A look at how active legislation in primary states may impact the 2020 Election
President Trump’s Impeachment Trial and the beginning of the Democratic primaries might be dominating national headlines, but there’s important activity happening across state legislatures that have started their 2020 legislative sessions.
Issues being tackled at the state level are often times key indicators of the issues that will rise up to the national stage during the 2020 Election cycle for both parties. Let’s check in on what’s going on in the state legislatures where Democratic party caucusing is starting — Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.
Iowa’s state legislative session has already begun and one of the issues at the forefront in 2020 will be about how to set aside funding for the new state-wide mental health system for children. The set up of this funding will likely fall into the tax debate since there is a push to set up a dedicated revenue source for the system. The fight for dedicated funding will most likely spark a movement to try and expand on the state’s medical marijuana program in an effort to use tax funds from there for the children’s mental health system. Mental health and marijuana are already topics that are coming up in the 2020 primaries, and my prediction is that it’ll only go on to play out nationally as we get closer to November.
Gerrymandering is a tough debate for both political parties and its a topic that is slated to be addressed by the New Hampshire state legislature this session. Civil rights leaders are proposing setting up an independent commission to redraw legislative, county and congressional election districts after 2020 census data is released. The push back from this will likely come from the party who has the most to lose — in New Hampshire, the Republicans have the most to gain from the status quo. The passing of this type of policy at the state level will more than likely entice other states to, at the very least, introduce redistricting legislation in their legislatures.
Raising wages has been a fight seen across the country. Last year, South Carolina’s legislature set aside $160 million to improve teachers’ wages statewide with a 4% bump in pay. State senators spent the year dividing the money and moving funds around, which ultimately has had a negative impact on how those raises were distributed to educators. This issue will likely be debated again during the 2020 legislative session in South Carolina, and it’s an issue that’ll continue to be addressed in many other states as well. Candidates campaigning in these states will inevitably bring these policy ideas with them to the general election stage.
Written by Kevin Cortes
