For the seventh quarter in a row, polling by Morning Consult shows that the ten most popular governors in America are all Republicans. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker topped the list with a 70 percent approval rating, followed closely by Maryland Gov...
Last Monday, a week after the attorneys general from 15 states filed a lawsuit to block the Trump administration from ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program created in 2012 through an executive order from President Obama, California...
MARTINEZ SIGNS NM ELDERLY OVERSIGHT OVERHAUL: NEW MEXICO Gov. Susana Martinez (R) signed SB 19 , legislation that overhauls the Land of Enchantment’s system for guardianship and conservatorship of the elderly by mandating open court records,...
In a list of legislative do’s and don’ts, not getting your groove on with the interns or pages ought to be a no-brainer for most folks. But apparently not in South Dakota, where the Argus Leader reports a special legislative panel recently...
Special Session on Budget Coming to ND NORTH DAKOTA Gov. Jack Dalrymple (R) has called for a special session to address a projected budget shortfall for the 2015-17 biennium of over $300 million. The session will begin on Aug. 2 and probably last at...
Voters in Washington, D.C. will consider a referendum in November on whether to make the nation’s capital the 51st state. The hope of D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) who proposed the referendum and the D.C. Council that unanimously approved it last...
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) laid out his agenda for the year to lawmakers last week, a vision that includes narrowing eligibility standards for the Pelican State voucher program, making it harder to launch charter schools, increasing the minimum...
DE Approves SB 79 The DELAWARE House approves SB 79, which among several thing bars education technology service providers from selling student data or using that data to market to students or their families. The measure also bars them from building...
With Congress preparing to hold hearings to weigh reforming the Affordable Care Act, a small bipartisan group of governors has put together its own list of suggestions for lawmakers to consider. Led by Ohio Gov. John Kasich a Republican, and Democratic...
Crime In NJ The NEW JERSEY Senate endorses AB 156, legislation that would prohibit secretly photographing or recording underneath another person’s clothing, commonly referred to as “upskirting.” Violators would face up to 18 months...
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) said he plans to ask the Obama administration to allow the Grand Canyon State to require about 350,000 able-bodied adults currently on Medicaid to pay co-pays for some of their health care services and to put 2 percent of their...
Ohio voters who were removed from the state’s voter rolls due to inactivity will be allowed to vote in the November general election by provisional ballot, according to a U.S. District Court ruling last week. That decision comes a little less than...
New York Signs AB 611 NEW YORK Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signs AB 611 , which bans the use of electronic cigarettes and tobacco products on Empire State public school grounds. The law also prohibits e-cigarette use on buses and other vehicles that transport...
New York Signs AB 2806 NEW YORK Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signs AB 2806 , which adds the act of animal fighting to offenses which allow authorities to obtain an eavesdropping or video surveillance warrant (LONGISLAND.COM). North Carolina Signs HB 128...
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) has proposed several reforms to the Razorback State’s hybrid Medicaid plan, including lowering the program’s eligibility to 100 percent of the federal poverty level – down from 138 percent – and...
Social Policy In Virginia The VIRGINIA Board of Health votes to not require hospital building requirements for clinics that provide abortion services in the Old Dominion. The vote comes months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a TEXAS law imposing...
UT OKAYS PETITION DRIVE FOR MEDICAL POT INITIATIVE UTAH election officials have given the go-ahead for backers of a proposed medical marijuana initiative to begin gathering signatures to qualify the measure for the 2018 ballot. The Utah Patients Coalition...
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) said this week that public universities should cut programs that don’t produce workers for the high-paying jobs the economy needs. Bevin said that producing graduates who can fill the kind of jobs he’s trying to...
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D)signed comprehensive energy legislation ( HB 589 ) last week intended to boost the Tar Heel State’s growing solar power industry. But Cooper also immediately issued an executive order ( EO No. 11 ) that mitigates...
Last month Maine voters approved Question 5 , making their state the first to adopt ranked-choice voting. Under that system, instead of voting for just one candidate, voters rank the candidates from first choice to last. If no candidate receives a majority...
Three months after California voters approved Proposition 47, a ballot measure that reduced many drug and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, some law enforcement officials said the law is responsible for a dramatic decline in the number of...
Virginia Approves SB 1091 The VIRGINIA Assembly and Senate approve SB 1091 , which would abolish an Old Dominion law that mandates a person automatically lose their driver’s license for six months for a minor marijuana conviction. The measure...
PA Approves HB 805 The PENNSYLVANIA Senate approves HB 805 , which would require Keystone State school districts to use an evaluation system instead of seniority when determining which teachers to lay off. It moves to Gov. Tom Wolf (D), who has said...
The campaign trail can be so brutal. Case in point this week comes from Manchester, New Hampshire, where Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker ran into a pair of enthusiastic supporters of his effort to capture the 2016 GOP presidential nomination. As the Washington...
Speaking of California governors and presidential wannabes who shoot from the lip, current Golden State guv Jerry Brown recently had a few words of advice for Dr. Ben Carson. As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle , on a recent campaign stop there...