Business In New Jersey NEW JERSEY Gov. Chris Christie (R) signs AB 3580, which bans the sale, possession and distribution of powdered or crystalline alcohol in the Garden State (NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR’S OFFICE). Also in NEW JERSEY , Gov. Christie...
A deadlock between Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) and lawmakers has left the state budget-less four months into the current fiscal year. But the governor’s office and legislative leaders said last week they’d reached a tentative agreement...
Ballots trickling in after Election Day in the vote-by-mail state of Washington indicate that voters there have approved an initiative giving lawmakers an ultimatum: Pass a constitutional amendment by April 15 requiring a two-thirds majority vote for...
America isn’t the only country with outdated laws. As the New York Times reports , Britain has over 44,000 legal statutes, some dating back to the 13 th Century. So voluminous is the official ledger that Parliament employs a small team of legal...
It’s “Zombie Preparedness Month” in Kansas. While that might sound like a PSA warning of the latest brain dead shenanigans from Gov. Sam Brownback and his fellow Sunflower State lawmakers, it is not. As the Wichita Eagle reports, it...
Just six weeks into the new fiscal year, LOUISIANA lawmakers have already been forced to make $4.6 million in budget cuts. While that amount is only a fraction of the state’s $25 billion budget, the cuts are likely a sign of things to come, given...
CALIFORNIA Gov. Jerry Brown (D) vetoes SB 110, which would have made it a crime to threaten violence against someone on school grounds. Brown also vetoes SB 456, which would have made it a crime to threaten to fire a gun on school property. Brown said...
KANSAS Gov. Sam Brownback (R) issues Executive Order 05-15, which bars the Sunflower State from taking any punitive actions against clergy or religious organizations that refuse to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Upholds TX Surgical Center Standards A three-judge panel of the 5 th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a TEXAS law that requires Lone Star State clinics that perform abortions to meet ambulatory surgical center standards...
The NEW HAMPSHIRE House passes SB 207, so-called "paycheck equity" legislation that would prohibit employers from making people sign agreements not to disclose their salaries as a condition of employment and extends to three years the time workers...
South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard (R) vetoed a bill (HB 1008) last week that would have made the Coyote State the first to require transgender students to use the bathrooms, locker rooms and shower rooms based on their biological sex. The bill had drawn...
WISCONSIN Gov. Scott Walker (R) signs SB 466, which allows libraries to report to a collection agency or a law enforcement agency about library card holders with delinquent accounts (WISCONSIN GOVERNOR’S OFFICE). -- Compiled by RICH EHISEN
Environment In California The U.S. Department of the Interior releases a final blueprint for opening up large sections of the CALIFORNIA desert to wind and solar farms. Under the plan, 606 miles of land deemed not to be ecologically sensitive would...
Vermont Gov. Pete Shumlin’s time in office is winding down, which can only mean it’s time to immortalize him forever. No, he’s not being stuffed. We’re talking his official portrait, which will eventually hang alongside those of...
In a 4-4 decision last month a still shorthanded U.S. Supreme Court refused to suspend a lower court ruling in July striking down several parts of an election law passed by North Carolina’s GOP-controlled Legislature in 2013 on the grounds that...
California Vetoes AB 568 Saying such decisions were best left to the collective bargaining process, CALIFORNIA Gov. Jerry Brown (D) vetoes AB 568 , which would have required schools to give teachers six weeks of paid time off for pregnancy, childbirth...
On Nov. 7 voters in 7 states will consider a total of 22 statewide ballot measures, bringing the count for the year - with measures on the ballot last month in two states - to 27. That continues a downward trend in the number of measures on the ballot...
Pennsylvania Approves HB 1238 The PENNSYLVANIA House approves HB 1238 , which allows for someone to be charged with felony animal abuse for activities beyond killing an endangered species or fostering an animal fighting ring (LANCASTERONLINE). Crime...
In the four years since Wyoming became the first and only state to tax wind power, it has taken in a little under $15 million from that revenue source. That’s not nearly enough to offset the hit the state’s budget has taken from the simultaneous...
New Mexico Approves HB 5 The NEW MEXICO House approves HB 5 , which would double the number of crimes covered under the state’s three strikes law. It is now in the Senate (SANTA FE NEW MEXICAN). Crime In New Jersey NEW JERSEY Attorney General...
Arkansas’ Supreme Court has disqualified a measure aimed at legalizing casinos in Boone, Miller and Washington counties from the state’s November ballot and ordered election officials not to count any votes cast for the measure ( Issue 5 ...
In an effort to fight his state’s ongoing epidemic of opioid abuse and deaths, Vermont Gov. Pete Shumlin (D) proposed limiting the prescription of painkiller medications. Under his plan, doctors would have to consider the severity and duration...
The Fair Elections Legal Network, a national voting rights group, and nine 17-year-old Ohioans have filed suit against Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted (R) in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas for refusing to allow 17-year-old residents to vote...
A pair of Democratic New York state assemblymen - Sean Ryan and Jeffrion L. Aubry - introduced a bill this month (AB 9459) that would raise state income taxes on fund managers just enough to offset the federal tax savings they receive on the share of...
Decrying a “sea of dilapidated buildings” that have become “a hotbed for crime,” Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) announced an almost $700 million plan last week to tear down thousands of abandoned buildings in Baltimore’s decaying...