IL Governor Signs SB 1 ILLINOIS Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) signs SB 1 , legislation that will raise the statewide minimum wage to $15 by 2025. The Prairie State joins CALIFORNIA, NEW YORK, NEW JERSEY and MASSACHUSETTS in adopting proposals to gradually...
NEWSOM WANTS TO STEP UP CA POT ENFORCEMENT Citing a lack of cohesive enforcement to stamp out CALIFORNIA’s illegal marijuana market, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced expanded efforts by the state National Guard to work with federal officials to...
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said he wants to cut the state’s health care costs by importing prescription drugs from less expensive Canadian pharmacies. It is currently illegal for states to import drugs from foreign pharmacies, but DeSantis...
Wisconsin Gov. Toney Evers (D) unveiled an expansive plan last week to overhaul the Badger State’s marijuana laws. His proposal would make the drug legal for medicinal use, decriminalize cannabis possession and align the state’s CBD oil laws...
TN LEGISLATURE CONSIDERING CLOSING PRIMARY ELECTIONS TENNESSEE’s House Elections and Campaign Finance Subcommittee approved a bill ( HB 1273 / SB 1500 ) last week that would require voters to declare a party affiliation in order to vote in the...
In July 2005 Pennsylvania lawmakers voted to give themselves pay raises of between 16 and 34 percent, depending on their position. That action caused such a public outcry that the raises were repealed a few months later. And even after the repeal, 20...
After several days of hearings into the handling of absentee ballots by an operative for the Republican candidate in North Carolina’s Ninth Congressional District race in November -- the only 2018 contest yet to be decided -- the state’s Board...
CT GOV PROPOSES SODA TAX CONNECTICUT Gov. Ned Lamont (D) unveiled a budget proposal last week calling for a new 1.5 cents per ounce tax on sodas and other sugar-sweetened drinks that would generate an estimated $163 million in new revenue next fiscal...
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced last week that it was canceling a $929 million grant to California for a high-speed rail project that was supposed to link San Francisco and Los Angeles. The announcement also said the department was...
Four years ago, faced with a $1 billion budget deficit, Arizona’s GOP-controlled Legislature reduced the maximum amount of time residents could receive welfare benefits over their entire lives to 12 months, the shortest duration in the country....
The makers of several cigarette brands, including Salem and Winston, have stopped paying Minnesota the money they owe it under the 1998 multistate tobacco settlement agreement. That has left the state with an estimated $15 million less per year to spend...
President Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border could collectively cost states, the District Columbia and two U.S. territories as much as $6 billion in federal military construction and National...
The attorneys general of 16 states have filed a federal lawsuit to block the Trump administration from using a national emergency declaration to appropriate about $6.6 billion to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. All 16 of the AGs are Democrats...
Sixteen states led by California sued President Donald Trump on President’s Day, alleging that his proclamation of a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexican border was unconstitutional. Trump proclaimed the emergency a week earlier after expressing...
Former Maine Gov. Paul LePage and current Gov. Janet Mills have almost nothing in common, except for an apparent need for speed and an unwillingness to learn a lesson. As the Bangor Daily News reports , Mills has had 10 speeding tickets since 1975, and...
You folks can eat all the veggie-based faux burger patties you want. You can even pretend you’re chomping on meat if that makes you happy, but once you cross over into Mississippi you had better not call it that. As the Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports...
California for the most part really doesn’t like Donald Trump. This is hardly news. Alas, it is news that the California Public Employee Retirement System – the largest pension fund in the nation - is one of the larger shareholders in American...
San Diego City Council Gives Initial Approval The SAN DIEGO City Council gives initial approval to a proposal to eliminate parking requirements for new housing developments that are within a half-mile of a public transit stop. Downtown housing developments...
NY Senate and Assembly Unanimously Approves SB 1719 The NEW YORK Senate and Assembly unanimously approve SB 1719 , which would make so-called “revenge porn,” the act of posting nude or sexual images of someone online without that person’s...
GA House Approves HB 213 The GEORGIA House approves HB 213 , which would allow Peach State farmers to cultivate hemp for use in Cannabidiol, or CBD, oils and other products. It moves to the Senate (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION). WA House Approves...
UT House Approves HB 353 The UTAH House approves HB 353 , which would authorize funding to pay for free mass transit on 17 of the Beehive State’s worst air quality days over a three-year period. It moves to the Senate (DESERET NEWS [SALT LAKE...
WA Senate Approves SB 5116 The WASHINGTON Senate approves SB 5116 , which would mandate that all electrical utilities in the Evergreen State transition to 100 percent, carbon neutral electric supply by 2030, and 100 percent carbon-free electricity...
SC House Approves HA 3759 The SOUTH CAROLINA House approves HB 3759 , a bill that would raise the minimum starting teacher pay to $35,000, give the state education superintendent more ability to take over low-performing school districts and create...
ND Senate Approves HB 1400 The NORTH DAKOTA Senate approves HB 1400 , which defines what constitutes meat and bars non-meat products from being labeled as meat in any way. It moves to Gov. Doug Burgum (R) for consideration (BISMARCK TRIBUNE). OR...
DUCEY VOWS VETO OF ANTI-VAX BILLS Breaking a tradition of not commenting on bills that are still in the legislative process, ARIZONA Gov. Doug Ducey (R) said he is “pro-vaccine” and would veto any bills to weaken the state’s vaccination...