Indiana GOP chair Kyle Hupfer to step down

Indiana GOP chair Kyle Hupfer, a former general counsel of the Republican National Committee who ran unsuccessfully for RNC co-chair earlier this year, plans to step down from his post, POLITICO has learned.

Hupfer, who served six and a half years and four election cycles in the role at the behest of term-limited Gov. Eric Holcomb, led the Indiana GOP to remarkable heights, including securing more than 90 percent of all county-elected offices across the state, a new record, on top of a record 19 mayoral offices flipping to Republicans. He also chartered the Indiana Republican Diversity Leadership Series, which trains and equips Black and brown GOP leaders. He will leave his position after the state GOP’s central committee picks his successor.

Hupfer’s exit comes as he is widely rumored to join the gubernatorial campaign of former Indiana Secretary of Commerce Brad Chambers, who on Thursday entered a crowded 2024 GOP gubernatorial primary that includes Sen. Mike Braun, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, Fort Wayne developer Eric Doden and former Attorney General Curtis Hill.

“The Indiana Republican Party is strong,” Hupfer said in a statement first shared with POLITICO. “And I believe that if we continue to deliver results that matter, Hoosiers will continue to place their trust in us and elect and reelect Republicans long into the future,” he added.

Hupfer didn’t immediately announce his next steps.

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U.S. gives final approval allowing F-16 training for Ukraine to begin

The Biden administration has formally approved the transfer of F-16 training materials to Denmark, allowing Ukrainian pilots to begin training on the long-anticipated fighter jets, according to two U.S officials.

At the same time, the U.S. this week provided written assurances to Denmark and the Netherlands promising to “expedite” the approval of all necessary transfer requests so that the aircraft can be sent to the battlefield as soon as the pilots are trained to use them, according to one of the U.S. officials and a State Department spokesperson.

“This way, Ukraine can take full advantage of its new capabilities as soon as the first set of pilots complete their training,” said the official, who was also familiar with the letter. Reuters previously reported the U.S. assurances of a speedy approval.

Taken together, the moves signal a new sense of urgency from Washington to get fighter jets to the battlefield as soon as possible. The move to green light Denmark’s request to transfer training materials — such as instruction manuals and flight simulators — is the last bureaucratic hurdle on the U.S. side before the training can begin.

The program will begin “soon,” said the first U.S. official. All three individuals were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive deliberations.

Ukraine has sent the U.S. a list of 32 pilots it says are ready for training, but the official said only eight have the English language skills to complete the course. The other 24 must go through an English language instruction program run by the United Kingdom before they can start training on the jets.

On Wednesday, a Ukrainian official said that Kyiv was not expecting to receive the jets this year, meaning they would not be available for the current counteroffensive.

Meanwhile, Denmark and the Netherlands had asked for U.S. assurances that it would quickly approve their requests to transfer aircraft to Ukraine, once the pilots are trained, according to the first U.S. official.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken sent letters to his Danish and Dutch counterparts earlier this week providing those assurances, according to the first U.S. official and a State Department spokesperson.

Denmark and the Netherlands, which are leading a coalition of 11 countries to train F-16 pilots, still have not officially said they would send jets to the battlefield. But the letter from Blinken signals that when they do request the third-party transfer, Washington will move quickly to approve it.

“The United States is in active discussions with our European partners about how we can support the efforts to provide Ukraine with F-16 pilot training as quickly as possible," the State Department spokesperson said.

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New Jersey can sue gun companies under public nuisance law, federal appeals panel rules

New Jersey can sue the gun industry under a "public nuisance" law, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday, handing a major victory to the state after last year's U.S. Supreme Court decision loosening public carrying restrictions.

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals' dismissal of a challenge brought by the National Shooting Sports Foundation last year comes as New Jersey and other states look for novel ways to balance public safety with gun rights under the high court's June 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen.

New Jersey's public nuisance law, signed by Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy a month later, may offer a template to other states following Thursday's ruling, which said the shooting foundation "jumped the gun" in its challenge and did not justify the court's intervention. Other blue states, such as Delaware and California, have enacted similar measures designed to open the gun industry to legal action.

"Because the Foundation’s case is not yet fully formed, we will vacate the preliminary injunction and remand with instructions to dismiss this action for lack of jurisdiction," the court wrote.

Judge Zahid N. Quraishi had temporarily blocked the law from taking effect earlier this year, saying it appeared at odds with the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act of 2005, which shields the gun industry from lawsuits when their products are used during the commission of a crime. However, Quraishi said in his ruling that the foundation's theories of the law's harm to its members "fail" because they offered vague allegations, and it did not show a substantial threat of the law's enforcement.

The sports foundation disagreed with the decision and noted that it did not say the state law doesn't violate the federal commerce act, but "it clearly does."

“Should New Jersey’s attorney general attempt to enforce the law, we will immediately refile our complaint," Lawrence G. Keane, senior vice president and general counsel for the foundation, said in a statement.

The Murphy administration signed the public nuisance law as part of a series of gun reforms. It is a relatively new approach that would allow the state to sue the firearms industry over public nuisance violations for the “sale, manufacturing, distribution, importing, or marketing of a gun-related product.” The state attorney general, Matt Platkin, created a new office "with the specific mandate of bringing civil enforcement actions against firearm companies." Platkin said New Jersey's was the first such office in the country.

"Our law never should have been enjoined, and now it will be back in effect in its entirety," Platkin said in a statement. He called the law "an important public safety tool" and the new office is "dedicated to holding accountable those whose unlawful conduct causes bloodshed, and fuels the gun violence epidemic, for the sake of their bottom line.”

Murphy said he is "thrilled" by the ruling and his administration "will always fight for the safety of New Jersey residents, even when it means taking on gun sellers that put profits above innocent lives."

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Federal judge rejects push to block Florida Chinese land ownership law

TALLAHASSEE — A federal judge on Thursday rejected attempts, including from the Biden administration, to block a new law touted by state Republicans and Gov. Ron DeSantis that prohibits some Chinese citizens from buying land in Florida.

U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, shot down the request from four Chinese immigrants and a real-estate firm to place a preliminary injunction on the law while the case moved through the court.

Winsor said those challenging the new law have not demonstrated that they could win the case, a key factor in determining whether to block a law ahead of a full-blown trial. He also contended that the legal challenge has not shown that the Republican-controlled Legislature was intentionally discriminating against Chinese individuals when it passed the restrictions.

“Plaintiffs have not shown a substantial likelihood that unlawful animus motivated the Legislature,” Winsor wrote in his 51-page decision.

The judge added that the law was written in such a way that “it would apply to a person of Chinese descent domiciled in China the same way it would apply to a person not of Chinese descent domiciled in China. And its application would never turn on a person’s race.”

DeSantis and Republican Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson said earlier this year the new law — which includes restrictions on land near military bases, critical infrastructure and agricultural lands — was needed to protect Florida’s farmland and food supply from the Chinese Communist Party.

At the time he signed the legislation into law, DeSantis called the Chinese Communist Party “the United States’ greatest geopolitical threat.” And during his presidential campaign, DeSantis has repeatedly warned about the China, with part of his platform including a ban on selling farmland to Chinese Communist Party members and their affiliates.

At least three other states, including Texas and Louisiana, considered similar laws this year.

The Department of Justice in late June weighed in and contended the new law violated federal law and the U.S. Constitution. “These unlawful provisions will cause serious harm to people simply because of their national origin, contravene federal civil rights laws, undermine constitutional rights, and will not advance the state’s purported goal of increasing public safety,” the department charged in a “statement of interest.”

The people and the groups that challenged the law — which they called "racist" — said they intend to appeal Winsor’s ruling.

“This law is hurting immigrants who are trying to build lives in Florida,” said Jian Song, owner of Multi-Choice Realty LLC and one of those suing, in a statement. “As a Chinese American who has called Orlando my home for over 20 years, I’ve been extremely worried since this law went into effect.”

Chinese citizens and Asian-Americans living in Florida warned legislators last spring that they would face discrimination and harassment if the bill passed. Lawmakers passed the legislation overwhelmingly on a bipartisan vote in both the House and Senate.

The new law lists several countries as a “foreign country of concern” including China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela — and restricts property ownership for some residents from those countries. In addition, some Chinese citizens would be prohibited from purchasing more than two acres of land, and there are misdemeanor criminal penalties for property sellers who knowingly violate the law.

“In our view, which the U.S. Government has supported as an amicus, people from China should be no less welcome in Florida than they are elsewhere in the United States and free to participate in the housing market on equal footing with everyone else,” said Derek Shaffer, a partner at Quinn Emanuel, which is helping represent those who sued.

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DeSantis ally has conflict-of-interest by serving on Disney district, legal opinion states

MIAMI — An ally of Gov. Ron DeSantis violated Florida law when he took a job overseeing Disney World’s district in Central Florida while also serving as chair of the state ethics commission, according to a legal opinion released Thursday.

Glen Gilzean must now choose between remaining administrator of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District or keeping his position on the Florida ethics commission.

State law prohibits public employees from serving on the ethics commission — an issue first raised by the investigative news organization Florida Bulldog. It was initially unclear whether Gilzean’s job as administrator — a job that comes with a $400,000 salary — qualified as “public employment.”

The job of Central Florida Tourism Oversight District administrator is similar to that of a city manager. District officers report to Gilzean and he’s the link between Disney, as well as other businesses in the region, and the district’s board.

Steven Zuilkowski, the general counsel for the ethics commission, determined the violation existed after Gilzean asked him to look into it, writing in his request that he didn’t “want there to be any appearance of a conflict of interest.”

Zuilkowski’s legal opinion states that Gilzean previously spoke with him and another ethics officer in April about the conflict, according to the legal memo, posted first by the Orlando Sentinel. Gilzean told both officers at the time that he’d “received legal advice elsewhere about holding both positions” and would contact Zuilkowski if he wanted his legal opinion. He wanted to keep his “calling for public service” and commitment to finishing his term on the ethics commission, the analysis said.

DeSantis’ office and a representative for Gilzean did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Before starting his role overseeing the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, Gilzean and other members of the ethics commission dismissed an ethics complaint against DeSantis from MAGA Inc., a political action committee that backs former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

The complaint accused DeSantis of running a “shadow” campaign for president under the auspices of a promotional book tour but not making a White House run official — something he didn’t do until May 24. The committee determined the complaint had no “factual basis.”

The five board members who run the district surrounding Disney, who were themselves handpicked by DeSantis, tapped Gilzean to the role of administrator in May.

Gilzean said at the time that he was especially interested in creating affordable housing in the region, something DeSantis has presented as a punishment against Disney but that would likely be welcomed by the theme park’s employees. Gilzean, who is Black, also cut the district’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives — which DeSantis has moved to abolish in schools and businesses in Florida.

The new Disney board arrangement has been a legal and political spectacle in Florida. DeSantis moved to have the board take control of the central Florida district after the Walt Disney Co. publicly opposed a bill he signed into law limiting when and how educators can teach LGBTQ topics in public schools.

Before the takeover, the district was known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Its former board included numerous Disney representatives — effectively allowing Disney World to run its own government and avoiding the same regulations other Florida theme parks face, saving the company time and money.

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Texas and others create 'punitive' barriers to EV transition

Electric vehicle drivers in Texas have started to get some bad news in the mail.

Starting in September, they’ll have to pay the state an extra $200 each year to register their climate-friendly cars and trucks. And if they want to buy a new EV, that will cost $400 upfront.

State lawmakers imposed the new fee on EVs this spring to replace gasoline taxes lost to the switch to battery-powered vehicles. Supporters say it ensures every driver pays their fair share. But the fee is nearly double what an average driver would pay in taxes at the pump, according to consumer advocates.

Those moves have some EV advocates fuming — and will create new barriers to one of President Joe Biden’s signature climate policies.

Unchanged since 1991, Texas’ gas tax is one of the cheapest in the country. Now, its new EV fees are among the most expensive. That’s no accident, experts and advocates say. A growing number of mostly Republican-led states are adding speed bumps to electric vehicles — from new taxes on drivers using charging stations, to limits on how automakers sell EVs, to registration fees that critics call punitive.

Texas joins about 30 states that impose registration fees on EVs. About half the fees are punishingly high, according to research by Consumer Reports — including in some states where Democrats wield power.

“There are already real and perceived barriers for consumers,” said Dylan Jaff, a policy analyst on sustainability for Consumer Reports. “So making that burden more difficult — putting on these added layers of cost … for some consumers, it just makes them shy away from making that transition.”

Those subtle obstacles are building into a trend of red-state resistance to the Biden administration’s plans to lessen carbon pollution from transportation — the largest U.S. source of emissions — by boosting EV ownership. Biden has created generous subsidies for some electric vehicles under the Inflation Reduction Act, coupled with aggressive new tailpipe pollution standards from the Environmental Protection Agency. The U.S. market for electric vehicles is forecast this year to reach double the size it was in 2021.

A recent lull in EV sales, though, has underscored the volatility of the market. Although the economics of EVs continue to improve, experts say, drivers remain sensitive to a range of concerns, from finding a charging station to affording the higher upfront costs.

Now, some conservative states are enacting policies that exacerbate those worries.

For example, the new fees and taxes imposed by states like Texas could fall hardest on low-income people who can least afford it.

“It’s a barrier to adoption,” said Albert Gore, executive director of the Zero Emission Transportation Association, a trade group.

Fees and taxes on EVs have been popular with conservatives because people perceive them as a tax on rich drivers.

But drivers often choose EVs because of the fuel savings, and a large annual fee cuts into that benefit. It also adds to the price differential for some electric models.

Those obstacles are more daunting for lower-income drivers — many of whom have to travel longer distances to get to work, experts said, or find it harder to afford lump-sum charges for an expense that used to be spread out across the entire year.

There’s also a psychological element to the punitively high fees on EVs. Many EVs have a lower lifetime cost than ones that run on gas, and even the highest fees aren’t enough to change that math, said Rachel Goldstein, a research and modeling manager at Energy Innovation: Policy and Technology, citing analysis the group is preparing to publish.

“This fee, yes, it’ll make your EV a little more expensive on an annual basis,” she said. “But it shouldn’t make it more expensive than the gas alternative.”

Nevertheless, it reinforces a message to drivers that EVs are extravagant purchases.

“People don’t always buy vehicles based on their own total cost of ownership analysis — most people don’t do that number-crunching exercise,” said Sara Baldwin, senior director of electrification at Energy Innovation.

“But if they hear: ‘Oh, if I buy this electric vehicle, I’m going to be charged this extra fee’ — that’s definitely a psychological barrier,” she said. “And it will likely have adverse impacts on [EV] market growth, even if the economics don’t change substantially.”

It’s hard to judge the fairness of state EV taxes because state gasoline taxes vary, from 18.8 cents per gallon in Mississippi to 68.15 cents a gallon in California. So Consumer Reports calculated the level of EV fee needed to raise the same amount of revenue as an average gasoline-powered car in each state.

Texas’ $200 fee is more than twice the amount needed to replace the gas tax for an internal-combustion vehicle, the group found. Missouri’s fee is scheduled to grow 20 percent a year and will be three times the comparable fuel tax by 2025.

“Most of the proposed fees are even more punitive than the existing fees,” the group said in 2019.

Texas state Sen. Robert Nichols — the Republican Transportation Committee chair who wrote the bill to raise EV registration fees — said lawmakers set the $200 fee based on a report by several state agencies. Each new EV, the report found, would displace about $100 in state gas tax revenues along with $95 in federal gas tax revenues.

“Rather than having a number I picked, it’s [coming from] all these state agencies,” Nichols said. “Every time somebody tried to lower or raise it, I’d always come back to: No, these are the numbers.”

The Texas Senate voted unanimously to impose the new EV fee, and it passed the House with an overwhelming, bipartisan vote. Nichols recalled telling other lawmakers that it was the most important transportation legislation they’d vote on this year.

At least seven states — Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Montana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Utah — have passed taxes on EV charging. Most of them will dedicate the money to road construction, although Iowa’s tax will go to a statewide economic development fund, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The taxes and fees aren’t the only barrier. EV makers such as Tesla and Rivian, which sell cars directly to the public, have been fighting for years over state laws intended to protect conventional car dealers.

Those state policies matter even in the face of historic federal subsidies. Advocates describe it as a reversal of the Trump era, when liberal states broke with federal policy to take meaningful climate action, especially on transportation.

“States do have the ability to move the needle,” Consumer Reports' Jaff said.

Some of the bills are driven by lawmakers who are looking for ways to fund road construction and other infrastructure. Fuel taxes have been one of the largest sources of state highway funds, but they’ve been declining for decades as cars have grown more efficient.

But some of the bills are obviously intended to send a message.

Lawmakers in Wyoming introduced a resolution in February calling for an end to EV sales in the state by 2035, shortly after California regulators approved a plan to phase out gasoline-powered cars over the same time frame. It didn’t pass.

Other legislation has been aimed at high-profile flaws in EV manufacturing, including their reliance on lithium and other minerals produced in oppressive countries and their perceived safety problems.

Much of the lithium supply chain relies on Chinese companies accused of using forced labor in the country’s Xinjiang province. A significant amount of cobalt for batteries comes from Congolese mines that use child labor. And although they catch on fire more rarely than conventional cars, EVs burn extremely hot and can be difficult to extinguish.

Those concerns offer justification for conservatives who want to pump the brakes on EVs. For instance, the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council has circulated a draft model bill that lawmakers could use to prohibit state and local governments from buying EVs linked to child or forced labor.

“We’re moving so fast to electric vehicles, we’re just making the problems worse,” said state Rep. Jim Gooch (R), the longtime chair of Kentucky’s House energy committee. Those problems are multiplying, he added, as public officials look to electrify government fleets — especially transit systems and school districts.

“I certainly don’t want to put my kids on a school bus that’s electric. I just don’t want to do it,” Gooch said. “And I’ll fight in any way I can to make sure that that’s not something Kentucky’s doing.”

Congress has tried to address many of those issues. The Inflation Reduction Act, which devotes billions of dollars to tax credits for EVs, has restrictions on cars and batteries that come from "foreign entities of concern."

In addition, the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law required the Transportation Department to assess whether a fuel tax could be replaced with a fee based on the miles that a car is driven.

As of July, the pilot program hadn't been set up and the heads of the House and Senate transportation committees, Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), respectively, sent Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg a letter asking for an update.

Oregon and Utah already have similar programs, known as a vehicle-miles-traveled charges, although they’re voluntary.

Nichols, who has chaired the Texas Senate’s transportation committee since 2013, said Texas lawmakers don’t want to discourage EVs; he’s considering buying one himself.

Rather, the new registration fee is one of several ways the state is trying to offset declining gas tax revenues, along with sales tax on vehicles and severance taxes from the oil and gas sector.

Nichols said the market for EVs should be driven by the private sector, not state government. But with so much federal money going toward vehicle subsidies and charging stations, Texas doesn’t want to fall behind, he added.

“We’re out there working to expand the number of charging stations,” Nichols said.

Texas has used federal infrastructure money to create a charging station plan. Nichols accused the Biden administration of trying to distort the market to promote EVs, but he said that isn’t enough reason to turn away federal funding.

“They’re trying to incentivize EVs. And if that’s what they want to do — well, I will vote against that, but we’re certainly not going to turn the money away,” he said. “It’s our money, too.”

Drivers in Texas, which has the third-highest number of EV registrations in the county, said they’re taking the state’s new fee in stride. The state Legislature had debated the idea of an EV levy for a while, and most EV owners expected it would eventually pass, said Neal Farris, vice president of the Dallas-based North Texas Electric Auto Association.

“That was one of the first things that government groups said: ‘How are we going to get our money?'” he said.

Robert Sanchez, who lives outside Houston, saw the $200 fee on the registration notice for his Chevrolet Bolt. The high fee might discourage people from buying EVs in the short term, he said, but they will ultimately make the switch as EVs become more available.

“I think it’s just going to be a matter of economics," he said. "It’s going to be cheaper in the long run to own an EV, operate an EV.”
A version of this report first ran in E&E News’ Climatewire. Get access to more comprehensive and in-depth reporting on the energy transition, natural resources, climate change and more in E&E News.

A version of this report first ran in E&E News. Get access to more comprehensive and in-depth reporting on the energy transition, natural resources, climate change and more in E&E News.

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Canadian woman sentenced to nearly 22 years for ricin letter sent to Trump at White House

WASHINGTON — A Canadian woman was sentenced to nearly 22 years in prison in Washington on Thursday in the mailing of a threatening letter containing the poison ricin to then-President Donald Trump at the White House.

Pascale Ferrier, 56, had pleaded guilty to violating biological weapons prohibitions in letters sent to Trump and to police officials in Texas, where she had been jailed for several weeks in 2019.

Her defense attorney, Eugene Ohm, said Ferrier has no criminal record prior to that and is an “inordinately intelligent” French immigrant who had earned a master’s degree in engineering and raised two children as a single parent.

But in September 2020, prosecutors said Ferrier made the ricin at home in Quebec and mailed the potentially deadly poison derived from processing castor beans to Trump with a letter that referred to him as “The Ugly Tyrant Clown” and read in part: “If it doesn’t work, I’ll find better recipe for another poison, or I might use my gun when I’ll be able to come. Enjoy! FREE REBEL SPIRIT.”

The letter from Ferrier, which also told Trump “give up and remove your application for this election,” was intercepted at a mail sorting facility in September 2020, before it could reach the White House.

She was arrested trying to enter a border crossing in Buffalo, N.Y., carrying a gun, a knife and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, authorities said. Investigators also found eight similar letters to law enforcement officials in charge of a Texas jail where she was held after she refused to leave a park area as it closed.

In a winding speech, Ferrier told the judge that she considers herself a “peaceful and genuinely kind person,” but gets angry about problems like unfairness, abuses of power and “stupid rules.” She spoke about feeling like she had done little to support her values while her children were young, and considered herself to be an “activist” rather than a “terrorist.” She expressed little remorse but said, “I want to find peaceful means to achieve my goals,” she said.

U.S. District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich handed down the 262-month sentence outlined in a plea agreement with prosecutors, which also would expel Ferrier from the country once she is released and require her to be under supervised release for life if she ever returns.

The judge noted a “real disconnect” between the Canadian grandmother who has worked toward another degree while behind bars and the crimes Ferrier pleaded guilty to. Friedrich pushed back on Ferrier’s framing of her actions. “That isn’t really activism,” she said. “I hope you have no desire to continue on this path.”

Prosecutor Michael Friedman said the sentence was an “appropriately harsh punishment” that sends a clear message.

“There is absolutely no place for politically motivated violence in the United States of America,” he said. “There is no excuse for threatening public officials or targeting our public servants.”

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