Tim Draper, a billionaire venture capitalist based in California’s San Francisco Bay Area, is backing an effort to get a measure on the state’s Nov. 6 ballot that would divide the state into three parts: “Northern California,”...
NY AG SEEKS AUTHORITY TO PROSECUTE PRESIDENTIAL PARDONEES: NEW YORK Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is seeking to change the state’s double jeopardy law to exempt cases involving presidential pardons. The change, if approved by the state’s...
Last week the Supreme Court began deliberating South Dakota v. Wayfair , a closely watched case concerning whether states should be allowed to tax sales to in-state customers by out-of-state businesses, such as internet retailers. The case is a...
In 2015 Kentucky began a public-private project to extend high-speed internet across the state, the first such effort in the nation. But that project, Kentucky Wired, which was initially projected to be completed by late 2018, has run into delays due...
TN HOUSE PUNISHES MEMPHIS FOR REMOVING CONFEDERATE STATUES: The TENNESSEE House voted last week to strip $250,000 earmarked for the planning of bicentennial celebrations in Memphis next year from the state’s fiscal 2018-19 budget. That action...
CA Senate Rejects SB 827 The CALIFORNIA Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing rejects SB 827 , which would have forced cities to allow taller, denser development around public transit (CAL MATTERS [SACRAMENTO]). WI Governor Signs AB 771...
IL House Approves HB 4870 The ILLINOIS House approves HB 4870 , a bill that allows infused medical marijuana to be administered to students by parents in Prairie State elementary and secondary schools. It moves to the Senate (ABC7CHICAGO). IA Governor...
LA House Signs HB 391 The LOUISIANA House rejects HB 391 , which would have opened up closed waters for public access and navigation (ADVOCATE [BATON ROUGE]).
Going On In MD A federal appeals court strikes down MARYLAND’s first-in-the-nation prescription drug price gouging law. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit said in a 2-to-1 ruling that the 2017 law violates the commerce clause of...
TN House Approves HB 2312 The TENNESSEE House approves HB 2312 , which would ban state and local officials from accepting consular IDs to establish identity. The measure, which would also prohibit officials from accepting locally issued forms of identification...
PA House Approves HB 2050 The PENNSYLVANIA House approves HB 2050 , which would make it a crime for doctors to perform an abortion based on the belief the expected child is likely to have Down syndrome. It moves to the Senate (PENNLIVE). PA House...
CA City Council Approves The LOS ANGELES City Council unanimously approves and ordinance requiring companies that are seeking to do business with the city or have city contracts to reveal whether they are helping to build a wall along the Mexican border...
No matter what your business, today’s customers expect content. They want to trust their business partners to be experts in the services and solutions they provide, and one of the most accepted and expected ways to earn that trust is through content...
At least 11 states have introduced or proposed bills or resolutions referring to “artificial intelligence” this year, according to LexisNexis State Net’s legislative tracking system . Five of those measures have been enacted, including...
There are numerous prognostications about the number of jobs that will eventually disappear from the human experience, to be taken over by the robots of the burgeoning artificial intelligence revolution. Which percentage you accept depends on your...
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) signed controversial legislation last Monday that makes dramatic changes to the state’s ailing public pension system. Among SB 151 ’s many tenets are provisions that move teachers hired after Jan. 1 2019 into...
As teachers were preparing for a walkout in Arizona last week, thousands remained out of the classroom in Oklahoma in protest of limited school funding and a protest continued in Kentucky over the restructuring of teacher pensions. The unrest suggests...
SC GOP PROPOSES CLOSING STATE’S PRIMARIES: The Republican Party of SOUTH CAROLINA announced last week that it will conduct an advisory referendum in the state’s June primaries asking voters if they want the option of affiliating with a...
Not long ago Minnesota’s health insurance exchange, MNsure, was in critical condition. Premiums were skyrocketing and health insurance companies were fleeing the market. But last year the state’s Legislature approved $542 million in funding...
The federal tax overhaul pushed through Congress by the Republican majority in December doubled the exemption threshold for the estate tax levied on property and other assets transferred from deceased individuals to their heirs - earning it the epithet...
MD APPROVES BIG INTENTIVE PACKAGE TO LURE AMAZON: MARYLAND lawmakers approved the largest incentive package in the state’s history, as much as $8.5 billion, in an effort to convince Amazon to build its second headquarters in Montgomery County...
The release of a report revealing the details of blackmail accusations levied against Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (R) have sparked calls from his fellow Republicans for him to resign or face impeachment. Greitens is already facing a criminal trial...
College basketball in the United States is watched by millions and has become lucrative for the universities who compete and the companies who sponsor the teams. But college sport can also carry reputational, legal, and financial risks. We have seen the...
As noted in this space before, there is a reckoning afoot for politicos spewing hateful nonsense on social media. The latest comes from Maine, where a local mayor is facing recall after cracking on a school shooting survivor. As the Bangor Daily News...
In normal times, when the vice president comes to town the governor is sure to be there for a good old fashioned grip-and-grin for the news photographers. And if he is from your own party? Done deal, right? Wrong! Or so it was last week for Massachusetts...