At least 33 states have considered legislation this session dealing specifically with the privacy of personal data. Nineteen of those states have enacted data privacy measures. They include California, which enacted AB 375 , modeled after the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation...

WALKER DECLARES NATIVE LANGUAGE EMERGENCY Saying the government must support the “revitalization” of native languages, ALASKA Gov. Bill Walker (I) issued Administrative Order 300 last week calling for indigenous place names to be shown on public signs and directing the state Department...

On November 6, voters in 37 states will consider 158 ballot measures, just one more than the 157 propositions in 2016, according to the Initiative and Referendum Institute at the University of Southern California. Among the issues on the ballot this year in multiple states, marijuana legalization...

Marijuana legalization was one of the most prevalent issues on state ballots on Nov. 6. And with the approval of one of those measures, Proposal 1 , on a 54-46 vote, Michigan became the first state in the Midwest to legalize marijuana for recreational use. But voters in another Midwestern state, North...

DESANTIS WANTS MAJOR CHANGE TO FL MEDICAL WEED LAW Saying he wants to see people “be able to have their suffering relieved,” FLORIDA Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) urged Sunshine State lawmakers to allow medical marijuana patients to smoke their weed if they so choose. If lawmakers do not go along...

It’s been 9 1/2 years since the last U.S. recession - the second-longest period between economic downturns on record. The economy still appears to be going strong. But there are signs trouble may not be far off. The good news for states is that most seem to be reasonably well prepared for it. ...

Although the decennial census is a federal responsibility, with states having so much to gain from an accurate tally, 30 have established committees - either through legislation or executive order - to ensure their populations are fully counted, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures...

As of the start of this year, at least 25 states had passed laws requiring businesses that handle personal data to implement security procedures to protect that information from unauthorized access, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. LexisNexis State Net’s legislative tracking...

At least 40 states have introduced legislation in 2019 aimed at reducing the cost of prescription drugs, according to LexisNexis State Net ’s legislative tracking system. Fifteen of those states have enacted such measures.

Seven states suffer from weak governance, according to a report released last week by credit-rating agency Moody’s Investor Service. What earned those states - Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin - the less than ringing endorsement from Moody’s...

Local governments in at least four states have passed ordinances in 2018 or 2019 restricting the use of surveillance technology by government entities, according to the American Civil Liberties Union’s Community Control Over Police Surveillance (CCOPS) webpage and LexisNexis State Net’s local...

In May the Board of Supervisors for the City and County of San Francisco approved an ordinance banning the use of facial recognition technology by all city departments. It’s the only major U.S. city to have taken such action against the emerging technology. But the measure is part of a larger and...

Legislation dealing with medical balance billing - the charging of patients by healthcare providers for services not fully covered at the providers’ rate by the patients’ insurance - has been introduced in 32 states this year, according to analysis by LexisNexis State Net . Seven of those...

Many states have learned lessons from the Great Recession of 2007-09 and are better prepared for the next economic downturn, according to findings by the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) and other analysts. “Rainy day funds are growing as a share of state budgets,”...

As of October 17, 68 lawsuits had been initiated against the Trump administration via a complaint or petition filed by multiple states, according to data compiled by Dr. Paul Nolette, an associate professor of political science at Marquette University, for the website AttorneysGeneral.org . Democrat...

As of Oct. 15, governors or public health agencies in seven states had imposed temporary bans on the sale of vaping products, four of which had been at least partially blocked by legal challenges, according to Time . At least five states have also introduced bills this year aimed at banning flavored...

As public health officials confront an outbreak of lung injuries linked to vaping from e-cigarettes, a patchwork of state and local responses have cropped up in lieu of federal regulation. But with a developing and not yet fully understood problem, and with several e-cigarette bans in a handful...

It’s the holiday season, and if most voters are thinking about politics at all they are probably pondering more about how to get through family festivities without a major blowup over differing political philosophies than they are about next year’s legislative agendas. But rest assured...