Federal Updates
Administration Updates
Lawmakers Avoid Shutdown by Passing Massive Spending Deal
March 21, Congress reached an agreement on a $1.3 trillion spending bill to keep the government funded through the rest of this fiscal year, which ends on September 30, 2018. After initially threatening to veto the bill because it didn’t include funding for a border wall, Trump signed it, avoiding another possible government shutdown.
The spending package includes increases to military spending, border security and a modest bi-partisan measure to strengthen gun sale background checks and improve school safety. While the bill allocates an additional $10 million for CDC spending and a $10 million increase for HOPWA, it flat funds the Ryan White program and the Secretary’s Minority AIDS Initiative, falling far short of the $100 million sought by HIV advocates to address the rise of hepatitis transmissions amidst the ongoing opioid crisis. The spending package failed to include legal protections for Dreamers.
Rejected were Republican-backed proposals to increase funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and funds for additional beds at immigrant detention centers. Also rejected were proposed cuts to Planned Parenthood and sanctuary cities. The bill left out proposed measures for stabilizing the health insurance market, including funding for subsidies to reduce the cost of premiums after both parties failed to reach agreement on the provisions which also included language that would have barred ACA marketplace insurance policies from covering abortion.
Controversial HIV Researcher Appointed as Next CDC Chief
March 21, Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, Alex Azar, announced that Dr. Robert R. Redfield will be the new Director for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Redfield has been a clinical researcher of communicable diseases, including HIV, for decades and served as a member of the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) from 2005 to 2009. Trump’s nomination of Redfield was not without controversy: the doctor has close ties with anti-LGBT organizations. Concern has arisen specifically over Redfield’s continued relationship with Americans for a Sound AIDS Policy (ASAP), now the Children’s AIDS Fund International (CAFI). ASAP and CAFI were founded by far-right conservative activists, Shepherd and Anita Smith, who pushed for mandatory HIV testing and abstinence-only HIV prevention education. More recently, they have pushed for restrictions on funding for sex workers in the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
Republicans Propose Major Cuts to SNAP in 2018 Farm Bill
Democratic opposition to major cuts to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, a.k.a food stamp) have stalled the passage of the 2018 farm bill, which governs a range of agricultural and food-related programs. March 15, Rep. Collin C. Peterson (D-MN), the top Democrat on the House Agriculture committee, said negotiations would stop until members received the text of the proposed bill, along with Congressional Budget Office (CBO) cost estimates and impact assessments. Peterson also announced that Democratic members unanimously oppose bill language on the SNAP language, which included expanded work requirements for recipients, and is predicted to remove 8 million low-income people from food assistance over the next 10 years. SNAP work requirements will not improve outcomes for low-income people.
Housing Rights
HUD Plans to Remove Anti-Discrimination Language
March 5, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released a memo announcing that, at the direction of HUD Secretary Ben Carson, it would be revising the language in its mission statement, including removal of the promise to create “inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination.” The new mission proposes to “ensure access to fair, affordable housing and opportunities to achieve self-sufficiency, thereby strengthening our communities and nation.” It’s unclear whether this is the final version of a new mission statement. The language change comes after HUD also suspended local governments’ obligations to submit fair housing assessments until after 2020. More than 500 organizations and individuals have opposed the language change, citing concerns about discrimination in housing and homeless shelters. When questioned about what a decision to remove training materials meant for preventing LGBT discrimination in homeless shelters, Secretary Carson claimed that because some cisgender people are uncomfortable around people of trans experience, anti-discrimination measures impede on the rights of cisgender people in shelters.
Immigrant Justice
Reproductive Rights Advocates Push for Resignation by Head of Office of Refugee Resettlement
Scott Lloyd is head of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), an office within the HHS, responsible for serving and relocating individuals who have been granted asylum within the US. He is known for denying abortions to unaccompanied minors in U.S. custody, which resulted in a lawsuit against the administration in late 2017. Lloyd has stated that he does not think unaccompanied minors have a constitutional right to abortion and described it as the destruction of human life. Groups including Planned Parenthood, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and All Above All are calling for Lloyd’s resignation.
Citizenship Question Added to 2020 Census
March 26, the US Census Bureau announced that, based on a request from the Department of Justice, the 2020 census will ask every household which members of their family are U.S. citizens. 14 states have filed a lawsuit, expressing concern that concern that adding a citizenship question will deter people from filling out the census. Census information is used to allocate federal funding as well as seats in Congress, so states with high immigrant populations may be penalized by the addition of the question.
Federal Government Sues California Over Sanctuary Policies
232 people were arrested by ICE in Northern California over a 4-day period in February. The arrests began hours after the Oakland mayor made a public announcement about the impending operation. Oakland is one of several “sanctuary” cities across the country that have passed ordinances limiting local law enforcement cooperation with ICE to protect immigrant residents. The following week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the administration would be suing California over its sanctuary laws. The federal government’s lawsuit is an escalation of attacks on sanctuary policies. It aims specifically to dismantle three pieces of CA legislation: one limiting law enforcement cooperation with ICE, one that restricts employer cooperation with ICE workplace raids, and one that gives California the right to review conditions of facilities where immigrants are detained by federal immigration authorities.
LGBT Rights, Safety and Justice
6th Circuit Court of Appeals Rules Employers Can’t Fire Trans Employees for Religious Reasons
March 7, the 6th US. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination against transgender people. The case was brought by a woman of trans experience who was fired when she began her transition. In the court’s decision, Judge Karen Nelson Moore, explained that Title VII outlaws anti-trans employment discrimination and prohibits “sex stereotyping” (discrimination based on an individual’s failure to conform with gender norms of the sex they were assigned at birth). She also explained that anti-trans discrimination is inherently motivated by the individual’s sex and that any business that mistreats a worker because they are of trans experience or are transitioning is taking sex into account in violation of Title VII. Importantly for future cases, Moore wrote that the employer was not protected by a religious objection argument, because the employer was not asked to endorse or aid in the employee’s transition.
Anti-LGBT Religious Freedom Bill (First Amendment Defense Act) Reintroduced
March 9, Republican Senators, led by Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), reintroduced the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA). FADA protects people who discriminate against LGBTQ individuals alleging religious beliefs, including business and organizations that receive federal funding. The bill is not expected to pass in the Senate, but is concerning as the latest in a long line of laws and regulations attempting to expand the scope of “religious objection” protections in recent years.
Renewed Transgender Military Ban
In July 2017, Trump announced in a series of tweets that transgender individuals would be banned from military service because their medical needs would be a “burden.” Several federal courts halted implementation of the ban. On March 23, the Trump Administration announced a new ban that would bar transgender people who “may require substantial medical including medications and surgery, from military service “except under certain limited circumstances.” The new ban would not bar “transgender persons who do not have a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria and are willing and able to meet all standards that apply to their biological sex.” LGBT rights advocates have denounced the renewed ban as worse than “don’t ask-don’t tell” by treating being transgender as an illegitimate identity. On March 20, a federal court ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) to disclose the names of the military experts that were consulted for the ban but the DOJ refused. In response, Slate Magazine released an article naming Pence and several known anti-trans and anti-LGBT activists who authored a report as pretext for the ban.
LGBTQ Women’s Health Information Removed from HHS Site
March 21, the Sunlight Foundation, a non-partisan open government advocacy organization, released findings showing that in the fall of 2017, resources devoted to lesbian and bisexual health were dropped from WomensHealth.gov, a website maintained by HHS’ Office on Women’s Health. HHS initially claimed the removal was routine and that the information was later integrated into other parts of the website. However, the Foundation found that the information was not reintegrated, and a lesbian and bisexual health fact sheet was moved to a different location that had no links leading to it.
State Updates
Arkansas
Arkansas Medicaid Work Requirements Approved
March 5, Arkansas became the third state to get approval for implementing Medicaid work requirements, joining Kentucky and Indiana. Starting in June, Arkansas will require all adults under age 50 to work or participate in work-related activities for 80 hours a month, unless they prove they are exempt. Exemptions will be hard to get and harder to keep as the state requires proof of exemption every 2 months. If documentation of exemption or work hours are not received in time, enrollees are locked out of Medicaid access for up to eight months. Reports of work hours must be done online, which may present a barrier because many Medicaid enrollees do not own computers or do not have internet access. Currently, nearly 60 percent of Medicaid expansion enrollees in Arkansas already work. Over half of the rest are ill or have a disability. Medicaid work requirements also have a major impact on women, especially women of color, who are disproportionately likely to be insured through Medicaid. Seven additional states AR, AZ, KS, ME, NH, UT, and WI currently have Section 1115 waiver applications pending to add work requirements to their Medicaid programs.
Ohio
State GOP Pushes Complete Abortion Ban
March 20, Ohio Republicans doubled down after a federal judge halted implementation of the state’s latest abortion restrictions by introducing HB 565. The bill would prohibit all abortions in the state, with no exceptions. The bill creates criminal charges for doctors and pregnant women seeking abortions and would characterize an “unborn human” as a person under the state’s homicide code. This would make abortions potentially punishable by life in prison or the death penalty.
Oklahoma
Religious Freedom Legislation Introduced
March 18, the Oklahoma Senate passed SB 1140, which would allow foster and adoption agencies to reject applicants including LGBTQ couples, interfaith couples, single parents, married couples in which one prospective parent has previously been divorced, or other parents to whom the agency has a religious objection. The bill would protect these agencies from being sued for discrimination based on their religious objections. As of March 21, the bill has moved to consideration by the Oklahoma House Judiciary Committee.
Washington
Reproductive Parity Law
March 21, Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed the Reproductive Parity Act into law after a six-year advocacy process. The Act requires all health insurers to cover abortion if they also cover maternity care. It also mandates coverage for every form of birth control, including emergency contraception, without any out-of-pocket costs, cementing Affordable Care Acts protections even as the Trump administration continues to dismantle them at the federal level.