Latest news with #JointResolution4
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Abbott signs business bills as deal on education funding gets closer
The Brief Gov. Abbott signed two bills, joint resolution related to business on May 14 New version of HB 2 up for committee hearing Thursday morning HB 2 has until May 28 to clear full Senate AUSTIN, Texas - Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed two bills and a joint resolution Wednesday: Senate Bill 29, Senate Bill 1058 and House Joint Resolution 4. Abbott was joined by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows in the Governor's reception room for the signing ceremony. "I'm about to sign three laws that solidify our status as the best state for doing business for many years to come. Laws that will make Texas the unrivaled epicenter for business headquarters," said Abbott. What we know The legislation was drafted to attract corporations to Texas. The package provides protection from lawsuits filed by minority shareholders and prevents state taxes on securities as well as bans occupation tax. Exemptions from certain franchise tax liabilities were also given to stock exchanges operating in Texas, like the NASDAQ, the New York Stock Exchange and the newly created Texas Stock Exchange. What they're saying "What's important to the average person is to have a job to be able to go to work, a good paying job to go to work. A variety of economic opportunity, a thriving economy. It's business leaders, CEOs who make those decisions about what location they're going to be in to be able to start a business and grow a business. And this is important for entrepreneurs who are going to of business themselves" said Abbott. The governor went on to explain that the new laws codify policies that attract businesses, attract job creators, and will ensure that Texans will have job opportunities. Why you should care FOX 7 Austin asked Gov. Abbott why the average person should care about the pro-business measures. "What's important to the average person is to have a job to be able to go to work, a good paying job to go to work. A variety of economic opportunity, a thriving economy. It's business leaders, CEOs who make those decisions about what location they're going to be in to be able to start a business and grow a business. And this is important for entrepreneurs who are going to of business themselves" said Abbott. What we know How to fund the education of a solid workforce is still a work in progress for state lawmakers. The new version of HB2 is up for a hearing Thursday morning in the Senate Public Education Committee. House Speaker Dustin Burrows gave what sounded like a partial green light, when asked if he was ready to sign off on what's in the revised legislation. "If you look at the key components of when it left the House, special education funding, teacher pay, looking at full day funding for Pre-K, looking at a lot of the different component parts. What I understand, most of those are in that bill. Obviously, like any school finance bill, you've got to see the runs. But we are very optimistic and very excited where we're at," said Burrows. House Education Chairman Brad Buckley and Senate Public Education Chairman Brandon Creighton were recognized by Patrick for their work drafting a funding plan. "I really think it's a masterpiece of school finance. It's prioritizing teachers. They're going to be paid more money than they've ever been paid before in Texas," said Patrick. Dig deeper There are differing ideas on exactly how much extra money will be provided for teachers and how a pay raise will be calculated. The increase ranges from $2,500 to $10,000 and depends on classroom experience as well as where the teachers work. "This is the best thing we can do for the most important part of education, and that is providing our teachers with the pay raise they need and deserve," said Gov. Abbott. The biggest difference in the new Senate plan is how the $8 billion that's been set aside for HB 2 is divided up for school districts. The original HB 2 added almost $400 to the basic per-student allotment to school districts. The Senate plan instead moves money around to where the proposed increase in the basic allotment is reduced to $55 per student. House members reportedly have concerns about the cut, while Speaker Burrows seemed open to the change. "Looking at just one number and not what the entire Bill does, I don't think is what we need to be doing. We need to look at actually how the Bill gets to the different components we need to get to. And so again, largest amount of school finance in history, that's actually classroom dollars. You know, this is real money that's going to get to public education that's in need of it. And you look at the things that it does, it's the things we identified were very important," said Speaker Burrows. What's next The legislative clock is ticking on HB 2. The bill has until May 28 to clear the full Senate. House members would then be asked to agree to the Senate changes or to send the legislation to conference committee for last-minute deal making before the Session ends June 2. The Source Information in this report comes from reporting/interviews by FOX 7 Austin's chief political reporter Rudy Koski.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The ‘Idaho way': Republicans want to eliminate voters' power to legalize weed
In our Reality Check stories, Idaho Statesman journalists seek to hold the powerful accountable and find answers to critical questions in our community. Read more. Story idea? Tips@ A measure on next year's ballot could finally accomplish what Idaho lawmakers have tried to do for years: block voters from legalizing pot in the state. Idaho voters next year will decide whether to approve a measure that would add to the state constitution that only the Legislature has the power to legalize marijuana, narcotics or psychoactive drugs, making it impossible for a citizen-led initiative to allow the drugs in the state. Senate Republican leaders celebrated after they passed House Joint Resolution 4, which places the measure on the 2026 general election ballot, and said it would protect Idaho's future and reflect the moral values held by the state's residents. 'By placing this constitutional amendment on the ballot, the Legislature is ensuring that decisions regarding drug legalization remain in the hands of the elected representatives best equipped to assess the ongoing and evolving threats posed by drug proliferation,' they said in a statement. The legislation is a culmination of legislators' dislike of both recent initiatives and weed, amid a growing number of states that have legalized the drug. Every state that borders Idaho has legalized pot in some form, with the exception of Wyoming. Most states have allowed recreational use, while Utah only allows medical marijuana. 'That takes the initiative process out of legalizing drugs,' Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, who cosponsored the bill, told a House committee in February. 'Only the Legislature will have the power.' Idaho lawmakers have a history of pushing back on citizen-led initiatives. Legislators this year passed a bill that puts more stringent requirements on qualifying for the Medicaid expansion program that the state's voters overwhelmingly supported in 2018. The Legislature also fought in court an unsuccessful ballot initiative last year that would have created open primaries and a ranked choice voting system in Idaho. State lawmakers have fought initiatives even back in 1994, when legislators repealed a law approved by voters on term limits, according to The New York Times. House Joint Resolution 4 was just one of several measures lawmakers have taken in the past few years to limit initiatives. This year one of the bills introduced would allow the governor to veto successful initiatives, though that bill never made it to the floor for a vote. Direct democracy tools like the initiative are there in case the Legislature becomes a 'block' against something the people want, said Stephanie Witt, Boise State University professor in the school of public service. Though initiatives have most recently been associated with liberal groups, conservatives have also used the process in the past, Witt told the Statesman. 'Giving up that power is giving away a lot of power,' Witt said. 'The tool can be used by people from everywhere on the political spectrum.' House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, said the bill would be 'stripping the power of the people.' 'It should not be our job to stop them from doing so,' Rubel said on the House floor. 'That just doesn't feel like an appropriate role for us as supposed representatives of the people.' Jeremy Kitzhaber, a retired U.S. Air Force sergeant who has been battling cancer, has helped craft medical marijuana bills that were introduced in Idaho for years, but has yet to garner enough support. Kitzhaber has told lawmakers about the need for alternative medication for patients like him dependent on opioids. Kitzhaber said he's not someone who wants to get high. He just wants to be comfortable. 'My thing on that is, it's our right as citizens to try and put a ballot initiative together,' Kitzhaber told the Statesman. Many in the Legislature 'are worried that if the people put a citizens initiative together, and it makes it on the ballot, what we have right now is nothing, and that would give us something.' For years, Idaho lawmakers have stated their intense opposition to pot and said a permanent prohibition would simply reflect Idaho values. Skaug called the addiction, sale and production of illegal drugs 'one of the most evil things we deal with.' Efforts to get an initiative to legalize medical marijuana legalization on the ballot have failed every election cycle since 2012, according to the Secretary of State's Office. But more than two-thirds of residents support legalizing medical marijuana, according to a poll commissioned by the Statesman. It also hasn't stopped Idahoans from using weed. In Ontario, Oregon, along the Idaho border less than an hour's drive from Boise, the city hit $100 million in dispensary sales in 2023, according to Portland Monthly. Idahoans are a major client base for the city's booming marijuana industry, the Statesman previously reported. In their efforts to combat marijuana use, lawmakers have put out several proposals for new laws — including one, House Bill 271, to block the advertisement of illegal products. And Gov. Brad Little signed a bill into law to create a $300 mandatory minimum fine for marijuana possession, higher than almost every other misdemeanor, according to previous Statesman reporting. It's also not the first time Idaho lawmakers have tried to ban marijuana legislation in the state constitution. Republicans in 2021 introduced a joint resolution that would have put a measure on ballot asking voters to place a ban on drugs in the state constitution, according to previous Statesman reporting. That resolution failed. The proposed amendment to appear on the ballot next year adds to a section in the state constitution that already cedes full control of liquor sales in Idaho. Back in 1933, legislators put forth a resolution that asked voters to give the Legislature the 'full power and authority to permit, control and regulate or prohibit,' intoxicating liquors. Idaho voters approved it with over 61% of the vote, according to Ballotpedia. Rep. Josh Wheeler, R-Ammon, during debate on the floor said this year's legislation reflects the state's 'standing as a bastion against illegal drugs.' 'This is a clear example of doing something the Idaho way,' Wheeler said. Idaho lawmakers look to 'go on offense' to limit possible drug legalization initiatives Idaho imposes new minimum fine for low-level marijuana possession — likely steepest in US
Yahoo
15-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Maryland needs to make its voice heard with other states warning against nuclear war
The mushroom cloud of a hydrogen bomb test as part of Operation Ivy in 1952. (Photo from U.S. Department of Energy) The Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists is now at 89 seconds to midnight, inching closer to apocalyptic midnight than ever before, due in part, to the growing risk of nuclear war. Treaties between Russia and the U.S. have been abrogated. Experts warn that, if nuclear war occurs, it will likely be unintended, the result of dangerous policies compounded by misdeeds, miscommunication, and mistakes. In the '80s, The Nuclear Freeze movement created public pressure that helped lead to a reduction in weapons and risks. Now, there seems to be a growing public concern again that policies need to change. Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) and House Speaker Adrienne Jones (D-Baltimore County) have written, 'The Maryland Legislature is the representative body of the people and the strongest laws are those that have public input from the start.' In that spirit, the Assembly has an opportunity to pass Senate Joint Resolution 4 and House Joint Resolution 6 on the Use of Nuclear Weapons, responding to an effort by Marylanders, and people across the country, calling for simple changes to dangerous old cold war nuclear policies and take us Back from the Brink. Maryland Matters welcomes guest commentary submissions at editor@ We suggest a 750-word limit and reserve the right to edit or reject submissions. We do not accept columns that are endorsements of candidates, and no longer accept submissions from elected officials or political candidates. Opinion pieces must be signed by at least one individual using their real name. We do not accept columns signed by an organization. Commentary writers must include a short bio and a photo for their bylines. Views of writers are their own. In addition to the Doomsday Clock, the U.N. secretary general, editors of over 100 medical journals across the world, former members of Congress and others have been urging the public to understand how close we are to using these weapons. The 2024 Nobel Peace Prize was just awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, an aging group of Japanese atomic bomb survivors who have been telling their terrifying stories, and pleading for nuclear abolition. Emerging technologies including artificial intelligence increase the risk of unintended escalation and of 'deterrence' failing. Russian President Vladimir Putin talks of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Meanwhile, the U.S. is spending enormous amounts of money on upgrading the entire nuclear weapons complex, fueling a new nuclear arms race among all of the nuclear nations and costing Marylanders over $2 billion in taxes in 2024 and the nation nearly $2 trillion over 30 years. The Air Force is planning to put weapons in space that would damage an enemy's early warning system. The Los Alamos weapons lab is ramping up production of plutonium pits for new nuclear weapons. President Donald Trump has expressed a desire to resume testing of nuclear weapons though the last test was in 1992. Nuclear war does not have to be our fate and people in Maryland are joining others across the U.S. to demand change. Sen. Clarence Lam (D-Howard and Anne Arundel), Del. Nicole Williams (D-Prince George's) and many cosponsors, responding to input from the public, have introduced the joint resolutions on the use of nuclear weapons. They are similar to ones passed in Baltimore, Frederick, Montgomery and Prince Georges counties, all modeled on the five points of the Back from the Brink campaign. They convey the wishes of many Marylanders that our government initiate multilateral talks for a verifiable agreement for nuclear disarmament among the nuclear-armed states. This could pave the way some day for all nuclear nations to join the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, now ratified by 73 nations. In addition, it calls on the U.S. to take four simple steps to reduce the risk of unintended nuclear war: renounce the option of using nuclear weapons first; end the president's sole, unchecked authority to launch a nuclear attack; take nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert because if launched in error, they cannot be recalled; and cancel plans to replace our entire arsenal with enhanced weapons. Our resolution, if passed, will help to protect all Marylanders by turning public pressure into political pressure, joining eight other state legislative bodies, and over 75 municipalities and counties who have already passed similar legislation. Our resolution has no fiscal price tag, but in taking a step toward preventing nuclear war, it is priceless. A New York Times series coincidentally called Back from the Brink, concluded that the public must not wait to address this growing risk of catastrophe: 'Citizens, therefore, need to exert their influence well before the country finds itself in such a situation. We should not allow the next generation to inherit a world more dangerous than the one we were given. ' Delegates and senators, we need your help now while we have time. For our children's sake. Pass this resolution, joining other states across the nation to take us back from the brink of nuclear war.
