April 28, 2021

Gender-affirming medical treatment for transgender kids would be considered child abuse under Texas

Gender-affirming medical treatment for transgender kids would be considered child abuse under Texas Senate bill

by Megan Munce, Texas Tribune


The Texas Senate passed a bill Tuesday in an 18-12 vote that would classify providing gender affirming health care to transgender minors as child abuse — just one of the Legislature’s many attempts to prevent transgender children from transitioning before their 18th birthday.

Senate Bill 1646 is among several other bills that advocacy groups say erode the rights of transgender Texans. Authored by Lubbock Republican Sen. Charles Perry, it amends the definition of abuse under Texas Family Code to include administering or consenting to a child’s use of puberty suppression treatment, hormones or surgery for the purpose of gender transitioning.

But it’s unclear what the legislation’s chances are in the House, where another major bill targeting transgender children appears to have stalled.

In a Senate committee hearing, SB 1646 attracted over four-and-a-half hours of public testimony from LGBTQ Texans, their parents and several state and national medical associations opposing the bill’s intrusion into intimate medical decisions. Social workers also testified the bill could put more transgender children into the foster care system, where they face elevated rates of suicide and depression.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2021/04/27/texas-senate-transgender-child-abuse/

April 28, 2021

Lubbock voters will decide Saturday if the West Texas city will become the largest "sanctuary city

Lubbock voters will decide Saturday if the West Texas city will become the largest “sanctuary city for the unborn”

by Shannon Najmabadi, Texas Tribune


Local voters will decide Saturday if Lubbock becomes the state’s next “sanctuary city for the unborn.”

The election could make the West Texas city a test case for a burgeoning movement that began in the East Texas town of Waskom and has since prompted some two dozen cities to try to outlaw abortions. Nearly all of them are in Texas, but Lubbock is the largest and the first that is home to an abortion provider — Planned Parenthood, which opened a clinic to offer birth control and screenings for cancer and sexually transmitted infections last fall. The clinic began providing abortions this month.

“They’re murdering babies here in our city,” said Jim Baxa, with West Texas for Life, an anti-abortion organization. “We need to stop that.”

Abortion rights advocates say the proposed ordinance amounts to an extreme ban that is out of step with the views held by a majority of polled Texans, who support some allowances for abortions, like in cases of rape or incest.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2021/04/28/lubbock-texas-abortion-election/

April 28, 2021

Texas Senate approves overhaul of pension plans for new state employees

by Shawn Mulcahy, Texas Tribune


A plan to overhaul the pension for Texas’ future state employees and shore up billions of dollars in unfunded obligations owed to retirees advanced out of the Texas Senate on Wednesday.

Republican State Sen. Joan Huffman’s proposal to revamp the Texas Employees Retirement System moved forward by a 19-12 vote, despite fierce opposition from some state workers’ unions. Senate Bill 321 would enroll new state workers hired after Sept. 1, 2022 in a cash balance plan — similar to a common 401(k) retirement account — rather than the traditional defined benefit pension plan. The bill now heads to the Texas House for consideration.

“This is a good bill,” Huffman said. “It's good for current workers, it's good for future workers and it requires a great investment by the state of Texas into their employees.”

Texas’ pension fund faces a $14.7 billion shortfall. Huffman amended the bill on Wednesday to authorize annual payments of $510 million through 2054 to pay down debt owed to the fund. The measure’s original language included yearly, $350 million payments. But Huffman said the increased contributions would save the state $34 billion in interest payments over the next three decades.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2021/04/28/texas-pension-ers-overhaul/

One of the perks of being a state employee is that the pension program is a defined benefit plan. If the state is going to eliminate that perk, then they are going to have to increase the pay for employees, otherwise, the state will have difficulty retaining employees. The latest figure that I read is that 20% of employees leave the state each year which is up from the normal rate of 16%-17%. Having a high employee turnover rate means that the quality of services will decline so expect longer lines and longer telephone queues with more unsuccessful interactions with the clients.

April 28, 2021

Dakota Access loses appeals bid, setting the stage for a 2nd shutdown showdown in Boasberg's court

Dakota Access has lost its bid for an appeal of a decision that vacated their permits last year and required more environmental study of the crossing 90 feet under Lake Oahe.

That means things are still on track for a second shutdown showdown.

The DC Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday declined to reconsider its decision upholding a lower court decision that vacated permits for Dakota Access and required the Corps to conduct additional environmental study due to the pipeline’s controversial nature.

The appeals court’s order denying DAPL’s appeal offers little insight into the court’s reasoning.

“Upon consideration of Dakota Access, LLC’s petition for rehearing en banc, and the absence of a request by any member of the court for a vote, it is ordered that the petition be denied,” is all that the one-page order says.

Read more: https://www.willistonherald.com/news/oil_and_energy/dakota-access-loses-appeals-bid-setting-the-stage-for-a-second-shutdown-showdown-in-boasbergs/article_f09e35ae-a46e-11eb-8d09-eb8f97ce575e.html

April 28, 2021

Chaos and Confusion Prolongs North Dakota Legislative Session

The final day of the 67th legislative session keeps getting pushed further out and closer to the 80-day constitutional limit. Early plans by Republican leadership to save ten days are out of reach. Now, they hope to maintain half of those days. This is the session that lost its way because of chaos and confusion.

The days keep ticking away because of undisciplined leadership and a group of legislators who don’t care about proper process. On day 69 reports have come from Bismarck about confusion from lawmakers after bills have been stripped from their original intent and filled with pipe dreams. Proposals that avoided public hearings have been passed before the House in last-ditch efforts to get ideological desires.

At least two examples have surfaced from the House on the same day. The first is SB 2139. The original bill was focused on neighborhood zones and incentives. It passed the Senate on February 22. Then, on April 20th, the House Finance and Tax Committee Chaired by Montpelier Republican Craig Headland amended the bill to be a corporate and individual tax cut. The House passed that bill on the same day according to the journal. Headland knows the process. This action has been his personal ambition for sessions. He routinely chooses to act this way to avoid public scrutiny. It may prolong the session because of his deceptive planning. The conference committee must now take up an entirely new proposal with just says left unless they simply accept Headland’s unvetted idea.

Another last-minute bill passed the House amongst chaos and confusion in the chamber. SB 2124 passed the Senate on February 4th and was related to the emergency authority of the Governor and Health Officer’s powers. Again on April 20th, the House amended the bill and decided to add some unrelated wish list items. Language about “vaccine passports” and “unaccompanied undocumented children” was created for the newly written bill. Much of what was added doesn’t seem germane to the original intent of the Senate bill. Again, the conference committee will be dealing with items that never held a hearing nor had public input.

Read more: https://ndxplains.com/2021/04/21/chaos-and-confusion-prolongs-north-dakota-legislative-session/

April 28, 2021

Des Moines students protest divisive concepts ban and charter schools at Capitol

Des Moines Public School students gathered on the steps of the Iowa Capitol on Monday afternoon to protest two education bills: one that would create new pathways for charter schools to form and another to ban certain “divisive concepts” from school training and curricula.

“Diversity means nothing if we aren’t willing or even allowed to acknowledge it,” said protest organizer Lyric Sellers, a junior at East High School in Des Moines. “Diversity means nothing if it doesn’t make us do things differently and commit to liberating our marginalized communities.”

House File 802 would prohibit the inclusion of “divisive concepts” in mandatory school training and curriculum. The list of forbidden concepts includes the idea that an individual is unconsciously racist or sexist due to their race or sex and the idea that the United States or Iowa are “fundamentally or systemically racist or sexist.”

“The education system cannot fully commit to anti-racism and equity if they can’t acknowledge and talk about the harm that marginalized communities have undergone and continue to experience,” said Endi Montalvo-Martinez, a senior at East High School. Montalvo-Martinez, 17, and Sellers, 16, are cofounders of the DMPS Racial Justice and Equity student group.

Read more: https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2021/04/26/des-moines-students-protest-divisive-concepts-ban-and-charter-schools-at-capitol/

April 28, 2021

Lawmakers cut penalty before fertility fraud bill sent to Iowa governor

DES MOINES — Despite Democratic opposition to a Republican-backed amendment to lessen the penalty, the Iowa House unanimously approved legislation to allow victims of assisted reproductive fraud to seek legal damages and perpetrators could face misdemeanor charges.

The House approved the Senate change that would reduce the charge from sexual abuse in the third degree, a Class C felony, to sexual abuse in the fourth degree, an aggravated misdemeanor.

“That just doesn’t make sense to me,” said Rep. Kristin Sunde, D-Des Moines. “I don't understand why we would think that's a lesser crime and should have a lesser penalty.”

Senate File 529 was among handful of bills the House approved on final passage Tuesday.

The so-call “fraud in assisted reproduction act” addresses circumstances in which Iowans seeking help in getting pregnant instead are the victims of unethical health care providers who took advantage of their vulnerable situations.

Read more: https://www.thegazette.com/government-politics/lawmakers-cut-penalty-before-fertility-fraud-bill-sent-to-iowa-governor/
(Cedar Rapids Gazette)

April 28, 2021

Iowa holds off on spending $1.4 billion in federal COVID-19 stimulus money

Iowa lawmakers are in no hurry to spend $1.4 billion in federal stimulus money.

The legislators are heading into the closing days of their annual session, and they're not including any of the latest round of federal funds in the state's budget for the coming fiscal year.

Iowa's state government is expected to receive approximately $1.4 billion in new federal relief through the American Rescue Plan, which Congress passed in March. Iowa will be able to spend that money on expenses through the end of 2024.

Republican state lawmakers, who control the House and Senate, say they’re still waiting on federal guidance before they decide how to spend that money. As they come to an agreement on the state budget in the final weeks of session, they’re not including stimulus funds in their appropriations.

Read more: https://www.amestrib.com/story/news/politics/2021/04/27/iowa-legislators-not-rushing-to-spend-1-4-billion-dollars-in-federal-covid-19-stimulus-money/4855450001/
(Ames Tribune)

April 28, 2021

Stillwater prison employee on leave after video posted of him and wife yelling at protesters

A sergeant at the Minnesota Correctional Facility-Stillwater has been placed on “investigatory” leave after he was captured on video Sunday with a woman who was yelling racial slurs at protesters.

The confrontation occurred Sunday afternoon in the 500 block of Stillwater Avenue West during a protest and prayer service that started outside Washington County Attorney Pete Orput’s house in Stillwater.

https://twitter.com/FordFischer/status/1386525753022373888

Protesters have been gathering in Stillwater near Orput’s house and calling on him to bring murder charges against Kim Potter, the ex-Brooklyn Center police officer accused of killing Daunte Wright. Potter has been charged with second-degree manslaughter.

In the video, the wife of Sgt. Paul Gorder can be heard calling protesters the N-word. Gorder, who is 55 and has worked at the Minnesota Department of Corrections for 26 years, also can be seen wearing a DOC T-shirt and can be heard yelling and swearing at the protesters.

Read more: https://www.twincities.com/2021/04/26/doc-employee-on-leave-after-video-of-woman-yelling-racial-slur-at-protesters-in-stillwater-is-posted-on-social-media/

The article states that the sergeant and his wife appear to be "heavily intoxicated."

April 28, 2021

Bill to kill up to 90% of Idaho wolves heads to governor

BOISE, Idaho — The Idaho House on Tuesday approved legislation allowing the state to hire private contractors and expand methods to kill wolves roaming Idaho — a measure that could cut the wolf population by 90%.

Lawmakers voted 58-11 to send the agriculture industry-backed bill to Republican Gov. Brad Little. The fast-tracked bill that allows the use of night-vision equipment to kill wolves as well as hunting from snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles, among other measures, passed the Senate last week.

Backers said changes to Idaho law could help reduce the wolf population from about 1,500 to 150, alleviating wolf attacks on cattle, sheep and wildlife.

"We have areas of the state where the wolves are having a real detrimental impact on our wildlife," said House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, one of the bill's sponsors. "They are hurting the herds, elk and deer. This allows the Wolf (Depredation) Control Board and others to control them, also, which we have not done in the past."

Read more: https://www.startribune.com/bill-to-kill-up-to-90-of-idaho-wolves-heads-to-governor/600050946/
(Minneapolis Star Tribune)