Drop in oil prices rocks producer states, triggers historic tax hike plan in Alaska

The plunge in oil prices has given a needed break to drivers this holiday season, but it’s causing some real pain in states that rely on oil revenue to fuel their economies and shore up their budgets.
Perhaps nowhere is the impact more pronounced than in Alaska, where Gov. Bill Walker is proposing a raft of new taxes,

Gov. Bill Walker is proposing a raft of new taxes

including the first personal income tax in over three decades, along with budget cuts to offset the damage from the price drop for the oil-reliant state.
“This is a major paradigm shift in how the state of Alaska conducts business,” Walker said in a statement as he announced the plan in December. “That’s because we cannot continue with business as usual and live solely off of our natural resource revenues.”
The price of Brent crude in the United States has fallen below $40 a barrel – more than $30 lower than in May of 2015.
Alaska is a state so reliant on, and accustomed to, big oil revenue that residents share in the profits. In a sign of changing times, Walker’s plan would redirect some of that money to the government itself, making for smaller dividend checks for residents.
According to the Walker administration, the income tax component of the New Sustainable Alaska Plan could generate up to $200 million in revenue a year. Under the plan, the average Alaskan family would pay a rate of roughly 1 percent of their gross income. This would coincide with cuts for everything from obesity-focused education programs to grants for emergency communication.
“Never before has the state faced a deficit so large that we’re draining more than $9 million from savings every day,” Walker said in a statement. “Fortunately those who came before us had the wisdom to set aside money for a rainy day. Well, it’s raining now.”
Given the financial straits of the government, Walker, an independent, has garnered bipartisan support from lawmakers – but still faces reluctance on pursuing an income tax.
In a statement, House Operating Budget Chairman Mark Neuman, a Republican, said Walker “deserves credit for proposing some difficult options for filling our income gap.” Still, he said the plan could use more budget cuts. House Capital Budget Chairman Steve Thompson, also a Republican, echoed that critique and said he doesn’t want residents to pay an income tax “unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
Under the plan, taxes on the oil and other industries also would increase, as would alcohol and tobacco taxes.
Alaska is in a more vulnerable position than a big oil state like Texas, which enjoys a more diverse economy.
Chris Bryan, a spokesman for the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, told Fox News that while the state is projecting lower oil-and-gas tax revenue, “the state’s diverse economy coupled with a large beginning balance and a conservative budget from the 2015 Texas Legislature should allow the state to absorb this reduction in projected revenues.” He said the government is still predicting economic growth in Texas north of 2 percent for fiscal 2016 and 2017.
Yet in North Dakota, where an oil and gas revolution has transformed the state, the drop in prices also threatens to do significant damage.
A recent Moody’s Analytics study reportedly said the state could be nearing a “full-blown recession,” citing the $27 oil price in North Dakota, the lowest since 2008.
According to a Watchdog.org report, North Dakota’s general fund tax revenue was about $152 million, or 8.9 percent, less than forecasted by lawmakers.
“It doesn’t seem like the revenues are going to rebound in the very near term,” state Sen. Gary Lee, a Republican, told Watchdog.org.
But according to Sheila Peterson, director of the Fiscal Management Division of North Dakota’s Office of Management and Budget, the falling oil prices are not crunching the budget as much as they are in Alaska.
“The only direct oil revenue that goes into our general fund is about $300 million out of a $6 billion budget,” Peterson told Fox News. “We still expect to get the $300 million from direct oil taxes.”
According to North Dakota’s OMB, the oil tax composes only 5 percent of North Dakota’s general fund revenue.
North Dakota runs on a 24-month budget, which will be re-evaluated for updated revenue forecasts by mid-to-late January 2016.
“Although revenues are indeed running below forecast right now, it’s not as though we’ve run out of money,” Peterson said. “Depending on what the next forecast shows, we’ll decide if we need to take action, and if so, what those actions will be.”

Obama to meet Monday with AG Lynch about 'options' to tighten gun laws

President Obama said on Friday he’ll meet with Attorney General Loretta Lynch next week to discuss how to use White House powers to reduce gun violence, lamenting that Congress has “done nothing” and declaring he has “unfinished business.”
“I get too many letters from parents and teachers and kids to sit around and do nothing,” said Obama, who will meet with Lynch on Monday, after he returns from his Hawaii family vacation.
Obama directed his White House team a few months ago to explore ways he could reduce gun violence. And he is now expected to focus on using executive actions to tighten regulations on small-scale gun sellers, according to Politico.
Such a change would result in more sellers having to conduct background checks but wouldn’t completely close the so-called “gun show loophole,” which allows for firearm purchases at such venues without a check.
Obama on Friday pointed out his new efforts follow the third anniversary of the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school, in Newtown, Conn., in which a deranged gunman killed 20 children and six adults.
However, the Obama-driven effort in the aftermath of the massacre failed to get enough support for passage from Senate Democrats and Republicans.
“All across America, survivors of gun violence and those who lost a child, a parent, a spouse to gun violence are forced to mark such awful anniversaries every single day,” Obama said Friday. “Yet Congress still hasn’t done anything to prevent what happened to them from happening to other families.”
The president’s renewed efforts also follow a recent flurry of gun violence including a June 2015 incident in which nine people were shot inside the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, in Charleston, S.C., and a Muslim husband-wife couple last month fatally shooting 14 people during a terror attack at a holiday party in San Bernardino, Calif.
Politico reported Obama was trying to make changes before his presidency ends in January 2017 and before the 2016 White House race further dominates the news and Americans’ attention.
The president also reportedly plans to tighten the definition of being “engaged in the business” of selling guns and impose tighter rules for reporting guns that get lost or stolen on their way to a buyer.
"President Obama failed to pass his anti-gun agenda though congress because the majority of Americans oppose more gun-control. Now he is doing what he always does when he doesn't get his way, which is defy the will of the people and issue an executive order," said NRA spokesperson Jennifer Baker.
"This is nothing more than a political stunt to appease anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg and will do nothing to increase public safety. The plain truth is that President Obama's gun-control agenda will only make it harder for law-aiding citizens to exercise their constitutional right to self-protection. It will not stop criminals."
Existing law states those who sell guns with the “principal objective of livelihood and profit” have to get a dealer’s license through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. That means they also have to conduct a background check on buyers no matter where they sell, including online or at a gun show.
In 2014, the ATF proposed that federal officials be notified about lost firearms, but the gun industry successfully argued that voluntary reporting was sufficient.

Lawmakers blast White House delay on Iran sanctions

Leading lawmakers, including supporters of President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, rapped the White House for delaying fresh sanctions on Tehran over its missile program, warning that the move would embolden it to further destabilize the Middle East.
The abrupt reversal by the administration came as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani publicly ordered his military to dramatically scale up the country’s missile program if the sanctions went ahead.
Senior U.S. officials have told lawmakers the sanctions were delayed because of “evolving diplomatic work” between the White House and the Iranian government.
The administration had notified Congress on Wednesday that it would impose new financial penalties on nearly a dozen companies and individuals for their alleged role in developing Iran’s ballistic missile program, but pulled back later that day.
Top U.S. lawmakers, including White House allies, said they believed failing to respond to Tehran’s two recent ballistic missile tests would diminish the West’s ability to enforce the nuclear agreement reached between global powers and Tehran in July.
“I believe in the power of vigorous enforcement that pushes back on Iran’s bad behavior,” Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, a supporter of the nuclear deal, said Friday. “If we don’t do that, we invite Iran to cheat.”
Iranian state media reported American and Iranian diplomats undertook intensive deliberations in recent days to discuss the sanctions issue.
White House and State Department officials declined to comment on what was discussed with the Iranian side. U.S. officials said Secretary of State John Kerry has been in nearly constant contact with his Iranian counterpart, Javad Zarif, in recent days.
Iran’s most powerful political figure, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has repeatedly warned that any new sanctions imposed by the U.S., including in relation to Tehran’s missile program, would violate the nuclear agreement.
Critics of the White House accused President Obama of backing down on his promises to take action in the face of Iranian provocations such as missile launches. They drew parallels to Obama’s failure to follow through on threats to launch military strikes on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in 2013 in response to its alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians.
“I fear that pressure from our ‘partners’—or threats from the Iranian government that it will walk away from the deal or threaten the U.S. in other ways—have caused the administration to rethink imposing sanctions for Iran’s violations of the testing ban,” said Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The sanctions would have been the first imposed on Iran since the nuclear agreement was reached in July. U.S. and European officials said that, if imposed, they would test whether Khamenei was serious about backing away from the deal.

Happy New Year 2016

Democrat Martin O'Malley fails to qualify for Ohio's primary ballot

COLUMBUS, Ohio –  Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley failed to qualify for Ohio's primary ballot after falling short of the signatures needed to appear before the state's voters, a spokesman for the state's elections chief said Thursday.
O'Malley needed 1,000 valid signatures to appear on the March 15 primary ballot. The former Maryland governor's campaign submitted 1,175 signatures, but only 772 were deemed valid, said Josh Eck, a spokesman for Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted.
O'Malley's campaign expressed disappointment, though it noted the candidate is on the ballot in 18 other states.
"While this news is disappointing, we are exploring all of our options, and Gov. O'Malley will campaign vigorously in Ohio," spokeswoman Haley Morris said in an emailed statement.
O'Malley is running an underdog bid for his party's nomination against Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Both Clinton and Sanders were certified for Ohio's presidential primary ballot, along with a little-known candidate, San Diego businessman Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente.
Clinton already has the support of some key Democratic insiders in Ohio, where she won the 2008 primary over Barack Obama.

New California law allows police to seize guns without notice

One of the most controversial new laws of 2016 will go into effect Friday in California, where the state will allow judges to seize guns from even law-abiding citizens if they are judged to be a risk to themselves or other people.
The legislation, introduced after Elliot Rodger killed six people in the Isla Vista massacre, near Santa Barbara, will allow authorities to seize a person's weapon for 21 days if a judge decides the potential for violence exists.
The law, known as the “gun violence restraining order” will allow family members and law enforcement to request an order from a judge to have guns removed from those seen as a danger.
Under the new law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, a restraining order could be issued without prior knowledge of the person, KPCC reported. Therefore, a judge could technically issue the order without ever hearing from the person in question.
State Democrats introduced the law in 2014, saying that police were not able to seize weapons from shooter Rodger, despite concern from his mother that he was making violent threats.
"In the case of the Isla Vista shooter, Elliot Rodger, his mother was noticing that he was becoming more agitated and making these threats of violence, but there was little she could do and little the police could do," said Democratic Assembly member Nancy Skinner of Berkeley, who introduced the bill along with fellow Democrat Das Williams, Reuters reported.
Critics say the controversial law infringes upon the Second Amendment. “We don’t need another law to solve this problem,” Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California, told The Associated Press. “We think this just misses the mark and may create a situation where law-abiding gun owners are put in jeopardy.”
It isn’t the only gun control law going into effect in the state. Another will tighten a ban on firearms in and around schools – which even applies to most people who are allowed to carry concealed weapons.
Meanwhile, California, the most populous state, also will introduce a new ban on firearms in and around schools. Under the new law, the prohibition will apply even to most people who are allowed to carry concealed weapons generally.

Top Carson campaign staffers resign

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson’s campaign was shaken up Thursday by the resignation of three of his most senior staffers -- as the former neurosurgeon sees a drop in poll numbers and is raking in more donations than his GOP rivals.

Communications Director Doug Watts told Fox News in a statement that he and campaign manager Barry Bennett had resigned from the campaign.
"Barry Bennett and I have resigned from the Carson campaign effective immediately,” Watts said. “We respect the candidate and we have enjoyed helping him go from far back in the field to top-tier status.”
Carson Press Secretary Deana Bass later confirmed deputy campaign manager Lisa Coen has also resigned.

The resignations come just after the Carson camp announcedthat they had brought in $23 million in donations in the fourth quarter, surpassing all other Republicans, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz who had brought in $20 million.
“Having just announced raising $23m(illion) for the 4th Q(uarter), more than any other Republican candidate, and passing 1 million contributions and over 600 K unique donors since March, we are proud of our efforts for Dr. Carson and we wish him and his campaign the best of luck,” Watts said.
Carson surged into second place in the polls in the middle of 2015, and was at one point briefly tied with front-runner Donald Trump, but has since seen his numbers slide. The latest Real Clear Politics average of recent polls shows Carson has slipped to fourth place, behind Trump, Cruz and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.
A December Fox News Poll showed a similar drop in fortunes, with the former neurosurgeon dropping to 9 percent, from a high of 23 percent in the fall.
The campaign announced later Thursday that retired Major General Bob Dees will become the campaign chairman, while Ed Brookover who formerly served as senior strategist will serve as campaign manager.
"As we enter a new phase of the campaign cycle, it is necessary to invigorate my campaign with a strategy that more aggressively shares my vision and world-view with the American people. I commend Barry Bennett and Doug Watts for their efforts to help me share my vision for America," Carson said in a statement.

State Department releases over 3,000 Clinton emails on New Year's Eve

Hillary Clinton tops list of worst ethics violators of 2015

 

 

The State Department on Thursday released over 3,000 of Hillary Clinton's personal emails from her time as Secretary of State, marking the last of the major document dumps of the year.
Still, the agency said Thursday that it will fall short of the mandate to release 82 percent of Clinton’s total emails by the end of 2015, blaming the holiday schedule and the sheer number of documents involved.
“We have worked diligently to come as close to the goal as possible, but with the large number of documents involved and the holiday schedule we have not met the goal this month,” the State Department said in a statement. “To narrow that gap, the State Department will make another production of former Secretary Clinton’s email sometime next week.”
The latest batch of 3,105 emails includes 275 documents upgraded to "classified" since they landed in the former Secretary's personal inbox. That brings the total number of classified docs found in the emails to 1,274. A State Department official told Fox News on Thursday that two of those emails were upgraded to "secret," while most of the others were upgraded to "confidential."
The newly released emails reveal Clinton and one of her closest aides, Jake Sullivan, had an exchange in September 2010 that showed considerable confusion over her email practices.
"I'm never sure which of my emails you receive, so pls let me know if you receive this one and on which address you did," she wrote to Sullivan on a Sunday morning.
A few hours later Sullivan responded: "I have just received this email on my personal account, which I check much less frequently than my State Department account. I have not received any emails from you on my State account in recent days — for example, I did not get the email you sent to me and (Assistant
Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Jeff) Feltman on the Egyptian custody case. Something is very wrong with the connection there."
Sullivan added, "I suppose a near-term fix is to just send messages to this account — my personal account — and I will check it more frequently."
Clinton also cited trouble with her BlackBerry in January 2012, according to one of her emails. "Sorry for the delay in responding," she wrote to Jamie Rubin, a diplomat and journalist, saying her BlackBerry was having "a nervous breakdown on my dime!"
In another exchange, Billionaire George Soros, a major donor to liberal causes, confided to a former Clinton aide that he made the wrong choice in supporting Barack Obama in the 2008 primaries over Clinton.
Soros told Neera Tanden during a dinner sponsored by Democracy Alliance, a liberal group, that he "regretted his decision in the primary — he likes to admit mistakes when he makes them and that was one of them," Tanden told Clinton in a May 2012 email. "He then extolled his work with you from your time as First Lady on."
Tanden also said Soros had been "impressed that he can always call/meet" with Clinton on policy issues but he hadn't yet met with Obama. Soros has been a major donor to Priorities USA, a pro-Clinton Democratic super PAC.
Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus seized upon the news of the upgraded emails as another reason the 2016 presidential candidate couldn't be taken at her word.
"With more than 1,250 emails containing classified information now uncovered, Hillary Clinton's decision to put secrecy over national security by exclusively operating off of a secret email server looks even more reckless," he said in a statement on Thursday.
"When this scandal first broke, Hillary Clinton assured the American people there was no classified material on her unsecure server, a claim which has since been debunked on a monthly basis with each court-ordered release. With an expanded FBI investigation underway and new details emerging about the conflicts of interest her server was designed to conceal, Hillary Clinton has shown she lacks the character and judgement to be president during this critical time for our country."
The State Department, however, reminded that the classifications were retroactive. "The information we upgraded today was not marked classified at the time the emails were sent," the official said.
By court order, the State Department is required to release as many of her emails as they can in a single installment on the last weekday of every month. It released over 7,000 on Nov. 30.
The State Department also said in its statement that most of the documents will have incomplete data fields on the FOIA website, citing “an effort to process and post as many documents as possible.” This means that many of the documents will not have full completed fields for “Subject,” “To,” or “From.” The statement says that that data will be added in January.
Clinton has been under fire through much of 2015 about her use of a private, unsecured email server as secretary of state, specifically over the security of her server, and her incomplete retention of her emails. Clinton claims that she has turned over all work-related emails and has only deleted private or personal emails. She also claims that she never sent or received emails marked classified.
The State Department has released installments of her emails every month since May.
The last batch in November, contains 328 emails deemed to have classified information. According to the State Department, that brought the total number with classified information to 999. The emails also covered the tumultuous period before and after the Sept. 11, 2012, Benghazi terror attacks. On the night of the attacks, the communications show Clinton notifying top advisers of confirmation from the Libyans that then-Ambassador Chris Stevens had died.
The final installment is expected just before the Iowa caucuses in February.