Vermont governor signs marijuana legislation

[View this email in your browser]( [Ballotpedia](   [Facebook](   [Twitter](   [The Tap](   From Vermont to California, today’s Tap brings you the highlights of state and local political news. For a complete review of the week and look at the week ahead, click the link below. [Read the full Tap]( Vermont governor signs marijuana legislation - Last Monday, Vermont Governor Phil Scott (R) signed legislation legalizing the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana by individuals over the age of 21 and allowing individuals to grow up to two marijuana plants in their homes. The legislation does not allow for retail sales of marijuana in the state. The law takes effect on July 1, 2018. - Vermont is now the first state to [legalize marijuana through the state legislature]( rather than a ballot initiative. The state House and the state Senate approved the legislation earlier this month. - Eight other states—Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Nevada, California, Massachusetts, and Maine—have legalized marijuana through ballot initiatives. - Vermont is currently one of 17 states under divided government: Republican Phil Scott holds the governor’s office while Democrats hold majorities in the state House and the state Senate.   [States in session]   Pennsylvania Supreme Court strikes down congressional district map - The Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down the state's [congressional district map]( Monday, finding that the map constituted an [illegal partisan gerrymander](. The state supreme court decision marks the latest in a series of events surrounding Pennsylvania's congressional district plan. On December 29, 2017, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania issued an advisory opinion in League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania v. the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, finding that the plaintiffs had failed to establish that the state's congressional district map had been subject to an illegal partisan gerrymander. On January 10, 2018, a three-judge panel of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania issued a similar ruling in a separate lawsuit. - The January 22 order set a deadline of February 9, 2018, for the state legislature to submit a remedial district plan to the governor. The governor, in turn, must submit a remedial plan to the state supreme court by February 15, 2018. If the state legislature or governor fail to meet these deadlines, the court will adopt its own plan. The order included minimal commentary, indicating that a full opinion would be forthcoming. The [candidate filing deadline]( for 2018 U.S. House candidates running in the statewide primary is March 6, 2018. Signatures verified in Judge Aaron Persky recall; will be on June ballot - In California, the [recall of Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky]( qualified for the ballot on June 5, 2018. The county announced on January 23 that the recall campaign had collected more than the required 58,634 signatures. Voters will decide whether or not to recall Persky two years after the recall effort began. Talk of a recall began after Persky sentenced Brock Turner—the Stanford student who was found guilty of sexual assault—to a six-month jail sentence in June 2016. - The Santa Clara County Public Defender’s Office, a group of retired Santa Clara County judges, and groups of law students and law professors have criticized the recall by arguing that recalling a judge because of one sentence would put judicial independence at risk. The last time a California judge was recalled was 85 years ago. - In 2018, Ballotpedia has tracked 101 recall efforts against 135 elected officials. Both of the elected officials who have faced recalls elections so far in 2018 were recalled. Oregonians approve Measure 101, the Healthcare Insurance Premiums Tax for Medicaid Referendum; voters in the state’s two Pivot Counties voted 56-44 on Measure 101 - On Tuesday, Oregonians voted 62 percent to 38 percent in favor of [Measure 101](. Measure 101 addressed taxes that would be used to fund Medicaid expansion. A "yes" vote on Measure 101 approved five sections of House Bill 2391 (HB 2391), and a "no" vote on Measure 101 would have repealed those five sections. The provisions of HB 2391 decided under Measure 101 placed a 1.5 percent assessment on premiums that healthcare insurers earned and premium equivalents that managed care organizations (MCOs) and the Public Employees’ Benefit Board received during a calendar quarter to provide funding for Medicaid. The approval of Measure 101 also approved a 0.7 percent tax on the net revenue of hospitals to provide funding for Medicaid. [Pivot counties analysis of results:]( - According to unofficial returns for Oregon Measure 101, a majority of voters in [Oregon’s two Pivot Counties]( voted “Yes” on the veto referendum. A “Yes” vote was to uphold a 1.5 percent assessment on healthcare premiums and a 0.7 percent tax on the net revenue of hospitals to provide funding for Medicaid expansion. - Pivot Counties are counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Oregon has two Pivot Counties—Columbia and Tillamook counties. The total combined “yes” vote (to uphold the taxes) of electors in Oregon’s two Pivot Counties on Measure 101 was 55.59 percent, 7.55 percentage points more than in Oregon’s 23 Republican counties (excluding Baker County, where results were unavailable as of Jan. 24) and 13.73 percentage points less than in Oregon’s eight Democratic counties.   [Votes by county]   Signatures verified for Washington Police Training and Deadly Force Initiative, sending it to the ballot unless legislators approve it themselves - The Washington secretary of state verified that enough of the signatures submitted for Washington [Initiative 940]( were valid to send the measure to the state legislature. The legislature now has three options: approve the initiative, let voters decide the initiative in November 2018, or send an alternative proposal to the ballot along with the initiative. The initiative would create a good faith test to determine when the use of deadly force by police is justifiable, require police to receive de-escalation and mental health training, and provide that police have a duty to render first aid. De-Escalate Washington is behind the initiative. The group submitted 359,895 signatures, which means about 74 percent of them had to be valid to meet the signature requirement of 259,622—8 percent of votes cast for the office of governor in the last election. After conducting verification of a random sampling of 10,833 signatures, the secretary of state determined 9,100 (84 percent) were valid, projecting 302,321 valid signatures in total. Since this was more than the required number, the initiative petition was certified as sufficient. The secretary of state must now send the initiative to the legislature which has to approve it or reject it—with or without an alternative—before the end of the regular 2018 legislative session. The regular session is set to end on March 8, 2018. - In 1986, the Washington Legislature [passed a bill]( adding the following line to Washington law: "a public officer or peace officer shall not be held criminally liable for using deadly force without malice and with a good faith belief that such act is justifiable pursuant to this section." According to Amnesty International, Washington is the only state to require malice and bad faith to convict an officer of unlawful use of deadly force. Initiative 940 would eliminate the requirement that deadly force be done with malice to hold the police officer criminally liable. - Initiative 940 joins five other 2018 indirect initiatives in Massachusetts for which enough signatures were submitted to put the measures before the state legislature; Massachusetts is one of the nine states with a process for indirect initiated statutes. Long Beach City Council votes to cancel four elections - The Long Beach City Council [voted]( to cancel four [scheduled elections]( due to lack of opposition. No candidates filed to run against the incumbents holding the offices of city attorney, city auditor, city prosecutor, and District 1 representative on the city council. Because the election was canceled, the four incumbents were awarded new terms automatically. If they had not been canceled, the four elections would have shared the primary election ballot on April 10 with elections for [mayor]( and the District 3, 5, 7, and 9 seats on the city council. General elections for three seats on the Long Beach Community College District Governing Board and three seats on the [Long Beach Unified]( School District Board of Education will also be held on April 10. Alabama House of Representatives votes to end special elections for appointments to U.S. Senate - The [Alabama House of Representatives]( approved a bill that would end the practice of holding special elections following gubernatorial appointments to U.S. Senate seats. - In the event that one of Alabama’s U.S. Senate seats becomes vacant, the governor is currently required to appoint a temporary replacement and call a special election for voters to select an individual to serve for the remainder of the term. The legislation would allow the appointed replacement to serve until the next scheduled general election. - The bill’s author, state Representative Steve Clouse (R), stated that the purpose of the legislation was to save the state money and that the bill was not crafted in response to Alabama’s 2017 U.S. Senate special election, in which Democrat Doug Jones defeated Republican Roy Moore. Clouse noted that he introduced the bill in August, months before the December 2017 special election, which cost the state $11 million. - Democratic members of the state House attempted to filibuster the bill, arguing that the potential cost savings do not justify eliminating the special elections. The 67-31 vote occurred mostly along party lines. - The bill now moves to the Alabama State Senate for consideration. - Alabama is currently one of 26 Republican state government trifectas: Governor Kay Ivey (R) serves alongside Republican majorities in the state House and the state Senate.   [Map of state government trifectas]   Las Vegas city councilman resigns after pleading guilty to federal felony charge - Las Vegas City Councilman [Ricki Barlow]( resigned his seat after pleading guilty to a federal felony charge of misusing campaign funds. Barlow pled guilty to fraudulently using funds from his 2015 re-election campaign for his own personal use, according to The Nevada Independent. - Barlow’s resignation occurred one week after a group of his constituents filed paperwork to recall him from office. - Barlow had served on the Las Vegas City Council since 2007. - The council must now decide within 30 days whether it will fill Barlow’s vacancy via an appointment by a majority of council members or through a special election.  Nebraska Supreme Court Justice Max Kelch to step down - Nebraska Supreme Court Justice [Max Kelch]( announced he would retire from the court effective February 15, 2018. In his resignation letter to Governor Pete Ricketts, Kelch wrote, "After much deliberation, I have decided it is best for my family to submit my resignation." Kelch was appointed to the court by Ricketts in 2016. Ricketts will appoint Kelch's [replacement]( a list generated by a judicial nominating commission. Kelch's replacement will be Ricketts' fourth appointment to the seven-member court. Kelch's replacement will serve until January 2023 and will be required to stand for retention in 2022 in order to remain on the bench. - The seven justices of the Nebraska Supreme Court are appointed by the governor with help from a nominating commission. When a vacancy occurs, a judicial nominating commission submits the names of at least two qualified candidates to the governor, who appoints one to fill the vacancy. If the governor fails to appoint a candidate within sixty days, the chief justice of the supreme court is authorized to select a new judge. Each judicial district has its own judicial nominating commission. Each commission consists of nine members: one Nebraska supreme court judge who acts as chairman but does not vote, four attorneys selected by the members of the state bar who are district residents, and four non-attorney district residents selected by the governor. No more than four of the voting members may belong to the same political party. Judges serve initial terms of three years, at which point they must stand in yes-no retention elections occurring during the next general election in order to remain on the bench. Subsequent terms last six years. [Read the full Tap]( The Tap has thousands of loyal readers each week. Want to reach them? Advertise in this email! Contact ads@ballotpedia.org for details. 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]( →   Ballotpedia The Encyclopedia of American Politics 8383 Greenway Blvd., Suite 600 Middleton, WI 53562   [Facebook](   [Twitter](