Last year, Democrats flipped one or more chambers in several states, including Michigan and Minnesota, and they have acted quickly, passing measures to tighten gun laws, set limits on carbon emissions, increase education funding and protect abortion access.
The States Project has had a central role. The group, founded six years ago by Adam Pritzker, a businessman and major Democratic donor, and Daniel Squadron, a former New York legislator, has sought to focus its ample resources and attention exclusively on state legislators, trying to fill the void on the left.
“Going back to 1972, the right had seen the extent to which state legislatures were a place that they could impose their worldview,” Mr. Squadron said, noting that Heritage and ALEC were both founded the next year. “The fact that there’s no glamour, and you’re not going to get a presidential candidate sitting on your living room couch by doing this work, the fact that you’re not going to be the top rung of the Beltway, didn’t matter to them structurally, because the return was just too good.”
More than a million Florida voters want to see a recreational marijuana legalization initiative appear on the ballot for the 2024 general election, according to data from the state Division of Elections.
In June, state officials revealed that the adult-use cannabis legalization proposal from Smart & Safe Florida had received enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. With the current count at more than 1 million verified signatures, the proposed initiative has more than 120,000 signatures beyond the approximately 891,000 needed. But before the proposal is approved for the ballot, it must first pass muster with the Florida Supreme Court, which is tasked with verifying that the measure is limited to a single issue and is not likely to confuse voters. In 2021, the Florida Supreme Court invalidated marijuana legalization bids on two separate occasions.
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Late last month, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody filed a challenge to the proposed ballot measure with the state Supreme Court, arguing that Smart & Safe Florida’s marijuana legalization initiative should not appear before voters in next year’s general election. Kylie Mason, the communications director for Moody’s office, said that the ballot measure is likely to confuse voters.
“When voters decide whether to amend the Florida Constitution, it is essential that they know what they are voting for,” Mason in a statement. “It is the duty of our office to address the validity of an initiative petition before it appears on a ballot. It is incumbent upon us to inform the Court when a ballot summary misleads voters about the effects of the proposed constitutional change.”
For those in Florida, make sure to join a local Florida club/caucus. You can find a list of them here.
A statewide committee is looking at doing something that hasn’t been done in Florida in more than 50 years — redrawing the boundaries of the state’s 20 circuit court districts, a project some call long overdue and others call unnecessary, or even an attempted power grab.
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Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this week suspended Democratic State Attorney Monique Worrell, whose Ninth Circuit covers Orange and Osceola counties. A year before that, he removed Tampa’s State Attorney, Andrew Warren, also a Democrat. Combining their circuits with other nearby, more rural counties could make it easier for Republicans to compete for those jobs, said Aaron Wayt, a Tallahassee lawyer who serves as legislative chair of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
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“It’s a power grab,” said state Rep. Michael Gottlieb, a Democrat who represents central Broward County. “Through consolidation, they could conceivably gerrymander the lines to give us all GOP districts, with no elected Democratic state attorneys. I don’t think that’s outside the realm of possibility.”
The Republican-led State Legislature ordered the referendum, known as Issue 1, this spring in a vote that was largely along party lines. Proponents argued that it is too easy for special interests to rewrite the State Constitution to their benefit.
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But Republicans soon conceded that the referendum was really prompted by something else: the November effort to add an abortion-rights amendment to the Constitution, and the success last year of six ballot proposals across the country protecting abortion after Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Ohio’s proposed amendment is the product of a grass roots campaign mounted after the Legislature enacted one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion bans last year. (It has not yet taken effect, as the State Supreme Court is reviewing the measure.)
Tuesday’s referendum “is 100 percent about keeping a radical, pro-abortion amendment out of our Constitution,” Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican candidate for a U.S. Senate seat in 2024, said in a speech in June.
If you’re in Ohio, now is a good time to join a Democratic Club/Caucus in your city/county! The Ohio Dems have a list here.
Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner Steve Glassman, whose district includes the downtown area, said in an interview that he “would not be anywhere else right now.” “It’s really important for the world to know that Fort Lauderdale is not Florida.”
Not Florida? He was asked.
“The way the world is looking at Florida right now with all of the hateful legislation, it’s important for Fort Lauderdale to take a stand and say ‘this is not us. This is not who we are.’ And I’m really disgusted by the mean-spirited and hateful legislation that’s come out of Tallahassee the last couple of years.”
I was on Reddit for over 10 years and it only became a place for niche communities when they got rid of defaults. Kbin/Fediverse will get there in a few years.
And stop engaging in political gamesmanship where they purposely tie their retirements to Republican Presidents among other GOP fuckery. John Roberts, if he actually cared about the integrity of the court, would resign now so Biden could appoint his replacement and try to reverse the politicization of the court.