California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed legislation overhauling the Golden State’s pretrial detention system, ending cash bail and instead giving judges more control over who should be jailed ahead of trial. “Today, California reforms...
NJ Senate and Assembly Endorse AB 3975 The NEW JERSEY Senate and Assembly endorse AB 3975 , which would increase from six to 12 weeks the time Garden State workers may take off from work with pay after the birth or adoption of a child or to care for...
Calling his state “ground zero for the impacts of climate change,” Alaska Gov. Bill Walker (I) signed off last Tuesday on a two-pronged state action plan aimed at addressing the issue. Walker inked his name to Administrative Order 289...
Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley (R) has opened an investigation into allegations that Gov. Eric Greitens (R) improperly sent emails through his charity to arrange political meetings as he prepared to launch his first bid for public office. Federal...
The history books say America’s Civil War ended in 1865. But for some folks on the losing side of that conflict, the end of the shooting war only begat the start of our nation’s internal Cold War. Those hostilities have played out in any number...
One of California’s coolest Capitol hangouts is no more. As the Sacramento Bee reports , the venerable steakhouse Chops has been the watering hole of choice for lobbyists and lawmakers alike for the better part of 15 years. Located directly across...
Crime In CA Prison officials in CALIFORNIA unveil a new lethal injection method that for the first time in state history calls for the use of only one drug to execute condemned inmates. The new method must still undergo a public comment period and...
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week in a Texas redistricting case that has the potential to significantly alter the way legislative districts across the country are calculated and shift political power away from cities, which tend to...
The NEW JERSEY Senate approves SCR 180, which would override a proposed new rule by the state Department of Environmental Protection that is viewed by critics as impairing the Garden State’s water quality and increasing flooding. The resolution...
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) has unveiled a three-pronged plan to reduce prison overcrowding in the Razorback State. The proposal he released on Feb 18 th would include adding almost 800 new prison beds, hiring new parole and probation officers and...
Health & Science in CA The CALIFORNIA Senate approves SB 21, a bill that would remove a March 1 deadline for cities and counties to adopt regulations under the state’s new medical marijuana regulatory framework. Under the law, the state could...
TRUMP SIDES WITH DEMS ON DEBT-CEILING EXTENSION President Trump aligned with Democratic U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) and U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California) on a plan to raise the federal debt ceiling...
On the surface Connecticut lawmakers Art Linares and Caroline Simmons don’t have a lot in common. He’s a Republican loved by the NRA who has done volunteer work for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio; she’s a Democrat who worked on Barack Obama’s...
Saying he was “sick to [his] stomach,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) ordered an investigation into the hiring of a former senior staffer now accused of sexually assaulting a female staffer after a campaign event last spring. Albert Alvarez...
AR Health Officials Announce Health officials in ARKANSAS announce they stripped 4,353 Medicaid recipients of their health coverage for failing to meet state-mandated work requirements. The Razorback State has removed a total of 8,462 people from Medicaid...
When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that public-sector unions could no longer collect fees from non-members even if they benefited from the unions’ efforts, some predicted there would be a mass exodus of dues-paying members. But more than...
By the time California held its primary election on June 7 last year, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were already their parties’ presumptive nominees. But under a pair of bills passed by their respective chambers of origin, the state would hold...
More Tax Cuts Coming to AR ARKANSAS Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) said he’ll likely seek more tax cuts with the state having ended last fiscal year with a $177 million budget surplus. “The sky has not fallen because we had a tax cut, but as expected...
In 2013, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton (D) and the DFL-controlled Legislature added a new income tax bracket for the state’s highest earners, individuals who make $150,000 or more per year and couples who make $250,000 or more. During debate over the...
You had better not be, at least if you are a member of the Minnesota Senate. As the St. Paul Pioneer-Press reports, the Gopher State Senate last week rejected a call to do away with a rule that bars members from looking at one another when debating issues...
Politicians will apparently just never learn that social media is a double-edged sword. The latest such fiasco for an elected comes courtesy of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who thought it would be a great idea to host a Twitter Q&A with the hashtag...
NORTH CAROLINA Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signs HB 318, a bill that bans Tar Heel State cities from adopting sanctuary policies for undocumented immigrants. The measure also bars local governments from accepting IDs from foreign governments and requires them...
The VIRGINIA Senate rejects SB 722, which would have barred so-called “dreamers -- unauthorized immigrant students granted deferred status by the federal government -- from qualifying for in-state tuition at Old Dominion public colleges and universities...
MICHIGAN government computer systems are hit by about 730,000 cyberattacks -- ranging from spam to malicious bots -- each day, up from 540,000 a year ago, according to David Behen, director of the state’s Department of Technology, Management and...
Ceremonies last week in the Missouri Senate kicking off the 2015 session were disrupted by protestors in the upper gallery chanting "no justice, no peace" and "black lives matter," rallying cries from the protests in Ferguson following...