Governors In Brief - July 24 2017

Dayton Legislative Funding Veto Overruled

A MINNESOTA judge ruled that Gov. Mark Dayton’s (D) May 30 veto of funding for the Gopher State Legislature was unconstitutional. Ramsey County District Court Chief Judge John Guthmann said Dayton had exceeded his executive authority. Dayton said he would appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court. (REUTERS)

 

COOPER OPPOSES NC OFFSHORE DRILLING

NORTH CAROLINA Gov. Roy Cooper (D) announced his opposition last week to drilling for natural gas and oil off the Atlantic coast, saying it poses too much of a threat to the state's beaches and tourism economy. Cooper’s announcement came on Thursday, one day before the Friday deadline for comment from elected officials on the Trump administration’s request for companies to perform seismic testing under Atlantic waters. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

 

-- Compiled by RICH EHISEN

Business - July 24 2017

Business In Massachusetts

The MASSACHUSETTS House and Senate agree on a bill that would impose significant changes in the voter-approved law legalizing recreational marijuana sales in the Bay State. Under the legislation, the maximum tax on retail marijuana sales would go from 12 percent to 20 percent, with oversight of both the retail and medical weed industries being placed under a five-person commission. The ballot measure called for a three-person panel. The bill moves now to Gov. Charlie Baker (R), who is expected to sign it into law (BOSTON GLOBE, STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE [BOSTON]).

Massachusetts Approves HB 3816

Also in MASSACHUSETTS, the House gives final approval to HB 3816, which requires employers to offer pregnant women reasonable accommodations, including “more frequent or longer paid or unpaid breaks, time off to recover from childbirth with or without pay, acquisition or modification of equipment, seating, temporary transfer to a less strenuous or hazardous position, job restructuring, light duty, break time and private non-bathroom space for expressing breast milk, assistance with manual labor, or modified work schedules.” The bill moves to Gov. Baker (STATE HOUSE NEWS ERVICE [BOSTON]).

Business - December 19 2016

Business In CA

The CALIFORNIA Supreme Court rules that online travel companies are exempt from paying hotel occupancy taxes. The ruling rejects claims by the city of San Diego that companies like Expedia and Priceline are liable for paying the hotel taxes. But some observers say the wording of the ruling could open the door for cities to sue the hotels directly for the tax payments (BLOOMBERG BNA).

Business In MI

MICHIGAN Gov. Rick Snyder (R) signs SB 995, which authorizes the operation of autonomous vehicles on Wolverine State public roads. The legislation updates a 2013 law that allowed for the testing of autonomous vehicles in the state, but required a driver to be sitting behind the wheel (GOVTECH.COM).

GA Voter Registration Database Targeted by DHS?

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp (R) sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson this month saying the state had discovered an unsuccessful effort to breach computer systems housing its voter registration database by an IP address linked to the DHS.

 

“At no time has my office agreed to or permitted DHS to conduct penetration testing or security scans of our network,” Kemp wrote. “Moreover, your department has not contacted my office since this unsuccessful incident to alert us of any security event that would require testing or scanning of our network.”

 

The DHS said it was “looking into the matter.”

 

“DHS takes the trust of our public and private sector partners seriously, and we will respond to Secretary Kemp directly,” a spokeswoman for the department said.

 

Georgia was one of two states that declined federal government assistance with election security after the Federal Bureau of Investigation revealed in August that it was looking into hacking incidents involving elections systems in Arizona and Illinois. (WASHINGTON POST, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION)

States Consider Bans on Flavored E-Cigarettes

As of April 9, at least 10 states had introduced bans on the sale of flavored tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and other vaping devices. Most of the proposals would exempt establishments that prohibit minors. Some would apply only to e-liquids used to refill vaping products. But at least two states, California and Hawaii, have introduced measures that would ban all sales of all flavored tobacco products, although the House version of Hawaii’s proposal, HB 276, was amended to allow sales of menthol-flavored products.