Connecticut
Senate OKs bill that protects abortion providers
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The Connecticut Senate gave final legislative approval shortly before midnight Friday to a bill abortion rights advocates contend is needed to protect in-state medical providers from legal action stemming from out-of-state laws, as well as the patients who travel to Connecticut to terminate a pregnancy and those who help them.
Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said lawmakers in Connecticut, a state with a long history of supporting abortion rights, needed to pass the legislation “in defense of our own values and our own legal system.” It comes after Texas enacted a law that authorizes lawsuits against clinics, doctors and others who perform or facilitate a banned abortion, even in another state.
The bill, which already cleared the House of Representatives earlier this month, passed in the Senate on a 25-9 vote. It now moves to Gov. Ned Lamont’s desk. The Democrat has said he will sign it.
Supporters voiced concern about the spate of new abortion restrictions being enacted in a growing number of conservative states and the possibility the U.S. Supreme Court may overturn or weaken Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that established a nationwide right to abortion.
“We have to think about what we will do when that time comes and we have to think about what we’re going to do right now, given what’s happening in other states,” said Sen. Gary Winfield, D-New Haven, co-chair of the General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee.
Under the bill, state and local agencies in the state of Connecticut, which codified the Roe v. Wade decision in state law in 1990, would be prevented from cooperating in investigations and prosecutions of abortion providers in the state. The bill also modifies the state’s extradition statutes and prevents an out-of-state patient’s medical records from being disclosed.
The socially conservative Family Institute of Connecticut has criticized the legislation, arguing it will create a “safe harbor” for “abortion providers who violate abortion laws in other states.”
The bill would also allow an advanced practice registered nurse, nurse-midwife or physician assistant to perform the most common type of in-clinic abortion known as an aspiration abortion in the first 12 weeks of a pregnancy. The procedure is currently limited to physicians.
Advocates contend the additional clinicians are needed to help address a shortage of doctors in Connecticut that perform abortions as well as prepare for the possible influx of women from out-of-state seeking to have the procedure.
Sen. Patricia Billie Miller, D-Stamford, who is Black, said she agrees women should be able to make choices about their bodies. However, Miller said she planned to vote against the bill because of the racist history surrounding abortion, which was outlined during a speech delivered on the House floor by freshman Rep. Treneé McGee, D-West Haven, who spoke of Black girls being steered toward abortion as a form of birth control.
“I can’t support a system that systemically tried to get rid of a race of people,” Miller said.
New York
Judge delays some primaries after court tosses maps
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A New York judge ordered Friday that the state’s congressional and state Senate primaries be delayed until Aug. 23 to provide enough time to replace district maps that were ruled unconstitutional this week.
State Judge Patrick McAllister moved the primaries back from their original date of June 28. He said the independent expert he tasked with helping him craft new maps, special master Jonathan Cervas, will finish drawing districts by May 20.
New York is set to separately hold gubernatorial and state Assembly primaries in June, unless lawmakers or Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, decide to delay. New York once held congressional and state office primaries on separate dates, but lawmakers in 2019 consolidated them to save money, increase voter turnout and make the process less confusing for the public.
On Wednesday, New York’s highest court rejected new congressional and state senate maps that had widely been seen as favoring Democrats. The majority decision largely agreed with Republican voters who argued the congressional district boundaries were unconstitutionally gerrymandered.
The Republicans also successfully argued that lawmakers lacked the authority to draw the congressional and state Senate maps in the first place. Voters in 2014 approved an anti-gerrymandering constitutional amendment that created an independent redistricting commission. But the Republican and Democratic commissioners failed to agree on a single set of maps, so lawmakers decided to draw the maps themselves.
The court’s rejection dashed Democrats’ national redistricting hopes, which leaned heavily on their ability to gerrymander New York state to maximize the number of seats they could win in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Cervas, who is drawing the newest maps, previously helped create legislative district maps for Pennsylvania’s Legislative Reapportionment Commission.
A state board of elections spokesperson said Thursday the state was asking the U.S. Justice Department if a federal court needs to review a delay of the federal primary. The spokesperson said Friday attorneys were still reviewing the matter.
Washington
Judge clears way for initiative to repeal capital gains tax
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Opponents of the state’s new capital gains tax can begin gathering signatures on an initiative seeking to repeal the law after a judge approved final wording for how the measure would be described on the ballot and the initiative petitions.
The Everett Herald reported that Thurston County Superior Court Judge Indu Thom’s Thursday gives the green light to the repeal campaign to start gathering signatures ahead of a July deadline.
At issue is a law signed by Gov. Jay Inslee in May 2021. It took effect Jan. 1, and it’s projected to generate $415 million for early learning and child care programs in 2023, the first year of collections.
Under the law, a capital gains tax will be levied on annual profits reaped from the sale of long-term assets, such as stocks and bonds, for some individuals and married couples. The state will collect 7% of those profits above $250,000. The law contains exemptions for retirement accounts, real estate and some agricultural and small businesses.
An estimated 7,000 taxpayers could be subject to the new tax, according to a 2021 fiscal analysis.
Sponsors of Initiative 1929, which would repeal the law, must collect and turn in signatures of 324,516 registered Washington voters by 5 p.m. July 8 in order to qualify for the November ballot. They will need to turn in closer to 400,000 signatures to account for invalid or duplicate signatures.
Meanwhile, a lawsuit challenging the legality of the capital gains tax is making its way through the courts.
In March, Douglas County Superior Court Judge Brian Huber ruled it is an unconstitutional tax on income. Attorney General Bob Ferguson said at the time that his office would appeal to the state Supreme Court.
