Supreme Court Housing Case- AG Loretta Lynch’s Statement/Policy Watch Investigates Senate Budget/Senate Week In Review June 22-26


Alert from the Office of Senator Angela Bryant

 

 

  1. Supreme Court Housing Case – AG Loretta Lynch’s Statement
  2. Policy Watch Investigates:  Senate Budget Also Took Aim at Anti-Discrimination Law – Repeal of State Fair Housing & Human Relations Commission
  3. Senate Week In Review 6/22 – 26 2015

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1.

 

ATTORNEY GENERAL LORETTA E. LYNCH STATEMENT ON THE U.S. SUPREME COURT RULING IN TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY AFFAIRS V. INCLUSIVE COMMUNITIES PROJECT INC.

 

WASHINGTON – Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch released the following statement today after the Supreme Court ruling in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project Inc.:

 

“I am pleased that the Supreme Court has affirmed that the Fair Housing Act encompasses disparate impact claims, which are an essential tool for realizing the Act’s promise of fair and open access to housing opportunities for all Americans.  While our nation has made tremendous progress since the Fair Housing Act was passed in 1968, disparate impact claims remain an all-too-necessary mechanism for rooting out discrimination in housing and lending.  By recognizing that laws, policies and practices with unjustified discriminatory effects are inconsistent with the Fair Housing Act, today’s decision lends support to hardworking Americans who are attempting to find good housing opportunities for themselves and their families.  Bolstered by this important ruling, the Department of Justice will continue to vigorously enforce the Fair Housing Act with every tool at its disposal – including challenges based on unfair and unacceptable discriminatory effects.”

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2.

 

Policy Watch Investigates:  Senate Budget Also Took Aim at Anti-Discrimination Law

Thursday, June 25, 2015

By Sarah Ovaska-Few

North Carolina might scale back its efforts to fight unlawful discrimination, if a Senate budget provision to repeal the state’s fair housing act is adopted as law.

The provision, which would repeal the State Fair Housing Act and shut down the state office that investigates discrimination complaints, was buried deep in the 500-plus budget (pages 390-391) that was made public and quickly passed the chamber last week.

The elimination of the state anti-discrimination measures got no attention during debates when the budget passed the Republican-controlled Senate last Thursday.

The move to repeal the state’s Fair Housing Act would also eliminate the N.C. Human Relations Commission, which is funded partly with federal funds and tasked with investigating and pursuing legal claims of discrimination on the basis of race, sex, or disability when it comes to housing, employment and civil rights violations. 

N.C. Sen. Floyd McKissick Jr., a Durham lawyer and Democrat, said eliminating the State Fair Housing Act would means the state is backing down on its commitment to addressing unlawful discrimination.

“We should all be deeply concerned when we have a state that’s abandoning its commitment to equality,” he said. 

The State Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination when it comes to buying, selling and renting homes, as well as building and retrofitting homes to accommodate those with disabilities and when it comes to government decisions about land use designations and affordable housing policies. The N.C. Human Relations Commission is authorized to investigate complaints of housing discrimination, and seek resolution through settlements or the courts.

Federal fair housing rules would still apply, but North Carolina residents would have to go through a federal Housing and Urban Development office, a process that fair housing advocates say tends to be lengthy and could delay resolutions for citizens.

The N.C. Department of Administration which oversees the N.C. Human Relations Commission, and Gov. Pat McCrory’s press office did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a ruling today, also upheld a judicial interpretation of the federal fair housing law that allows a showing of “disparate impact” to determine if discrimination occurred, for instances where particular policies disproportionately and negatively affect protected groups instead of more overt instances of discrimination.

The fair housing issue is also personal for McKissick, an African-American lawmaker serving his fourth term. While a Duke University law student, McKissick successfully filed and settled a fair housing complaint in Georgia after the manager of an all-white housing complex refused to allow him and another black student to sublet an apartment while working for a law firm in the area.

That experience as a young man hammered home the need to have protections for people who face unwarranted acts of discrimination, he said.

“That shows you why you need fair housing laws,” McKissick said. “If anything, we should be reaffirming it.”

[Read more…]

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3.

Senate Week in Review

Monday 6/22 – Friday 6/26

 

Supreme Court ruling legalizes gay marriage across all 50 states. Friday, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 ruling that same-sex couples receive equal protection under the law. This ruling requires all 50 states to offer marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and also requires all states to recognize same-sex marriages from any of the other 49 states. Read more here.

 

Supreme Court ruling upholds key piece of Affordable Care Act, health care advocates call on McCrory to address Medicaid Expansion. The ruling allows subsidies to be provided through the federal exchange in states that chose not to expand Medicaid, such as North Carolina. Republican state leaders continue to claim there is no funding to expand Medicaid, and the focus is likely to remain on reform, rather than expansion, as the House and Senate prepare to begin budget negotiations. Read more here.

 

With end of fiscal year looming, Senate and House leadership yet to reach agreement on temporary spending measure.  With the July 1 budget deadline just days away, the House and Senate leadership have not yet agreed on final details for a continuing resolution to keep the government running while budget negotiations are under way. Senate leader Phil Berger says that they are close to an agreement, but legislators were kept waiting for hours on Thursday while negotiations took place, and sent home with no final agreement. A small Christmas tree made an appearance on the Senate floor once negotiations halted, joking that we will be here until Christmas – an indicator of just how far the two chambers are from agreeing on certain big ticket budget items. Read more here.

 

Senate leader won’t push ban on confederate flag license plates. In light of the recent tragedy in Charleston, South Carolina, there has been a movement by many states to try and remove the confederate flag from various government properties, including license plates in North Carolina. Governor McCrory says he wants this done, but is not willing to act, instead passing the buck to Senate Majority Leader Phil Berger, who says he will not take action, and that the Governor should handle the issue through administrative channels. Read more here.

 

 

In Case You Missed It – Last Week in Review

Monday 6/15 – Friday 6/19

 

Nine victims in shooting at Church in Charleston, SC. Wednesday evening, nine members of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston were shot down during a regularly scheduled bible class by a 21 year old racially motivated gunman. Amongst the victims was the Reverend of the church and sitting state senator Charles Pickney and sister of former NC Senator Malcolm Graham, Cynthia Hurd. Read more about the victims here.

 

NC Senate passes $21.5B budget, with Republican leadership again focused on wrong priorities. This Thursday the NC Senate gave its final nod to their version of the 2016/17 spending plan for the state, scheduling corporate tax handouts that will result in a loss of $109 million that could be used on education just in the first year. Senate Democrats ran numerous amendments on the floor that would have raised teacher pay to the national average, increase TA numbers and textbook spending back to pre-recession levels, reinstate the Back to School Sales Tax Holiday, and increase pre-K spending, all of which were voted down, in favor of keeping the corporate tax handouts scheduled. The bill will now go to conference, where House and Senate leaders will work to combine the two versions of the budget. Read more here.

 

Schools in limbo awaiting final budget. With drastic differences between the House and Senate budgets, there may be quite a delay on a final version, with continuing resolutions required to keep the government running starting on July 1. With teacher pay and teaching assistant numbers in limbo, school districts are facing difficulties making staffing decisions as the new school year approaches. Read more here.

 

Lawmakers vote to allow affidavit in place of voting ID. Voters who do not have photo identification would be able to sign a affidavit and present alternate forms of identification in order to cast a ballot under a last-minute addition to an elections law bill that passed the General Assembly on Thursday. This bill slightly loosens previous voter ID requirements, and comes in a timely manner just weeks before a court case from civil rights groups challenging the voter Id laws.

Read more here.

 

Changes to NC gun laws pass House, now headed to Senate. A bill loosening restrictions on gun regulation in NC has passed the House, after much delay and lengthy debate. A bipartisan slew of amendments drastically reduced the scope of the new law, but there is still concern amongst activists over the loosening of regulations in the bill. Now the bill heads to the Senate. Read more here.

 

NC Elections Board refers Senator Hartsell for prosecution. Senator Fletcher Hartsell, of Cabarrus County, has been referred for prosecution after a multi-year investigation by the board of elections into illegal campaign spending allegations against the Senator.  More than $600 in shoe repairs, three speeding tickets, magazine subscriptions and tens of thousands of dollars in credit card expenses were among the items that state elections officials say were improper campaign expenditures by the Senator.

Read more here.

 

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