So what's going on in your state?

[Belsnickel]

With all of the focus on the circus that is the race for the White House, we often neglect to focus on issues that really matter more to our daily lives in our states. I know there are many different states represented here, but I figure we could talk a little about any ballot issues coming up, state legislature or gubernatorial races if you have any, or even any interesting House/Senate races that are heating up.

For me, here in Virginia, I have a House race and two constitutional amendments to vote on. I don't see the House race as very competitive, even though Goodlatte is a major part of our problem on the Hill right now and has been there since 1993 (even after saying he was capping himself at three terms when he ran back in 1992). Degner is a good opponent, but it's one of those situations where people recognize a problem but refuse to acknowledge their person has anything to do with it.

The two amendments are interesting. One is to make it so that surviving spouses of public servants (LEOs, Fire/Rescue, etc.) killed in the line of duty may be exempt from property taxes for their primary residence provided they have not remarried. This one is sure to win with no problems.

The other amendment, which is ballot question one, is adding right-to-work in our constitution. We have been right-to-work since the Taft-Hartley Act allowed for it in 1947, but it has been statutory law, not constitutional. Sadly, the bill was sponsored by my own state Senator and it is nothing more than political theater. The law has not been at risk for 70 years, and it will continue to not be at risk. It is nothing more than grandstanding, and even some of my GOP favoring political nerd friends agree that this amendment is unnecessary, and truthfully doesn't deserve to be added. We Virginians tend to have a little pride in our constitution.

So what's going on in your states?

[*PhilHos*]

Well, our Democrat governor decided that a certain business needed extensive tax cuts (as well as other incentives) in order for the business to stay in the state (it had threatened to leave) which I think is quite hypocritical for a Democrat to do. If that business requires tax cuts to stay, maybe the taxes are too high in the state? I understand not wanting to lose the jobs said company provides, but still, don't lecture me about the rich having to pay their fair share when you allow things like this to happen.

[Yojimbo]

Nothing of note to report from Oregon. Things are going pretty well here with the marijuana taxes coming in. There aren't any big ballot measures this year either. There was is one measure to increase taxes by 2.5% on businesses making $25+ million a year in gross sales.

[BmorePat87]

Big thing in MD is our governor, a Republican, is stating that all Schools must end by June 15th and cannot start until after Labor Day. He's been focusing on some populist things and claims that any disagreement is just Democrats being against him to be against him. Keeps saying he's the will of the people (17% of the state elected him).

The issue with this is that it extends summer by about 1.5 weeks. For most kids, this won't be a problem. For the at risk kids I teach, this means more issues with retention. He did so to increase tourism in the Eastern Shore which is one of his few strong holds. I think any education decision should be made because of education not business. Anyways, we're not even sure it's Constitutional in MD.

[*wildcats forever*]

Kind of bland here in Kentucky, with the biggie being Rand Paul up for re-election. Lexington Mayor Jim Gray, one of the more boring democrats I've run across, is his opponent. Gray is also CEO of Gray Construction, a pretty successful design/build company that's been around for several decades. His business acumen is known to be solid among regional circles, and I believe he has good insight into the struggles smaller businesses face in the current economic climate. He supports a strong military, education, social security stabilization, and campaign finance reform. But he's likely a blueberry floating in a bowl of tomato soup.

Unfortunately we are stuck with Mitch McConnell and Governor Matt Bevin until the next election cycle....

[Benton]

(09-29-2016, 02:16 PM)wildcats forever Wrote: Kind of bland here in Kentucky, with the biggie being Rand Paul up for re-election. Lexington Mayor Jim Gray, one of the more boring democrats I've run across, is his opponent. Gray is also CEO of Gray Construction, a pretty successful design/build company that's been around for several decades. His business acumen is known to be solid among regional circles, and I believe he has good insight into the struggles smaller businesses face in the current economic climate. He supports a strong military, education, social security stabilization, and campaign finance reform. But he's likely a blueberry floating in a bowl of tomato soup.

Unfortunately we are stuck with Mitch McConnell and Governor Matt Bevin until the next election cycle....

Bevin's going to provide plenty to talk about the next few years. Videos of lawmakers not showing up (mainly because they're in recess), antagonistic text messages to the attorney general, removing the name's of political rivals from state buildings. He's pushing for right-to-work legislation now, but his next thing will be charter schools. I'm expecting that next May-June, after schools let out. It didn't get much notoriety, but one of the first things he did was work around previous legislation allowing school districts to publish financial records online. The thinking is he wanted them in newspapers to influence older voters (who tend to be newspaper readers and not online) when he makes the push for making it look like public schools are broke (which, they aren't, but you can manipulate the numbers that direction).

[BengalHawk62]

Farmers are busy out in the fields now.  Soybean and corn harvest is just getting underway.  Farmers are complaining that this is a record year in corn yields, but its also a record low in payouts.  The corn market has had the bottom drop out of it. So even though they are producing record levels of corn, they just aren't getting paid for it.  Kind of a kick in the nuts if you ask me.
Also, Gov. Brainsdead visited eastern Iowa recently to visit the flood impacted areas of Cedar Rapids and south. 

[CKwi88]

(09-29-2016, 12:15 PM)PhilHos Wrote: Well, our Democrat governor decided that a certain business needed extensive tax cuts (as well as other incentives) in order for the business to stay in the state (it had threatened to leave) which I think is quite hypocritical for a Democrat to do. If that business requires tax cuts to stay, maybe the taxes are too high in the state? I understand not wanting to lose the jobs said company provides, but still, don't lecture me about the rich having to pay their fair share when you allow things like this to happen.

As a fellow CT resident, and state employee.

CT is kind of a mess right now. Economically, the recent budget cuts have resulted in massive amounts of layoffs and the reduction and or elimination of a lot of public services, especially in the judicial branch. Budget is probably number one on people's minds with one Senate spot and 5 representative spots on the ballot. 

No marijuana on the ballot, but if Massachusetts passes it and sees economic improvement, there would probably be a big push for CT to make some money off of legalization as well.

As a judicial employee, I'm under the impression that heroin is making a huge comeback. But I have no numbers to back that up, just anecdotal. 

[Belsnickel]

(09-29-2016, 03:32 PM)CKwi88 Wrote: As a fellow CT resident, and state employee.

CT is kind of a mess right now. Economically, the recent budget cuts have resulted in massive amounts of layoffs and the reduction and or elimination of a lot of public services, especially in the judicial branch. Budget is probably number one on people's minds with one Senate spot and 5 representative spots on the ballot. 

No marijuana on the ballot, but if Massachusetts passes it and sees economic improvement, there would probably be a big push for CT to make some money off of legalization as well.

As a judicial employee, I'm under the impression that heroin is making a huge comeback. But I have no numbers to back that up, just anecdotal. 

I get the budget woes. We are currently facing a $1.2 billion shortfall and the conversations being had are not very fun among managers.