A FLORIDA court rules that a Sunshine State law mandating that dogs which cause severe injury to a person be euthanized is unconstitutional. Judge Andrew Owens rules the statute to be “arbitrary and unduly oppressive” (BRADENTON HERALD). ...
Some information about state legislatures is pretty easy to find, such as which party controls each chamber or who contributed to legislators’ election campaigns. But what those lawmakers do for a living when their legislatures aren’t in session...
MT Approves SB 100 The MONTANA House approves SB 100, which would ban the possession and hunting of wild or feral hogs and would allow the hogs to be destroyed. Violators would face fines up to $10,000. It moves to Gov. Steve Bullock (D) for review...
There’s a new sheriff in town in St. Paul, and she’s pretty fond of chew toys and belly rubs. As the CBS affiliate in Minneapolis reports , state officials have ramped up security for the Capitol by welcoming Matka, a Hungarian Vizsla fresh...
GEORGIA Gov. Nathan Deal (R) rescinds the executive order he issued last November 13 barring state agencies from doing anything to process the acceptance of refugees escaping the civil war in Syria. Deal rescinded the order after Attorney General Sam...
We often hear about the rigors of the campaign trail and how taxing it is for candidates to have to be so energetic all the time. After all, we hear, people run for office, they don’t walk! (Hardy harhar) But former California Senate pro Tem Darrell...
RAIMONDO ORDERS RI PLASTICS TASK FORCE Responding to the failure of several legislative efforts to mitigate the impact of plastic waste on the environment, RHODE ISLAND Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) issued Executive Order 18-06 , which will create the “Task...
NY AG RESIGNS NEW YORK Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D) a prominent antagonist of the Trump administration - and a prominent advocate for the #MeToo movement - abruptly resigned last week, hours after news broke that four women had accused him...
AZ GOV SIGNS OFF ON TEACHER PAY RAISE ARIZONA Gov. Doug Ducey (R) signed budget legislation last week that will hike the pay of Grand Canyon State teachers by 20 percent over the next three years. The wage increase came after dozens of the state’s...
Between 2014 and 2017, tax revenues from the sale of marijuana shot up about 400 percent in Washington. In Colorado they surged about 900 percent. But the $314 million and $223 million in marijuana tax revenues, respectively, in the two states that were...
CA REQUIRES REPORTING OF VOTER DATA BREACHES CALIFORNIA Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed legislation last week requiring people and organizations that obtain voter registration data to report security breaches of that information. Assemblyman Marc Berman...
You would think an attempted hijacker who spent years in a mental institution running for mayor of New York City would draw lots of attention. As the New York Post reports , that’s certainly what Aaron Commey – who in 2000 tried to hijack...
EDWARDS TO CREATE LA HARASSMENT ASK FORCE : Weeks after his chief of staff resigned amidst sexual harassment allegations, LOUISIANA Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) said he would soon issue an executive order directing executive branch state agencies to review...
Kentucky Approves HB 384 The KENTUCKY Senate approves HB 384 , which would replace up to three of the four required annual underground mine inspections with mine safety analysis visits and reduce the minimum number of annual full electrical inspections...
And finally...I’ve met a lot of political animals over the last two decades, from Congress to statehouses all the country. Without question my favorite of them all is a dog: California Gov. Jerry Brown’s Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Sutter. Originally...
Speaking of California, you might have heard the Golden State is darned near out of water. Now desperate, officials are pondering a plan that would normally make them roll their eyes – shipping water in from Alaska, a state with no such shortages...
Midwives CALIFORNIA Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signs SB 408, which allows a midwife assistant to perform assistive activities under the supervision of a licensed midwife or certified nurse-midwife, including the administration of medicine, the withdrawing...
On his first day in office, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) signed Executive Order NO. JBE 16-01, expanding Medicaid to cover an additional 300,000 Pelican State residents. Louisiana became the 31 st state overall – and the first in the deep...
NJ GOvernor Vetoes SB3317 NEW JERSEY Gov. Chris Christie (R) pocket vetoes SB 3317 , which would have compelled the state to join the U.S. CA, WA, and NY Climate Alliance Climate Alliance, a coalition of states led by CALIFORNIA , WASHINGTON...
Four states - Idaho, Nebraska, Oregon and Pennsylvania - held primary elections last Tuesday, and at least one trend continued from the previous week’s primaries : Female candidates did well in Democratic primaries. Among other things, they claimed...
MA Senate Approves SB 2546 The MASSACHUSETTS Senate approves SB 2546 , which would allow the Bay State attorney general to file civil actions and issue stop work orders in wage theft cases. The measure, which also would create a trust fund to repay...
MA Supreme Judicial Court Rules The MASSACHUSETTS Supreme Judicial Court unanimously rules that judges can require defendants with substance use disorders to remain drug-free as a condition of probation and send them to jail if they relapse (NEW YORK...
And for California Assembly member Phil Ting, that dream is a whole state of cars that run on something other than gasoline. Yep, Ting so wants to see the nation’s number one vehicle market move entirely to cars that don’t run on fossil fuels...
Americans are notoriously inept at geography, but one might think we’d at least be up to speed on our own country. Uh, not so much. As the Las Cruces Sun News reports , former New Mexico Secretary of State candidate Gavin Clarkson was recently turned...
California state Sen. Joel Anderson has always been a little ornery. But as the Sacramento Bee reports , that crankiness – and a little too much booze - got the better of him last summer when he responded to a disagreement at an after-hours party...