Wolf Pitches Job Protection Plan PENNSYLVANIA Gov. Tom Wolf (D) said new businesses that accept state grants to start their companies must be held accountable for the jobs they say they will create. Wolf’s budget proposal includes a three-point...
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) revealed details of his proposal to overhaul how the Prairie State provides health care to its poorest residents through Medicaid. Tenets would include increasing the number of Medicaid recipients covered under managed care...
Saying “We need to treat this crisis the exact same way we treat any other state emergency,” Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) declared a state of emergency last week over the state’s growing number of opioid overdose deaths. Hogan also...
Arizona Rejects SB 1243 The ARIZONA Senate rejects SB 1243 , which would have allowed Grand Canyon State residents to carry guns into most public buildings (U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT). Washington Approves SB 5008 The WASHINGTON Senate approves...
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...
Health In Florida The 11 TH U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules that a 2011 FLORIDA law limiting the ability of doctors to ask their patients about their gun ownership is unconstitutional. The court left intact a portion of the law that bars doctors...
Montana Approves HB 376 The MONTANA House approves HB 376 , which would authorize the creation of charter schools in the Treasure State. It is now in the Senate (MISSOULIAN, LEXISNEXIS STATE NET). Virginia Signs HB 2432 VIRGINIA Gov. Terry McAuliffe...
Virginia Approves SB 1091 The VIRGINIA Assembly and Senate approve SB 1091 , which would abolish an Old Dominion law that mandates a person automatically lose their driver’s license for six months for a minor marijuana conviction. The measure...
Business In Missouri The MISSOURI Supreme Court rules that the city of St. Louis may legally raise its minimum wage to $11 per hour by 2018. Business interests had sued to block the ordinance, saying it violated a 2015 state law that sets the minimum...
Iowa state Sen. Mark Chelgren is a wealth of ideas, most of them really bad. His most notable of late is a bill that would force Hawkeye State colleges to hire only Republican professors until the number of registered Republicans and Democrats on university...
California Senate pro Tem Kevin de León has often talked about the role his Guatemala-born mother played in his becoming a powerful voice for the Golden State’s Latino population. Even so, his father played a part as well. Although de León...
It’s nothing new for governors of western states to prefer boots and blue jeans to dress shoes and suits. But as new North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum recently discovered, the casual look doesn’t apply in all situations. As Fox News reports ,...
In the Hot Issues section of the Feb 20 SNCJ we inadvertently misidentified CO SB 55 as SB 155. We regret the error.
The media research you perform as a PR professional has perhaps never been as important as it is today. Getting your message in front of an interested audience is still valuable, but the players on the news landscape are not the same as they have been...
Today is International Women's Day, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. It also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. Visit http://www.internationalwomensday.com/ for more information...
Chinese technology company ZTE is set to pay up to $1.2 billion for violating US laws against selling American technology to Iran. This is the largest criminal fine in a US sanctions case. Fined for activity in Iran and North Korea An investigation...
American politicians’ opposition to direct democracy dates back to the earliest days of the republic. But that resistance has reached a new level recently in the states, where elected officials are taking aim at voter-approved ballot measures and...
Twenty-four states have a process allowing citizens to propose and submit statutes and/or constitutional amendments for approval by the electorate or legislature, according to the Initiative & Referendum Institute. Republicans control the legislature...
Fantasy Sports Bill Goes to MS Gov: The MISSISSIPPI Senate passed a bill approved by the House last month ( HB 967 ) that, if signed by Gov. Phil Bryant (R), would impose an 8-percent tax on the revenues of fantasy sports companies like Fan Duel and...
The employment rate for Americans of prime working age - those between the ages of 25 and 54 - which fell to 4.9 percent during the recession, reached an estimated 78.2 percent in January, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Economists consider...
Georgia could soon become the second state, after Rhode Island, to require ride-sharing services to collect sales taxes from passengers. Under a bill ( H 225 ) passed by the state’s House last week, riders of Uber, Lyft and other ride-sharing services...
High Court Rejects VA Districts Over Race: On a 7-1 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a lower court to re-review 11 legislative districts drawn by VIRGINIA Republicans after the 2010 Census. The districts are among a dozen that Democrats argued...
On Friday, March 3, Pennsylvania Senate Democrats’ computer network was hit by a “ransomware” attack, a form of cyberattack in which computer access is blocked until a ransom is paid. The following Monday the caucus’ network, including...
Utah Rep. Jim Dunnigan (R), who runs an insurance agency when he’s not working part-time as a legislator, sponsored four bills this year concerning the insurance industry, one of which, HB 395 , was criticized by a doctor during a hearing for giving...
Malloy Pitches Justice System Reform for CT Young Offenders : Saying we need “a society where young people who make mistakes don’t pay a price forever,” CONNECTICUT Gov. Dannel P. Malloy (D) proposed creating a new category of “young...