Governors in Brief - January 21 2019

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 by March, he said he would drop a state appeal filed by the administration of former Gov. Rick Scott (R) of a court decision that says banning it violates a constitutional amendment. (TAMPA BAY TIMES, ORLANDO WEEKLY)

 

CUOMO PITCHES NY PLASTIC BAG BAN

After legislation he proposed last year died without a vote, NEW YORK Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) inserted a ban on single-use plastic bags into his 2019 budget. Cuomo said he is also proposing an expansion of the Empire State’s so-called “Bottle Bill” – which encourages people to recycle used plastic bottles - by making most non-alcoholic drink containers eligible for the 5-cent redemption. (NEW YORK TIMES, ALBANY TIMES-UNION)

 

KS, OH GOVS EXPAND LGBTQ PROTECTIONS

KANSAS Gov. Laura Kelley (D) and OHIO Gov. Mike DeWine (R) each issued executive orders last week barring discrimination against LGBTQ people in state hiring and other areas. Kelley’s order also applies to companies that do business with the state. (LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD, DAYTON DAILY NEWS)

 

BAKER REFILES MA PUBLIC SAFETY BILL

Calling public safety “a fundamental responsibility of government,” MASSACHUSETTS Gov. Charlie Baker (R) re-filed legislation that would make it easier for Bay State judges to keep someone in jail on the grounds that they are dangerous. Baker filed a similar bill last year but did so after the formal session had ended for the year, and the measure died with lawmakers taking it up. (MASSLIVE.COM)

 

-- Compiled by RICH EHISEN

Suicides Up Significantly In Many States

Between 2007 and 2012, the number of annual suicide deaths rose by more than 30 percent in eight states, according to analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by Governing. The largest increase, 69.3 percent, was in Wyoming, which was also the state with the highest suicide rate in 2012, at 29.6 suicides per 100,000 residents. Suicide deaths also increased by less than 10 percent in eight states, including Vermont and Wisconsin, where the suicide rate dropped by 2.2 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.

 

Source: Governing, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

 

Legend:

 

States with largest increase in suicide rate between 2007 and 2012: Wyoming, Utah, South Dakota, Kansas, Idaho, Hawaii, Delaware, Connecticut

 

States with smallest increase: Vermont, California, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Rhode Island, West Virginia, Wisconsin

Sports Betting Blows Past $500M Mark in NJ

About $260 million was wagered in New Jersey on sporting events in October, bringing the total for the four and a half months sports betting has been legal in the state to $597 million.

 

A spokesman for FanDuel, which handles the sports book at the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, said there were two and a half times as many bets placed online in October as there were in September, and in-person wagering was continuing to grow at a “double-digit” rate.

 

“The numbers continue to be impressive,” said Joe Asher, CEO of sports bookmaker William Hill US. “It’s important to remember that the New Jersey sports betting industry is just ramping up. We didn’t even have our app in the Apple Store until the end of September, so we are very pleased.”

 

In May the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992, which had barred sports betting in most states. Since that ruling, legal sports betting operations have been set up in six states, Delaware, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island and West Virginia, with Pennsylvania expected to do the same in the coming weeks. The Keystone State will be the first with franchises in each of the nation’s four major professional sports leagues, the NBA, the NFL, the NHL and Major League Baseball, offering legal betting. (ASSOCIATED PRESS, ESPN, PROVIDENCE JOURNAL)

Gone To The Dogs

There is clearly no issue on which Maine Gov. Paul LePage won’t weigh in. This week’s example involves a Husky mix named Dakota that twice in the last year has got out of her yard and attacked a neighbor’s dogs, killing one and injuring another. That led to Dakota being removed from the home and subsequently being sentenced to death. Enter LePage, who last week issued Dakota a gubernatorial pardon. Alas, as news station WPXI in Pittsburgh reports, the district attorney handling the case told the governor “down boy,” noting he didn’t have any legal authority to pardon a dog. Alas, Dakota has a new owner who adopted the pooch not knowing of the death sentence hanging over her furry head. As such, the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry has got involved in an effort to make sure the new owner is afforded proper due process. A new hearing for Dakota has been scheduled. Stay tuned.

 

-- By RICH EHISEN

The Hardest Goodbye

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has had his share of difficult times since taking office, but probably none harder than the task he had last week: saying the final goodbye to Chloe, his family’s 16-year-old Sheltie. Cooper broke the news on the First Pets of North Carolina Facebook page last week. He recounted Chloe’s mischievousness, including how she once scarfed down an entire pizza they had left too close to her reach. Cooper also recalled how she had started to visibly slow down during his brutal gubernatorial campaign last year, and how he had asked her to hang on at least through Election Day. She did, and even made it long enough to get some of that really good chow from the governor’s mansion. The close to his message said it all: “Good girl, Chloe.”