States prepare for debates on guns, gays
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — With same-sex marriage now legal nationwide, lawmakers in numerous states are preparing for a new round of battles in 2016 over whether to grant discrimination protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people or religious exemptions to nonprofits and businesses that object to gay marriage.
Republicans hold majorities in two-thirds of the states’ legislative chambers, meaning they get to set the agenda. Those priorities could include attempts to exempt businesses from providing wedding-related services to gay couples, expand gun rights and further restrictions on abortions.
Democrats, meanwhile, likely will be pushing in the opposite direction.
“What we’ve got is division,” said William Pound, executive director of the National Conference of State Legislatures.
He predicts there will be a “significant number of bills” seeking to advance either religious rights or the civil rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people.
“You’ve got the Democratic states reacting very differently, a lot of the time, than the Republican states to these issues,” Pound said.
Those debates will be playing out as legislators also struggle with some traditionally difficult financial issues, such as budget shortfalls and calls to boost funding for public schools and infrastructure. Education issues are expected to be at the forefront in more than a third of the states, according to an analysis by Associated Press statehouse reporters around the country.
States that rely heavily on the energy industry for tax income, such as Alaska, Oklahoma, West Virginia and
Wyoming, are taking budget hits due to falling oil, natural gas and coal revenue.
States’ general revenue is expected to grow by about 2.5 percent in 2016, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers. As they prepare their next budgets, “states are still going to be very pinched” to meet rising costs for schools, Medicaid and core services, said David Adkins, executive director and chief executive of The Council of State Governments.
National groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Family Research Council are preparing for a new round of legislative debates after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that states must allow same-sex marriage. Their focus now is on the effect of that ruling.
There are 22 states with laws barring discrimination based on sexual orientation and 21 with laws limiting the government’s ability to burden the free exercise of religion. Four states — Connecticut, Illinois, New Mexico and Rhode Island — have both.
The ACLU will be seeking to expand the list of places barring discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It’s targeting at least a half-dozen states — Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania — that have Republican-led legislatures and also may be pivotal in presidential elections.
The Supreme Court’s decision “certainly provides momentum on the issue,” said Pennsylvania Rep. Dan Frankel, a Democrat from the Pittsburgh area who has been unsuccessfully sponsoring gay-rights bills for more than a decade.
He said challenges remain and pointed to a November referendum in which Houston voters rejected a city ordinance extending nondiscrimination protections to gay and transgender people.
The Family Research Council, which opposed the Houston ordinance, is supporting state measures that would grant broad protections “from government discrimination” against people “who have a sincere belief — religious or not — in natural marriage,” said Quena Gonzalez, the group’s director of state and local affairs.
Also, lawmakers in several states are seeking to expand gun rights, citing a need for self-defense following a spate of mass shootings last year.
States such as Florida, South Dakota and West Virginia are among those considering bills allowing concealed guns on college campuses or dropping requirements for a government permit to carry concealed weapons.
Stricter gun controls are being discussed in California, Illinois and New York, including measures that would prohibit firearm sales to people on government no-fly lists or terrorist watch lists.
A battle over funding for Planned Parenthood and a renewed push for additional abortion restrictions are expected in response to undercover videos released last summer showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing aborted fetal body parts.
Ohio Right to Life has an agenda that includes a 20-week abortion ban, a prohibition on ending pregnancies involving a Down syndrome diagnosis and the defunding of Planned Parenthood. Republican-led legislatures in Arizona, Idaho, Missouri, South Dakota and Utah also are among the places pushing greater restrictions on abortion and Planned Parenthood.
Some states, responding to police shootings of citizens that prompted widespread protests, plan to try again in 2016 to set policies for the use of police body cameras and new procedures for investigating police shootings.