It’s time for another installment of of our special series COVID-19 Update, bringing you the latest developments on the novel coronavirus outbreak that public health authorities here and across the country are working to mitigate.
On Thursday, January 13th, with new cases of COVID-19 rising at an almost asymptotic rate courtesy of the omicron variant, the Supreme Court of the United States blocked the Biden-Harris administration from enforcing a vaccine-or-testing mandate for companies with more than one hundred employees.
The decision, which was criticized by the administration, was then followed by a second decision allowing a more modest mandate requiring healthcare workers at facilities receiving federal money to be vaccinated.
These two decisions hinge largely around which federal entity has what level of authority. OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) was deemed by the right wing majority on the Court as acting outside its authority:
Administrative agencies are creatures of statute. They accordingly possess only the authority that Congress has provided. The Secretary has ordered 84 million Americans to either obtain a COVID–19 vaccine or undergo weekly medical testing at their own expense. This is no “everyday exercise of federal power.” … It is instead a significant encroachment into the lives — and health—of a vast number of employees … There can be little doubt that OSHA’s mandate qualifies as an exercise of such authority.
The question, then, is whether the Act plainly authorizes the Secretary’s mandate. It does not. The Act empowers the Secretary to set workplace safety standards, not broad public health measures...Confirming the point, the Act’s provisions typically speak to hazards that employees face at work.
And no provision of the Act addresses public health more generally, which falls outside of OSHA’s sphere of expertise.
… while the Department of Health and Human Services is within its authority:
The Medicare program provides health insurance to individuals 65 and older, as well as those with specified disabilities. The Medicaid program does the same for those with low incomes.
Both Medicare and Medicaid are administered by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, who has general statutory authority to promulgate regulations “as may be necessary to the efficient administration of the functions with which [he] is charged.”
One such function—perhaps the most basic, given the Department’s core mission — is to ensure that the healthcare providers who care for Medicare and Medicaid patients protect their patients’ health and safety. Such providers include hospitals, nursing homes, ambulatory surgical centers, hospices, rehabilitation facilities, and more.
To that end, Congress authorized the Secretary to promulgate, as a condition of a facility’s participation in the programs, such “requirements as [he] finds necessary in the interest of the health and safety of individuals who are furnished services in the institution.”
Municipal, county and state mandates are not affected by either decision and any local mandates in place may remain. Citigroup intends to fire all workers who aren’t vaccinated by the end of January 2022, while Starbucks has declared that all employees must be vaccinated or undergoing regular testing by February 9th.
Other companies, such as Boeing, General Electric, Union Pacific and BNSF Railway had suspended their vaccine or test mandates as a result of the stay in November of 2021 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Louisiana against the Biden-Harris administration’s mandate for large employers, and their future actions are unknown.
Boeing said that about ninety-two percent of its more than 110,000 U.S. employees were fully vaccinated or had received exemptions from the mandate, but over a third of its employees reside in Alabama, Arizona, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas, which have lax to nonexistent regulations in place — this probably had an effect on their decision to suspend.
Walmart, Amazon and JPMorgan Chase, three of the largest employers in the United States, have yet to issue any broad requirements for their workers.
One likely result of the first decision by the Supreme Court will be significant delays in employees whose physical presence is not considered essential returning to offices. Many companies have been reducing their office space requirements since mid-2021, and Court’s decision to strike down the mandate on large employers is likely to result is further reductions.
No final decision by the Supreme Court regarding a vaccine or testing mandate for Federal contractors has yet been made, though the United States Postal Service will both not meet the vaccine or testing requirement and not be provided a requested 120-day extension from meeting the OSHA requirement.
Washington
On Thursday, January 13th, Governor Jay Inslee took six steps in response to rising cases of COVID-19 due to the omicron variant.
First, one hundred non-clinical personnel among the Washington State National Guard will be deployed largely to assist emergency rooms at eight facilities across the state to alleviate crowding of patients at these facilities and to provide COVID-19 testing teams where most useful.
Second, all hospitals within Washington state will be required to pause all non-urgent procedures, again in order to alleviate crowding.
Third, take various actions to increase staffing within and facilitate transitioning qualified patients from hospitals and into long-term care facilities.
Fourth, the state will take steps to make personal protective equipment (PPE) for hospitals and related facilities both mandatory and available.
Fifth, the state will be attempting to entice retired health care workers to return to work in non-frontline roles to ensure enough personnel are available.
Sixth, the state will invest $30 million to assist healthcare workers in completing their educational and clinical requirements and professional development.
Washington has had 1,029,495 cases and 10,220 attributable deaths.
The state has the forty-seventh worst infection rate among the fifty states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico per million in population.
The state has the forty-sixth worst death rate among the fifty states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico per million in population.
10,480,434 tests have been recorded.
- Doses of vaccine distributed to the state: 13,915,795
- Doses administered: 11,268,717 (80.98%)
Oregon has had 504,731 cases and 5,870 attributable deaths.
The state has the fourty-ninth worst infection rate among the fifty states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico per million in population.
The state has the forty-fifth worst death rate among the fifty states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico per million in population.
9,155,048 tests have been recorded.
- Doses of vaccine distributed to the state: 7,953,005
- Doses administered: 6,193,364 (77.87%)
Idaho has had 336,424 cases and 4,263 attributable deaths.
The state has the thirty-fifth worst infection rate among the fifty states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico per million in population.
The state has the thirty-fourth worst death rate among the fifty states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico per million in population.
2,526,106 tests have been recorded.
- Doses of vaccine distributed to the state: 2,741,310
- Doses administered: 1,881,077 (68.62%)
British Columbia has had 291,246 cases and 2,462 attributable deaths.
5,272,664 tests have been recorded.
British Columbia has the eighth worst infection rate and the sixth worst death rate among the thirteen Canadian provinces and territories per hundred thousand population. (If it were an American state, it would be fifty-third and fifty-third, respectively, out of fifty-three.)
- Doses of vaccine distributed to the province: 10,735,884
- Doses administered: 9,897,611 (92.19%)
That does it for this installment of COVID-19 Update. Stay safe and well!
Wednesday, January 19th, 2022
Washington voters back phasing out odd year elections by a 2:1 margin, with 24% unsure
A majority of voters in Washington State would like to see ballot measure and candidate elections held only in even-numbered years going forward, rather than spread out over both even and odd numbered years, polling released today by NPI at a House State Government & Tribal Relations committee hearing shows.
52% of likely 2022 voters surveyed about two months ago said they either strongly or somewhat supported doing away with elections in odd-numbered years, while 24% were opposed and another 24% were not sure. The findings demonstrate that voters would welcome passage of House Bill 1727, which would move most items currently voted on in odd-numbered years to even years.
Sponsored by Mia Gregerson, HB 1727 would modify the state’s election statutes to require local jurisdictions like cities to hold their regularly scheduled elections in even-numbered years by 2028, although cities could also make the switch sooner if they wanted. Most places in Washington already elect their county level positions in even-numbered years, although a few charter counties (such as King, Whatcom, Clark, and Snohomish) default to odd-numbered years.
Here is the question we asked and the answers we received:
Our survey of 909 likely 2022 Washington State voters was in the field from Wednesday, November 10th through Thursday, November 11th, 2021.
It utilizes a blended methodology, with automated phone calls to landlines (50%) and text message answers from cell phone only respondents (50%).
The poll was conducted by Public Policy Polling for the Northwest Progressive Institute and has a margin of error of +/- 3.3% at the 95% confidence interval.
More information about the survey’s methodology is available here.
HB 1727, which had its public hearing this morning, is one of NPI’s top legislative priorities for 2022. The bill would both address the persistent problem of election fatigue as well as increase turnout in critically important local races.
Unlike counties, cities and other local jurisdictions do not have the freedom to move their regularly scheduled elections to even-numbered years because state law currently doesn’t allow it. HB 1727 would fix that problem.
Additionally, under HB 1727, statewide ballot measures would only be considered every other year, effectively ensuring that initiatives, referenda, and constitutional amendments would be voted on by the electoral equivalent of a legislative quorum (greater than fifty percent) rather than a submajority of the electorate.
As it so happens, this is actually the system that Washington used to have, from the 1910s when the initiative and referendum were added to the Constitution, until the 1970s, when state law was unwisely changed to provide for state-level general elections every year instead of just in even-numbered years.
It’s also the system that our neighbor Oregon uses.
We now have decades of voter turnout data showing that voters simply don’t turn out in anywhere the same numbers in odd-numbered years as even-numbered years. And the problem is getting worse: each of the odd-year general elections in the last ten years ranks among the top ten worst in terms of turnout in state history. 2021 was the third worst, 2019 was the eighth worst, 2017 was the worst, 2015 was the second worst, and 2013 was the ninth worst.
Turnout in odd-numbered years has continued to be awful even as turnout in even-numbered years has gone up. Washington saw very healthy turnout in both the 2018 midterm and 2020 presidential cycles, aided by prepaid postage on ballot return envelopes, more drop boxes, and the availability of same-day voter registration. Voting has only gotten easier in Washington, yet voters are not voting consistently. They’re sending a message: Fewer elections, please!
We need to listen.
As the old adage goes, less is more. And in this case, less is better, too.
We will see greater and more consistent participation across local elections if we pass this bill. All of the data we have, including this new polling and the voter turnout data I just mentioned suggests that voters want this change.
Voters would rather elect federal, state, and local positions together in even-numbered years than keep the broken, bifurcated system we have.
Our message to state lawmakers is simple: Let’s get off this roller coaster and reduce election fatigue by phasing out odd year elections. We urge the House Committee on State Government and Tribal Relations to give HB 1727 a do pass recommendation and send it on up to House leadership for further consideration.
Further reading:
Our thanks to Shoreline City Councilmember Chris Roberts, King County Democratic Chair Shasti Conrad, former Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, and everybody else who joined us this morning on Zoom to urge passage of HB 1727.
# Written by Andrew Villeneuve :: 3:05 PM
Categories: Elections, Legislative Advocacy
Tags: Fair Elections, Research Poll Findings
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