying to steer customers toward other methods of payment (other cards)? And, what harm must be shown? Is it harm to the merchant, the customer, or both? AMEX generally has higher merchant fees with a slightly different business model than Visa and Mastercard. The customer doesn't see any difference on the transaction, but the merchant does.
Trump v. Hawaii - The "travel ban" case. This challenges the third executive order that followed the previous two reject by courts. The current iteration limits travel from Libya, Iran, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, North Korea, Venezuela and Chad. This iteration is characterized as not the "Muslim ban" promised in the campaign by including North Korea (where exercise of religion is officially prohibited) and Chad, which is 40% Christian. Yes, there's an irony given recent developments was that the addition of North Korea was meant to east the limitations on travel through the courts. Hawaii argues that (1) the executive order exceeds Article II powers of the President and (2) even if found under the Article II authority, it impedes the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment by, in 6 of the 8 countries, there are Muslim majorities, and the President's campaign clearly expressed intent of banning Muslims.
It'll be an interesting week!
ROD WRIGHT: Former state senator Rod Wright, who pled guilty to perjury and voter fraud over residency falsification and sentenced to 90 days and barred for life from public office is back to Sac as a lobbyist.
PRIVACY: It appears that there is agreement between legislators and the author of a proposed initiative on the issue of consumer privacy rights, reports Taryn Luna for the Bee. The agreement was amended into a legislative bill, AB 375 (Chau and Hertzberg), last night.
The move may help Alastair Mactaggart, the main proponent of the California Consumer Privacy Act, avoid one of the most costly ballot measure fights of the year against Amazon, Google, AT&T, Comcast and other internet behemoths that oppose his proposal.
The ballot initiative, which was likely going to be approved for the November ballot, would require big companies to disclose the type of information they gather on consumers and give people the right to prevent businesses from selling their personal data.
Under the terms of an agreement worked out between Mactaggart and other stakeholders, state lawmakers crafted a bill with a similar effect and plan to vote on it next week. Mactaggart pledged to pull his initiative if Gov. Jerry Brown signs the bill by June 28, the final deadline to withdraw measures from the ballot.
The initiative is currently in the random sample tallying stage at county election offices, and has the validity of sufficient signatures to easily qualify. If it qualifies, Mactaggart can't pull it back; he has to do it during this stage. For opponents of both the initiative and legislation--primarily big tech--the question was whether to kill the legislation and gamble on an expensive November campaign or make a deal with the Legislature. Mactaggart wins with the deal, saving money on what would be a very expensive campaign. He's already spent $3.5 million to qualify the measure.
CA48 (Huntington Beach): Harley Rouda is still 62 votes above Hans Keirstead in the race among Democrats to take on incumbent Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa). Orange County estimates 10,688 ballots left to count. CA48 accounts for 26.2% of Orange County voters, so if unprocessed ballots were evenly distributed (of course they are not), that would be 2,800 to process and count in the district. Of course, not all of the provisionals will be valid, and that is the lion's share of what is remaining.
GOING POSTAL: John Myers writes for the Times that the Legislature has sent to the governor a bill to require counties to use postage returned mail on vote-by-mail ballots, relieving voters from trying to figure out how many stamps are needed, particularly with the increasingly lengthy ballots under top-two and with the number of initiatives. Most often, ballots dropped in the mailbox without postage are delivered, but there are many cases where they have allegedly fallen through the cracks. For those un-postaged ballots that reach the county elections office, the county is on the hook for the unpaid postage. Under the bill approved, counties would be on the hook for all ballots unless money is provided in next year's budget.
I REALLY DON'T CARE, DO YOU? Well, Attorney General Xavier Becerra would answer would answer "Damn well, I do." I have no idea and really don't care what the jacket meant, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't against "fake news." Meanwhile, Becerra has California joining eight other states arguing the separation of children from their families at the border offends the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, by impeding the liberty of parents and children without a court order or a documented finding of the threat of harm to the child.
SUNSHINE DAY: The Legislature has sent AB 807 (Chu), which if approved by the governor, would place on the November ballot the question as to whether to repeal Daylight Savings Time in the state. If approved by the voters, it would have to be approved by the feds.
The argument is that there are several studies that we go batsh!t crazy when our computers change in the middle of the night and don't match our microwaves. Our coffee maker is off by an hour and not ready in time to hop in the car and go to work. I joke, but I totally forgot this spring. Fortunately, I got Nooner Premium out at 11:30 even with the lost hour. As you likely know, I'm an early bird anyway.
But, how would we know to check our smoke detectors?
LAW AND DISORDER: The Fair Political Practices Commission is as deadlocked as the Federal Elections Commission. The normally five-member commission is down two three after two resignations, and one of the three balked at a proposal to change the role of chair from full-time to part-time, reports Patrick McGreevy in the Times.
SANCTUARY AT WHAT COST? Joel Fox looks at one of the interesting issues in the debate over California's "sanctuary state" legislation. One of the bills challenged, AB 450 (Chapter 472, Statutes of 2017), prohibits federal officials from entering a worksite for immigration purposes without a warrant. The feds argue that employers will just warn employees of the upcoming visit and the employees will just call in sick that day or even just abandon the job.
Under the bill, employers are on the hook for fines beginning at $2,000 for allowing officials in to a non-public work area without a warrant. But, if they do get a warrant, then they are more likely to go through employment records and hold the employer liable for hiring an employee without proper documentation.
Yup, it's a mess. And, now POTUS tweeted three times this morning that he would prefer that congressional Republicans drop immigration for this year with hopes that Republicans gain enough net seats to have 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. Of course, how many seats that is remains unknown. While there are some mod existing Dems that might vote for cloture, it depends on what's in the bill. Further, if one of those, Joe Manchin wins reelection to a 6-year term, he's less likely to help the President who has been campaigning against him.
As Emily Cadei writes for the Bee, Senator Dianne Feinstein is working with Republicans to see if an agreement can be reached to overcome a filibuster. Republicans know that they would be better positioned by passing any immigration bill before the mid-terms, but the question is whether Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan are willing to jam President Trump without the three most controversial issues--the wall, family reunification, and the lottery system for visa diversity.
For those interested in the visa diversity lottery issue, last Sunday's This American Life had a great return to an episode and a update about a Somali man living in Kenya who had a roller coaster ride to gain a visa to the United States under the lottery. A university student studying at the American University in Nairobi, he was cleared by the State Department for the lottery.
SPOILER: He has a new memoir released this week. Pretty good timing with the immigration debate.
#CAKEDAY: Happy birthday to Assemblyman Richard Bloom, Jeli Gavric, Alissa Ko, and Matt Wainwright!
DEPT OF CORRECTIONS: There are mornings when my brain has one message and my fingers have an interest of their own. Of course it is Chris Holden currently in the Assembly. Nate Holden, his father, is the 15-year retired veteran of the Los Angeles City Council.
CRAY-CRAY morning and I'm sure there's more, but we'll catch up over the weekend. Stay cool, my friends.
American Association of Political Consultants Regional Conference: Join AAPC June 25-26 at the beautiful new Sawyer Hotel in Downtown Commons to hear from the state's leading political consultants for a recap of the June primary and a look ahead to November. Key speakers include Ace Smith, Gale Kaufman, Bill Carrick, Paul Mitchell, Christy Wilson, Rob Stutzman, Mike Madrid, Eric Bauman, Sam Rodriguez, Roger Salazar, Cassandra Walker-Pye, Dana Williamson, Stephanie McGann-Jantzen, Crystal Strait. More information and registration at theaapc.org/2018-sacramento-regional-conference/2018-sacramento-agenda/.
Trump's proposal to merge the Education and Labor departments into one federal agency is being received by education policy wonks with a collective shrug.
California's Supreme Court has upheld the death penalty for a mentally ill man who killed and dismembered a 12-year-old boy in Orange County.
President Donald Trump praised the Supreme Court's online sales tax decision on Thursday, but analysts said the ruling may have only a marginal impact on his frequent target Amazon.
And where are Scott Pruitt&#39;s emails?
The general manager of a small public agency under fire for serving brown, smelly water to parts of Compton and Willowbrook has been placed on administrative leave effective Friday, according to a statement the water district issued Thursday night.
After public outrage and intense bipartisan pressure, Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday aimed at halting the separation, but the order did not cover what would happen to more than 2,000 children who are currently being detained in facilities away from their families.
Our capacity to fetishize youth never ceases to amaze. But while some older Americans want to look like younger folks, they certainly don’t want their finances to follow that path. That’s because the wealth gap between generations keeps widening, and their children’s future is beginning to look ugly.

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