North Carolina Stiff Arms EPA; Texas Voter ID Law Shot Down in Appeals Court
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Also: Kansas expects “ag-gag” law challenge and Chicago’s new plastic-bag ban energizes market for dog-poop wrappers.
Here’s what we’ve been reading today …
RALEIGH, North Carolina: In the latest chapter of a story unfolding in state capitals around the country, members of the North Carolina Senate voted along party lines to effectively ignore new federal requirements to limit carbon dioxide pollution. The requirements are part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, rolled out this week. Senate Republicans, who control the chamber, said they didn’t believe the EPA plan would stand up to legal challenges, according to The News and Observer. The vote, which effectively kills any chance that the state would comply with the new requirements, means North Carolina will likely join other “refusenik” states in suing the EPA.
Senate Democrats criticized the approach as short sighted. They pointed out that the EPA plan, aimed at taking a national step to address climate change, leaves it to states to decide how to comply, but that the agency will deliver its own plan for the state if officials fail to come up with one.
The battle echoes the one that grew up around the Affordable Care Act, which saw some states set up their own tailor-made health care exchanges while others refused to participate, leaving residents to join federal exchanges, which at least initially, worked less well.
“This amendment all but ensures that the federal government is going to impose its plan on North Carolina,” lamented Sen. Mike Woodard, a Durham Democrat. [The News and Observer]
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana: The New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled Wednesday against the strict voter ID law in Texas. In an unanimous decision, a three-judge panel said the law discriminates against black and Latino voters and that it violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The ruling is being hailed by opponents of the kind of voter ID laws passed in recent years in conservative states around the country. The court found that the Texas law may not have been discriminatory in its intent but that it was unjustifiably discriminatory in effect.
“The [results of the law] would be actionable,” wrote the panel, “because [the law] . . . interact[s] with social and historical conditions in Texas to cause an inequality in the electoral opportunities…”
The judges found that the explanations provided by Texas in arguing the need for the law — to prevent fraud and boost voter confidence — were not supported by the evidence. University of California law professor Rick Hasen provides context at his popular Election Law Blog. [New York Times; Rick Hasen Election Law Blog]
TOPEKA, Kansas: Lawmakers and Farm Bureau staffers fear a recent ruling in Idaho will open Kansas livestock facilities to animal-rights activist snooping. Doug Bonney, legal director for the Kansas chapter of the ACLU, said he considered challenging the Kansas “ag-gag” law aimed at thwarting watchdog videos when it first passed years ago. He said the Idaho ruling against a similar law has inspired him to take another look, according to the Topeka Capital Journal.
Two years ago in Garden City, Kansas, National Geographic photographer George Steinmetz made national news after he was arrested for snapping shots of a feedlot while flying in a paraglider overhead. Steinmetz wasn’t arrested for violating the state’s “ag-gag” law, even though the arrest spurred debate about the constitutionality and effectiveness of the laws. He was arrested for trespassing, and the charges were ultimately dismissed. [Topeka Capital Journal]
CHICAGO, Illinois: A city ban on plastic grocery bags is taking effect this week. But Chicago also requires dog owners to scoop poop. It’s a market problem in search of a solution, the Chicago Tribune reports. Frustrated resident Paul Cannella thinks he has one. He made his own eco-friendly bags and now sells them at his website: poopbags.com. He joins other entrepreneurs in what is sure to be a boom in the biodegradable bag market space as Windy City dog owners weigh their options. [Chicago Tribune]
SACRAMENTO, California: Lawmakers here are setting lofty goals for slashing petroleum use in motor vehicles. A bill wending its way through the California Capitol and enjoying solid support aims to cut use in half across state roadways by 2030. As policy site CALMatters reports, however, even if the law passes, the state isn’t likely to reach its target. The project will be dragged down by what you might call the “Mom’s Camry and Dad’s Bronco Effect.” Although consumers like clean-energy cars, they’re just not ready to buy them, at least not yet. As John German, a Michigan-based fellow with the International Council on Clean Transportation, explains, people hold onto cars and trucks for a long time, “an average of more than 11 years for American cars.” [CALmatters]
John Tomasic is a journalist based in Boulder, Colorado.
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