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18-06-2023, 10:30 AM
By DAVID A. LIEB
yesterday
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Lawmakers in state capitols this year have been flexing their superpowers.
In North Carolina, a new supermajority of Republicans enacted abortion restrictions. In Vermont, a new supermajority of Democrats imposed a climate-sensitive home heating law. And in Montana, a GOP supermajority booted a transgender lawmaker from the House floor.
In each case, the views of their political opponents ultimately were irrelevant.
By at least one measure, political power is at its highest mark in decades. That’s because Republicans or Democrats hold majorities so large in 28 states that they could override gubernatorial vetoes without any help from the minority party.
......
There is no single standard for a supermajority, though the term generally is equated with whatever threshold is needed to override a gubernatorial veto. In many states, that’s a two-thirds majority. In some, that’s a three-fifths majority. In six states — Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia — it takes only a simple majority to override a veto. But those states all have Republican majorities around 70% or greater — easily exceeding any definition of a supermajority.
The number of states with supermajorities is at its highest level since at least 1982, with 19 Republican supermajorities and nine Democratic ones
......
Political scientists cite a couple of reasons for the rise of supermajorities.
Over the past decades, Americans have increasingly voted along party lines — picking state lawmakers and even local officials who align with their party choice for president or the top of the ticket, Rogers said. At the same time, politicians in power in many states have gerrymandered voting district boundaries to give their party’s candidates an advantage in legislative elections.
https://apnews.com/article/state-legisla...95fa0a3a56
yesterday
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Lawmakers in state capitols this year have been flexing their superpowers.
In North Carolina, a new supermajority of Republicans enacted abortion restrictions. In Vermont, a new supermajority of Democrats imposed a climate-sensitive home heating law. And in Montana, a GOP supermajority booted a transgender lawmaker from the House floor.
In each case, the views of their political opponents ultimately were irrelevant.
By at least one measure, political power is at its highest mark in decades. That’s because Republicans or Democrats hold majorities so large in 28 states that they could override gubernatorial vetoes without any help from the minority party.
......
There is no single standard for a supermajority, though the term generally is equated with whatever threshold is needed to override a gubernatorial veto. In many states, that’s a two-thirds majority. In some, that’s a three-fifths majority. In six states — Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia — it takes only a simple majority to override a veto. But those states all have Republican majorities around 70% or greater — easily exceeding any definition of a supermajority.
The number of states with supermajorities is at its highest level since at least 1982, with 19 Republican supermajorities and nine Democratic ones
......
Political scientists cite a couple of reasons for the rise of supermajorities.
Over the past decades, Americans have increasingly voted along party lines — picking state lawmakers and even local officials who align with their party choice for president or the top of the ticket, Rogers said. At the same time, politicians in power in many states have gerrymandered voting district boundaries to give their party’s candidates an advantage in legislative elections.
https://apnews.com/article/state-legisla...95fa0a3a56
