Lauren Boebert won't compete in special election to replace Rep. Ken Buck | MO voters favor abortion rights | Kansas GOP’s flat tax favors the wealthiest 20% | JB Pritzker wants to end prior authorizations in mental health | Texas right-wing billionaires get their way 

ELECTION 2024

Missourians back initiative to restore abortion rights by small margin, new poll finds

The St. Louis University/YouGov poll found many undecided voters as ballot campaign gathers signatures. The poll also found strong support for repealing the sales tax on food and sports wagering

BY: RUDI KELLER - MARCH 13, 2024 6:00 AM

https://missouriindependent.com/2024/03/13/missourians-back-initiative-to-restore-abortion-rights-by-small-margin-new-poll-finds/

In June of 2022 The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established federal constitutional protections for abortion. Under current Missouri law, abortions are only allowed to save the life of the mother or when “a delay will create a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.” This has made abortion virtually inaccessible in the state.

Now, a group called Missourians for Constitutional Freedom is collecting signatures to put abortion rights on the November ballot. They must gather at least 171,000 signatures from registered voters by early May.

A new poll shows plurality of Missourians support restoring abortion rights as they existed under Roe v. Wade, but a large undecided group holds the key to victory. 

The St. Louis University/YouGov Poll conducted in February found that 44% of those surveyed would vote for abortion rights after hearing the ballot language, while 37% were opposed. Almost one-fifth of voters, 19%, said they were unsure how they would vote.

71% of Democrats and 24% of Republicans support the proposal.

If the measure makes the ballot, poll director Steven Rogers said there are enough undecided voters to sway the result. 

A sports wagering initiative campaign is also underway and the poll found 60% of those surveyed back legal betting on professional sports.

That poll surveyed 900 likely Missouri voters between Feb. 14 and Feb. 26, with a 3.74% margin of error. Along with the major initiatives, the poll included questions tracking attitudes toward President Joe Biden, Congress, major Missouri political figures and the General Assembly.

The poll also questioned voters about their choices for governor and their views on the biggest issues confronting the state as well as current legislative debates like school choice.

37% of those surveyed said they approve of the job President Biden is doing, a rating similar to the findings in four previous surveys dating to July 2021. 

Gov. Mike Parson, who will leave office at the end of the year due to term limits, has an approval rating of 52%, among the highest ever found by the poll. U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican seeking re-election this year, has an approval rating of 50%.

The race to succeed Parson is wide open, at least for the August primaries. Without named candidates, the poll found 52% of those surveyed will vote for the Republican candidate for governor while 38% selected the Democrat.

When those who said they would vote Republican were asked which candidate they preferred, “not sure” was selected by almost half of those polled. Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft had the largest number of committed voters, with 28%, followed by Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe at 10% and state Sen. Bill Eigel at 8%.

On the Democratic side, “not sure” was selected by 66% of respondents, with House Minority Leader Crystal Quade chosen by 21% and Springfield businessman Mike Hamra chosen by 4%.

New Kansas flat tax proposal would mainly benefit state’s top 20% of earners

BY: RACHEL MIPRO - MARCH 13, 2024 11:19 AM

https://kansasreflector.com/2024/03/13/new-kansas-flat-tax-proposal-would-mainly-benefit-states-top-20-of-earners-analysis-shows/

TOPEKA — A revamped flat tax plan touted by Kansas Senate lawmakers on Tuesday would cost the state nearly $650 million annually, give 40% of the benefits to the state’s wealthiest 20%, and reap billionaire Charles Koch a half-million dollar windfall, according to independent analysis.

During the Senate Committee on Assessment and Taxation hearing, Republican lawmakers claimed the bill, Senate Bill 539, would address Kansans’ needs. 

Committee Chair Sen. Caryn Tyson, a Parker Republican who requested the bill’s introduction said, “It is a product of listening to people and trying to come up with the best solution,”

The state currently uses a graduated income tax rate: 3.1% for income under $15,000, 5.25% for income between $15,000 and $30,000 and 5.7% for income above $30,000. Couples filing together have those income amounts doubled.

SB 539 would change income tax rates over six years, starting with a universal income tax rate of 5.7% in 2024, and reduced by .05% each year until 2029, which would set the rate at 5.45%. Under current law, the standard state deduction for income taxes is set at $3,500 for single filers and $8,000 for married couples filing jointly. The bill would set the deduction at $4,000 for single filers in 2024 and increase the standard deduction for all taxpayers by the cost-of-living adjustment published in the Internal Revenue Code beginning in tax year 2025.

However, researchers estimate the top 20% of earners – those with annual incomes of over $315,000 – would see nearly 40% of the benefits. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a nonpartisan research organization that favors a progressive tax system, estimated the plan would cost the state nearly $650 million annually once fully implemented.

A Kansas household making less than $55,000 a year would see $237 in benefits. Billionaire Charles Koch would receive an estimated annual $485,000 in tax breaks under the proposal.

The bill would also cut the standard tax rate for banks from the current 2.25% rate to 1.94% in tax year 2024, and down to 1.63% in 2025. For savings and loan associations, taxes would be reduced from the current 2.25% rate to 1.93% in 2024 and down to 1.61% in 2025. Other provisions include eliminating the state’s 2% sales tax on groceries by July 1. Currently, the tax is set to end on Jan. 1, 2025.

Earlier in the legislative session, a Republican-driven effort fast-tracked the 5.25% income tax plan that would have reduced tax collections by more than $300 million per year and primarily benefited the state’s top earners. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed the proposal in late January, characterizing it as “reckless.” 

Despite the GOP supermajority in the House and Senate, a veto override attempt failed in the House due to opposition among conservative and moderate Republicans who felt the proposal didn’t do enough for the state’s lower-income residents.

Governor Kelly has said she will continue to veto “irresponsible flat tax proposals.”

House panel opens hearings on Pritzker’s health insurance reforms

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Bill seeks to reduce denials of coverage, improve provider networks

By PETER HANCOCK

Capitol News Illinois

phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com

https://capitolnewsillinois.com/NEWS/house-panel-opens-hearings-on-pritzkers-health-insurance-reforms

SPRINGFIELD – A panel of Illinois lawmakers began hearing testimony Wednesday on Gov. JB Pritzker’s proposals for sweeping changes in the state’s health insurance industry. 

The changes, which Pritzker first unveiled in his State of the State address in February, would limit the ability of companies to deny claims or steer patients toward cheaper, and possibly less effective, treatments. They are contained in an amendment to House Bill 5395. 

They include banning prior authorization requirements for people to receive in-patient treatment at a psychiatric facility as well as all forms of so-called “step therapy” for prescription drug coverage. Step therapy refers to the practice of requiring a patient to try one or more cheaper, alternative medications before being allowed to access medications prescribed by their doctor.

Other changes in the plan include requiring insurance companies to publicly post the types of treatments and therapies that do require prior authorization; requiring them to maintain accurate lists of the providers who are in their networks; and banning the sale in Illinois of short-term, limited duration insurance plans that don’t meet the minimum standards under the federal Affordable Care Act.

Emily Miller, a senior advisor in Pritzker’s office, tried to assure the House Human Services Committee Wednesday that the administration was not waging war against the health insurance industry.

“Insurance has a role to play, and I'm not here to demonize the insurance industry,” she said. “I am here, though, to say that it is time for consumers to have a say in how insurance companies are administering their health care plans. And we want to make sure that consumers are protected.”

During the hearing, the committee heard personal stories from individual patients and their families, including some legislators, who spoke about their experiences having claims denied by their insurers. 

Among them was state Sen. Patrick Joyce, D-Essex, whose son was born with a rare heart malfunction that requires treatments for which he needs prior authorizations. He also had a daughter who died following a long battle with leukemia. 

He said, “We had her stay four days in the hospital because we couldn't get a nausea medication that we knew worked after chemo (round) two. We couldn't get it authorized in chemo (round) three. Very frustrating. Four days in the hospital, and I'm not sure how that saves somebody money.”

Dr. Mary Dobbins, a pediatrician and psychologist who is a past president of the Illinois Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, testified about what she called a “mental health crisis” among children and youth in the United States. She said the crisis has been “artificially magnified by the requirements that tie up our clinical time.”

She said “I've had multiple patients who destabilized because medicine they'd been doing well on was now denied, and the parents couldn't afford to pay for it out of pocket. The appropriate level of care is commonly denied.”

The committee took no action Wednesday, but Chair Anna Moeller, D-Elgin, said the committee plans to hold more discussions and could vote as early as next week to advance the bill to the full House.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.

Amid white supremacist scandal, far-right billionaire powerbrokers see historic election gains in Texas

All told, 11 of the 28 House candidates supported by Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks won their primaries outright, and another eight are headed to runoffs this May.

BY ROBERT DOWNEN

MARCH 8, 2024

https://www.texastribune.org/2024/03/08/tim-dunn-farris-wilks-defend-texas-liberty-election/

West Texas oil billionaires Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks entered the 2024 primary election cycle wounded.

Their political network was in the middle of a scandal over its ties to white supremacists. Republicans were calling on each other to reject the billionaires’ campaign money. And their enemies believed they were vulnerable — one bad election day from losing their grip on the state.

Instead, Dunn and Wilks emerged from Texas’ primaries last Tuesday perhaps stronger than ever — vanquishing old political foes, positioning their allies for a November takeover of the state Legislature, and leaving little doubt as to who is winning a vicious civil war to control the state party.

In race after race, more moderate conservative incumbents were trounced by candidates backed by Dunn and Wilks. Their political network made good on its vows for vengeance against House Republicans who voted to impeach their key state ally, Attorney General Ken Paxton, advancing more firebrands who campaigned against bipartisanship and backed anti-LGBTQ+ policies. Tuesday’s election also paved the way for the likely passage of legislation that would allow taxpayer money to fund private and religious schools — a key policy goal for a movement that seeks to infuse more Christianity into public life.

All told, 11 of the 28 House candidates supported by the two billionaires won their primaries outright, and another eight are headed to runoffs this May. And, in a sign of how much the state party has moved rightward, five of their candidates beat incumbents in rematches from 2022 or 2020 — with some House districts swinging by double-digits in their favor. Of the candidates they backed, they donated $75,000 or more to 11 of them — six who won, and four who went to runoffs.

Among the triumphant on Tuesday was Mitch Little, aided by at least $153,000 in Dunn and Wilks cash, who defeated Rep. Kronda Thimesch in a campaign that focused on Little’s defense of Paxton from impeachment charges in the Senate trial last summer. Three days before he won, Little appeared at an event in Denton County with Paxton and, among others, Steve Bannon, the political operative who helped rally the far right behind then-candidate Donald Trump in 2016.

And another Dunn and Wilks candidate, David Covey, stunned the state by winning more votes than House Speaker Dade Phelan — the No. 1 target of the state’s far-right in part because of his role in the Paxton impeachment and refusal to ban Democrats from House leadership positions. Phelan now faces a runoff from Covey and the prospect of being the first Texas Speaker since 1972 to lose his primary.

This election cycle, the billionaires’ targets also overlapped with Gov. Greg Abbott, who poured more than $6 million into his quest to rid the Texas House of Republicans who defied his calls for school voucher legislation last year. 

Meanwhile, Paxton barnstormed the state as he sought retribution against incumbents who supported his impeachment. And, perhaps most importantly, former President Donald Trump was active in many contests — following the lead of Paxton and his other ally, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and offering late endorsements that bolstered right-wing candidates.

We can’t wait to welcome you to downtown Austin Sept. 5-7 for the 2024 Texas Tribune Festival! Join us at Texas’ breakout politics and policy event as we dig into the 2024 elections, state and national politics, the state of democracy, and so much more. When tickets go on sale this spring, Tribune members will save big. Donate to join or renew today.

Here’s how the special election to replace Ken Buck will work in Colorado

Lauren Boebert indicates she will not compete in special election

BY: SARA WILSON - MARCH 13, 2024 5:01 PM

https://coloradonewsline.com/2024/03/13/special-election-to-replace-ken-buck-colorado/

Colorado voters in the 4th Congressional District will vote in two separate elections on June 25: the congressional primary for November’s general election, as well as a special election to immediately replace Republican Rep. Ken Buck, who announced on Tuesday that he is resigning and leaving Congress nine months ahead of schedule.

It could add confusion to the a competitive and crowded race in Colorado’s Eastern Plains.

Buck had already announced his intention to retire and not seek reelection this year, but he surprised the political world this week by announcing that he would leave Congress on March 22, versus sticking around until the end of his term.

That sets off a seldom-used process to fill a congressional vacancy via special election that, according to a decision announced by Gov. Jared Polis on Tuesday, will coincide with the June 25 congressional primary election. The winner of that special election will fill the remaining months of Buck’s term, but would still need to win the party’s nomination that day and then the general election in November to secure a full term in Congress.

Each party will convene a special convention made up of party insiders to select one nominee for the special election. According to state statute, those special conventions need to happen within 20 days of the governor issuing a formal order for the special election, which hasn’t technically happened yet.

The 4th District leans more Republican than any in the state, so whoever wins the special Republican nomination will likely go on to win the special election, and whoever wins the Republican primary will likely go on to win the general election.

That opens up a couple possibilities: The district will be represented by the same person from June 25 onward because they win both elections, or the winner of the special election will hand the seat off to the winner of the general election — almost certainly the winner of the Republican primary — early next year.

The state Democratic Party said on Tuesday night that it will hold its special convention no later than April 1. The convention will include the district’s central committee members and all the precinct organizers in the district. Ike McCorkle and John Padora have both signaled they will seek the Democratic special nomination.

The state Republican Party has not yet made its special convention plans public and leaders did not reply to requests for comment Wednesday. That gathering will involve officers of the congressional district and the county chairmen in the district, according to party bylaws. The state party’s assembly, where delegates will pick candidates to appear on the primary ballot, is already set for April 5 in Pueblo.

Nine Republicans were vying for the Republican nomination in the district before Buck’s early retirement announcement: current 3rd Congressional District Rep. Lauren Boebert, former state Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, state Reps. Mike Lynch and Richard Holtorf, conservative radio host Deborah Flora, former state lawmaker Ted Harvey, businessman Chris Phelen, businessman Peter Yu and Justin Schreiber.

Those candidates can all put themselves forward to be considered for the special election nomination.

Sonnenberg, Flora and Harvey have all indicated they will pursue the nomination.

“This new vacancy doesn’t change my race, nor my commitment to proving to Republicans voters why I am the strongest conservative voice to serve them in Washington. I look forward to earning this nomination and getting to D.C. as soon as possible,” Sonnenberg wrote in a statement.

Flora wrote in her own statement that the district can’t afford a “placeholder” between Buck’s retirement and the new term next year.

Holtorf has not indicated if he will seek the special nomination, but he called Buck’s decision a “selfish move” that will “potentially create bias during the election cycle” in a statement Tuesday.

Boebert, however, will not seek the special nomination. If she wins the special election, she would have to resign her current position representing the 3rd District, setting off a vacancy process in that district.

“I will not further imperil the already very slim House Republican majority by resigning my current seat and will continue to deliver on my constituents’ priorities while also working hard to earn the votes of the people of Colorado’s 4th District who have made clear they are hungry for a real conservative,” she said in a statement.

She called Buck’s announcement a “swampy backroom deal to try to rig an election.”

With Buck’s resignation, the GOP’s majority in the U.S. House of Representatives will shrink to 218-213.

The 4th District includes most of Douglas County and the Eastern Plains.

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