US Politics Mega-thread - Page 2482

Early voting results show Houston's equal rights ordinance failing by a wide margin, with 62.5 percent of voters opting to repeal the law and 37.5 percent supporting the embattled ordinance [...]

City Council passed the law 11-6 in May last year, but conservative foes launched an effort to force a repeal referendum that spanned more than one year of legal challenges. In July, the Texas Supreme Court ordered the city to either repeal the law or place in the ballot. By a 12-5 vote, City Council opted for the latter, officially unleashing two dueling campaigns.

On November 04 2015 11:25 Danglars wrote:
Republicans now govern 32 states, 64%, if memory serves.

On November 04 2015 20:18 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:


Any idea how that divides up the electoral college votes if those 32 states vote Republican in the presidential election and the other 18 vote Democrat?

On November 04 2015 16:06 Karis Vas Ryaar wrote:
so Colorado voted to use the money from marijuana for tax refunds. not sure how I feel about that. I mean obviously they have to right to vote about how the money is used but the idea that their using legalized marijuana just to make themselves richer doesn't sit great with me. The money might go back into the economy but I'm not sure that will do that much, I'd feel better if the money was directly going to something. I'd post the link but the link on cnn is broken and takes me to a completely unrelated page.

seems a little weird to argue something is a revenue source then spend it on refunds

Hillary Clinton is attempting to make gun control and reducing gun violence a key part of her presidential campaign, as a once politically sensitive campaign issue moves front and center in the wake of the Charleston church massacre in June.

“Thirty-three thousand people a year die from something,” the Democratic frontrunner said at a campaign event at Grinnell College in Iowa on Tuesday night. “Shame on us if we don’t respond.”

The frequency and force with which she and the other Democratic presidential candidates discuss gun control marks an evolution on an issue that was once a near-taboo for Democrats on the campaign trail. Since a 21-year-old white supremacist killed nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, in June, Clinton has wrapped toughening the nation’s gun laws into her standard stump speech.

It also marks a rare policy on which Clinton is to the left of Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, who is closely chasing the frontrunner in Iowa and New Hampshire.

During an earlier campaign event in Coralville, Iowa, Clinton vowed to challenge the powerful US gun lobby, the National Rifle Association (NRA), and pledged to make gun control a “voting issue” that motivates Democrats in the same way gun rights motivates Republicans to vote.

On November 04 2015 16:06 Karis Vas Ryaar wrote:
so Colorado voted to use the money from marijuana for tax refunds. not sure how I feel about that. I mean obviously they have to right to vote about how the money is used but the idea that their using legalized marijuana just to make themselves richer doesn't sit great with me. The money might go back into the economy but I'm not sure that will do that much, I'd feel better if the money was directly going to something. I'd post the link but the link on cnn is broken and takes me to a completely unrelated page.

seems a little weird to argue something is a revenue source then spend it on refunds

On November 04 2015 16:06 Karis Vas Ryaar wrote:
so Colorado voted to use the money from marijuana for tax refunds. not sure how I feel about that. I mean obviously they have to right to vote about how the money is used but the idea that their using legalized marijuana just to make themselves richer doesn't sit great with me. The money might go back into the economy but I'm not sure that will do that much, I'd feel better if the money was directly going to something. I'd post the link but the link on cnn is broken and takes me to a completely unrelated page.

seems a little weird to argue something is a revenue source then spend it on refunds

On November 05 2015 01:31 xDaunt wrote:

The alternative to spending it was to refund the money to tax payers. The problem with that solution, however, is that most of the money would be refunded directly to the MJ industry. Taxpayers wouldn't see much.

Colorado voters Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a statewide ballot measure that gives state lawmakers permission, once again, to spend $66.1 million in taxes collected from the sale of recreational marijuana.

The outcome came as no surprise given its bipartisan backing, and election returns as of 9:40 p.m. showed Proposition BB receiving about 69 percent support, well above the majority-vote threshold, according to returns from counties.

The secretary of state website incorrectly reported the first returns — getting the results backward, officials confirmed.

The measure sends the first $40 million to school construction and $12 million designated for youth and substance-abuse programs. The remaining $14.1 million goes to discretionary accounts controlled by lawmakers.

The ballot question was the third time in four years that voters considered how to spend pot taxes, after approving Amendment 64 in 2012 to legalize marijuana and Proposition AA in 2013 to levy sales and excises taxes. In both prior ballot questions, voters sanctioned sending $40 million toward school construction.

"These election results shouldn't surprise anyone," said Sen. Pat Steadman, the Denver Democrat who authored the measure. "Voters have twice indicated they wanted marijuana to be taxed, and the vote just reaffirms that for a third time."

Tuesday's vote became necessary after fiscal analysts underestimated how much revenue the state would collect without the new tax in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015.

The projection is required in the tax's first year by the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, and the mistake mandated a refund unless lawmakers won voter approval to spend it.

If the measure failed, taxpayers would have received a $25 million rebate — ranging from $6 to $16 per person, depending on income level — and another $41 million would return to marijuana growers and recreational users through tax breaks.


The question generated little attention in the off-year election, reflecting the limited controversy on the measure in the General Assembly earlier this year. Only 23 of 100 lawmakers voted against the bill, all Republicans.

On November 05 2015 04:39 NovaTheFeared wrote:
It seems that in Colorado ~60% of the tax goes to funding education, which should probably be based on taxes from the general fund instead of regressive sin taxes though. Also are we sure Colorado voters voted for a refund? I read an article on cnnmoney and the Denver Post that said they voted against the tax refund (yes on prop BB to allow the state to spend the marijuana money).

On November 05 2015 04:52 Karis Vas Ryaar wrote:


I saw something saying they were voting whether to fund schools or get the refund and saw a thing on cnn that said they got it, although cnn might have pulled it because the projections changed since the link didnt work too well.

and from a philosophical standpoint I get it and realize they have a right to vote for a refund I just feel a little hesitant about it. I don't know much about Colorado law though and if this is just a one year thing its not the biggest deal in the world.

okay that makes sense why the article on cnn didn't work lol, they took it down when they realised the results were wrong.


and I guess it makes sense that surplus funds should be voted on by voters. So I agree with that part.