New York Governor Still Hasn’t Acted on Bill to Release President Trump’s Tax Returns to Congress

Posted on by June 14, 2019
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On May 22, the New York legislature passed S5072. It provides that if the Chair of the U.S. House Ways & Means Committee asks New York state for a copy of the state income tax return of any New York taxpayer, then the state will comply with the request.

Governor Andrew Cuomo still hasn’t acted on the bill. New York legislative rules allow the Governor to wait until the end of the calendar year to act on any bill, so theoretically Cuomo could wait until December 31, 2019. Cuomo may not be very interested in the bill because the Chair of the U.S. House Ways & Means has said that even if the New York bill becomes law, the U.S. House would not request President Trump’s state income tax return from the state.

Twenty Democrats Qualify for First Democratic Presidential Debate

Posted on by June 13, 2019
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On the afternoon of June 13, the Democratic National Committee officially announced the names of the twenty Democratic presidential candidates who qualified for the first party-sponsored debate. See this story.

The debates occur over two evenings, June 26 and 27. No determination has been made yet on which candidates will debate on which evening. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.

Alabama Seeks a Second Extension of Time to Respond to Ballot Access Case Pending in U.S. Supreme Court

Posted on by June 13, 2019
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On June 13, officials for the state of Alabama asked for a second extension of time in which to file their response in Hall v Merrill, 18-1362, now pending in the U.S. Supreme Court. The original deadline for the state had been May 30, but the state had already obtained an extension until July 1. Now the state hopes to extend that to July 31.

The issue originally was whether it is unconstitutional to require an independent candidate for U.S. House to obtain signatures equal to 3% of the last gubernatorial vote, in a special election, when there isn’t as much time as in a regular election. The U.S. District Court struck down the law as applied to special elections, but the U.S. District Court Judge issued that opinion after the election was over. The state appealed to the Eleventh Circuit. The Eleventh Circuit ruled 2-1 that ballot access cases involving special elections are moot if they are decided after the election is over. Therefore, the Eleven Circuit erased the U.S. District Court decision.

In the U.S. Supreme Court, the issue is whether constitutional ballot access cases are moot, after the election, if the election is a special election. Almost every other Circuit has weighed in on mootness in ballot access constitutional cases, and no other circuit agrees with the Eleventh Circuit.

We won’t know whether the U.S. Supreme Court will take this case until early October 2019.

New York City Voters Will Decide Whether to Use Ranked Choice Voting in Primaries for City Office

Posted on by June 13, 2019
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On June 12, the New York City Charter Revision Commission put a ballot measure on the November 2019 ballot. It asks if voters want to use ranked choice voting in primaries for city office. Almost all city offices in New York city are partisan. See this story. If the ideas passes, it would also apply to special elections.