Oregon voters approve measure to levy taxes to fund Medicaid expansion

[View this email in your browser]( [Ballotpedia](   [Facebook](   [Twitter](   [The Daily Brew]( Measure 101 approved Yesterday, Oregon Measure 101, the Healthcare Insurance Premiums Tax for Medicaid Referendum, was approved. Election night results as of 9:30 Pacific Time showed 60.8 percent of voters approving the referendum and 39.2 percent voting against it with ballots counted for 851,010 voters—32 percent of the state's eligible voters. Voters approving the veto referendum supported upholding certain assessments or taxes on healthcare insurance and the revenue of certain hospitals to provide funding for Medicaid expansion by approving five sections of House Bill 2391. [Learn more]( Weyerhaeuser Company v. United States Fish and Wildlife Service Weyerhaeuser Company v. United States Fish and Wildlife Service was added this week to the October 2017 term of the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court will now decide two questions: first, whether the Endangered Species Act allows the designation as critical habitat of private land that is not currently a habitat or essential to species conservation; and second, whether this designation is subject to judicial review. Argument in the case has not yet been scheduled. The case involves the Fish and Wildlife Service's designation of private land in Louisiana as critical habitat for the dusky gopher frog. The Endangered Species Act requires the Fish and Wildlife Service to designate areas of critical habitat for species that have been listed as endangered. The Fish and Wildlife Service designated 6,477 acres of land in Mississippi and Louisiana as critical habitat for the dusky gopher frog (Rana sevosa). 1,544 acres of that land lay in Louisiana and was privately owned. Weyerhaeuser Company, along with several other companies whose land fell under the designation, challenged the Service's decision in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, which upheld the designation. The case then advanced to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which ruled 2-1 to uphold the designation. Writing for the majority, Judge Stephen Higginson concluded that the designation was not arbitrary or capricious, did not violate the Commerce Clause, and did not violate the Environmental Policy Act. Judge Priscilla Owen dissented. [Learn more]( → [For more news like this, subscribe to our weekly email,]( Justice]( Upcoming filing deadline alert: Ohio partisan candidates must file by February 7 Voters in Ohio have a full ballot this year. Elections will be held for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, state Senate, state House, governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, treasurer, auditor, State Supreme Court seats, appellate court seats, local judicial seats and municipal offices. Voters in Ohio will elect one member to the U.S. Senate in the election on November 6, 2018. The election will fill the Class 1 Senate seat held by Sherrod Brown (D). He was first elected in 2006 and is running for re-election in 2018. Voters will elect 16 candidates to serve in the U.S. House, one from each of the state's 16 congressional districts. The sitting governor is John Kasich (R), who was first elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2014. Kasich is prevented by term limits from seeking a third term in 2018. A total of 17 seats out of the state senate's 33 seats and all 99 House seats are up for election in 2018, and the terms of two Ohio Supreme Court justices will expire on December 31, 2018, and January 1, 2019, respectively. Those justices must stand for nonpartisan election by voters in 2018 in order to remain on the bench. [Learn more]( → Ballotpedia depends on the support of our readers. The Lucy Burns Institute, publisher of Ballotpedia, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. All donations are tax deductible to the extent of the law. Donations to the Lucy Burns Institute or Ballotpedia do not support any candidates or campaigns. [Donate Securely Online]( Decide which emails you want from Ballotpedia. [Unsubscribe]( or [adjust your preferences]( →   [Facebook](   [Twitter](