For the next nine months, 5,000 California drivers will be voluntarily reporting their mileage to the state and getting “charged” for every mile they drive. The state’s gas tax, which hasn’t been increased since 1994, hasn’t...
Special Session on Budget Coming to ND NORTH DAKOTA Gov. Jack Dalrymple (R) has called for a special session to address a projected budget shortfall for the 2015-17 biennium of over $300 million. The session will begin on Aug. 2 and probably last at...
Voters in Washington, D.C. will consider a referendum in November on whether to make the nation’s capital the 51st state. The hope of D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) who proposed the referendum and the D.C. Council that unanimously approved it last...
With little advance notice, a Kansas state board approved a temporary regulation last week that will block an estimated 17,000 Kansans from voting in state or local elections and only allow them to vote in federal ones. The action by the Kansas Rules...
Medical Pot Initiative Qualifies for AR Ballot An initiative to legalize medical marijuana has received enough valid signatures to qualify for ARKANSAS’ Nov. 8 general election ballot. But the Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act will have to overcome...
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...
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) announced he is creating a bipartisan, 25-person commission to create a new formula for distributing state money to local school districts. The current system, in place for the last two decades, has been widely criticized...
Forty six governors signed a compact last week pledging to increase their collective efforts to combat the rising tide of opioid abuse in their states. Those efforts will include taking new steps to keep doctors from over-prescribing opioid medications...
MA Approves SB 2394, SB 2409 and SB 2119 The MASSACHUSETTS Senate approves SB 2394 , which would bar Bay State employers from running credit checks on job applicants. The measure, which makes exceptions for positions where the employee would handle...
Crime In AZ The ARIZONA Supreme Court rules that the smell of marijuana is sufficient probable cause for police to search a person’s home or car, even though medical marijuana use is legal in the Grand Canyon State (REUTERS). AK Gov Signs...
Education In IL The ILLINOIS State Board of Education announces the Prairie State will stop using the controversial Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers in reading and math, exams based on the Common Core curriculum designed...
OH Gov Signs HB 158 OHIO Gov. John Kasich (R) signs HB 158 , which strikes the term “mental retardation” from the state’s Revised Code and replaces it with the term “intellectual disability.” The law also specifies that...
Social Policy In MD & AL The MARYLAND Court of Appeals unanimously rules that non-biological parents who live with and help raise children also have parental rights. The court’s decision allows family-court judges to consider whether a person...
UT Approves HB 3003 The UTAH House and Senate approve HB 3003 , which makes it a misdemeanor for someone to use a drone aircraft to interfere with a firefighting effort. Violators would face jail time and fines. The bill, which would also allow police...
Late nights, lots of take-out food and a jam-packed schedule that often allows little time for exercise can leave capitol denizens packing extra pounds by the time things go to sine die. Which is why this year the South Carolina Hospital Association and...
Budgets often contain lots of pet projects or other things not likely to get through the legislature on their own. A prime sampling this year comes from Massachusetts, where, as the Boston Globe reports , tucked away into the recently signed $39 billion...
Maine Gov. Paul LePage has had more than his share of confrontations with lawmakers during his time in office. Perhaps none has been greater than the kerfuffle last year over whether he had allowed 65 bills he intended to veto to instead become law without...
It just never gets better for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Although he pretty much surrendered his dignity to become Donald Trump’s vacant-eyed errand boy, he could at least hold on to the belief that his newfound loyalty to “The Donald”...
Even as political prognosticators debate the merits of vice presidents and polling, 15,000 credentialed members of the media are in Cleveland for this week’s Republican National Convention. After months of tracking the progress—or lack of...
Around this time last year, many lamented the pending exit of Jon Stewart from the late-night TV, but NPR’s Dave Davies may have said it best on Fresh Air when he noted, “Tomorrow morning, a generation of 30-somethings will wake up and realize...
Guest written by Chris Scully, Senior Media Intelligence Analyst, LexisNexis Day 1 of the RNC ended and Day 2 began and was dominated by attention on Melania Trump’s 15-minute address. And, following Sunday night’s disastrous 60 Minutes...
Fifty-nine—that’s the number of countries mentioned in the 87 corporate investigations through the end of June, according to research by The FCPA Blog . The implication is clear: The reach of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) crosses...
In the introduction to 2015 Trafficking in Persons Report published by the U.S. State Department, Secretary of State John Kerry urged for global supply chain transparency in response to modern slavery. He wrote, “The bottom line is that this is...
The Central Intelligence Agency got its start 69 years ago today when President Harry Truman signed the National Security Act. What—you may wonder—does that have to do with your real estate business? More than you might think. While the business...
This week states will begin divvying up nearly $60 million in federal funds to combat the ongoing spread of the Zika virus, which can cause devastating birth defects in children born to mothers who have been infected. While not insignificant, that sum...