It seems pretty clear that Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens really enjoyed signing legislation recently that enacted statewide regulations on ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft. How clear? Well, as The Hill reports , he signed the bill while taking a...
Vermont Approves HB 196 The VERMONT House approves HB 196 , which would require business owners to provide workers with six weeks of family leave at 80 percent of their salary, paid for by a statewide payroll tax on all workers. The measure moves to...
Crime In Wisconsin A federal judge in WISCONSIN rules that the Badger State’s so-called “cocaine mom” law, which allows adult pregnant women suspected of current or past drug or alcohol use that could affect their fetus be held in...
Louisiana Approves HB 79 The LOUISIANA House unanimously approves HB 79 , which would ban the paddling of disabled students at Pelican State public schools. The bill moves to the Senate (ADVOCATE [BATON ROUGE]). Arizona Signs SB 1042 ARIZONA...
Colorado Approves HB 1339 The COLORADO House approves HB 1339 , which would use public bonds to help ease the way to decommissioning aging coal plants. The measure, which would also use some of the bond sale revenue to help displaced workers from shuttered...
Oregon Approves SB 719 The OREGON Senate approves SB 719 , which would establish a process for a judge to issue an “extreme risk protection order” if a person is found by clear and convincing evidence to pose a risk of suicide or threat...
Texas Approves SB 4 The TEXAS Senate gives final approval to SB 4 , which would make it a crime for law enforcement to refuse cooperation with federal immigration officials. Local jurisdictions could also face fines of up to $25,000 per day for violating...
Nevada Approves Joint Resolution 2 The NEVADA Senate approves Assembly Joint Resolution 2 , a constitutional amendment that would codify recognition of same-sex marriage in the Silver State in the instance the Supreme Court of the United States reverses...
Indiana Signs HB 1085 INDIANA Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) signs HB 1085 , which would allow someone to break into a car to rescue a dog or cat that had been left inside during a time of extreme heat or cold without facing criminal liability. The law does...
Amidst criticism he has not done enough to deal with the growing opioid abuse issue in Florida, Gov. Rick Scott (R) last week declared such abuse to be a public health emergency. The declaration allows the state to accept $54 million in federal grant...
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) joined with Attorney General Maura Healey (D) and law enforcement officers last week to announce legislation that would update the Bay State’s wiretapping law for the first time since its inception in 1968. Under...
Hickenlooper Orders Oil & Gas Inspections In the aftermath of an explosion caused by a gas leak, COLORADO Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) ordered oil and gas companies statewide to inspect and pressure-test oil and gas flowlines within 1,000 feet of...
This year marked a rift between Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) and many of the state’s lawmakers, including some of his fellow Republicans, with both chambers of the GOP-led Legislature voting to roll back a major tax cut the governor championed...
In August 2015, after spending over two years working on a plan that would have reduced Louisiana’s reliance on nursing homes and saved the state $77 million a year, the administration of then-Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) abruptly announced that any effort...
AK House Advances Same-Day Voter Registration: ALASKA’s House voted 22-17 last month in support of legislation ( HB 1 ) allowing residents of the state to register to vote and then immediately cast a ballot on Election Day. The Senate isn’t...
When one of the owners of Rainforest Farms in Juneau, Alaska tried to mail a box of cash to Anchorage last month to make a regular tax payment, the U.S. Postal Service refused to deliver it. Not because of insufficient postage or missing address information...
Hawaii House and Senate leaders reached a tentative agreement last month on a plan that would increase the state’s hotel tax to help fund Honolulu’s high-speed rail project. Pitched by House conferees on Senate Bill 1183 , the plan would increase...
A few years ago when Oklahoma’s economy was booming, Republicans who control the state’s government pushed through a permanent reduction in the state’s top income tax rate and slashed the oil production tax rate by 5 percent (from 7...
After much tinkering with amendments that lasted late into the night, South Carolina’s Republican-led Senate passed an infrastructure funding bill ( HB 3516 ) last month. “The Senate passed a bill tonight that will fix our roads, repair...
ND LAWMAKERS ROLL BACK SPENDING NORTH DAKOTA’s Republican-led Legislative Assembly passed a budget for the 2017-19 biennium last month that reduces general fund spending to 2011-13 budget levels. The $4.3 billion in general fund spending included...
Of the 42 states for which reliable data is available, New Mexico had the highest rate of suicides in 2015 among white men between the ages of 45 and 54, at 67.9 deaths per 100,000 residents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s...
Life expectancy for most of the developed world has risen for years. But ongoing research by Princeton University economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton reveals that over the last two decades mortality rates have spiked sharply for one specific group of...
California pharmacists unfamiliar with the high and low points of medicinal marijuana can take heart: help is on the way. As KCBS in San Francisco reports , Sacramento resident Shayna Schonouer has been certified by the state as the nation’s very...
Those darned Russians are everywhere! Case in point comes from California, where a group pushing to have the state secede from the rest of the nation has abandoned its quest after its leader bailed out and moved to a city on the edge of Siberia. Or should...
A governor can wield lots of power, sometimes even over stuff that matters. And then there is new West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, who is taking a more, ahhh...varied approach. As the Charleston Gazette-Mail reports , Justice has apparently been using...