A South Carolina statehouse corruption investigation, which has been publicly dormant since it lead to the indictment of Sen. John Courson (R) on allegations of laundering campaign money through a powerful, local consulting firm, appears to be starting...
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) announced he had reached a deal with LGBT rights activists that would end litigation against the state by allowing transgender people to use public restrooms that match their gender identity. The new rule would apply...
VA Senate Rejects SB 1200 The VIRGINIA Senate rejects SB 1200 , a proposal to raise the Old Dominion minimum wage to $15 per hour over a five-year period (WASHINGTON POST). MS House Approves HB 702 The MISSISSIPPI House approves HB 702 , which...
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...
MI passes transportation funding legislation MICHIGAN’s House and Senate narrowly passed a $1.2 billion road-funding package that will cost the state’s motorists about $20 more to register their vehicles and $1.17 more to fill their cars’...
OHIO Gov. John Kasich (R) signs HB 2, which among its several provisions requires in-depth financial and academic reporting from charter schools and management organizations, bars charter schools from switching authorizers to avoid being shut down, and...
House Democrats in New Mexico are saying they will initiate impeachment proceedings against Secretary of State Dianna Duran (R) unless she resigns from office over allegations that she used campaign funds for personal expenses, including gambling. ...
Donors get state contracts Lobbyists and political action committees associated with four companies awarded contracts to manage IOWA’s $4.2 billion Medicaid program donated nearly $68,000 to top IOWA elected officials, including Gov. Terry Branstad...
NH Signs SB 106 NEW HAMPSHIRE Gov. Maggie Hassan (D) signs SB 106, which bars the sale and possession of synthetic drugs sold under names like Spice (WMUR.COM [MANCHESTER]). NY Issues Executive Order NEW YORK Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) issues Executive...
CA Approves AB 2175 The CALIFORNIA Assembly approves AB 2175, a bill that requires so-called “crisis pregnancy centers” to provide women with information about reproductive services available elsewhere, including abortion, and to disclose...
TEXAS Gov. Greg Abbot (R) signs SB 709, a bill that overhauls a state law governing contested-case hearings, a process that allows the public to challenge industrial applications for permits at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), such...
Raising prices at the gas pump is a risky proposition in California, where cars have always been king. In fact the state is one of only a few in the nation that haven’t raised gas taxes since the early ‘90s. But that could change this year...
More than 100 prominent Republicans have signed an open letter to Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, urging him to divert all the money currently going to presidential candidate Donald Trump to vulnerable GOP Congressional...
When New Jersey police officer Timothy Richard pulled over a white Chevy Suburban a few weeks ago, he didn’t think much of it. Only on the job for three months, he was carrying out his assignment for the day: cracking down on drivers who talk on...
Social Policy in Alaska The ALASKA Supreme Court overturns a Last Frontier State law that required doctors to give parents two days’ notice before performing an abortion on a minor girl. The court said the law violated the state constitution...
Crime In Massachusetts The MASSACHUSETTS Supreme Judicial Court orders Bay State courts to consider whether a black person who walks away from a police officer is attempting to avoid the “recurring indignity of being racially profiled”...
gaveling in a new session last week, Democrats who hold a two-thirds majority in both chambers of the California Legislature drew a line at the state’s border in defiance of President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed immigration policies. The...
New York Signs AB 10448 NEW YORK Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signs AB 10448 , which allows Empire State pharmacies to electronically transfer prescriptions to other pharmacies (ALBANY TIMES-UNION). New York Signs AB 5903A Also in NEW YORK , Gov. Cuomo...
Social Policy in Arkansas The ARKANSAS Supreme Court rules that a Fayetteville ordinance banning discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity violates a Razorback State law barring local municipalities from enacting...
Connecticut is facing budget deficits of $266 million this fiscal year and nearly $900 million next year, and local governments may end up suffering for it. After Gov. Dannel P. Malloy (D) asked state lawmakers this month for ideas on how to close those...
But now we have the gubernatorial seal of approval! Yes, as the State House News Service reports, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker took the ongoing Ice Bucket Challenge – a charity thing in which people raise money for ALS research by getting a...
MN House Members Age Increase The median age of MINNESOTA House members has increased by seven years - from 47 to 55 - since 1995. For senators the increase is eight years, from 47 to 55 (TWIN CITIES PIONEER PRESS). KS Cracks Down on Voter Fraud...
Brown to Run OREGON Gov. Kate Brown (D) announced she will seek to retain her job in next fall’s election to select someone to fill the remaining two years in the term of Gov. John Kitzhaber (D), who resigned in February amid corruption charges...
CALIFORNIA Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signs AB 1222, which among several things codifies regulations that currently apply to individual tow truck drivers to also apply to towing companies and requires a towing company or the owner or operator of a tow truck...