The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio has filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Jon Husted (R), alleging he is violating the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 by removing from the voter rolls tens of thousands of voters who haven’t...
California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) launched an effort last week to extend the Golden State’s wobbly cap-and-trade emissions reductions program a decade beyond its scheduled 2020 end date. The proposal put forth by the California Air Resources...
Maryland Signs HB 1325 MARYLAND Gov. Larry Hogan (R) signs HB 1325 , which makes the Old Line State the third to ban hydraulic fracturing, or fracking (BALTIMORE SUN).
Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (R) is rejecting calls from a growing number of fellow Republicans to resign over allegations he attempted to blackmail a mistress into silence. Greitens has admitted to having a sexual relationship with the woman but denies...
Business In NJ The NEW JERSEY Supreme Court rules that employers may not terminate or discriminate against workers simply for getting divorced or separated from their spouse. The suit stemmed from the case of an employee who was terminated after revealing...
NV Approves Raiders’ Stadium Deal NEVADA Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) signed legislation passed in special session ( SB 1 a ) that will increase the hotel room tax in Clark County to help fund a $1.9 billion, 65,000-seat stadium in Las Vegas. The...
Most states will see improved fiscal conditions in 2015, but their economic growth rates remain below the levels they enjoyed before the Great Recession, according to a comprehensive new report. "Economically speaking, states are a mirror of the...
Louisiana lawmakers passed a budget in June that is expected to keep the state in the black for the rest of the current fiscal year, which began July 1, as well as next year. But because that spending plan relies heavily on temporary tax increases, including...
Ducey Fires Lobbyists ARIZONA Gov. Doug Ducey (R) issued an executive order ( EO 2016-05 ) last Thursday terminating state contracts with lobbyist firms contracted with various state commissions and boards. The governor’s office said it had verified...
SB 2438 Signed in MS MISSISSIPPI Gov. Phil Bryant (R) signs SB 2438 , which requires all school superintendents to be appointed rather than elected (WREG.COM [MEMPHIS]).
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) issued an executive order last week intended to mitigate growing national backlash to legislation he signed last month that critics contend discriminates against the LGBT community. The bill came in response to...
Fueled by a drought in the western states that’s now in its fourth year, wildfires have burned nine million acres nationwide this year, well over the five million-acre average for the past decade, according to National Geographic and the National...
MO Overrides The MISSOURI Legislature overrides 10 vetoes issued by Gov. Jay Nixon (D) including bills that would have barred local municipalities from enacting their own minimum wage standards or prohibiting the use of plastic bags by retail stores...
Business In the Workplace The Obama administration announces new rules that raise the threshold for full-time salaried workers to be paid overtime to those making $47,476 per year, up from the current standard of $23,660. The change, which would impact...
LA Passes Liquor Tax Increase The LOUISIANA Legislature passed a bill in extraordinary session last week that would raise taxes on beer, wine and other alcoholic beverages. The measure (HB 27 a) was sent to Gov. John Bel Edwards (D), who pushed for...
Crime In VT The VERMONT Senate approves SB 241, which would make the Green Mountain State the first to legislatively legalize the sale and possession of small amounts of marijuana for recreational use. The measure, which would allow residents 21 and...
The longstanding football rivalry between Ohio State and Michigan took on a new wrinkle this year. Or is that a pleat? As reported by Sports Illustrated , Ohio Gov. John Kasich issued a resolution last week before the big game that included not only his...
In theory, inside a voting booth is one place where what you do is absolutely between you and your maker. But, as the Union Leader reports, that just ain’t so in New Hampshire. A federal judge recently struck down a Granite State law that barred...
North Carolina’s Republican-controlled Senate has proposed a tax cut plan ( SB 325 ) that would increase the state’s standard income tax deduction and reduce the individual tax rate from 5.499 percent to 5.35 percent, as well as reduce the...
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...
In November voters in Arkansas and North Carolina, two states where voter ID laws have been struck down by the courts, will decide whether such requirements will be enshrined into their respective constitutions. And voters in Montana will decide whether...
Assistant secretary of the Colorado Senate John McKay has wanted to be on Jeopardy for as long as he can remember. And as the NCSL Blog reports , after numerous attempts this year his dream came true. But while he didn’t end up the winner, he did...
Bill signing sessions involving hundreds of measures are moderately boring affairs, with a handful of note to the general public and most only exciting to the advocates and interests they impact the most. But then there is always the occasional odd nugget...
Speaking of the Man Who Would Be King, he’s not the only one talking about building a wall to keep out undesirables. As the Sacramento Bee reports , California Gov. Jerry Brown may be all in on a wall too...to keep out Trump! Speaking at an event...
America’s elected representatives are whiter than those they represent. Despite their growing share of the U.S. population, minorities are decidedly underrepresented in nearly every state legislature and Congress, according to analysis of U.S. Census...