so state legislatures have the ability decide these questions. okay, so we saw a version of pennsylvania to varying degrees across the country in 2020. there are efforts underway to in many states to ensure that not just there is high integrity elections because i think we we know that the elections are secure and they are fair. and we know the 2020 election was secure and it was fair. but there's for the most part not everybody knows that. the question is how we increase a degree of confidence in our elections because politics is perception. we know that if we all have confidence in the integrity of our elections, that's going to go a long way towards ensuring the validity of the outcome. i'd like to talk about what is happening in the states to prevent some of these, you know, real challenges that happened 2020. and there are i know there is a there there's a bill in the legislature in wisconsin right now that perhaps may get a vote next week to standardize the processing of absentee ballots so that we don't have the same challenge. you hadn't

the state legislature draws those lines. what's being done to make sure that state legislatures have a fair chance for blacks to win elections there? terri: well, clearly the question was about state legislatures, what can we do? because they're the ones who have to draw the map. sir, the reality is that we have to vote. we have to vote back people who will literally take our interests seriously. so alabama, for example, has a 2/3 republican majority. now, it didn't happen overnight. and we have to chip away at that by going to the polls and voting for people who will actually take our interests to heart. and so unfortunately the remedy is the vote. and it's the very thing that they're diluting us from having. you know, i think that racial polarization and voting is very much alive in the deep south. but i understand that in california you may have coalitions that can come together and actually vote for a candidate of their choosing. but that just doesn't happen in alabama. it's very much black and white. unfortunately. so w

what the theory of this was by the republicans was that state legislatures and only state legislatures can make rules for federal elections. that includes gerrymandering, redrawing maps that includes extending the polling places like if there's a hurricane, you know, extending polling hours, you know, extending absentee ballot rules. state courts have been doing all of this because legislative action, particularly in kind of fast moving crisis situations, is very difficult. so more versus harper is a case that came from north carolina. north carolina is a very politically evenly divided state. it's roughly 5050. there's 14 seat congressional seats in north carolina. that that is 14 seats. the us house of representatives, the state legislature controlled by republicans, drew the map in a way that was 11 republicans seats, three democratic seats. and that is possible now with the advent of statistics and modern modern computing power. and it's not something only republicans do in the democratic legislatures states, they do it to, but state legislatures tend to be controlled by republican

and for a long time the legislature banned guns in the building. and then when we moved to the new building, the cordell hull building, which is just a two block sort of south of here the leaders, decided we're going to stop having this gun ban in the legislative building. and there is a lot of of, you know, unease about that. so who's going to come in and who's armed and might come of it happily? nothing has the capital itself. the governor has said, no, i still want to keep the gun ban in place. so there's there's a disconnect there where guns can actually be brought in by. yes. knock on wood, i suppose for us it's been, you know, so far so good. we have another question. yes, good morning. thank you for speaking today. i think it's a wise decision to set 50 year cutoff. i'm wondering if you two have favorite political scandals outside that and why a? very political scandals outside 50 year period, right? yeah, that's a good one. in the opening introduction of this book, we allude to the first sort of scandal of the state of tennessee when essent

rypressing legislature. way ahead of the game. you have done all of these ne things and it is proven to constitutionally significant level, you dot to keep your gun. we will take it. >> i thought you just said no. no historofany kind of band for anything atdoes not relate tofelonies. >> i want to be clear. there is not anything i have foyway. it would stem from the s historical equitable power. the right of e government to literally protect someone from any danger of life and limb. there are some examples. if you see someone that is on the way to commit a crime. you do not have to institute proceedings immediately. >> i'm so confused. i thought your argument was that there was no history or trition of disarmament and the circumstance. >> i'm not making his argument. the la is before us is a nd that is passed by the leslature. you can't get around it. you cannot asthstate court to say, i will acptit protection order. give me permission to keep firearms fomyown defense. this will not keep the ba from kicking in. s severe penalties t

introduced in the louisiana legislature. i never got out of commit of the argument always was if you pass it to be by session five. just to connect to economic policy democracy and participating in elections is about putting people at the table who can exercise decision-making one is over money. appropriations, investments, programs, tax provisions, on so the connection between voting and economic policy is indispensable, it is intertwined. we sometimes for our own understanding separate out these issues education and healthcare. but in the many respects they are all in one. they are altogether. we have the national urban league we have stood up for the production of democracy. if we ain't at the table we are at the what? the menu. if we are not at the table we will have no voice whatsoever and all we will be doing will be intellectualizing amongst ourselves. so this is a fight for power. i think these brilliant lawyers who amidst a very difficult term on the supreme court gave us this one victory. that is one victory we hop

these legislatures in many states dominate the politics.obody even knows who these people are and they cannot lose. the gerrymandered legislatures all over this country and they are gerrymandered in the south, they create systems where it's not really a democracy. there more like laboratories of autocracy. if you un gerrymandered these statehouses they would still be red statehouses. but there would not be a single member are not worried about election. that's taking place in places like ohio and turning them extremists. i believe even if you want your party to win, you should not let them win because they're guaranteed to when but because they when in a fair and competitive district. whatever party wins the majority, they will serve the party better in a competitive system as opposed to where everything is locked up. third parties, we had a third party for a number of years and i think it brought in a healthy mix. sometimes they would endorse a republican or democratic candidate. they can play a role. another place someone would look to do

legislature could easily say that.have i think is the public attitudes are lagging behind reality. i mean, a lot of people have fond memories of people on college campuses they think 30 years ago a wonderful time undergrad at princeton and harvard and found it difficult to believe that these institutions could have deteriorated so much. and i find even talking to republicans sometimes people look to me and say i just can't believe what you're saying to me and i respond well i don't blame you for not blaming it is almost incredible degree to which these places have -- have gone bad, in fact. but what we ought to do is be more public on this issue and -- the public has got to be brought up to speed. mark: let me make few suggestions here number one parents need to take a very direct responsibility in where they sending their kids to school. they're not required to sending them to these schools no matter what they're called ivy league or not number two, corporations need to stop supporting these universities as well. they

i've talked with her a lot, i served with her in the legislature. i think tt it is painful and hard on the ground in michigan on that issue, these two very important robust communities. >> thank you for your time, governor. i really appreciate it. democracy.

this legislature collectively decides that legislating against children is our priority. i am going to inflict pain upon this body. nebraska state senator mikayla kavanaugh is pledging to block all legislation in her effort to, stop a bill banning gender affirming care for youth. the oklahoma house votes to remove representative moore return from all the committee assignments. the targeted attack on their colleague. the only state lawmaker. people do not feel represented, protected by the people in. this body trans people don't feel safe here. montana's house lawmakers have voted to ban the first transgender legislator from speaking on the floor for the remainder the session. he's asking me to be complicit in this eradication of community and i refuse to do so. today. i'm standing up for myself and people like your constituents who are like, will you refuse to acknowledge we're talking about, you know, a community that has been marginalized, misunderstood. it's not worth risking one child safety. it's not worth risking one life. virginia delegate announced she's running f

i've talked with her a lot, i served with her in the legislature. i think that it is painful and hard on the ground in michigan on that issue, these two very important robust communities. >> thank you for your time, governor. i really appreciate it. >> to cut down the tree it took the saw. to make the saw it took steel. to make the steel took iron ore. the black center of this pencil we call it lead but it is really pressed graphite. i am not sure where it comes from, but i think it comes from mines in south america. this red copperhead, the eraser, probably comes from a land where the rubber tree was not even native. it was imported from south america with the help of the british government. i have no idea where this brass came from. with a yellow paint, the paint that made the black lines or the glue that holds it together. literally thousands of people cooperated to make this pencil. people who do not speak the same language and practice different religions, who might hate one another if they ever met. when you go down to the store and buy this p

while i served in the legislature -- [applause] >> while i served in the legislature i rewrote our property tax system in south dakota. [applause] >> we had a lot of people at the time being taxed off their property and couldn't afford property taxes. remember, south dakota doesn't have income tax. we don't have a personal property tax. we basically have a 4 and a half cent sales tax which this year we cut but at that time our property taxes were overpriced and many people were struggling with it so i wrote, rewrote our property tax system and people started to the talk to me about running for congress. my husband and i had no desire to go to congress. in fact, for two years we kept saying no. we had a democrat that represented south dakota in the u.s. house and most people don't think about south dakota being a state that would a lot of democrats but we are, we are very populist state. we are pretty conservative now but previously even back then we had a full democrat delegation that represented us in congress. we had a blue dog democrat that the represented the state and senator john thun

now, they are pushing for gun reform against the legislature resistant to change. two of those parents join me next. >>> this week marks nine months since the deadly shooting in tennessee's history. six people including three nine- year-olds were gunned down and killed at the covenant school in nashville march 27th. as the state legislature is returning to session, parents whose children survived that massacre are preparing to once again fight for gun reform. joining me now are two of those parents. nick hanson and mary joyce. mary and nick, thank you both very much for being with us tonight. mary, i want to start with you. parents like you including some who consider themselves conservatives have been actively pushing for some kind of gun reform to come out of the state of tennessee in these months since that horrific mass shooting. the legislative session ended with no progress on gun safety laws. what do you want to see happen and what is the plan for you in this next session? >> yeah so i think a lot of what we going to focus on is education around nashville an

i think it is so critical to lift up a state legislature.le to represent this district, the -- state in nashville, the most district in the state of tennessee. we've been able to shift in force conversations on things like common sense gun laws. things like racial justice and reparations. environmental challenges, those narratives that they would rather not talk about. i think it is critical if we want to change the nation we cannot ignore state houses. this is where they have invested in terms of their extremism. this is where we can build a new south and really revive democracy in this nation. >> just those words that he said on the show, i'm here in my capitol office right now, it tells you something might be going in the right direction. guys, thank you so much. a really appreciate this. representative jones, always a pleasure to see you. charles, always a pleasure to see you my friend. thank you to both of you. thank you for the documentary. charles blow writer and producer of the new hbo documentary called, south to black power streami

i said did you do it by executive order or pass it to the legislature? the answer was always through the legislature. that is the hard way of doing it. but it sticks. everything you have done through the legislature will be in place after you are gone. he mentioned the reins act. we debated that and had a hearing on that in my subcommittee, the judiciary subcommittee. jim jordan wanted me to chair the subcommittee on antitrust. i'm like that is kind of a complicated law. isn't that the government punishing winners and losers are picking the winners and losers? he said i will rename it to the committee, the subcommittee on administrative law, regulatory reform and antitrust. i said administrative law? that is like 90% of the government, you will give me jurisdiction over that? so i took it. he's like you can have hearings on raw milk or whatever you want. i have been doing that. on the forming process, control 85% of the u.s. market. i have to be able to fix that. not by going in and busting them up and have the government sit with guards. but by giving s

i said did you do it by executive order or pass it to the legislature? the answer was always through the legislature. that is the hard way of doing it. but it sticks. everything you have done through the legislature will be in place after you are gone. he mentioned the reins act. we debated that and had a hearing on that in my subcommittee, the judiciary subcommittee. jim jordan wanted me to chair the subcommittee on antitrust. i'm like that is kind of a complicated law. isn't that the government punishing winners and losers are picking the winners and losers? he said i will rename it to the committee, the subcommittee on administrative law, regulatory reform and antitrust. i said administrative law? that is like 90% of the government, you will give me jurisdiction over that? so i took it. he's like you can have hearings on raw milk or whatever you want. i have been doing that. on the forming process, control 85% of the u.s. market. i have to be able to fix that. not by going in and busting them up and have the government sit with guards. but by giving s

they are going to send it to the legislature.s going to vote on it, and then new york will have a new district in place for the 2024 elections. >> it seems like the independent redistricting commission, what are they referred to? the irc -- right? another fancy acronym, that it was disrupted by the republican members in 2021. is that going to happen? how did we get to this point and how can folks prevent what happened in 2021 from happening again this year or next year? >> the way that we got here is that the commission process broke down. the commission did not follow the constitutional mandate that it had to send maps to the legislature. we represented a group of voters who wanted to see that constitutional process followed through. we came away with a victory at the highest court in new york, which said that, yes, a court drew the map for 2022, but for 2024, we are going to follow the constitutional process. the commission needs to draw the, maps and into the legislature. this is going to result in fair and transparent distric

and governor per the legislature's request earlier this year. the commission is holding a series of hearings like this one on retail theft throughout the year. testimony included a compilation of surveillance videos from across california showing thieves easily stealing items and getting away coming loading their grocery carts up and by passing the register. >> they know there's no consequences. so they're pushing their shopping carts completely out the door and avoiding the czech stance. those who testified say much of the blame goes to prop 47 passed by california voters in 2014. the law change certain theft and drug possession crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, including offenses. one items stolen are valued at less than $950 while supporters long argued prop 47 could help reduce california's prison overpopulation issue. opponents say it reduced punishments and emboldened criminals. some of folks that are just doing it because the law. >> law no not going to punish or get them in trouble. sacramento county sheriff jim cooper believes prop

we're looking at 10 to 12 bills. >> that we know we can get through the legislature, but most important that will have an impact and making a lot african-americans much better among the recommendations at the top of his list. a formal apology letter from the state of california. >> well, california was never a slave state. he says the task force concluded many policies from its inception have negatively impacted black californians to the stay red light of what we go and try to get appraisal are praises much worse than others. what we try to get loans, we're turned out more so than any that when it comes to medical health disparities for women, especially african-american women who die childbirth more so than other race. we need to go ahead and figure out what those problems are and the remove those barriers that kept us down. one of the recommendations called in the state to look into direct cash payments, possibly as much as 1.2 million dollars per person for descendants of the enslaved. should they meet certain criteria? john sawyer acknowledges that recommendation has not pulled favo

and governor per the legislature's request.lier this year, the commission is holding a series of hearings like this one on retail theft throughout the year. testimony included a compilation of surveillance videos from across california showing thieves easily stealing items and getting away coming loading their grocery carts up and by passing the register. >> they know there's no consequences. so they're pushing their shopping carts completely out the door and avoiding the czech stance. those who testified say much of the blame goes to prop 47 passed by california voters in 2014. the law change certain theft and drug possession crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, including offenses. one items stolen are valued at less than $950 while supporters long argued prop 47 could help reduce california's prison overpopulation issue. opponents say it reduced punishments and emboldened criminals. some of folks that are just doing it because the law. >> law no not going to punish them get him in trouble. sacramento county sheriff jim coope

so they sent petitions to the legislature which went nowhere. they conventions that was also amounted to nothing they thought they were doing the thing they thought they were doing. they were tactics that had been used a decade earlier to effect a break from the british empire and to make change. but in this it wasn't welcome. so many of these men, farmers in western massachusetts and many of them veterans of the recent war, intimidate the courts into closing in 1786. they reasoned that if the courts weren't open, they couldn't charge anyone and had their property auctioned off or be hauled into for nonpayment of debt this movement became known as shays rebellion. this is a misnomer because daniel here he is a revolutionary war veteran. he is a poor farmer. he is not the organizer of shays rebellion. he was of the participants and named leader by the opposition. governor james. james had become governor after hancock and his legislature passed several harsh and overreaching laws to stop the protests in the west. they suspended civil rights and i

every state has a governor, a legislature. that governor and legislature independent from the federal government set their own rules, processes and procedures. and here in maine, you have the secretary of state who is empowered by the legislature to make an assessment as to who is qualified. in making that assessment, what she does, they had a hearing where she heard views, issues pertaining to the matters before her. and she evaluated that and considered and in giving her considered judgment issued a 34 page opinion noting that the former president is disqualified because of the insurrection. and he engaged in an insurrection. and number three, based upon the totality of those circumstances he would not be qualified to appear. so she embraced her role, call her a partisan, a democrat, say she should be disqualified, but i read it that the opinion will be appealed no question, but i read it as a fact alan ual anal. and keeping with that, she said you're out. >> and so this -- we'll see this in other states. and it is likely th

well, as a member of the arizona state legislature, she - arizona state legislature, she was a senatehaving served in all three branches of government, one of the few justices who have had that experience, gave her a more balanced view of how the law works, from different perspectives. i do think it impacted herjurisprudence and impacted her jurisprudence and just impacted herjurisprudence and just her pragmatic approach to things. she was persuaded by the facts, compassionate and also sought to find consensus. you mentioned there asserting kind of practicality. but she was not someone who necessarily always conformed with what may be expected of her as a member of a conservative party, right? no, she was a lifelong republican and i think she was also an independent thinker, a small i, working on a number of campaigns early in her life after graduating from college and living in arizona but i also think she was more, perhaps even more even keeled and sometimes had different points of view and as i mentioned, persuaded by fax, depending on the issue. infant mentioned, persuaded by fax,

>> i wish i could wave a magic wand over tennessee legislature, and remind them why they are in surfacethey are in public office. they are elected to protect and make decisions for the greater good of all people, especially in texas tennessee. i would say if i can do and share our story, and what we are going through in their backyard, to help sway in help to make that decision so they don't have regret later, looking back at their tenure and saying man i wish i could have passed that law, or voted for that bill that could have protected or kept weapons out of people that are unwell and mentally unstable, or that are only out to do harm. man, if i could create a little bit of friction or help pass a law that create of friction around our second amendment right, and owning a weapon. perhaps more people would have a little more respect for the ribbon. and last could be saved. i'm very optimistic by nature, but i do think that we have a gross political game that we have to take into consideration when we're negotiating with these legislators. >> mary joyce and nick hansen, thank you so muc

so they sent petitions to the legislature which went nowhere. they conventions that was also amounted to nothing they thought they were doing the thing they thought they were doing. they were tactics that had been used a decade earlier to effect a break from the british empire and to make change. but in this it wasn't welcome. so many of these men, farmers in western massachusetts and many of them veterans of the recent war, intimidate the courts into closing in 1786. they reasoned that if the courts weren't open, they couldn't charge anyone and had their property auctioned off or be hauled into for nonpayment of debt this movement became known as shays rebellion. this is a misnomer because daniel here he is a revolutionary war veteran. he is a poor farmer. he is not the organizer of shays rebellion. he was of the participants and named leader by the opposition. governor james. james had become governor after hancock and his legislature passed several harsh and overreaching laws to stop the protests in the west. they suspended civil rights and i

you have a situation in maine where every state, victor, as we know has a governor and legislature. the legislature of course has the authority to make the laws and the governor enforces and decides to sign or veto those laws. it happens to be that in maine the secretary of state is delegated that authority by the state legislature. what authority? the authority to determine ballot access. in doing so, there was a hearing held. in doing so, she had a 34 page decision, i'm speaking of miss bellows, the secretary of state, a democrat, in which she determined that the president engaged in an insurrection and indeed there was an insurrection and that she has the authority as given to her by the legislature to make the decision and so she did. in kolg ccolorado the distincti that the process provides for the court to make the decision. but even in maine, we know that miss bellows, the secretary of state, said -- put her decision on hold until the courts do get involved. so ultimately it is going to the courts and the last distinction very briefly is that of course because the colorado co