The House of Representatives today passed the $106 billion funding bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The $106 billion measure, in addition to about $80 billion for military operations, provides for an array of other spending priorities, including $7.7 billion to respond to the flu pandemic and more than $10 billion in development and security aid for Pakistan and Iraq as well as countries such as Mexico and the nation of Georgia.

Democratic leaders pushing the bill on behalf of the Obama administration had to overcome an unusual alliance. Anti-war Democrats opposed continued war spending and Republicans condemned $5 billion in the measure to secure a $108 billion U.S. line of credit to the International Monetary Fund for loans to poor countries.

The roll call vote is here.

Via the Marijuana Policy Project: Rhode Island today becomes the second state in the country to allow the regulated sale of medical marijuana. The law allows three state-regulated and licensed compassion centers to dispense pot to those with medical needs:

In landslide votes of 68-0 and 35-3, the Rhode Island General Assembly today overrode Gov. Donald Carcieri's veto of legislation to allow the licensed, regulated sale of marijuana to seriously ill patients. Rhode Island will now become only the second state (after New Mexico) to license and regulate medical marijuana dispensing.

The new law is now in effect. In 2006, Rhode Island passed a law authorizing the the use of medical marijuana. While patients were permitted to grow their own pot or designate a caregiver to grow it for them, many were not able to obtain it. More on Rhode Island's laws here.

Radley Balko, Senior Editor of Reason, takes on one of my pet peeves in an interview in the Atlantic: crime laws named after individuals. He says (linking to this TChris Post):

Here's a pretty good rule of thumb: If you're naming a piece of crime legislation after a crime victim, it's probably a bad law. It means you're legislating out of anger, or in reaction to public anger over a specific incident. That's generally not how good policy is made.

Or, as I like to put it, Let us not enact laws out of grief and passion, or in response to a singular criminal event, however horrific it might be. Cooler heads are needed where our fundamental liberties are at stake. Examples: The Laci and Connor Law. Megan's Law. The Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act.

I'm also not thrilled with Attorney General Eric Holder's proposal today for a federal hate crimes law, for reasons well noted by Colorado Independent.

Via the Chicago Tribune, Congressman Mark Kirk is introducing a bill to set penalties at up to 25 years for some pot offenses, that would apply to first time offenders:

U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk will call for legislation Monday that would toughen drug-trafficking laws regarding a highly potent form of marijuana, with penalties of up to 25 years in prison for a first-time offense. The law would target offenders who sell or distribute marijuana that has a THC content exceeding 15 percent.

Paul at NORML has more. You can send Rep. Kirk your thoughts here.

Jane explains why:

Leadership needs 18 votes out of the 51 Democrats who originally voted against the supplemental in order to pass this bill. Since 35 of the 51 are members of the original Out of Iraq caucus, and several freshmen (including Alan Grayson, Eric Massa and Donna Edwards) ran as strong anti-war candidates, I don't think that challenge will be easily surmounted. In addition, 33 members subsequently signed on to a letter expressing concern after the Senate added the IMF funding -- and 12 of those originally voted "yea" on the supplemental. Add to that the Democrats who will bristle at being forced to sign on to Lieberman's civil liberties nightmare and I think opponents of the war have a very good chance of defeating the supplemental, or forcing conditions on its passage.

Jane has a neat action tool for letting the Congress know how you feel. Use it.

Speaking for me only

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security is holding a hearing today titled "Indigent Representation: A Growing National Crisis."

Among the witnesses: Alan J. Crotzer, who was wrongfully convicted and spent over 24 years in prison before being exonerated by DNA evidence.

Other witnesses testifying about the critical need to reform our indigent defense system are Rhoda Billings, former Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court and Robert M.A. Johnson, district attorney for Anoka County, Minnesota. DA Johnson makes the valid point:

"As a prosecutor, it helps me to do my job when opposing counsel is both provided and adequately up-to-speed on the case before the judge. The validity of any verdict relies on high-quality legal representation for both parties to the case."

[More...]

No one cared about the "sin tax" on cigarette smokers. Will they care about a proposed tax on alcohol and sugary soda? Probably.

Besides alcohol, drinks with sugar, high fructose corn syrup and similar sweeteners would be targeted, though diet drinks with artificial sweeteners would not. Other industries also are on alert, worried that the idea of "lifestyle taxes" could spread to other products deemed unhealthy.

"Are they going to hit couch manufacturers? School districts that have canceled physical education?" joked Neil Trautwein, health care lobbyist for the National Retail Federation, which opposes the plan and whose members include fast-food restaurants.

[More...]

Sen. Ted Kennedy and Max Baucus have dueling health care reform proposals. Politico has more on Kennedy's plan.

I just got my renewal policy yesterday. My premium is going up a whopping $250.00 per month -- I have no diseases, haven't been sick and didn't change age groups. What gives?

According to Anthem (BCBS) it's because Colorado passed a law last year preventing employers from considering a group's health care risk or prior history. So, according to Anthem, healthy groups have to pay for the less healthy groups. [More...]

A name to remember. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty vetoed an emotionally charged proposal late Friday to allow terminally ill patients to use marijuana for medical purposes, but signed into law a plan to disburse hundreds of millions of dollars from the Legacy Amendment passed by Minnesotans last year.

A bill Pawlenty didn't veto:

He also signed a bill late Thursday that allows police to pull over drivers solely because they or their passengers are not wearing seat belts. Currently, officers must spot another traffic offense before they can stop a vehicle and ticket someone for not being strapped in. The new law is effective June 9, and carries a $25 fine.

In 2008, Pawlenty has the most vetoes of any MN Governor. Here's what he had to say about the pot bill: [More...]

The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act passed the Senate today by a vote of 90 to 5. From Sen. Mark Udall (received by e-mail, no link):

The 90-5 vote for the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act culminates four years of work by Senator Udall to clean up the fine print and bring fairness and common sense to the credit card business. Udall was a co-sponsor of the Senate Credit CARD Act, and as Congressman, he authored the bill in 2005, which became the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights and passed the House of Representatives last month. The House must now take a second procedural vote on the Senate bill before the final legislation can be sent to President Obama for his signature.

[More...]

On the last day of the legislative session, the Colorado Senate passed a bill banning adults from texting while driving. The original proposal also prohibited talking on a cell phone without a head set, but that was dropped.

For drivers 18 and under, all cell phone use while driving is prohibited. The law goes into effect December 1.

I wonder how a cop is going to be able to tell if you are texting or checking your voicemail or using the internet to say, check a google map. Sounds to me like a lot of people will be stopped for investigation of texting and then show what they were doing or looking at on their phone to convince the cop they weren't texting.

This sounds like a law that will do nothing but increase traffic stops and decrease privacy rights.

For all his accomplishments, President Clinton's strategy of running to the right on crime issues left a notorious legacy known as the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. It purported to make the death penalty "effective" by placing restrictions on federal judicial review of state criminal convictions. The AEDPA requires prisoners to petition the federal court within one year after their state convictions become final (generally when the direct appeal process has been taken to its end) and bans review of most issues that prisoners attempt to raise in successive petitions. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the latter restriction on the theory that it did not suspend habeas corpus but merely required prisoners to make all their claims for relief at one time.

State prisoners who are unaware of the one year limitations period for federal review often lose their right to habeas relief. Because prisoners seeking federal review generally have no right to a lawyer, those who are aware of the time limit often file their own woefully inadequate petitions. If, a couple of years later, the prisoner's family comes up with the money to hire a lawyer, it's often too late, even if the prisoner was unaware that serious constitutional violations deprived him of a fair trial.

The AEDPA was supposed to make the death penalty "effective" by allowing states to kill death row inhabitants more efficiently. It hasn't worked. [more ...]