HICKENLOOPER SIGNS CO BROADBAND TAX BILLS : Seeking to bolster broadband buildout in the Centennial State, COLORADO Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) signed SB 2 , which allocates $115 million in state funds toward extending high-speed broadband service to...
BIG DISPARITIES IN ECONOMIC RECOVERY BETWEEN US ZIP CODES Fifty-two percent of the new jobs created in the first few years of the recovery from the Great Recession came in the 20 percent of U.S. ZIP codes that were already among the most prosperous...
As expected, self-described pimp Dennis Hof – who also liked to call himself the “Trump of Pahrump” – won his race for the 36 th Nevada Assembly District a few weeks ago. That’s a problem because Hof is dead, having gone...
Citing “a persistent and alarming lack of accountability in local school systems across the state,” Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) issued an executive order last week that creates a new post in his administration: director of the Office of...
Since 1972, Iowans have been the first to cast votes in the presidential nominating process. But California will hold its presidential primary on March 3rd next year. And while that’s still a full month after Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses...
Ah, but he did. Yes, as reported by the Indianapolis Star , Hoosier State Rep. Jud McMillin, the House Majority Floor Leader and a rising star in state GOP politics, has resigned after a sexually explicit video was sent from his cellphone to his entire...
Not for the first time, Pennsylvania Sen. David Argall (R) is backing a bill that would replace property taxes levied by school districts with higher state income and sales taxes. But this year, more than half of the state's senators are co-sponsoring...
Thirty-four states have enacted laws requiring prospective voters to present some form of identification at the polls. Thirty-one of those voter ID laws are currently in effect. Pennsylvania's and Wisconsin's laws have been struck down, and North...
Saying it was time to address the “unintended consequences” of the state’s determinate sentencing law, California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) proposed a measure for the November ballot that would allow non-violent offenders a better chance...
Public employee unions were the beneficiaries of the first major case to result in a 4-4 tie vote in the U.S. Supreme Court since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Conservatives had challenged the fees such unions collect from non-members to pay for...
Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) introduced a gun control package last week that would, among several things, limit Old Dominion residents to one handgun purchase per month and require universal back ground checks on people buying guns at gun shows. Other regulations...
INSLEE SIGNS QUARTET OF WA #METOO BILLS : Saying “We must do better to make sure employers understand there is no place for these behaviors in the workplace,” WASHINGTON Gov. Jay Inslee (D) signed four bills last month that address sexual...
Or so vows California state Sen. Scott Wiener. As the San Francisco Chronicle reports , Weiner was incensed last week when the Assembly Appropriations Committee gutted his Senate-endorsed measure to allow local communities to decide if they wanted to...
The price of crude sank to $46.83 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange this month, the lowest level in more than five years. With Alaska deriving about 90 percent of its budget from oil taxes and royalties, it may have to pull about $3.5 billion...
Last week Oregon became the first state in the nation to adopt automatic voter registration when Gov. Kate Brown (D) added her signature to a bill providing for the provisional registration of unregistered Oregonians to vote when they obtain or renew...
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) announced execution dates for eight condemned inmates, setting in motion what will be the first executions in the Razorback State since 2005. Legal challenges and difficulty in obtaining the drugs used in the lethal injection...
It was just another committee meeting at the California Capitol. Or was it? As the Sacramento Bee reports , a recent joint hearing before a combination of three legislative hearings was supposed to be broadcast live on the California Channel, the same...
California Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. (D) reached a budget agreement with legislative leaders last week. Consistent with Brown’s May budget revision, the deal includes $1.9 billion in Rainy Day Fund savings, as required by Proposition 2; billions...
After years of tentative growth, the U.S. job market will pick up a bit more this year, according to Moody's Analytics. The global economic forecasting company projects the nation will add 2.6 million jobs this year — up from 2.2 million in...
The SOUTH DAKOTA Senate Commerce and Energy Committee rejects SB 156 legislation that would have required business owners to offer workers one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours they work. The measure’s author said she will consider reintroducing...
IA HOUSE PASSES VOTER ID BILL After 12 hours of debate over two days, IOWA’s Republican-controlled House passed legislation ( HF 516 ) that would require voters to present government-issued identification at the polls. The bill now moves to the...
Alaska Gov. Bill Walker (I) said he plans to sign legislation ( SB 54 ) that rolls back several parts of a comprehensive criminal justice reform measure (SB 91 2016) that lawmakers adopted just last year. The legislation reverses major components of SB...
In his budget address in late February, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) called for a tax increase on sodas and other sugary drinks. Soda tax legislation has also been introduced this year in California, Massachusetts New York, Rhode Island and Vermont...
A little-noticed recommendation in FLORIDA Gov. Rick Scott’s (R) budget proposal would repeal the state’s impending “hospital tiering” law. The measure, set to take effect later this year, would require counties that use local...
CO Gov Signs SB 150 COLORADO Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) signs SB 150 , which amends state law to allow couples in a civil union to marry each other without having to first dissolve the civil union (PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN).