Internal Memo Panned Wisconsin’s Civil Service Law; Colo. Supreme Court Bars Local Fracking Bans

MADISON, WISCONSIN
CIVIL SERVICE | An internal memo from the personnel agency within Gov. Scott Walker’s administration warned the civil service bill he and fellow Republicans ultimately pushed into law would slow hiring, deny qualified applicants and cause lawsuits. Walker has argued the law will modernize Wisconsin’s workforce, while Democratic opponents hold it’s reinstituting political patronage. Starting July 1, a resume-based state job application process will replace civil service exams. The employee who wrote the memo no longer works for the agency, and the memo wasn’t released until after the bill was signed. “The office you just created is telling you this is a bad bill,” said Democratic state Sen. Jon Erpenbach. “It should have raised red flags all over the place, and it didn’t.” [Wisconsin State Journal]

DENVER, COLORADO
FRACKING | The Colorado Supreme Court struck down two local bans on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, Monday morning, ruling both were preempted by state law and thus unenforceable. Fort Collins voters approved a five-year moratorium on fracking operations in 2013 and Longmont voters an outright ban on the oil and natural gas well drilling method in 2012. Both cities were sued by the Colorado Oil & Gas Association and Longmont also by the state regulatory agency Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and oil and gas firm TOP Operating Co., which has mineral rights to resources under the city. Locals worried about fracking’s negative health and environmental impacts, particularly near homes and schools. [Denver Business Journal]

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
PROBES | Mayor Bill de Blasio might want to screen the books he reads to children, because the “Secret Pizza Party” picture book he read aloud at a Queens Library seemed ironical and immoral given the federal criminal probe into his administration’s fundraising. The book features a raccoon who loves keeping secrets because they’re “special” and stealing pizza, a plotline that opened the mayor up to a barrage of mocking questions he didn’t answer from reporters: “If the raccoon was stealing pizza for a cause he believed in, do you think he was still breaking the law, necessarily?” Aides of de Blasio were recently hit with subpoenas looking into whether his administration’s siphoning of money to Democratic state Senate candidates through party committees skirted contribution limits. [New York Daily News]

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO
DEBT CRISIS | The Puerto Rican government won’t make $370 million in bond payments due Monday, said Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla, after officials failed to reach a settlement that would have avoided the default. Garcia issued an executive order suspending the debt payments owed by the island’s Government Development Bank, a move expected to draw lawsuits from creditors—mostly U.S. hedge and mutual funds. A much bigger payment is due July 1, but the governor is unwilling to cut services he says are essential to meet deadlines. "We will continue working to try to reach a consensual solution with our creditors," he said. "That is one of our commitments. But what we will never do is put the lives and safety of our people in danger." [The Guardian]

TOPEKA, KANSAS
BUDGET | Lawmakers passed budget legislation that does not balance the state’s finances. The deal instead assumes Republican Gov. Sam Brownback will slash $82 million of spending and that $115 million will be siphoned from the state’s highway fund. Kansas’ Revenues have consistently failed to meet projections during the last two years, and tax cuts championed by Brownback are increasingly the target of criticism. “Those of us who come back next year better start figuring this out,” said GOP state Sen. Jeff Longbine. “And whether it’s revenue or cuts, or a combination of both—but we cannot continue to play the shell game. We cannot continue to move money around. We cannot continue to not pay our bills.” [The Topeka Capital-Journal]

DOVER, DELAWARE
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY | Incorporating more public companies than any other state, Delaware is considering the use of blockchain technology—open software that processes transactions, like those with bitcoins, by recording them on a public ledger. The technology could help the state securely move paperwork to cheaper systems and create a more business-friendly, compliant environment. Users would have instant access to transaction histories, and processes like share registry, capital-table management and shareholder communications would be automated. [The Wall Street Journal]

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
EMERGENCY RESPONSE | Two groups representing firefighters unions and mayors are fighting to revive the “public duty rule,” a law that protects first responders from being sued by the people they try to help while on the job. The law has its roots in the 1800s but was struck down by the Illinois Supreme Court, when it took up a case involving the 2008 death of a woman who had called 911. The groups trying to get the law back on the books argue that its absence could leave municipalities vulnerable to “frivolous” lawsuits that taxpayers would ultimately have to foot the bill for. However, opponents contend that the law gives first responders too much leeway. [Chicago Tribune]

ROUNDUP, MONTANA
COAL | Cutbacks at the Signal Peak coal mine are hitting hard in Musselshell County, which collected about 36 percent of its tax revenue last year from the mining operation. Local officials are now bracing for a $300,000 shortfall with this year’s budget, which is being attributed mostly to lost revenue from Signal Peak. The company announced in December it would lay off 66 miners and cut yearly production from 8 million tons to 5.5 million tons. The downturn at the mine is taking place at a time when the city of Roundup is carrying out a $9 million project to replace old water pipes that color tapwater brown and as a local school district pays down bonds used for facility improvements. The county’s only hospital, meanwhile, is in need of upgrades. “Part of the desperation our community is feeling is that we don’t have anything to replace” Signal Peak, said one county commissioner.  [Billings Gazette]

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
PROTESTS | At least five city police officers were injured, and at least nine people were arrested as anti-capitalist May Day demonstrations turned violent on Sunday. Protesters threw molotov cocktails—it was unclear if any of the devices ignited—and bricks, according to police. Others shot flares. Police on foot, bicycles, horses, and in vehicles were deployed to control the crowd, which included several hundred people at one point. Officers used pepper spray and so-called “blast balls” on the crowd of protesters. Last year, police arrested 16 people during May Day demonstrations and were criticized for their tactics controlling crowds. [The Seattle Times]

ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY
PUBLIC FINANCE | The financially faltering gambling town managed to avert a debt default Monday, making a $1.8 million payment to creditors. But Atlantic City is still skirting insolvency with nearly 70 percent of its tax base eroded since 2010 by declines in the local casino industry. Political jousting continues in Trenton over a rescue package for the city, with Republican Gov. Chris Christie at odds with Democratic Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto over state takeover legislation. [Reuters]