Calif. Lawmakers Seek Eric Holder’s Help; Okla. Gets Another Federal REAL ID Act Extension
Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Shutterstock
Connecting state and local government leaders
Also in our State and Local News Digest: Snow-removal headaches in Billings; Philly is now collecting its soda tax; and weak state revenues in Illinois prompt budget worries.
INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS | Anticipating conflicts with the federal government under the tenure of President-elect Donald Trump, the California Legislature has enlisted former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder as outside counsel. [Los Angeles Times]
And in Oklahoma, Gov. Mary Fallon announced Tuesday that the state received another extension to comply with the 2005 federal REAL ID Act, which mandates states adopt stronger authentication rules for driver’s licenses and other official state identification. Oklahomans will be able to use their state driver’s licenses to enter federal and military installations until June. In 2007, lawmakers in the Sooner State passed legislation prohibiting the state comply with the REAL ID mandate. [Tulsa World]
PUBLIC WORKS | City Council members in Billings, Montana are catching flack over the city’s snow-removal efforts. Nearly three weeks after a huge snowstorm swamped the city, residents are irked that local streets aren’t clear. Last June, the city council voted not to include $425,000 in the 2016-17 budget for residential plowing. “I’ve had a dozen calls from people who wonder what our (plowing) policy is,” Councilman Al Swanson said Tuesday. The city’s policy of not plowing residential streets, he added, “is kind of biting us in the butt.” [Billings Gazette]
INFRASTRUCTURE | In other Montana news, Democrats and Republicans in the state Legislature have stressed the importance of passing an infrastructure bill in 2017. On Tuesday, Democratic leaders pushed Gov. Steve Bullock’s infrastructure plan, which involves $292 million of spending, with about $200 million from bonds. A $150 million infrastructure bill that included bond funding failed by one vote in 2015, with some House Republicans against the state taking on more debt.
In the backdrop: budget constraints. “The state budget surplus has gone from nearly $500 million in 2011, to $300 million last session, to nearly nothing today,” House Speaker Austin Knudsen, a Republican, said. “Montana government continues to grow, while the revenues to pay for that state government have declined.” [Bozeman Daily Chronicle]
FEDERAL LAND MANAGEMENT | Republicans in the U.S. House on Tuesday changed the way Congress calculates the cost of relinquishing control of federal lands. The rules change would make it easier for lawmakers to transfer public lands to states and other entities. Democrats blasted the move. “The House Republican plan to give away America’s public lands for free is outrageous and absurd,” U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat, said in a statement. “This proposed rule change would make it easier to implement this plan by allowing the Congress to give away every single piece of property we own, for free, and pretend we have lost nothing of any value. Not only is this fiscally irresponsible, but it is also a flagrant attack on places and resources valued and beloved by the American people.” [The Washington Post]
TAXES | Philadelphia’s beverage tax is now in effect and residents of the City of Brotherly Love are experiencing sticker shock when they see the prices of their favorite drinks. The tax is levied on distributors, but it’s now obvious that many of those companies have passed the raised cost onto store-owners, who in term have passed in increase on to consumers. A case of Gatorade that once sold for $20 now goes for $30. And, the price of a can of soda has doubled in some stores, from 50 cents to $1. [Philadelphia Daily News / Philly.com]
In other taxation news, Alaska has now collected its first full month of marijuana retail revenue. Seven cultivators paid the state $81,100. [Alaska Dispatch News]
Plus, in fiscally beleaguered Illinois, “concerns are growing” among bipartisan budget analysts that state revenues are not growing. [Illinois Public Radio]
FIREFIGHTING | Three on-duty firefighters in Concord, Massachusetts found themselves escaping from, and then fighting a fire on Wednesday that broke out in their own firehouse. The blaze, which eventually grew to two alarms destroyed at least one engine. Preliminary investigations indicate that the fire may have started in the engine, which could cost about $600,000 to replace. [Boston Globe]
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