Daily Archives: March 20, 2021

(The Center Square) West Virginias tax freedom received mixed ratings in the annual Facts and Figures report released by the Tax Foundation, finishing well in some areas, but struggling in others.

On average, West Virginia residents need to work until April 10 before earning enough money to pay all of their state, local and federal taxes. This ranking, which is heavily reliant on the federal tax code, lands the state 19th in the nation, finishing earlier than the average date for an American, which is April 10.

The state finished well in this category, but thats in part caused by the progressive nature of the federal tax code. Janelle Cammenga, a policy analyst for the Tax Foundation, told The Center Square there are many areas in which the state can change its policies to make it more competitive with other states.

While there is not a lot states can do about the federal portion of this burden, they can still strive to be as competitive as possible in the areas they can control, Cammenga said. West Virginia sees higher individual and corporate income tax rates than most of its neighboring states and could become more competitive by addressing this difference.

According to the report, the state business tax burden fell just inside the top half. It ranked 22 in the country; a lower number signifies a lesser burden on businesses and a higher number signifies a higher burden. Its property tax was the 10th best in the nation, its corporate tax and sales tax fell just inside the top 20. However, its individual income tax and unemployment tax fell outside of the top half.

State tax collections per capita fell just inside the top half, signifying a lower than average collection compared to other states. However, when state taxes are combined with local taxes, West Virginia ranked 34, which signifies a higher than average tax burden.

West Virginia's tax burden is ranked better than half of our states, but there is still significant room for improvement, Jessica Dobrinsky, a policy development associate for the free-market Cardinal Institute for West Virginia Policy, told The Center Square.

A priority to reform our tax structure should be to eliminate the personal income tax in West Virginia, Dobrinsky said. According to OECD data, the income tax is a highly volatile revenue source that can create significant challenges when forecasting fiscal budgets, continuously shown to be an unreliable form of taxation for state growth. Economic data continually reveals that states with no income tax experience faster wage and population growth, precisely what West Virginia needs to become a national economy competitor.

Lawmakers in the state are currently considering legislation that would eliminate most of the states income tax, but raise the sales tax and other taxes to pay for it. The legislation would also require the state to cut spending and would reduce the overall tax burden on residents. The legislation has support from Gov. Jim Justice.

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Report: West Virginia gets mixed rating on tax freedom - The Center Square

A tax debate in Maryland over Facebook and Googles biggest revenue stream is setting the stage for broader arguments over state authority to tax a wider swath of commerce occurring over the internet.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and three other trade associations filed suit last month to strike down Marylands recently passed tax on digital advertisements, arguing the first-of-its-kind levy violates the Internet Tax Freedom Act by imposing discriminatory taxes on e-commerce. The action has renewed debate over states rights and what the federal government can prevent from being taxed by individual states, according to several lawyers and academics.

Theres a pretty good chance the court would agree with the argument over the Internet Tax Freedom Act, but theres also a chancemaybe a little slimmerthat a judge says the internet tax law is unconstitutional, said Chris Moran, Baltimore-based tax attorney at Venable LLP.

Marylands pioneering tax (H.B. 732) levies up to 10% of revenue from digital ads and will impact tech giants such as Google and Facebook. A fiscal analysis drafted by Marylands Legislature estimated the tax to generate $250 million annually.

The digital ad space is the latest tax battleground for municipalities, which have increasingly been moving to add millions to their coffers by placing a levy on e-transactions such as online sales, and to a lesser extent streaming services, which has been referred to as a Netflix tax.

The lawsuit is being closely watched by other tax hungry jurisdictions, some exacerbated more than others due to the pandemic. Since Congress passed the internet tax law in 1998, placing a moratorium on taxing internet activity, annual digital ad revenues have swelledfrom $1.92 billion in 1998to $124.6 billion in 2019a marked increase.

States including New York, Montana, Nebraska, West Virginia, and Washington have been debating bills imposing tax programs similar to the one approved in Maryland.

There was considerable debate over the constitutionality of the internet tax law while it was debated in Washington, but that issue was largely ignored because taxes on internet access were rare and Congress chose to grandfather the half-dozen states that imposed surcharges, said Joe Huddleston, Washington, D.C.-based managing director of indirect tax at EY LLP and a former executive director of the Multistate Tax Commission.

The challenge to the internet tax law could come from the state of Maryland itself, with other states possibly joining as amicus parties, according to Phil Horwitz, Denver-based director in the state and local tax practice at the accounting firm Moss Adams, and a former director of the Office of Tax Policy Analysis in the Colorado Department of Revenue. Is the internet tax law vulnerable to a 10th Amendment attack? I think some of the states feel it could be, he said on the argument over states rights.

Should the internet tax law be unconstitutional, it would be a sea change in state tax administration because it would call into question other federal legislation preempting state tax policy, as well as influence the direction of such legislation as the proposed Mobile Workforce Act, he said.

Online sellers and digital marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, Etsy are still adapting to the U.S. Supreme Courts 2018 ruling in South Dakota v. Wayfair, which permitted states to impose tax collection duties on remote retailers based on economic activity in a state rather than physical presence. The high court suggested strongly that South Dakotas sales tax law, which included economic presence standards to bring remote sellers into its tax code, would pass constitutional muster. As a result, to date 43 of the 45 sales tax states tax online sales in various ways.

In Wayfair, all the justices assumed that Congress has the power to administer one uniform solution, although it obviously has not yet, Darien Shanske, a tax law professor at the University of California at Davis, said.

The same year as Wayfair, the Supreme Court overturned a federal ban on sports betting in Murphy v. NCAA, based on a 10th amendment challenge. The court said Congress had no authority to prevent states from passing their own laws.

Jeff Friedman, a partner at Eversheds Sutherlands Washington, D.C. office, said the decision clarified Congress cannot take power from the states by making them regulate gambling in a certain way. However, Congress can regulate gambling directly should it move to do so, he said.

There is a long list of federal laws limiting state taxation of industries including railroads and air travel, he said. These laws represent uncontroversial and appropriate exercise of Congress Commerce Clause authority by the high court, Friedman added.

If the internet tax law were to be formally challenged, a lawsuit could play out more in line with Murphy, Moran said.

States read Murphy as an invitation to challenge more recent federal government preemption of state tax policy, and that might extend to decisions of whether to impose a variety of taxes involving the digital economy, Horwitz said.

Meanwhile, imposing the digital tax levy could be delayed if the House passes an emergency bill (S.B. 787) that shifts the start date from 2021 to 2022. The bill unanimously passed by the states Senate earlier this month and would exempt news media and prevent companies from passing the tax down to customers.

Any change in the implementation date, however, merely delays an inevitable showdown between the states and big tech companies, Huddleston said.

It was almost inevitable we would get to this point, I suspect, simply because of the gap in tax structures that didnt really reach these kinds of transactions, he said.

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Digital Ad Tax Suit in Maryland Becomes Test of States' Rights - Bloomberg Tax

Unless States in India have the autonomy to create jobs, they will only resort to reserving existing jobs for locals

The Haryana government has recently passed legislation that mandates companies in Haryana to provide jobs to local Haryanvis first, before hiring people from outside the State.

The unemployment rate in Haryana is the highest of all States in India, as per data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, or CMIE. A whopping 80% of women in Haryana who want to work cannot find a job. More than half of all graduates in Haryana are jobless. The jobs situation in Haryana is staggeringly dismal.

Also read | Haryanas new job quota rule spells disaster, says India Inc.

Politically, 11 out of the 18 million voters of Haryana do not have a regular job. World history warns us that when such a vast majority of adults are jobless, it inevitably leads to social revolutions and political upheavals. So, it is entirely understandable that the democratically elected Haryana government panicked and chose to reserve the few available jobs for its own voters.

Haryana is not alone in this quandary. The cabinet of the government of Jharkhand approved similar legislation to reserve jobs for Jharkhand residents. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu announced a similar proposal to reserve jobs for Tamils in its manifesto for the upcoming Assembly elections. Many States in India have embarked on this nativism adventure to protect the interests of the vast number of their jobless locals.

Predictably, this has attracted criticism from economists and commentators, as it militates against their liberal idea of a free economy. Focus on creating more jobs, not on reserving the few available ones is the popular refrain. But, it is a false binary. Creation of new jobs is not entirely in the control of State governments. It is a complex interplay of multitude of factors.

Also read | Government wants private firms to give 80% jobs to locals: Karnataka Industries Minister

Job creation is obviously an outcome of the performance of the larger economy. If say, the American giant retailer, Amazon, believes that the Indian economy is poised to grow robustly, it may choose to expand its operations in India. The Chief Minister of a State in India has limited control over the management of the larger economy and thereby, attract new investors and businesses who can create jobs. When Amazon, enticed by a buoyant Indian economy, decides to expand its Indian operations, then presumably, the State governments can compete to lure Amazon to their State and help create new jobs.

Ostensibly, Amazon needs abundant high quality skilled and unskilled labour, land at affordable prices, uninterrupted supply of electricity, water and other such ease of business facilities for its expansion. State governments in India can theoretically compete with each other on these parameters to attract Amazon to set up operations in their State. Further, any tax advantages that a particular State can provide vis--vis others will increase its attractiveness for Amazon. In fact, this is exactly what happened in America in 2018 when Amazon decided to build its second headquarters and various States, towns and cities publicly competed with each other to woo Amazon and its jobs to their area. But, realistically in India, in very few of these parameters can a poorer State compete against a richer State to attract Amazon.

Also read | Andhra Pradesh Assembly passes bill on 75% quota for local youth

An elected State government can certainly, during its five-year tenure, attempt to provide high quality local infrastructure to attract new businesses. State governments also have the ability to provide land at affordable prices or for free to attract investments. However, the availability of skilled local labour is a function of many decades of social progress of the State and cannot be retooled immediately. After the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), State governments in India have lost their fiscal autonomy and have no powers to provide any tax concessions to businesses. So, while State governments have the ability to use land and local infrastructure as tools to attract businesses, they do not have control over immediate availability of skilled manpower or to use taxes as a tool to lure. In America, States compete against each other vigorously using tax concessions and land offers to bring new jobs to their States.

But, beyond all these, the most critical factor in the choice of a location for a large business is what economists term as the agglomeration effect the ecosystem of supply chain, talent, good living conditions and so on. A State with an already well-established network of suppliers, people, schools, etc. are at a greater advantage to attract even more businesses than the States that are left behind. Put simply, if Amazons competitor Walmart is already established in Karnataka, then there is a greater incentive for Amazon to also locate itself in Karnataka to take advantage of the established ecosystem. This leads to a cycle of the more prosperous States growing even faster at the expense of the lagging States.

Editorial | A losing proposition: On sons of the soil and jobs

This phenomenon is already evident in Indias increasing economic divergence among its States. In previous published joint research, I have called this the 3-3-3 effect the three richest large States (Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka) are three times richer than the three poorest large States (Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh), in per-capita income, compared to 1.4 times in 1970. This gap between the richer and poorer States in India is only widening rapidly and not narrowing, due to the agglomeration impact of modern economic development paradigms.

In the absence of a level playing field and with no fiscal autonomy, it is enormously difficult for developing States in India to attract new investments and create new jobs. In this context, an elected government that operates on a five-year electoral cycle, confronted with a powder keg of millions of jobless voters will understandably resort to seemingly paisa wise, rupees foolish appeasement policies to salvage whatever it can of an ominous employment situation. After all, how is the Haryana governments policy to restrict labour movement into its borders and protect jobs for locals any different from the Prime Ministers self-reliant India initiative to restrict goods movement into Indias borders and protect local jobs?

Editorial | The gap within: on inter-State disparities

The potent combination of widening inter-State inequality, a rich States get richer economic development model, an impending demographic disaster and shrinking fiscal autonomy for elected State governments in a politically and culturally diverse democracy will inevitably propagate nativistic sub-nationalism among the various States of India. Until the economic playing fields for the various States are levelled and much greater fiscal freedom provided to the States, dont protect but create jobs will only remain a topic of a hollow lecture and moral sermons.

Praveen Chakravarty is a political economist and a senior office bearer of the Congress party

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The job crunch and the growing fires of nativism - The Hindu

WASHINGTON, D.C. U.S. Senator Ben Cardin and Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (Both D-Md.) today filed updated legislation to designate Southern Maryland as a National Heritage Area (NHA) to further commemorate, conserve and promote important natural, scenic, historic, cultural and recreational resources in St. Marys, Calvert, Charles and Prince Georges counties. Senator Chris Van Hollen is an original co-sponsor of the legislation, S. 825.

National Heritage Areas are partnerships among the National Park Service, states and local communities in which the Park Service supports state and local conservation through federal recognition, seed money and technical assistance. Unlike lands within the National Park System, which are federally owned and managed, lands within heritage areas typically remain in state, local, or private ownership or a combination thereof.

A Southern Maryland National Heritage Area will boost awareness and federal support of a part of the state whose resources need to be better protected, whose story needs to be comprehensively told, and whose beauty needs to be more widely appreciated, said Senator Cardin. This updated legislation will help direct federal seed money to spark the growth of programs and partnerships designed to boost a wide range of tourism and historic and cultural preservation initiatives.

Designating Southern Maryland as a Natural Heritage Area is an important way to preserve and commemorate our treasured natural and cultural resources, said Congressman Hoyer. This legislation will provide the federal funding needed to enhance conservation efforts, fuel local economic growth, and support our communities, and Im proud to join in reintroducing it this year.

Southern Maryland has a vast array of natural, historical, and cultural sites. Designating a Southern Maryland National Heritage Area will help more Americans appreciate and experience all it has to offer, while bringing more federal funding to support and conserve this vital region of our state. Im glad to join my Maryland colleagues in reintroducing this legislation to boost federal resources for Southern Maryland and ultimately drive opportunity and economic development in our state, said Senator Van Hollen.

The largest site of the original Maryland colony, St. Marys City was the seat of colonial government until 1708. Religious freedom was first codified in 1649 with An Act Concerning Religion (or, the Toleration Act) that provided the foundation for the religious liberty clauses in the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

In addition, the area holds historic significance as the location where the first person of African descent served in a legislature in the U.S. (Mathias de Sousa, 1642); the first woman petitioned for suffrage (Margaret Brent, 1648); UNESCO designated a Slave Route Site of Remembrance; and the Piscataway Conoy Tribe gained recognition of their ancestral home.

This heritage area is also the location of the National Religious Freedom Byway, Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail, Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail, and sites related to the American Revolutionary War, War of 1812, American Civil War, WWI and WWII, and the Project Mercury human spaceflight program. Most recently, the area includes Mallows Bay-Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary.

The legislation introduced by Senator Cardin and Congressman Hoyer authorizes $10 million in appropriations, of which not more than $1 million may be used in any fiscal year, with a 50% maximum federal cost-share.

Congress has established 55 National Heritage Areas since 1984. Maryland currently is home to one intrastate and two interstate National Heritage Areas, the Baltimore NHA, Journey through Hallowed Ground NHA (Md., Penn., Va., W.Va.), and Appalachian Forest NHA (Md., W.Va.).

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Cardin, Hoyer Renew Push to Make Southern Maryland a New National Heritage Area - Bay Net

What causes the wealth and prosperity of a nation? The question hounded Adam Smith in 1776 and he tried to find the solution in his famous book An inquiry into Nature and Cause of the Wealth of Nation. With all the technological advancement that has taken place in the last 250 years, the question remains as relevant as ever.

In 2017, economist Amartya Sen asked the question, Whats wrong with inequality? He answered, As inequality increases, the standard of living is worse for those at the bottom of the economic ladder than it would have been without the relative inequality.

In India, the pandemic has deepened wealth concentration and inequality. Corporate tax is at an all-time low. Petrol at above Rs 80-90 per litre is the new normal. On the flip side, India has become the fifth largest economy in the world and aspires to be the third.

Vijay Kelkar postulates that Indias unique federal structure which upholds the fragmented states together is the only way to sustain such a vast and diverse country.

The architects of the Indian Constitution were optimistic; they designed federal institutions like Planning Commission, National Development Council (NDC) and Finance Commission etc. to leverage development policies. Louise Tillin argued that the ability of Indias Central government to set the economic agenda or secure implementation of national policies throughout the country depends on the institutions and practices of federalism.

Well framed economic policies lead the market to distribute resources to expand the size of the economic pie, but it might not be the same in all cases. Economists refer to this situation as a market failure, when the market fails to properly allocate resources. Sometimes an externality can be the cause of a possible market failure, which can be defined as the impact of one persons actions on the well being of the bystander. The classic example of an externality is a particular political ideology.

This concept was hammered in in 2014, with the intention to abolish planning in Narendra Modis very first Independence Day speech. On January 1, 2015, the Planning Commission was replaced by the NITI Aayog, a think tank that contracted the government policy reach which earlier was entrusted to promote regionally balanced growth in India. Simultaneously, NDC, which helps the Planning Commission in mobilising plans, stimulating a common economic agenda and ensuring robust growth, has become defunct as the composition of NDC is the same as of NITI Aayog. At present the fiscal structure of India stands on two pillars: the Finance Commission and Goods and Services Tax Council. The first is responsible for recommendations related to devolution of taxes between Centre and state and grants in aid from consolidated funds of India and latter is responsible to maintain uniformity in taxation.

For the first time, the 15th Finance Commission recommended 42% of total tax collection to go to states while the Union will take 58%, and 1% from the states share will go to the newly carved union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The Centres share is meant for obligatory responsibility such as maintenance of defence, but the 15th Finance Commission has paved the way to gulp the state share meant for distributable statutory grant against the very ideal of tax share under constitution the commission is responsible for devolution of taxes and statutory commitment not to bear the burden of Centres expenditure.

Although, the amount cost only 0.5% of the total share of 14 lakh crore to the states, it is act to take a drop from the state share and eventually dry the same and shift the equilibrium toward the Centre which challenges the ideal fiscal structure of India. This phenomenon jeopardises states in financing their own welfare schemes. India is a union of uneven developed states, due to revenue crunch dependency of states increase towards the Centre, the situation for the state will be miserable if the government at the Centre does not support the same ideology. It will even be difficult to meet the required share of money in centrally sponsored schemes.

The second pillar is the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council. Arun Jaitley, the then finance minister, claimed that the GST Council is the first federal institution of India, which is not because no single state would have the freedom to decide a different tax rate on a particular good or service as per their necessities. In the absence of a tax rate deciding authority, states become collecting agents who get commission in the form of incentives provided in the horizontal division of Finance Commission. This mechanism restricts state governments to frame and follow their own fiscal policy. Narrow revenue source states cannot undertake welfare schemes.

It was pretty evident during the initial months of the pandemic when the revenue sources of the Centre as well as the states dried up and the Centre failed to meet its collection targets and couldnt even meet its past compensations let alone this years shortfall. States couldnt independently pursue preventive measures and were left at the mercy of the Centre. Later on, the Central government came up with extended borrowing provisions which drew flak from various states due to its discriminatory nature. Incontrovertibly one nation one tax has left states fund starving during emergencies and has dismantled Indias fiscal federalist structure.

For instance, the GST council under Article 115 exempts liquor and petroleum products from GST ambit since these two are the main source of revenue for the state. First liquor was completely banned in the state of Bihar. Prohibited production and consumption of liquor cost Rs 4,000 crore (estimated) to exchequer. It makes the situation worse for Bihar where 43% children (under five years) are stunting. The state ranks lowest on the Human Development Index with its distressing performance in health indicators, economic indicators and education indicators. The second source of revenue is petrol and diesel. The Union government has increased the central excise duty, cess and surcharge. VAT charges on petrol and diesel in Bihar is lower in comparison with other states. Bihar charges only 26% or Rs 16.65/litre, whichever is higher (30% of VAT on surcharge as irrecoverable). Nineteen percent or Rs 12.33/litre, whichever is higher (30% of VAT on surcharge as irrecoverable) while Rajasthan charging the highest VAT 36% VAT+Rs 1500/KL road development cess and 26% VAT+ Rs.1750/KL road development cess respectively on petrol and diesel.

Indias federal institutions were meant to make a balance between low performing states and high performing states. Supreme Court in Kesavananda Bharti case (1973) held that no amendment of Indian Constitution violates the basic structure of constitution and federalism is one the basic features of the Indian constitution which cannot be dismantled.

Recently Manmohan Singh said that Indias constitution is unique because of federalism and regular consultation with states, which was the cornerstone of Indias economic and political philosophy, no longer finds favour with the present central government, these lines clearly describe the current situation. The tendency of over centralisation is pernicious to the symmetry between Centre and state. The balance was established not only in administrative, legislative but also in the fiscal matter. Every attempt to destabilise fiscal harmony in that sense is unconstitutional. Falling of any pillar of fiscal federalism will crumble the essence of Indian union visualised by the architect of constitution.

Utsav Kumar Singh works as an Assistant Professor at Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, University of Delhi, University of Delhi

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Examining the Strength of Pillars That Uphold India's Fiscal Federal System - The Wire

The government today approved a Tk 4,123 crore project for constructing 30,000 homes for insolvent valiant freedom fighters and family members of the martyred in a bid to uplift their socioeconomic condition.

The approval came from a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) today with its chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

The premier chaired the meeting from her official residence Gono Bhaban while ministers, state ministers and secretaries concerned joined the meeting from the NEC Conference Room in the city's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area.

Of the six projects approved today, three are new while three others are revised ones.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Planning Division Secretary Mohammad Jainul Bari said that the meeting approved a total of six projects involving an overall estimated cost of Tk 5,619.46 crore.

"Of the total project cost, Tk 5,519.87 crore will come from the government of Bangladesh, Tk 42.07 crore from the concerned organisation's own fund while the rest Tk 57.52 crore as project assistance," he added.

According to the Planning Commission, the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs alongside the concerned Deputy Commissioner (DC) offices and the UNO offices will implement the housing project for freedom fighters.

With the title "Bir Nibash", the homes will be constructed in 64 districts of eight divisions including in upazilas and cities as a gift from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on the occasion of the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the golden jubilee of the country's independence.

Once implemented, the project will help uplift the social status and improve economic condition of the insolvent freedom fighters, Birangonas, and widows and children of the martyred and late freedom fighters.

Answering a question, Planning Commission member Mamun Al Rashid said that the government earlier had planned to build homes for 14,000 valiant freedom fighters in distress under a proposal.

But, now it has decided to construct homes for 30,000 insolvent war heroes under the project, he added.

Mamun said that most of the houses would be built on the freedom fighters' own land. But, if the freedom fighters do not have land of their own, then the concerned district and upazila administrations would arrange khas land for building such homes.

Mamun informed that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the meeting asked the authorities concerned to start the operations of this project within this fiscal year (FY21) so that the overall allocations against this project could be disbursed in four fiscal years as it is now scheduled for completion in October 2023.

Asked about the directives from the premier, Planning Secretary Jainul Bari said that the premier once again asked the concerned officials for completing development projects within the stipulated timeframe maintaining due quality of works.

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Ecnec okays Tk 4,123cr project to build homes for insolvent freedom fighters - The Daily Star

- Washington State Journal

Rep. Kirsten Harris-Talley, D-Seattle, often sees her grandmothers features when she looks in the mirror. She thinks of how her grandmother, a woman of color, experienced systemic racism and fought for a better life despite societal barriers in rural Missouri only a few generations before Harris-Talley.

Harris-Talley told the House of Representatives Feb. 25 she supported Juneteenth as a state holiday because of the existence of structural racism in the country today. She said what may seem like a simple acknowledgement could go a long way in building an antiracist society, one she wants her own two children to grow in.

We need to sit with those realities and have reflection on how we give service to addressing racial inequity and injustice, she said.

June 19th took one step closer to being recognized as a state holiday after the House of Representatives voted 89-8 Feb. 25 in favor of Juneteenth, the day most African American enslaved people learned of their legal freedom. HB 1016 marks one of several attempts this session to address the lasting, systemic effects of slavery and racism in the country.

The time is now. This bill is more than just about a holiday, said the bills primary sponsor, Rep. Melanie Morgan, D-Tacoma. It is about true recognition and acknowledgement that chattel slavery did happen in this country.

The law garnered support from both Democrats and Republicans, though some Republican lawmakers took issue with the fiscal impact of the bill, which would cost the state around $7 million of paid leave for state employees to take off work June 19.

Morgan said she understood the fiscal impact, but mentioned the country and Washington state in particular benefited from more than $3 trillion made off the backs of enslaved people.

Its not even close to the real cost of racial injustice, she said.

After then-President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in September 1862, news did not spread to Southern plantations for more than two years. It wasnt until June 19, 1865 that many enslaved people learned of their legal freedom.

Rep. Mike Volz, R-Spokane, supported the bill, saying he considered himself a history buff but was surprised at how little he, and many Washingtonians, knew about this historic day.

Its important to acknowledge the fact that Americans came together white and black to work to free the slaves, Volz said.

HB 1016 will move on to the Senate for further consideration.

The Washington State Journal is a non-profit news website managed by the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation. Learn more at wastatejournal.org.

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Juneteenth steps toward state holiday status | News | thereflector.com - The Reflector

The majority of Wisconsin school boards support changing public records law so that superintendent evaluations are kept secret, a move a freedom of information advocate says will only benefit those with something to hide.

At the Wisconsin Association of School Boards' annual convention in January, delegates representing boards around the state passed a resolution to lobby the Legislature for the change.

Supporters of the resolution argueit doesn't make sense that the superintendent's performance evaluation can be given tomembers of the public when statute requires the evaluations of teachers and other administrators, such as school principals, to be kept confidential. They say those types of evaluations in the private sector are generally not accessible to employees. And they say changing the law could empower school boards to be more candid when assessing the superintendent's performance.

Open government proponents argue that the superintendent's job leading a taxpayer-funded public school district that educatesthousands of children is too importantfor information about their performance to be withheld.

"This is not the privatesector. These are our public officials, and there's a tremendous amount of interest in people with jobs like school superintendent," said Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom Of Information Council.

"If the superintendents performance is lousy, the public needs to know. And if its good, then they should want to share that."

RELATED:Are all Wisconsin school districts now at least partially back to in-person classes? Here's what we know.

RELATED:We asked Wisconsin high schools how many students failed a class during first semester. It's not pretty.

Current Wisconsin law calls for school districts to evaluate the performance of all licensed school personnel during the first year of employment, and at least every third year after that.

The same is required of school superintendents. But unlike other school employees, superintendents are evaluated by school boards, which are made up of elected members.

The USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin requested superintendent reviews in seven local districts to get a sense for what they typically include. The Stevens Point Area School District didn't respond in time for this story, and the Green Bay School District had not yet completed a review of new Superintendent Steve Murley.

Of those that responded, six performed the evaluations on a yearly basis.

Two providethe superintendent some areas for improvement, but evaluations largely focused on commending the superintendent's recent accomplishments.

Some go into great detail; others are one paragraph. The Manitowoc School District said it doesn't document evaluations in a written report.

"Annual evaluations have occurred; however, such evaluations have been handled by verbal input/discussion" between the board and superintendent,Joyce Greenwood-Aerts, the Manitowoc Public School District's director of human resources, wrote in response to a public records request.

At the Appleton Area School District, the school board's evaluation of its superintendent consisted of one paragraph during the 2018-19and 2019-20 school years.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Neenah Joint School District performs evaluations twice every academic year, in December and April. They were seven and 11 pages in 2020, and theschool board used a detailed matrix to rate the superintendent's performance in areas like communication, staff retention, fiscal responsibility and continued improvements in student achievement.

The Sheboygan, Wausau and Oshkoshschool districts, too, have detailed superintendent evaluations, largely singing their leaders'praises.

"Five snow days? Piece of cake. Seriously, Seth, your leadership and ability to make every challenge seem effortless and the confidence you bring to the District is amazing," the Sheboygan school board wrote in its June 2020 evaluation of Superintendent Seth Harvatine. "Our trust in your ability to be our CEO of the (Sheboygan Area School District) continues to grow, just when we thought last year was a challenging year."

The resolution was passed at a time when school boards and superintendents have received intensified public backlash over online learning and scrutiny of reopening plans.

ButDan Rossmiller of the WASB said that's not why it was created, nor was it created to thwart proponents of open government and freedom of information. He said the WASB doesn'tplan to lobby the Legislature this year, though it might next year.

The resolution originated because a school board presidenton the WASB delegation spent his career in human relations in the private sector, Rossmiller said, andwas surprised to discover that superintendent performance assessments were able to be requested through a Freedom of Information Act request with little to no limits.

For example, the school board president worried that a disgruntled employee could sabotage areas of improvement outlined in an evaluationif everyone hadaccess to the records, Rossmiller said.

School board members also took issue with educators and principals not being held to the same standards.

"Some of our members think it ought to be the same for everybody," Rossmiller said."If the argument is that you're a public employee and therefore your evaluations are something of public interest, it ought to apply that way across the board."

Rossmiller emphasized the proposed law change wouldn't impactother high-interest public records like expense reimbursements, Rossmiller said, just make the evaluation process more consistent.

He noted school boards are currently allowed under open meetings laws to convene in closed session to discuss a superintendent's performance.

"The thinking is that degree of confidentiality should carry over to the evaluation," he said. "I think somewhere in there, there's room for a balancing test between the public's right to know and the superintendent's right for some privacy."

In the resolution text, members also argued that if school boards know the evaluations aren't available to the public, they may get more frank or specific in their criticisms.

Although changes to the law won't apply to the Appleton Area School District the school board is in the process of transitioning to a coherent governance model, meaning the superintendent evaluation will be conducted in open session board Vice President Barry O'Connor expressed his support for the proposal.

O'Connor saidschool boards risk unintentionally "undercutting" the superintendent if members provide recommendations for improvement.

"All of a sudden it becomes the front page of the newspaper," O'Connor said. "I would see that as counterproductive. I think that's what this is directed at not having that be the standard."

Others disagree. Gary Jahnke, the only Appleton School Board member to vote against the resolution ahead of the delegate meeting, said school boards should be honest whether it's public record or not.

Lueders, of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, doesn't believe confidentiality would make school boards any more candid. Even if the public can't see the document, Lueders said, the superintendent will. And when any written evaluation of this nature is being drafted, he said it's likely to be written "in a way that's somewhat diplomatic."

Lueders also questioned whether harm has ever come from the records being public, as superintendents generally receive good performance reviews "because they know what they're doing."

"What is the problem? Who can point to a case in which having access to an evaluation for a superintendent has some sort of terrible consequence?" Lueders asked.

"You could only sabotage a superintendent if the performance evaluation showed that there were some real serious problems with their performance. And that shouldn't be happening."

Note: This story is part of USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin's participation in Sunshine Week a national initiative from March 14-20 to promote open government.

Contact reporter Samantha West at 920-996-7207 or swest@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @BySamanthaWest.

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State Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, speaks in favor of the Hope Scholarship bill. (Photo courtesy of WV Legislative Photography)

CHARLESTON The West Virginia Senate voted Wednesday to provide hope for the states first proposed education savings account bill.

House Bill 2013, creating the Hope Scholarship program, passed 20-13 with state senators Bill Hamilton, R-Upshur, and Eric Nelson, R-Kanawha, voting with the Democratic minority against the bill. HB 2013 now heads back to the House of Delegates to approve the Senates changes to the bill.

The Hope Scholarship would create the states first education savings account program and one of the most expansive programs in the country. Only six states offer ESA programs with Tennessees program on hold, and most other programs limited to students with disabilities or part of individualized education programs.

HB 2013 would give parents the option to use a portion of their per-pupil expenditure from the state School Aid Formula for educational expenses, such as private-school tuition, home tutoring, learning aids and other acceptable expenses. At implementation, any student who is enrolled full time in a public school for either the entire previous year or for 45 calendar days is eligible to apply to the scholarship.

The bill caps the Hope Scholarship at $4,600 per student and could cost approximately $24 million per year when implemented in 2022 if every eligible student applies. The bill also opens up the Hope Scholarship program to eligible public, private and homeschool students by 2026, increasing the cost to as much as $102.9 million by fiscal year 2027.

This is a program that is funding kids, said Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson. Its not funding private schools. Its not funding education service providers. It is funding kids, and these are West Virginia students and West Virginia taxpayers, and there could be a multitude of reasons why they apply for a Hope Scholarship and why they are seeking this help.

According to EdChoice, an organization that advocates for more educational freedom for parents and students, more than 18,000 students benefit from education savings accounts nationally, with more than 12,000 students in Florida alone. Public school teacher and State Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, said most other states have a small number of participants in their ESA programs and she doesnt see the Hope Scholarship becoming a threat to public education funding.

We know our public schools are underfunded. I dont know if that will ever be fixed, but this is not a bill thats going to destroy or defund public education, Grady said. Were not going to see an influx of people trying to use these ESAs. Thats not going to be a huge problem.

Nevadas program is similar to West Virginias proposal, though the Nevada program has an income cap to limit the program to low-income families.

Those other programs are targeted to specific students, said Senate Minority Leader Stephen Baldwin, D-Greenbrier. If our bill did that, Id support it. It doesnt. This is the most open program in the nation this particular bill is not a targeted bill. Its wide open, so it doesnt target the aid towards the students who need it the most.

Opponents of the bill believe the program is too costly to taxpayers, reduces funding to public schools, and allows families who could otherwise afford to home school their students or pay for private and religious school without taxpayer assistance.

We cant be lulled into believing that the financial picture in the State of West Virginia is better than it really is, said state Sen. Bill Ihlenfeld, D-Ohio. We need to take a measured approach with a program like this. Im not standing up here in opposition to the concept of an ESA what Im saying is if were going to go down this path, we should be careful. We shouldnt create a plan that could potentially cost more than we can afford here in West Virginia.

State Sen. Mike Romano, D-Harrison, said the bill also allows for discrimination and allows public money to benefit religious schools.

We dont have a mandate to fund private schools, Romano said. Public dollars go to public education. Our (state) constitution says that. These are just tricks and smokescreens to get tax money out of public education and give it for-profit education service providers its going to benefit private schools and put money in the pockets of the people who run them. Religious schools that discriminate against other religions.

HB 2013 is the second education reform effort this session based on an unsuccessful education omnibus bill the state Senate offered in during the 2019 legislative session. HB 2012, which was passed by the Legislature March 3 and was signed by Gov. Jim Justice, changes the maximum number of public charter schools in a three-year period from three to 10 and allows for a statewide virtual charter school and smaller virtual charter schools at the county-level.

Justice also signed Senate Bill 14 last week, which provides options for alternative certifications to help with shortages of certified teachers in the state. The bill allows people with bachelors degrees to complete required training courses to obtain teaching certificates.

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com

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Capitol Talk: Budget Puzzle, Lawsuits, And The Limits Of Public Input

The many moving parts of the state budget have pushed lawmakers to extend the session but Montana's Legislature isn't the state's only busy branch.

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen has filed yet another lawsuit against the Biden Administration. At the same time, prominent Montanans are suing Gov. Greg Gianforte over his effort to directly appoint judges.

And, as a racist social media post by a Republican lawmaker resurfaces, Montanans are learning that overwhelming public opposition to legislation does not guarantee a bill's defeat.

Listen now onCapitol Talkwith Sally Mauk, Holly Michels and Rob Saldin.

Sally Mauk Holly, the House Appropriations Committee this week approved a $12 billion budget, but that's only the first step of many to come before a final budget is approved.

And there are so many pieces of the puzzle yet to be fitted into that, like revenue from recreational marijuana and the federal COVID relief money. It's so in flux that they've actually extended the length of the session to deal with it all.

Holly Michels Yeah, what they've done is decided they're not going to come in on Saturdays which is something they typically do later in the session to be able to be here through about mid-May. And that's in part to give them time to have more ability to look at this federal coronavirus aid that's coming from the American Rescue Plan Act.

One of the really tricky pieces of that money is a lot of the rules that determine how it can be spent aren't actually written yet, so the more time the Legislature's here, they're hoping for more clarity.

But what this is doing is it's basically throwing a second budget creation process on top of the regular one that you talked about, a House bill to which the full House is set to debate soon (House Bill 2). They're trying to coordinate those two as much as possible to offset state spending with this federal money wherever they can.

But they're doing it halfway blindfolded without those rules and even with the extended schedule, they're still just about 35 legislative days left to do it all. And like you said, there are some pretty major pieces that are becoming a little more clear.

We got the first glimpse this week at a recreational cannabis bill (House Bill 249). There's a 20% proposed tax on that that would bring in what's estimated really conservatively to be about $52 million in revenue to the state. But at this point, it's a lot moving really quickly and not a ton of detail solidified.

Mauk There's also the moving target of the governor's proposed tax cuts, and the fact that the federal COVID relief money cannot be used to offset revenue loss to tax cuts. And the governor says he's not sure what that may mean:

"We're still trying to get clarity on this. This is one of the problems, that things are moving quickly in Washington and here in the state."

And one hopes, Holly, they get clarity soon.

Michels Yeah, the question did come up in a hearing at the start of this week and a legislative fiscal staffer actually said that they wanted an attorney to weigh in to get some clarity because it is such a confusing but pretty important issue.

We've talked about this before: Gianforte has a pretty big tax reduction plan. It includes a cut in the top income tax rate, cutting the number of businesses that pay the business equipment tax. There's also a trigger bill that could further cut taxes if a series of fiscal performance measures are met.

Some budget watchers say that the provision with this federal COVID aid, it just has to balance out with new revenues or a net positive. And they're pointing to revenue creators this session, notably recreational marijuana, to say that when you combine it all, we will come out ahead.

But there still isn't a lot of clarity, and one of Gianforte's bills the income tax cut actually was amended this week so that the tax cut's a little greater, and it would be, I think in the 2023 fiscal year, about a $84 million hit to the general fund. So a lot of lack of clarity as this is moving through, and hopefully some of these pieces will get more information on soon.

Mauk Rob, Attorney General Austin Knudsen is in the news again because of another lawsuit he's filed against the Biden Administration, and this time over President Biden's order to revoke the Keystone Pipeline construction permit.

And this follows a previous lawsuit that we've talked about before that Knudsen joined over the new administration's immigration policy. That's a lot of litigation for your first three months in office.

Rob Saldin Yeah, yeah it is, Sally. The gist of the lawsuit is that President Biden's move to kill the pipeline is unconstitutional because the president doesn't have the authority to regulate foreign and interstate commerce, only Congress does.

And that's basically the same rationale that was used to push back against President Trump when he green lighted the project two years ago. So we'll certainly have to keep an eye on this as it moves through the legal system.

But as you suggest, Sally, I mean, for Knudsen, this is another high-profile legal challenge. He's even getting a little national attention on this one, and that's certainly good for him in the sense that it raises his profile and once again, unmistakably places him on the correct side of this issue insofar as his base is concerned.

Apart from the legal arguments on this, it's probably worth noting that the core objection to the pipeline is that it could cause considerable environmental damage. There are also tribal treaties in play, but proponents including, of course, Knudsen but also Gianforte and the congressional delegation argue that the pipeline is important to Montana.

And indeed, I think it is easy to empathize with the economic challenges that are facing the areas in Eastern Montana that we're talking about here. Tax revenue is one part of the anticipated benefit, but it's the jobs created by the pipeline that always get top billing and it's certainly true that building the pipeline would create a lot of jobs.

But the thing that often goes unmentioned is that nearly all of those jobs would be temporary, and so you've got skeptics that are going to note that this is more of a Band-Aid plan because once that pipeline is built, those jobs are finished. And I suppose you could say that, well, temporary employment is better than no employment, but these kinds of one-off, short-term jobs aren't really a path toward the kind of sustainable career opportunities, the kind of economic vitality, that can lay a long-term foundation for thriving and healthy communities.

Mauk Speaking of lawsuits, Holly, there are several well-known figures suing Gov. Gianforte over a bill he signed into law this week which allows him to appoint judges without going through a judicial nominating commission (Senate Bill 140). And the plaintiffs argue the new law violates the 1972 constitution.

Michels Yeah. This is pretty interesting. In my time at least up here, this is the fastest I've ever seen a lawsuit filed in response to a bill becoming law: There's less than a 24-hour turnaround here.

What this bill does, as you said, it eliminates the Judicial Nominating Commission, gives Gianforte the power to appoint state district court and Supreme Court justices when there's a vacancy.

So we heard the arguments against the bill are what are coming up in this lawsuit, too. And as it made its way through the process, we heard it conflicts with the intent of those who created the state's 1972 constitution.

In that document, it says the governor has the authority to make appointments through a process determined by the Legislature. Before that document, the governor did have direct appointment power, but those opposed to the bill and who are bringing this lawsuit say that overhaul nearly 50 years ago was intended to give the governor this power, but out of a pool selected by someone else, not an unlimited number of people.

The system that we have now was created by the 1973 Legislature, and the plaintiffs include a long-time lawmaker who was part of that 1973 session. [They] also include someone who was a part of that constitutional convention.

Gianforte, his administration is arguing that this recently signed bill now law is constitutional and that the Legislature does have the power to decide whatever system they want to let the governor make appointments.

One thing this lawsuit is looking at is the word "nominee" is pretty critical. The Constitution says that the governor should pick a replacement from nominees, and so this bill was actually amended to require that people who want to be judges submit letters of recommendation in an attempt to meet that definition of the nominee.

Part of the timeline of this lawsuit is that there's actually three judicial appointments for judges who are in place and have been doing their roles for some time now in Lewis and Clark, Cascade, and Gallatin County that were selected by former Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock. Those three judges just were scheduled for their first confirmation hearings in Senate committees that will be held next week. And the if Senate doesn't confirm those nominations, which they have rejected several from the former governor, then Gianforte would have the power to appoint to those three judicial positions.

Mauk Rob, some recent actions by some elected officials have me wondering where the line is drawn for professional versus unprofessional behavior.

The Daily Montanan reported that at a stop in Butte recently, Congressman Matt Rosendale allegedly got into a shouting match with some union workers protesting his visit. And according to two of the protesters, he also flipped them off though a spokesman for Rosendale strongly denies that.

And then also this week, a Facebook repost by Ronan Republican Rep. Joe Read surfaced, and here's what that repost says:

"If you can pretend Bruce Jenner is a woman and Kamala Harris is black and Biden is sane, you can pretend I'm wearing a mask."

You know, elected officials, Rob, represent not just their constituents, but the whole state to the world. I'm not sure this represents Montana very well.

Saldin Well, no, it doesn't Sally. At the very least, these incidents are aggressive, they're confrontational, they're often mean-spirited and it certainly is unprofessional. This stuff, of course, isn't isolated to Montana as anyone who witnessed the last five years could attest but we do seem to have more than our fair share.

I think it's also reasonable to note that this isn't a bipartisan affair. The marked increase that we're seeing in this sort of behavior, it's concentrated in the Republican Party. One striking thing to me about that is it's just so out of step with what used to be, at least, a pretty prominent pillar of the conservative movement. And that is the kind of disposition that many conservatives and Republicans thought that it was important to uphold.

And that disposition was characterized by a kind of dispassionate calmness and even-keeled reasonableness that placed great importance on one's professional comportment, on treating people with respect, civility, being honest, common decency these kinds of things and this conservative disposition understood itself at least as being very much in contrast with the left's tendency to be overly emotional and strident and angry.

Now of course, there were certainly plenty of Republican leaders who never embraced that understanding of what it was to be a conservative. The point is that it was out there in Republican circles as at least one prominent understanding of how you should conduct yourself. And you could see it here in Montana, you know, a generation ago in figures like Marc Racicot and Bob Brown and even more recently in someone like Tim Fox.

But there was also always a critique of that disposition that was especially prominent on conservative talk radio, among other places, and that critique held that it was that kind of disposition that was the reason why Republicans lost: It was weak. The Democrats and the left play dirty and we have to do the same.

And it's that kind of mentality, I think, that's become just far more prominent among elected Republicans in recent years and that is very much on full display in these recent incidents.

Mauk Lastly Holly, bills we've mentioned before that seek to limit LGBT rights drew way more opposing testimony than testimony in favor, and drew a large crowd to a pro-gay-rights rally. Democratic House Minority Leader Kim Abbott told the crowd their efforts make a difference:

"You guys have shown up week in and week out in hostile committee hearings to tell your stories, and the stories of your families and the stories of your communities. And I have to tell you that it makes a difference: It moves people."

But I'm not sure, Holly, those bills they oppose are not going to be signed into law.

Michels Yeah, it's an interesting dynamic. Opposition to bills doesn't necessarily sway votes by legislators.

Looking at these two bills at the Senate Judiciary Committee heard this week: On House Bill 112 that's the bill that would not let transgender women plan women's sports teams there's been nearly 2,000 email and phone call messages to lawmakers against it. Just about 600 for it. House Bill 427, which is the one that bans certain gender affirming surgeries there's been about 460 calls or messages against and about 140 for it.

There is a limit, I think we're seeing this session, to people can reach out and have an impact. But these bills are advancing on party lines with Republican support, and some of the other ones that were also subject at this protest, the governor has indicated he'll sign, including the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (Senate Bill 215).

Mauk Rob and Holly, we're out of time. I'll talk to you next week. Have a great weekend.

Saldin Thanks Sally.

Michels Thanks Sally.

Capitol Talk is MTPR's weekly legislative news and analysis program. MTPR's Sally Mauk is joined by Lee Newspapers State Bureau Chief Holly Michels and UM Political Science Professor and Mansfield Center Fellow Rob Saldin. Tune during the legislative session Fridays at 6:44 p.m., via podcast, or listen online.

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Capitol Talk: Budget Puzzle, Lawsuits And The Limits Of Public Input - MTPR