Last month Republicans who control North Carolina’s General Assembly overrode a veto by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper to enact a bill ( HB 239 ) reducing the size of the state’s intermediate appellate court, the Court of Appeals, from 15 judges...
AK Lawmakers Dodge Walker Call for Action On Appointments Saying it was “time to bring [them] to a close,” ALASKA Gov. Bill Walker (I) issued a proclamation last week calling for a joint session of the Last Frontier Legislature to force...
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) filed legislation last week that criminalizes so-called “revenge porn,” the posting of sexually explicit photos or videos of someone online without that person’s approval. “We here in...
Alabama Approves HB 315 The ALABAMA House approves HB 315 , which would allow midwifes to legally practice in the Heart of Dixie. It moves to the Senate (BIRMINGHAM NEWS). -- Compiled by RICH EHISEN
Social Policy In Missouri A federal judge issues a ruling that blocks two MISSOURI laws that require clinics which perform abortions to meet standards for surgical centers and for their doctors to have hospital privileges. U.S. District Judge Howard...
Health In Texas And Arizona The U.S. Food and Drug Administration rules that states may not import drugs used for lethal injection. The agency said the drugs states like TEXAS and ARIZONA were seeking to bring in were unapproved and misbranded (TEXAS...
Oregon Approves HB 3158 The OREGON House approves HB 3158 , which would award “preference points” to Beaver State hunters who provide law enforcement with detailed information that can help prosecute poachers. The points could be applied...
Oklahoma Approves HB 1693 The OKLAHOMA Senate approves HB 1693 , which would overhaul the Sooner State’s public school accountability system to give equal weight to student performance in English language arts and mathematics as well as student...
Crime In Colorado The United States Supreme Court rules that people freed from prison when their convictions are reversed deserve a refund of what they paid in fees, court costs and restitution. The ruling also orders COLORADO to refund several thousand...
Texas Approves HB 100 The TEXAS House approves HB 100 , which would establish a statewide framework for regulating ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft. The measure, which would also override local regulations already in place, would establish...
And speaking of Gov. Justice, let’s just say he knows how to make an impression. When lawmakers sent the gov a budget he didn’t like, he decided it was the perfect time to go big or go home. As the McClatchy News Service reports , Justice...
A governor can wield lots of power, sometimes even over stuff that matters. And then there is new West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, who is taking a more, ahhh...varied approach. As the Charleston Gazette-Mail reports , Justice has apparently been using...
Those darned Russians are everywhere! Case in point comes from California, where a group pushing to have the state secede from the rest of the nation has abandoned its quest after its leader bailed out and moved to a city on the edge of Siberia. Or should...
California pharmacists unfamiliar with the high and low points of medicinal marijuana can take heart: help is on the way. As KCBS in San Francisco reports , Sacramento resident Shayna Schonouer has been certified by the state as the nation’s very...
Life expectancy for most of the developed world has risen for years. But ongoing research by Princeton University economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton reveals that over the last two decades mortality rates have spiked sharply for one specific group of...
Of the 42 states for which reliable data is available, New Mexico had the highest rate of suicides in 2015 among white men between the ages of 45 and 54, at 67.9 deaths per 100,000 residents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s...
ND LAWMAKERS ROLL BACK SPENDING NORTH DAKOTA’s Republican-led Legislative Assembly passed a budget for the 2017-19 biennium last month that reduces general fund spending to 2011-13 budget levels. The $4.3 billion in general fund spending included...
After much tinkering with amendments that lasted late into the night, South Carolina’s Republican-led Senate passed an infrastructure funding bill ( HB 3516 ) last month. “The Senate passed a bill tonight that will fix our roads, repair...
A few years ago when Oklahoma’s economy was booming, Republicans who control the state’s government pushed through a permanent reduction in the state’s top income tax rate and slashed the oil production tax rate by 5 percent (from 7...
Hawaii House and Senate leaders reached a tentative agreement last month on a plan that would increase the state’s hotel tax to help fund Honolulu’s high-speed rail project. Pitched by House conferees on Senate Bill 1183 , the plan would increase...
When one of the owners of Rainforest Farms in Juneau, Alaska tried to mail a box of cash to Anchorage last month to make a regular tax payment, the U.S. Postal Service refused to deliver it. Not because of insufficient postage or missing address information...
AK House Advances Same-Day Voter Registration: ALASKA’s House voted 22-17 last month in support of legislation ( HB 1 ) allowing residents of the state to register to vote and then immediately cast a ballot on Election Day. The Senate isn’t...
In August 2015, after spending over two years working on a plan that would have reduced Louisiana’s reliance on nursing homes and saved the state $77 million a year, the administration of then-Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) abruptly announced that any effort...
This year marked a rift between Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) and many of the state’s lawmakers, including some of his fellow Republicans, with both chambers of the GOP-led Legislature voting to roll back a major tax cut the governor championed...
Hickenlooper Orders Oil & Gas Inspections In the aftermath of an explosion caused by a gas leak, COLORADO Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) ordered oil and gas companies statewide to inspect and pressure-test oil and gas flowlines within 1,000 feet of...