CA City Council Adopts Ordinance The city of LOS ALAMOS, CALIFORNIA adopts an ordinance exempting itself from the Golden State’s so-called “sanctuary state” law that restricts local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal...
Rising concern about opaque and suspect third-party corporate ownership structures is a notable finding in the Kroll / Ethisphere 2018 Anti-Bribery and Corruption Benchmarking Report. When senior executives working in ethics, compliance or anti-corruption...
Meet Rich Gause, Government Information Librarian for the University Libraries at the University of Central Florida (UCF). Rich has been a member of the LexisNexis Academic Content Advisory Committee since 1998 and has seen the product go through many...
In democracies, voters are supposed to choose their legislative representatives. Increasingly, however, U.S. courts have found that representatives choose their voters through partisan gerrymandering of legislative and congressional districts. With...
Commissions, rather than legislatures, have primary responsibility for drawing state legislative and/or congressional districts in 13 states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In another 12 states, commissions either assist legislators...
Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead (R) signed 41 bills last week, including at least five that deal with blockchain cryptocurrency technologies. Those measures include HB 19 , which codified a definition of a cryptocurrency and makes them exempt from Equality...
In a post-session tour around the state, Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) lauded wide-ranging gun control measures he signed weeks after the mass shooting at a Parkland high school and shrugged off an NRA effort to block the legislation he signed on March...
BAKER OUTLINES $300 MILLION CLIMATE CHANGE PLAN : On the heels of several massive winter storms, MASSACHUSETTS Gov. Charlie Baker (R) outlined a plan to borrow $300 million to put toward efforts to combat climate change in communities all along the...
Legislation is under consideration in at least nine states providing for the collection of sales taxes on remote purchases, according to the National Association of State Legislatures. The bills include Oklahoma SB 337 , passed by that state’s...
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) has ordered state lawmakers back to Richmond on April 11 for a special session on the state budget. The governor’s call came days after the General Assembly adjourned its regular session on March 10 without sending...
POT LEGALIZATION HAS POSITIVE IMPACT ON CO COUNTY: A study by researchers at COLORADO State University-Pueblo found that the marijuana industry had a net positive impact of over $35 million on Pueblo County in 2016, despite increasing costs for law...
Democrat Conor Lamb appears to have eked out a razor-thin victory - with a roughly 600-vote margin out of more than 230,000 votes cast, at the time of this writing - over Republican Rick Saccone in a special election in Pennsylvnia’s 18th Congressional...
Deep-blue California’s primary system and a glut of Democratic candidates for the state’s June 5 primary election could end up hurting that party’s chances of retaking control of the U.S. House. The state has a top-two primary, in which...
VOTING SYSTEM OVERHAUL BILL ADVANCING IN GA: GEORGIA’s Senate has passed a bill ( SB 403 ) requiring the state to overhaul its voting system before the 2020 presidential election. Georgia is one of only five states that use electronic voting...
Nevada brothel owner Dennis Hof is no stranger to politics, dubious celebrity status or controversy. So then it should come as no surprise that, as the Los Angeles Times reports , Hof is making a run at the Silver State Assembly. Nor should it shock anyone...
If you live in Pennsylvania and your kid likes to torment others, you might want to start a special savings account. As the Washington Post reports , Pennsylvania State Rep. Frank Burns will soon introduce legislation that would hit the parents of repeat...
One of the first things any candidate needs is name recognition. So perhaps then Meteorologist Drew Anderson is already one up in the game. And no, I didn’t screw that up. Anderson legally changed his name to Meteorologist Drew Anderson last year...
Dumb As A Rock : Whatever your position on guns, it would seem to be really dumb to verbally attack shooting victims or survivors. Sadly, from Sandy Hook to Parkland there is a plethora of examples of current and wannabe pols who have chosen to do just...
NY Senate Signs SB 7848 The NEW YORK Senate approves SB 7848 , which would write into law a firm definition of sexual harassment that applies to both government and the private sector, ban secret settlements of harassment cases unless the accuser requested...
FL Governor Signs HB 7055 FLORIDA Gov. Rick Scott signs HB 7055 , which will create a new voucher to pay for private school tuition for Sunshine State students who are bullied. The bill also creates a scholarship to pay for tutors for kids who fail...
Environment In CA A federal court rules that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must move ahead to carry out the 2015 Ozone Standards and designate areas in the country that do not meet them. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District...
VA Governor Signs SB 966 VIRGINIA Gov. Ralph Northam (D) signs SB 966 , which removes a utility rate freeze made law in 2015 and allows monopoly utilities to use their “over-earnings” — revenues that state regulators consider excess...
AR Governor Signs HB 1010a ARKANSAS Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) signs HB 1010a , a measure that requires pharmacy benefit managers to be licensed by the state. The measure exempts insurance plans that are self-funded by employers (ARKANSAS ONLINE). ...
MO House Approves HB 1443 The MISSOURI House gives initial approval to HB 1443 , which would, among several things, bar welfare recipients from cashing out benefits at an ATM machine and more clearly identify items that are may not be bought with those...
TX Court of Appeals Rules The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules that most of a TEXAS law barring local municipalities from declaring themselves to be so-called sanctuary cities can stay in place while litigation seeking to overturn the law...