Drought-inspired legislation proposed in CALIFORNIA would authorize local water authorities to seek voter approval to impose 300 percent taxes on the bills of excessive water users. The bill (SB 789) needs a two-thirds majority in both legislative chambers to pass (SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE).
The KANSAS House declined last Monday to even consider a $423 million tax bill passed by the Senate the night before. House members said they opposed provisions in the bill imposing a cap on local property taxes and putting a four-year sunset on a host of tax exemptions and credits in current law, among other things (LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD).
On a party-line vote, MAINE’S Democrat-controlled House rejected Gov. Paul LePage’s (R) proposed constitutional amendment to eliminate the state’s income tax (PORTLAND PRESS HERALD).
The two-year budget passed by the TEXAS Legislature last week includes only $32 million in incentives for film, TV and video game production, nearly half of the $63 million allocated in the current two-year budget (AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN).
-- Compiled by KOREY CLARK
The NEW YORK Assembly approves AB 7060, which would allow emergency access to medical marijuana for patients with illnesses like epilepsy. It is now in the Senate (ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE).
FLORIDA Gov. Rick Scott (R) signs HB 751, which allows physicians to prescribe the anti-overdose drug naloxone to known opiate addicts or their caregivers (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
TEXAS Gov. Greg Abbot (R) signs SB 374, which requires state agencies, colleges and universities to use the federal electronic employment verification system known as E-Verify when screening job applicants. The bill codifies into law an executive order issued by former Gov. Rick Perry (R) last year (TEXAS TRIBUNE).
A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a TEXAS law that requires Lone Star State clinics that perform abortions to meet ambulatory surgical center standards, which include minimum sizes for rooms and doorways, pipelines for anesthesia and other infrastructure. Opponents of the law say they will appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court (TEXAS TRIBUNE).
The MICHIGAN Senate endorses a trio of bills that collectively would allow adoption agencies to refuse to place a child with a same-sex couple if doing so would violate their religious beliefs. The three measures – House Bills 4188, 4189 and 4190 – move to Gov. Rick Snyder (R) for consideration (ADVOCATE.COM).
The WISCONSIN Senate approves SB 179, which would bar doctors from performing an abortion after a woman’s 20th week of pregnancy unless the woman’s life is in danger. The measure, which contains no exception for rape or incest, moves to the Assembly (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL-SENTINEL).
FLORIDA Gov. Rick Scott (R) signs HB 633, which requires women seeking an abortion to wait 24 hours after seeing a doctor before having the procedure (MIAMI HERALD).
The NEW YORK Assembly approves AB 7260, which would require state veterans affairs officials to develop plans for assisting veterans of military sexual trauma. The measure moves to the Senate (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
-- Compiled by RICH EHISEN
In this guest post for Procurement Leaders Mark Dunn, Segment Leader for Risk at LexisNexis, shares his views on supply chain visibility and strategies to mitigate the impact of international and domestic sanctions.
To date, enforcement of sanctions regimes has primarily focused on the financial services sector. However, more industries are finding themselves subject to scrutiny, and it is critical that firms be aware of their legal obligations and implement controls to mitigate supply chain risks.
For many years sanctions, whether diplomatic or economic in nature, have been deployed by governments and intergovernmental organizations to reinforce national or international policies. For example, sanctions are put in place to mitigate perceived risks to global security by a specific group or to tackle perceived human rights breaches by a certain jurisdiction. Sanctions regimes can take many forms and the range of measures available includes: arms embargoes, travel bans, asset freezes, reduced diplomatic or military links, flight bans, withdrawal of aid, trade embargoes and a restriction on cultural or sporting links.
Often, sanctions originate from United Nations Security Council Resolutions. Under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, the Security Council can take enforcement measures to maintain or restore international peace and security. UN sanctions are published via the Consolidated United Nations Security Council Sanctions List. UN Member States are obliged to implement such measures and often republish the UN list via their local jurisdictions.
Examples of government agencies taking the lead on implementing UN sanctions measures include the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury which administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions based on U.S. foreign policy and national security. Also in the UK, HM Treasury, is responsible for the implementation and administration of international financial sanctions. The European Union also collectively applies sanctions to pursue objectives in accordance with the principles of the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy. Across the world, UN Member States adhere to a similar approach. Each country may also have its own specific sanctions measures either to augment an existing UN policy or to address unique national priorities, for example, U.S. restrictive measures concerning Cuba.
Although in some circumstances, often involving a humanitarian risk, government agencies may grant licenses to exempt certain individuals or companies from specific restrictive measures, most sanctions are rigidly enforced. The financial services sector has seen a high volume of regulatory fines and settlements totaling billions of dollars for breaches of financial sanctions. However, an increasing trend has also seen companies within sectors outside financial services subject to heightened scrutiny and enforcement action. For example, in March 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) issued Schlumberger Oilfield Holdings Ltd with a $233m penalty for what were deemed violations of U.S. sanctions by providing services to Schlumberger customers in Iran and Sudan through non-US subsidiaries. The DoJ went on to issue a blunt warning describing this action as:
“A landmark case that puts global corporations on notice that they must respect our trade laws when on American soil."
It is critical that companies implement steps to mitigate the impact of sanctions on their supply chain and the following outlines some essential factors to consider along with consultation with your legal counsel:
Ensure senior management understands their company’s sanctions obligations and endorses policy process.
Prepare company policy and procedures, including disclosure requirements.
Communicate policy and procedures to employees and third parties (eg. suppliers, contractors, sales agents).
Implement regular training to ensure staff and third parties understand obligations and procedures.
Implement a screening process appropriate to the nature, size and risk of the company’s business to check sanctions lists.
Align sanctions screening process to associated third-party due-diligence procedures.
Ensure procedures include escalation contacts for sanctions enquiries and to report violations.
Audit and regularly review policy and procedures, training and screening systems.
Reinforce policy and procedures with independent audit and testing.
Don’t wait for enforcement as a trigger to implement above actions.
Editor: Rich Ehisen Associate Editor: Korey Clark Contributing Editor: Mary Peck, David Giusti Editorial Advisor: Lou Cannon Correspondents: Richard Cox (CA), Lauren Davis (MA), Steve Karas (CA) and Ben Livingood (PA), Cathy Santsche (CA), Dena Blodgett (CA) Graphic Design: Vanessa Perez Design
A SMASHING SUCCESS: Looking for a way to show off the impact of legislation he authored to help low income people get out of gas guzzlers and into high-mileage, low-emissions vehicles, California Senate pro Tem Kevin de Leon decided to take a “go big or go home” approach. To wit, de Leon brought the Mendoza family of Stockton to the Capitol to make a big show out of handing them the keys to a slightly used Prius to replace their creaky old truck. But getting the newer car was only half the fun. For the real show, de Leon had a car crusher brought to the Capitol grounds, where a cheering crowd got to witness Mr. Mendoza’s truck get pancaked. Afterwards, Mendoza got his keys and drove off in the shiny hybrid. That was nice, of course, but as political theatre goes it’s hard to top publicly smashing a car.
The CALIFORNIA Senate approves SB 3, which would raise the Golden State minimum wage to $11 in $2016 and $13 in 2017. The measure, which would also hike the wage annually based on inflation, moves to the Assembly (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET). * Also in CALIFORNIA, the Assembly endorses AB 96, which does away with an exemption to the state’s ban on trading in ivory products if those products were first imported prior to Jan. 1 1977. It moves to the Senate (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
NEW HAMPSHIRE Gov. Maggie Hassan (D) signs HB 136, legislation that bars tanning salons from allowing anyone under 18 from using a tanning bed (FOSTERS DAILY DEMOCRAT).
NEVADA Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) signs two ridesharing bills: AB 175, which sets up a regulatory framework for ride-hailing companies and imposes a 3 percent tax on taxi and ridesharing rides, and AB 176, which places ride-hailing companies under the jurisdiction of the Nevada Transportation Authority (INSURANCE JOURNAL).
MISSOURI Gov. Jay Nixon vetoes HB 116, so-called “right-to-work” legislation that would have barred unions from being able to collect dues from non-members who benefit from pay and benefits garnered through collective bargaining. The bill’s supporters have vowed to seek an override when the Legislature returns for veto session in September (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH).
It hasn’t been a good last few years for keeping California’s elected officials out of trouble with the law, with three Senators arrested in felony corruption cases and at least four lawmakers arrested for drunk driving. There is only so much anyone can do about keeping corruption-minded pols on the straight and narrow, but Senate pro Tem Kevin de Leon is at least taking a crack at keeping folks out of the drunk tank. As the Sacramento Bee reports, de Leon has hired two people to provide senators with a 24-hour ride service in order to prevent them from getting behind the wheel themselves. The hiring has some people in the Capitol community bawling about pols getting yet another perk, but one could argue that it’s a small price to pay to keep someone from getting killed. Then again, said pols could also just not get hammered and drive. That would be nice.
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R) has made the Sooner State the second to centralize oil and gas regulation with the state and to bar cities and counties from enacting their own bans on the controversial drilling process hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
Acting just days after Texas Gov. Greg Abbot signed similar legislation in the Lone Star State, Fallin signed SB 809, a bill which codifies that the three-member Oklahoma Corporation Commission has primacy over regulating not only oil and gas drilling but wastewater disposal, recovery operations and pipeline infrastructure as well. The measure also prohibits local governments from banning drilling within their own jurisdictions, though it allows “reasonable” restrictions for some elements of the process, including setbacks, noise mitigation, traffic issues and fencing.
Fallin also mimicked Abbot’s reasoning, saying in a statement that the measure was necessary to head off a “patchwork of inconsistent municipal regulations across the state.” She lauded the Commission, saying its members are duly elected by voters and “are best equipped to make decisions about drilling and its effect on seismic activity, the environment and other sensitive issues. We need to let these experts do their jobs.”
Critics, however, noted that the energy industry is among the biggest contributors to each commissioner’s election campaign. The Commission has also done little to regulate wastewater injection wells, which have been linked to a dramatic increase in earthquakes across Oklahoma. According to state geologists, seismic activity was 70 times greater in 2013 than it was in 2008, growing from an average of 1.5 magnitude 3 or greater quakes each year to 2.5 such quakes each day.
The bill drew strong opposition from environmental groups and many city leaders, who complained the law robs residents of the power to protect their own communities. Opponents have also noted that law leaves very ambiguous what will or will not constitute “reasonable” restrictions on the areas it does leave to cities to manage. (OKLAHOMAN [OKLAHOMA CITY], U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO)
“States are mythologized as laboratories of public policy innovation,” but in reality they are often “no more than factories of replication, captured by political myths and doomed to re-enact failed policies,” David Schultz, a professor of political science at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, stated in an article last month in Governing.
Schultz went on to say that in his book American Politics in the Age of Ignorance: Why Lawmakers Choose Belief Over Research, he catalogs some of the public policies -- including term limits and voter ID -- that have repeatedly been enacted despite having been largely discredited by empirical research. Topping his list of “political myths” is the notion that tax burdens or incentives significantly influence business-relocation decisions.
“The literature is clear: Tax breaks to encourage economic relocation are economically inefficient and wasteful,” he said. “Hundreds of studies reach this conclusion.”
Schultz said the simplest explanation for the longevity of such myths is that policymakers, short on staff and resources, are unaware the policies don’t work. Or they think that if a policy worked in one place it’ll work in another or even that if it didn’t work somewhere, it might work where they are.
“More cynically, interest-group politics, as well as the impact of money in politics, account for why some policies endure despite evidence to the contrary,” he said. (GOVERNING)
According to a report last year from bond-rating company Standard & Poor’s, states have $529.8 billion in unfunded liabilities for health care and other benefits separate from pensions. But that figure could go up significantly soon.
Under rules approved last week by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, GASB Statement Nos. 74 and 75, states and municipalities will have to report billions of dollars in non-pension liabilities categorized as “other postemployment benefits,” or OPEB -- such as public retiree health insurance, for example -- on their balance sheets, instead of disclosing them only in the footnotes of their financial statements.
“Because OPEB promises represent a very significant liability for many state and local governments, it is critical that taxpayers, policymakers, bond analysts, and others are equipped with enhanced information, which will enable them to better assess the related financial obligations and annual costs of providing OPEB,” said GASB Chairman David Vaudt in a written statement
The new OPEB standards parallel those the GASB issued for pensions in 2012, GASB Statement Nos. 67 & 68. Statement No. 74 will take effect on June 15, 2016. Statement No. 75 will take effect on June 15, 2017. (BLOOMBERG BUSINESS, ACCOUNTING WEB, NEW YORK TIMES)
At least six states have introduced bills or resolutions dealing with digital driver’s licenses this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures and LexisNexis State Net’s legislative database. Three of those resolutions (Delaware’s SCR 4, Illinois’ SJR 11 and North Dakota’s HCR 3036) have been adopted, and one of the bills (Tennessee’s HB 556) has been enacted.
Source: National Conference of State Legislatures, LexisNexis State Net
Key:
Adopted digital driver’s license resolution: Delaware, Illinois, North Dakota
Enacted digital driver’s license bill: Tennessee
Legislation pending: California, New Jersey
A handful of states are racing to be the first to offer their residents a driver’s license they can load onto their smartphones. But some of those who would be most affected by that innovation are wondering what the rush is about.
Last December Iowa’s Department of Transportation revealed it was working on a smartphone application that might eventually replace the state’s conventional plastic driver’s license. The Iowa DOT also said it would be conducting a pilot program relying on Department of Motor Vehicles employees and their smartphones to test a prototype of the app. If that testing goes well, the app could be rolled out as early as 2016.
Not to be out-“teched,” Delaware’s General Assembly adopted a resolution (SCR 4) in January, according to LexisNexis State Net’s legislative database, requesting that the state’s Division of Motor Vehicles “study and consider issuing optional digital driver’s licenses for Delaware motorists.” The state is now rushing to develop its own driver’s license app.
“We’d like to go first,” said Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles Director Jennifer Cohan, according to the Washington Post.
California could enter the race as well if it enacts AB 221, a bill introduced in February and passed by the Assembly last week providing for the creation of a driver’s license app there. But it’s unlikely the Golden State will reach the finish line ahead of Iowa or Delaware, given that in its current form AB 221 only calls for the completion of a feasibility study by December 1, 2016, according to State Net’s database. Meanwhile, New Jersey’s Senate has passed SB 2694, providing for a report on the feasibility of electronic driver’s licenses in that state.
MorphoTrust USA, a Massachusetts-based software development company that provides driver’s licensing systems to DMVs in 42 states and is helping Iowa and Delaware develop their driver’s license apps, started thinking about the idea of a digital driver’s license a couple of years ago, according to The News Journal in Wilmington, Delaware.
“It’s an idea whose time has come,” said Jenny Openshaw, MorphoTrust’s vice president for state and local sales.
Some have their doubts about that.
“From a law enforcement perspective I really don’t see any advantages,” Sgt. Scott Bright of the Iowa State Patrol told National Public Radio. “The first thing I thought about is if we’re making a traffic stop, is that violator looking for their cellphone before we stop the car.”
Some have also raised the question of whether officers would be able to scan the information from a violator’s driver’s license app into the system in their patrol cars for managing incidents without physically carrying the driver’s cellphone back to the squad car, presenting serious privacy issues. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously last year that cell phones are protected against warrantless searches, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. noting the devices provide access to an array of personal information not previously accessible through a single search.
“Modern cell phones are not just another technological convenience,” Roberts wrote for the court.
It would also likely take time for digital driver’s licenses to be widely accepted as a valid form of identification, potentially creating problems for drivers with digital licenses who get pulled over in an area where a conventional license is required. And what happens if the driver’s phone loses cell reception or its battery runs out?
Then there are the potential technical glitches.
“We’ve all stood in line at the airport behind the people trying to scan their QR codes to get aboard the airplane” and failing repeatedly, said Doug Jacobson of Iowa State University’s Information Assurance Center, according to NPR.
But digital drivers’ licenses aren’t without advantages. For example, although they would resemble plastic licenses with drivers’ names, addresses, dates of birth, photos and scannable barcodes, they would be more than just static digital versions of conventional licenses. They would instead be full-blown mobile apps, allowing users such functionality as the ability to update their address or other information -- without a trip to the DMV.
Computer security experts also say a digital license requiring a PIN code or possibly a thumb print or facial recognition to access might be more secure than a plastic license, should you lose it or leave it lying around.
Supporters of digital drivers’ licenses are already grappling with many of the concerns that have been raised about them. Paul Steier, director of the Bureau of Investigation and Identity Protection for the Iowa Department of Transportation, said his state is looking at other ways for law enforcement officials to enter driver’s license information into their Tracs (Traffic and Criminal Software) system during traffic stops, in addition to the usual method of scanning license barcodes.
“For example, can an officer use their own smartphone to validate and read the digital driver’s license from the subject’s smart phone, then transmit that into Tracs?” he asked.
And both Iowa and Delaware are exploring the idea of a feature that would block notifications or other personal messages from popping up on a smartphone’s screen when a digital license is being displayed.
Addressing the delayed adoption issue, Mike Williams, chief of communications for Delaware’s DMV said that initially “we wouldn’t be able to guarantee that people would be able to get the same services in the state of Texas that they’d be able to get in the state of Delaware with their digital licenses.”
“But in five or 10 years, if there are 20 or 30 states doing this, then it would be more of a nationwide known commodity and acceptance,” he said.
There does seem to be an inevitability to the digital driver’s license, given the ever-increasing functionality of smartphones and their popularity among 18- to 29-year-olds, over four in five of whom own the devices, compared to six in 10 American adults in general, according to the Pew Research Center.
Still, even Iowa DOT spokeswoman Andrea Henry admits drivers aren’t exactly clamoring for digital licenses right now.
“It’s really about just keeping up with technology,” she said, according to NPR.
MorphoTrust’s Openshaw, likewise, told NPR: “I think that the digital driver’s license doesn’t so much solve a problem as it fulfills a need and a desire on the part of the American consumer to have everything that is important to us in electronic form and on the mobile device of our choice. People are more likely to leave their wallet at home these days than their cellphone.”
COLORADO Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) signs HB 1043, legislation that makes a fourth DUI a felony punishable by up to six years in prison and a fine of as much as $500,000. The law takes effect Aug. 5 (CASPER STAR TRIBUNE, LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
NEVADA Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) signs HB 239, a bill that, among several things, requires police to obtain a warrant before using a drone aircraft to conduct surveillance on a private citizen (KRNV.COM [RENO]).
TEXAS Gov. Greg Abbot (R) vetoes HB 225, so-called “good Samaritan” legislation that would have given limited criminal immunity to someone who seeks medical help for a companion that suffers a drug overdose (TEXAS TRIBUNE).
Coming off a session that saw lawmakers adopt the bulk of his agenda, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) is pondering a run at the U.S. Senate seat currently held by retiring Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nevada).
Sandoval has said many times in the past he has no interest in seeking another office, saying his current job is the best in the world. But in a meeting with reporters on June 2, Sandoval said he is now considering making the Senate run. He was not ready to make a definitive declaration, saying he was still consulting with his family and other advisors, but that the decision “will be made in the near future.”
Sandoval’s comments came as he was signing several of his top priorities into law, including a bill that gives the Silver State the most far-reaching program to allow parents of K-12 children to use state funds to pay for private or religious schools, or for home schooling. Under that measure, SB 302, parents of kids with disabilities or whose families are below 185 percent of the federal poverty level, could use 100 percent of the state allotment, about $5,700. All others would be eligible to receive 90 percent of the state funding. Students would have to have been enrolled in a public school for at least 100 days to become eligible.
Nevada is the fifth state – after Arizona, Florida, Mississippi and Tennessee – to adopt so-called Education Savings Accounts (ESA), but it is the first to offer them to all students rather than just a select group. Under the new law, 93 percent of all Silver State K-12 public school students, or about 453,000 in all, would qualify. Sandoval acknowledged the law is likely to be challenged in the courts but said he believes it will be upheld.
School choice was only one of Sandoval’s agenda items. He had pushed five specific bills, all of which lawmakers endorsed. Those bills include increased funding for school breakfasts, qualifying teachers for performance-based pay, a measure to require schools to adopt stricter anti-bullying policies, so-called “good Samaritan” legislation that grants criminal immunity to someone who seeks help for a friend who is overdosing and a bill that ensures veterans receive full benefits. He additionally signed SB 443, a measure that essentially legalizes sports betting investment funds, which are similar to traditional mutual funds registered and managed in Nevada but which could include participants from outside the state. He also signed a companion bill (SB 445) that clarifies that the state’s licensed bookmakers can operate sportsbooks in other legal jurisdictions. (ESPN.COM, LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, LAS VEGAS SUN)
Rep. William Howell (R), speaker of the Virginia House for the last dozen years, opposes the Affordable Care Act and is a former chair of the American Legislative Exchange Council. But despite his conservative credentials, he’s facing a challenge from the right in Virginia’s June 9 primary, at least in part because he supported a tax hike for transportation.
“In today’s GOP, it only takes one or two compromises on hot-button issues such as taxes or social issues to produce a primary challenge,” said Larry Sabato, a professor of government at the University of Virginia.
Howell isn’t alone. Texas House Speaker Joe Straus (R) and Tennessee Speaker Beth Harwell (R) have also been subject to criticism that they aren’t conservative enough. And in an era of the super PAC, any potential challenger can find funding for a campaign, as Howell -- and Nevada Speaker John Hambrick (R), who faced a failed recall effort earlier this year, spurred by a tax increase -- can attest.
“As it always does, it seems to come back to campaign finance and money,” said Tim Storey of the National Conference of State Legislatures. (GOVERNING)
Last week Louisiana’s Senate Committee on Revenue and Fiscal Affairs voted 7-2 in favor of a measure that would eliminate sales tax holidays on back-to-school purchases in early August and hurricane preparedness supplies next May in order to help close a $1.6 billion state budget hole. But as approved, the measure (HCR 15) would also spare a sales tax holiday the first weekend in September on all hunting equipment, including firearms and ammunition.
“It [sic] very hard for me to justify that we provide an exemption for guns, but not for hurricane equipment,” said Sen. J.P. Morrell (D), one of the committee members who voted against the proposal.
The committee’s chairman, Sen. Neil Riser (R), explained that because hunting shops had already purchased inventory in anticipation of the September tax holiday weekend, eliminating it would have hurt those businesses.
“Sales are so large on that particular day,” he said, adding that there were “a lot of worthy exemptions out there.”
Morrell said committee members had also received a letter from U.S. Sen. and gubernatorial candidate David Vitter (R), urging them to vote against the repeal of the hunting sales tax holiday.
But ultimately Vitter may not get his way. The version of HCR 15 that was passed by the House 82-8 last month scrapped all three sales tax holidays, and its sponsor, Rep. Jack Montoucet (D), said he’s going to pull the measure because of the Senate committee's changes.
“I don’t think that's fair,” he said. (TIMES-PICAYUNE [NEW ORLEANS])
Don’t expect to see any smiling baby faces on beer labels in New Hampshire any time soon. As the Associated Press reports, Gov. Maggie Hassan vetoed a measure that would have allowed the Green Mountain State liquor commission to consider letting retailers carry beer with logos that depicted children. Bill author Rep. Keith Murphy was thinking of one brew in particular, a stout brewed in Michigan that depicts a smiling, cherubic baby enjoying some oatmeal – oatmeal stout, get it? – but Hassan wasn’t having it. Citing stats that show the state has some of the highest rates of underage drinking, she said any labels showing kids could just further encourage young ‘uns to hit the brewskis. Maybe she should have a talk with the folks in the California Legislature.
-- By RICH EHISEN
Conservative politicians often blame unions and right-to-work laws for lagging employment and overly generous worker pay. But according to an article last month in the Great Falls Tribune by Alvah MacWilliam, data from The National Conference of State Legislatures show that unemployment rates in right-to-work states are only lower by about a quarter of 1 percent on average. Figures from the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee placed the difference even lower, one fifth of 1 percent (5.13 percent versus 5.29 percent). Estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, meanwhile, indicate that worker pay is considerably lower in right-to-work states. Minimum wage workers earn $1,500 less per year on average. Production workers, including bakers, butchers, machinists, painters and welders, earn $2,000 less. And teachers' earn $7,000 less. (GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE)
As of the morning of May 29th, North Dakota sweet crude was fetching $58.33 a barrel, which was music to the ears of state officials. It meant that for the month of May the price of oil would average $4.50 above the $55.09 below which it had averaged the previous four months, allowing the state to collect nearly half a billion dollars in extraction taxes from oil producers. An initiative passed by voters in 1980 requires the state to exempt producers from the tax if the average price of oil falls below a trigger price set by the state’s Tax Department five months in a row.
“We’re clearly not going to trigger,” said North Dakota Tax Commissioner Ryan Rauschenberger. (BISMARCK TRIBUNE)
The CALIFORNIA Assembly approves AB 949, which would make competitive cheerleading an official interscholastic sport. It moves to the Senate (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET). Also in CALIFORNIA, the Assembly endorses AB 288, which would allow high school students to take college-level courses at their schools or on college campuses. It moves to the Senate (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET). * Staying in CALIFORNIA, the Senate approves SB 708, which would require public schools to make applications for free or reduced-price meals available electronically online and in multiple languages. It moves to the Assembly (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
VERMONT Gov. Pete Shumlin (D) signs HB 98, which eliminates the philosophical objection for parents who don’t want to vaccinate their children before they enter school. The law still allows medical and religious objections (NORTHEAST PUBLIC RADIO).
The NORTH CAROLINA Court of Appeals rules that a 2013 Tar Heel State law doing away with teacher tenure is unconstitutional. The law’s supporters say they are exploring an appeal (RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER).
NEVADA Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) signs SB 302, which allows parents of K-12 students to opt out of public school and use 90 to 100 percent of their children’s state education dollars for a customized education, including private or religious schooling, online classes, textbooks, and dual-enrollment college credits (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL).
The NEVADA Legislature passed a $1.5 billion omnibus tax measure combining AB 464 and SB 483 that, if signed by Gov. Brian Sandoval (R), will provide $600 million in additional funding for education over the next two years (LAS VEGAS SUN, LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
An audit by the TENNESSEE Comptroller's Office found that the state has mistakenly paid out $98 million in unemployment claims over the past six years, including checks to prisoners and deceased people. Auditors said the figure could have grown to as much as $171 million since the audit was completed and made public in March (TENNESSEAN [NASHVILLE]).
CONNECTICUT’s Democrat-controlled General Assembly approved a $40.29 billion two-year budget last week that raises taxes on businesses and the state’s top earners. Gov. Dannel Malloy is expected to sign it into law (WALL STREET JOURNAL).
Republicans who control the PENNSYLVANIA Senate plan to introduce legislation to allow Internet gambling at the state’s casinos (WPXI [PITTSBURGH]).
Without argument or discussion, the KANSAS House passed a multibillion dollar state budget last week that authorizes $400 million more in spending than the state expects to collect in revenue. But the state’s lawmakers are working on a tax package to close the gap (TOPEKA CAPITAL-JOURNAL).
A CALIFORNIA appeals court ruled that former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) did not break the law in 2010 when he drastically reduced the prison sentence of the son of a political ally. Esteban Nunez, the son of former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D), had been sentenced to 16 years in prison for his role in the stabbing death of a college student in 2008, but Schwarzenegger’s clemency ruling cut that down to just seven years. San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, who initiated a legal challenge to the reduction, has indicated she will appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court (SACRAMENTO BEE).
MASSACHUSETTS Gov. Charlie Baker (R), House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo (D) and Senate President Stanley C. Rosenberg (D) announced they have chosen the Brattle Group, a Cambridge-based consulting firm, to review Boston’s bid for the 2024 Olympics and determine what, if any, public monies will be needed to make it work. The city’s original bid estimated the event could be paid for entirely with private money and revenue generated by the event itself, but it was later learned that the bid actually included significant public financing of land and infrastructure needs. Baker said that made it necessary to bring in what he called a firm of “numbers geeks, which I consider to be a compliment” to get a straight answer (BOSTON HERALD, BOSTON GLOBE).
- Compiled by RICH EHISEN