In February, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced he was filing a lawsuit against Huntington Beach, the largest of several cities in the state that aren’t in compliance with a 2017 state law requiring local governments to include a “housing...
WI ASSEMBLY SPEAKER SPURNS REDISTRICTING CIVIL CASE WISCONSIN Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) is refusing to turn over documents or testify in a civil case related to political boundaries drawn by the GOP-controlled Legislature eight years ago. Vos...
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) filed legislation last week to create statewide “innovation partnership zones” that give local schools more and better tools to improve poor performing schools. The plan is based on a nine-school...
Countering a growing trend among retailers toward accepting only credit cards or other forms of electronic payment, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) signed legislation last week requiring brick-and-mortar retail operations to accept cash and imposing potentially...
A Wisconsin judge ruled on Thursday that laws passed by the GOP-controlled Legislature during last December’s lame duck session to strip some powers away from incoming Gov. Tony Evers (D) are unconstitutional. Dane County Circuit Judge Richard Niess...
LAMONT REVISES CT SCHOOL SERVICES MEASURE CONNECTICUT Gov. Ned Lamont (D) recast a proposal to create a state commission tasked with encouraging Constitution State schools to cut costs by sharing more essential services. Many critics said SB 874 as...
NJ Governor Signs SB 121 NEW JERSEY Gov. Phil Murphy (S) signs SB 121 , which bars the use of nondisclosure agreements in employment contracts and settlement agreements if those cases involve discrimination, retaliation, sexual harassment or assault...
AR House Approves HB 1626 The ARKANSAS House approves HB 1626 , which would require schools to offer classes on the Bible if enough students request such courses. It moves to the Senate (ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE [LITTLE ROCK]).
SD Governor Signs SB 15 SOUTH DAKOTA Gov. Kristi Noem (R) signs SB 15 , which clarifies that the Flickertail State Public Utilities Commission has authority to ensure solar and wind energy facilities are permitted in a timely fashion and with public...
OR House Approves HB 2623 The OREGON House approves HB 2623 , a bill that would impose a 10-year ban on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a process that injects high-pressure liquids into underground rock to extract oil and gas. The measure moves...
US Center for Medicare and Medicaid Gives OH Approval The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services gives OHIO approval to impose work requirements for those covered by Medicaid expansion. Under those rules, recipients will need to either be...
AR Governor Signs HB 1439 ARKANSAS Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) signs HB 1439 , which outlaws abortion 18 weeks into a woman’s pregnancy except in medical emergencies and in cases of rape or incest. Opponents have indicated they will sue to block...
WA Seattle Mayor Signs Ordinance Seattle, WASHINGTON Mayor Jenny Durkan signs an ordinance that allows for the building of denser, taller housing in a handful of urban villages across the Emerald City. The law also levies substantial fines on developers...
It wasn’t the kind of exit Kentucky First Lady Glenna Bevin was planning on. As the Louisville Courier-Journal reports , Bevin was one of the speakers at the annual Governor’s Prayer Breakfast last week. When she was done, she sat down in...
Like millions of other Americans, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is good and ready for the annual NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament – a.k.a. March Madness – to get started. As MLive.com reports , Whitmer has her bracket all filled out...
Texas might be about to go to the dogs, and that’s not a bad thing. As the Wichita Falls Times Record News reports (say that three times fast!), the Lone Star State Senate passed a bill last week that would make it legal for eateries to allow dogs...
It’s been an uncharacteristically rainy winter in California. Not a bad thing, as we natives know we’re always just a bad year or two from a big drought. The rain also produces wildflower “super blooms” in various remote locales...
The next generation of wireless technology, 5G, could bring major advancements in everything from entertainment to public safety. But federal, state and local governments are at odds over how that technology should be deployed and where regulatory authority...
As of mid-February, 21 states had passed laws streamlining regulations for the deployment of 5G or small-cell technology. In 12 of those states, Republicans controlled both chambers of the legislature and the governor’s office when the laws were...
With the first tax season since the federal tax overhaul now in full swing, the $10,000 cap on state and local tax, or SALT, deductions included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act may have wealthy Americans in some high-tax states eyeing moves to cheaper locales...
Making good on a campaign promise, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) has proposed a graduated income tax that he says would generate $3.4 billion in revenue for the state while lowering taxes for 97 percent of its residents. “It’s wrong...
TX SENATE APPROVES $8.4B IN ADDITIONAL SPENDING FOR FY 2019 The TEXAS Senate approved a supplemental FY 2019 appropriation of $8.4 billion for lingering expenses associated with Hurricane Harvey, school safety measures and the teacher retirement system...
Over the past decade, many states, citing concerns about voter fraud, have enacted voting restrictions, such as photo ID requirements and early voting reductions. It looked as though voter purges would be the next phase of that movement, after the U.S...
GA LEGISLATURE APPROVES SWITCH TO NEW VOTING MACHINES GEORGIA’s GOP-controlled General Assembly has passed a bill ( HB 316 ) providing for the adoption of new voting machines that utilize touchscreens and paper ballots for review by voters, sending...
Calling capital punishment “ineffective, irreversible and immoral,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed an executive order on Tuesday all but abolishing the death penalty in the Golden State for the foreseeable future. Newsom joins...