Author: Jerrick Adams

  • Three states consider bills barring public agencies from disclosing nonprofit donor information

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    Thus far this year, lawmakers in at least three states – Iowa, Nebraska, and Tennessee – have introduced bills that would bar public agencies from publicly disclosing identifying information about nonprofit donors.   What the bills propose The four bills (HSB28 and SSB1036 in Iowa, LB370 in Nebraska, and HB0159 in Tennessee) propose largely similar policies.…

  • Biden nominates Walsh as labor secretary

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    Biden nominates Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as labor secretary   President-elect Joe Biden (D) announced last week that he would nominate Boston Mayor Marty Walsh for secretary of labor. Biden’s transition team said Walsh “has the necessary experience, relationships, and the trust of the President-elect to help workers recover from this historic economic downturn and usher…

  • SCOTUS to take up donor disclosure appeal

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    Welcome back! Starting this week, we’ll be publishing this newsletter on a weekly basis. Today, we turn our attention to a pending U.S. Supreme Court case involving donor disclosure requirements in California.   SCOTUS to take up donor disclosure appeal    On Jan. 8, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would hear an appeal involving a California…

  • New York state court upholds ranked-choice voting for Feb. municipal special election in NYC

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    New York: State court upholds ranked-choice voting for Feb. municipal special election in NYC On Dec. 16, 2020, a state trial court declined to block the implementation of ranked-choice voting in the municipal special election scheduled for Feb. 2.  What’s at issue  On Nov. 5, 2019, New York City voters approved a charter amendment providing…

  • Union Station—2020: the legislative year in review

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    2020: the legislative year in review     This being our last issue of the year, let’s take a look back at the public-sector labor bills that lawmakers nationwide considered this year. Our next edition will come out on Jan.  8, 2021. Until then, happy holidays!  How many bills were introduced, and what happened to them   State…

  • First Circuit: New Hampshire workers not entitled to refunds for previously paid union fees

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    First Circuit: New Hampshire workers not entitled to refunds for previously paid union fees           On Nov. 30, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled that public-sector unions are not liable for refunding fees paid by non-members before Janus v. AFSCME. Parties to the lawsuit   The plaintiffs are…

  • Ballot Bulletin: Thirty-seven states, D.C. certify their election results

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    As of Dec. 2, 37 states and the District of Columbia have certified their election results. What does this mean, and how does it relate to the finalization of the presidential election? We tackle those questions in this week’s edition.  What it means for election results to be certified  The election results states and localities…

  • Ballotpedia has tracked 132 lawsuits regarding public-sector union policy since Janus decision

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    On June 27, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its decision in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (Janus v. AFSCME), ruling that public-sector unions cannot compel non-member employees to pay fees covering the costs of non-political union activities. This decision overturned precedent established in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education in 1977. In…

  • 37 states modified absentee/mail-in voting procedures in Nov. 3 elections

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    The November 3, 2020, general elections included races for president, 35 U.S. Senate seats, 435 U.S. House of Representatives seats, 120 statewide ballot measures, 165 state executive offices, state legislative seats in 86 chambers, and thousands of local offices and ballot measures. All told, 37 states modified their absentee/mail-in voting procedures for the general election.…

  • Expected census delays may postpone state redistricting efforts in 2021

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    On Nov. 19, U.S. Census Bureau Director Steve Dillingham announced that, “during post-collection processing, certain processing anomalies have been discovered” in the 2020 United States Census. Dillingham said he had directed the bureau “to utilize all resources available to resolve this as expeditiously as possible.” Also on Nov. 19, The New York Times reported that “a growing…